Gibson Books

Not done reading yet. However, very, very, informative, many facts, not in print until now.

I am really impressed with this book because it offers a totally different approach than any other book which I have read on the topic. The author - Gil Hembree - puts emphasis not on Gibson guitars or amplifiers but on the persons who made them. About one third of the book is dedicated to one of the most important men in the history of this company, Ted McCarty, who was CEO from 1948 to 1966 - an era during which the most important Gibson products were launched: The Les Paul, ES 335/355, Explorer and Flying V guitars. The other two thirds are used to introduce other people at Gibson from important engineers down to simple workers who were all proud to be working for this company.
For all those who think they have read everything about Gibson: Get this book and learn even more - not only about the Gibson company - but also about the USA from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s.

If you love old Gibson guitars, this is a "MUST OWN AND DON'T LOAN"
book!

An incredile work and research effort by Gil Hembree. The guitar world
owes him for taking the time to interview people and employees that actually
built and designed GIBSONs best-loved classic instruments- many of which have passed on by the time this book reached the printers.

Use the other Gibson books for cool color pictures of the old guitars- but
this book has BLACK & WHITE original pictures (Remember kids- they didn't have color film when this history was being made) Gil's book has lots of pictures that have been published before, many given to him by those he interviewed. And that includes extensive interfacing by Gil with Ted McCarthy prior to his passing.

After reading it, I got a much better understanding of how the guitars were made, who made them, and the steps involved. Yes- Gibson did have an
actual CUSTOM SHOP, which was started in 1960. (Now every MFG has them.)

You will learn things- important things- about GIBSON that you never even knew to WONDER about. This book fills massive voids because this author took tons of personal hours DOING THE RESEARCH, doing actual interviews and plant visits, that other others just didn't have the means to do.

After reading it for 20 minutes, you will just only begin to appreciate the true labor of love that Mr. Hembree shares with every reader. I understand he is highly active in the old guitar scene- as a co-author of The Vintage Guitar Price Guild that every intelligent dealer and collector purchases every year- but it is really likely that this body of work will be accepted by that same community that will be Gil Hembree's legacy! It's that good.

If you love the Gibson guitars from the 1950's and 60's and wonder how classic designs such as the Les Paul, Flying V, ES-335, SG, Thunderbird and other models came to be, this book is for you.

Though centered on the tenure of Ted McCarty between 1948 and 1966, it also includes a condensed history of the company's early years and information relating to McCarty's purchase of Bigsby, the formation of the Heritage Guitar Company by some of McCarty's Gibson hires, and of Ted McCarty's involvement with Paul Reed Smith. Along the way, we get McCarty's perspective on Gibson's rivalry with Fender Musical Instruments and on the eccentric Leo Fender himself.

Chock full of interviews with employees of the era, this book gives you an insider's view of what it was like to be in the plant where the classics were designed and built.

Very enjoyable and highly recommended!

This book tells the history of Ted McCarthy, an inspiration of Gibson. Knowing the history has made me appreciate the guitars so much! I would highly recommend this book to any Gibson guitar owner!

I have done extensive research on Margaret Oliphant. She is one of the most productive women writers of her time and yet, often is overlooked. I urge anyone to read her work and self-titled biography.

Maybe I've maxed out on 19th Century British Lit inane young women. I really looked forward to this, but was disappointed. One of the back cover comments reads "A feminist Trollope..." (about Oliphant) - not even close. Trollope is far, far better than this. There are some amusing parts but the characters and plot just don't live up to the hype.

In Miss Marjoribanks, the heroine returns from school to live with her widowed father in the quiet village of Carlingford. Her frequently-avowed purpose is 'to be a comfort to dear papa.' Her true 'mission' is to reform the pitiable mess that passes for society in Grange Lane (where those in the upper ranks of Carlingford society live) through her own wise and benevolent leadership. Extremely heavy in irony, the book continually refers to Lucilla Marjoribanks' gift for social politics as 'genius,' and repeatedly describes her efforts in military or imperial terms.

The back cover of the Penguin Classics edition of Miss Marjoribanks quotes Q.D. Leavis's statement that Lucilla Marjoribanks is "the missing link... between Jane Austen's Emma and George Eliot's Dorothea Brooke, and `more entertaining, more impressive and more likeable than either.'" This is an overstatement, to be sure (Charlotte Yonge's The Clever Woman of the Family is my own choice for missing link - see my Amazon review of that title). Miss Marjoribanks is slightly and superficially akin to Miss Brooke and Miss Woodhouse; but as a work of literature Miss Marjoribanks can hardly be classed with Emma or Middlemarch -- nor are Emma or Dorothea likely to be supplanted by Lucilla in the hearts and minds of most readers. Indeed, Lucilla seems two-dimensional by comparison with Austen's and Eliot's heroines -- hardly more than a caricature of a woman. Perhaps it was Oliphant's intention to show that when women with brains and abilities are prevented from exercising their talents in any but the narrowest domestic and social spheres, they are reduced to mere caricatures of human beings. In any case, taken on its own terms, Miss Marjoribanks is an entertaining read, but not, in my view, Oliphant's best.

This must be one of the funniest books I've ever read--I hadn't laughed out loud like this since Catch-22. The character of Miss Marjoribanks (that's pronounced "Marchbanks") is used by Oliphant both as a vehicle for social satire in the Victorian community and as an instrument to examine female modes of power in the Victorian home. The scene in which Miss Marjoribanks figuratively usurps her father's role as patriarch of the house by appropriating his place at the breakfast table is hilarious. Oliphant's book is wonderfully enjoyable and furtively serious--it may be light in tone, but it reveals a great deal about how a resourceful Victorian woman might seek modes and expressions of power within parameters that are very limiting.

The main character of Miss Marjoribanks is not intended to "grow" or "develop"--part of the pleasure of her characterization and her story is in witnessing how her single-minded mania as social director of her community compells her to overcome the obstacles thrown in her way by the novel's narrative. Why should we arbitrarily expose this book to aesthetic standards created by a handful of canonical novels? Miss Marjoribanks's characterization is as valid as any found in Austen or Trollope (though not necessarily as great as the best of them)--we must keep in mind that there was much more to Victorian fiction than what is revealed in the small quantity of canonized examples still read today. Oliphant was immensely popular in her day, she was Queen Victoria's favorite writer, and there were many contemporary critics who considered her to be one of the best novelists of that period.

In short, Oliphant's Miss Marjoribanks is a comic masterpiece, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to any reader of 19th-century British fiction.

What a great find, and refreshing as it lacks much of the high melodrama so common in most 19th century literature. Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks comes home from school determined to be a comfort to dear papa and sets the good doctor and the entire town on their ears, with her brilliant manipulations.

The characters are wonderful, the story has lots of ups and downs that Lucilla is always capable of meeting with great ingenuity and fortitude. There are many wonderful moments and lots of laughter along with a few tears. Higly recommended, particularly for anyone who enjoys 19th century English literature.

Ian Gibson has written a very well researched biography of one of the most enigmatic artists the world has given birth to: Salvador Dali Domenech. Gibson tries to give a rather impartial portrayal of this man, hated by some, adored by others but considered to be a genious by all.
Sexually traumatized,insecure, extremely shy but at the same time self-centered, egocentric, excentric, exibitionist,superfitial, communist, anarachist, monarchist, conceited, a traitor to his own friends and ideals... A long etc wouldn't be enough to define who Dali really was.
He lived in a fascinating era where he met fascinating people such as: Andre Breton, luis Bunuel, Garcia Lorca, Lawrence Olivier, Coco Chanel, Picasso,Christian Dior, Helena Rubinstein etc. Dali played a vital part in popular culture both in Europe and America. However, he was also considered to be a "sell out" by many, specially after the 1940's. As he grew old he became more and more excentric, his paintings being more and more shocking.A greedy person, he sorrounded himself by a court of "grand grotesques" (Notably transexual Amanda Lear) to Finally succomb to neumonia in the late 1980's
Love him or hate him, but Dali is and was a unique personality without comparison.

Most biographies I've read, the opening chapters are a bore of mundane details of the person's childhood that are uninterestnig and nearly always read the same. In contrast, Ian Gibson's writing style is so lush, that even the detailed history of the Dali family before Salvador was born are compelling. Gibson gives you the feel of the Spanish countryside and the era in which Dali and his forefathers lived. Gibson is a careful biographer as well. Instead of taking Dali's own autobiography, "The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali," at face value, Gibson researches Dali's life and points out discrepencies and exaggerations of Dali writings. It led me to reread Dali's own writings and gave me further insight into the mind of the artist. I enjoyed reading about Dali's relationships with other painters (Surreal and otherwise), writers and poets such as Lorca, and his love of jazz. Far from a dry outline of a famous person's life, this book makes Dali come alive.

If you are looking for a complete documentary of Dali, here it is. Use it for school papers. But if you are looking for an enjoyable read of the life and times of Salvador Dali, that has yet to be written.

Gibson methodically lists each period of Dali's life in as much detail as is probably possible in anything shorter than an archive. Although the author's thorough research is commendable-- certainly he has done a service to art history-- this dedication often drowns the reader without revealing much passion. And if you didn't comprehend Dali's perversions and the psychoanalytical content of his works before reading this tome, you won't after, either.

If you want to be spoon fed Freudian explanations about what Dali's paintings mean, look for something else. But if you want a richly detailed, absolutely readable biography of Dali, this is it. I can't wait to read Gibson's biography of Lorca, but for now, I'm savoring this one and I only wish it were longer.

Well researched revisionist biography of one of the century's great artists. As the title implies, the author suggests that a key to understanding Dali is his feelings of shame. Dali suffered from almost paralizing bouts of shame as a child, and struggled (not always successfully) to work around or overcompensate for them. Those with a casual interest in Dali should start off with the artist's own "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali" for many insights and a more entertaining read. The "Shamefull Life" tries to find the story behind the story. My biggest objection to this book is Gibson's almost total dismissal of Dali's art after 1940, which I fear is a prejudice based more on politics than the Dali's art itself.

Ferber's timeless story of love, ambition and family dynamics remains as compelling today as when it first appeared in 1926. Providing an imperious yet insidious backdrop for the three main female characters, the mighty Mississippi River exerts its curiously compelling influence in the lives of Mother and Daughter, while the granddaughter remains indifferent to its fluid appeal. Yet the role of the theatre and the lure of the stage entice three generations of women related to Captain Andy.

Andy Hawks, past amateur actor and avid riverboatman,
braves his wife's horror and flounts her Puritannical authority by purchasing the Cotton Blossom--a floating theatre which plays to a variety of audiences in river towns all along the Mississippi and its tributaries. With childish delight he refurbishes the boat and assembles both a crew to run her and a troupe of actors to perform on the fluid, yellow trail. Prim and stern Parthy, his New England school-marmish wife, is scandalized but gradually succumbs to the charm of ruling the galley and becoming housekeeper-not to mention keeper of the Morals for the ungrateful members of the troupe. Reluctantly over the decades, she grows to revel in her new role as successful businesswoman. Despite lack of deep love for her dead husband, she maintains his dream, as does his only daughter, Magnolia.

The story opens with the birth of tiny Kim Ravenal, named for her proximity to three states, but successive chapters are entirely devoted to flashbacks which serve as detailed exposition. Ferber's use of time (both backward and forward) is as fluid as the milieu in which ten-year old Magnolia revels. Never so comfortable as on her father's floating home and theatre, Magnolia proves "truly splendid" when she enjoys a long-delayed Homecoming.

Each mother has trouble with her daughter, since two generations can trace certain traits and talents from unyielding Parthenia Ann Hawks, who even resisted the advance of Death-- the Conqueror. Presenting a kaleidoscope of family relations SHOWBOAT depicts Magnolia and her father's childlike conspiracy for joy; Magnolia's ultimate defiance of her mother; Kim's acting in loco parentis for her own mother, both as a young girl and later as a successful actress. Three marriages are paraded before readers, who are left to choose which one reveals the most tenderness and love.

Magnolia Hawks Ravenal grows to maturity after she leaves the
safe environment of the Cotton Blossom, as she proves a steadfast and loving wife and mother. She comes of age when she realizes that home is truly where her heart has always belonged.
A captivating read for everyone 16 and up.

The popularity of the Kern-Hammerstein musical, academia's refusal to include the work in the "canon" of regularly-taught American novels, the popular assumptions about the novel's datedness, sentimentality and racial stereotypes--these are some of the factors that have contributed to the comparative neglect of one of the most original, engaging narratives by an American novelist.

The so-called "modernist" tradition is one that casts suspicion upon any narrative that might be termed "melodramatic" in its plotting, tone and style. It's true that Ferber plays out the emotions of her characters, but she's equally adept at keeping those emotions in play. Her voice is so vital and strong, her narrative so multilayered in its social-psychological-cultural-archetypal meanings, that an open-minded reader cannot fail to become swept up in the force of her storytelling. Moreover, in her characterization of Magnolia, who defends her unstable marriage against her daughter's staid one and who prefers the tenderloin districts to the churches and parks of Chicago, Ferber reveals the subversiveness of a true artist, making the reader question common assumptions about the dual gods of "success" and "progress."

The river and the theater are not only Ferber's favorite settings but her metaphors for exploring the life of consciousness and explaining the forces that shape personality. Even when Gaylord and Magnolia abandon the river and take up residence in Chicago, the river lives in them, exposing by its constantly-felt presence what is alive and dead, what is enduring and transitory. Magnolia's daughter and her husband, the "new" American theater of New York, the "reformed" Chicago--all these are condemned less in the surface narrative than in the energy Ferber brings to the subjects that are closer to her heart: characters and places whose life traces its wellsprings to the river.

This is melodrama ("music drama') in the best sense of the word--Ferber's prose evoking the musical elements that invest the narrative with fullness and necessity. The African-American spirituals and folk songs that provide Magnolia's education in turn inform the reader of her values and understandings through the course of her life's journey. Moreover, the narrative's movement matches the river's: it creates unexpected channels, moving forward in time, then backward, a device that enables the narrative to provide a perspective on the past as something familiar, as a place we already know and treasure, a "spot of time" we've been missing and to which we wish to return.

But the melodrama also works here because Ferber constantly blurs the line between theater and life, letting us in on the "backstage" action that goes into playing a role and preparing a face. Magnolia blossoms only when she is on the stage, and Gaylord is never closer to authenticity than when he becomes an actor long enough to woo and marry Magnolia. Because Ferber presents her characters as deliberately assuming melodramatic parts, we don't see them as stereotypes as much as fellow beings taking on the roles required of us all to deal with life's changes as symbolized by the river.

The musical version has a happy ending, with no deaths, no permanent damage. The sentiments in Ferber's original, on the other hand, are at once higher and deeper--equal parts elegy, stoicism, endurance, resolve. Ferber's last sentence describing Magnolia is a replication of an earlier sentence describing her mother: "The river, the show boat, the straight silent figure were lost to view." By this time Ferber's words have become such an integral part of the reader's consciousness that there's little chance any of these three images will be lost to view.

Although she is somewhat neglected today, for more than three decades Edna Ferber was considered one of America's premiere authors. While her work included short stories and theatre, she was most famous for her novels, most of which focused on strong women coping with errant men in panoramic settings. SHOW BOAT was one of her first great successes. Today the story is better known through its musical theatre incarnation and the film versions the stage show generated, including the 1936 version directed by James Whale and starring Irene Dunne and the 1951 version directed by George Sidney and starring Katherine Grayson. But while the stage and screen versions have their charms, none really captures the epic nature of Ferber's novel, which is as much about America as it is about the story of post-Civil War show folk who ply their trade on "The Cotton Blossom"--a floating theatre that travels the nation's waterways, most particularly the mighty Mississippi.

The story concerns three generations of women: Parthenia Hawks, a ram-rod upright New Englander who heartily disapproves of her husband's decision to purchase a show boat and involve the family with actors, God forbid; her daughter Magnolia, whose fresh beauty eventually propells her fame as one of the most popular actresses on the river; and her granddaughter Kim, who becomes a Broadway star. But the backbone of the story concerns Magnolia's ill-fated love for ne'er-do-well gambler Gaylord Ravenal, a love that tests her strength to the last degree. Just as Magnolia has to change to meet her constantly shifting circumstances, so is the nation changing around her, gradually shifting from a rather innocent, rural society to a much more hardened and sophistocated urban world. And Magnolia's adventures will take her from the savage natural beauty of the mighty Mississippi to the gambling dens and brothels of 'Gilded Age' Chicago to the jumpiness of the 1920's 'Great White Way' of New York.

Ferber was more of a popular than a literary writer, and her style here is very much of the 1910s and 1920s--but her prose is strong and clean, her imagery is magnificent, and as she tells her episodic story of a life and a nation in transition she weaves a number of interesting threads into the tapestry: the poverty of the beaten South, racial oppression, social caste, hypocrisy, and changing tastes in fashion and art. And always, always there is the great river: indifferent to the humanity that clings to its banks and travels its back, by turns placid and savage, graceful and dangerous. Ultimately the river becomes a metaphor for both the rapid changes in America and for the often dangerous power of love, and unlike the stage and film versions there will be few happy endings for the characters as they are swept through life's torrent very much as the Cotton Blossom is swept along the currents. It is a memorable package, and while Ferber would go on to write a great many other novels (including the famous GIANT), SHOW BOAT is perhaps her single best work. Recommended.

Really good book; fast reading, engrossing. Blend of historical fact about show boats and Chicago, and fictional romance novel. Particularly detailed about Chicago. Grabbed me in the first few pages. Ferber's characters are very expertly and fully drawn, even if they were somewhat caricatured. Strong, strong women; mostly weak, but charming men. For those times, she shows great sympathy for the negro race. Ferber could flat-out write an an engaging tale.

My mother gave me this book because I like to read "trashy romance novels". This book sucked. I detested Magnolia's mother. I hated the racial slurs. The husband was a royal bastard. And the daughter treated Magnolia like a simpleton! But what can I say, she was close to it. Magnolia had no real personality and absolutely no backbone whatsoever. Although she was sweet and I admired how much the loved the river and the theater I could barely stand her at certain times in the novel. I had to force myself to finish the book. Although many of you may disagree with me and certainly the other people who gave reviews do. But I have a right to my opinion and decided that what I thought of this book should be up here to warn off others.

There were times when I was laughing at the characters and at the plot of the book. For instance there is plenty of filler and then comes the wait to find out who the great new singer taking Europe by storm is. And then the line. "It was Trilby!" If only they could see themselves. It was so obvious to the reader for pages and pages of filler.

The characters are a bit flat. Little Billee is some type of enamoured artist and Svengali is a demonic master of music, a simple sort of lovably dumb love interest, there's a disapproving worrying mother worried about social rank and you plug them in to the formula and you get a classic novel.

Sometimes I wonder where the art is in a book like this. In this instance it's mostly in the balance of the plot and the timing of suspense and the way the truth all unfolds at the end.

Like I said Svengali and Little Billee are a little one dimensional and at that their images are basically used as a plot device, and for the most part the author just tells you what the characters are like more than showing. So my main complaint is that Svengali wasn't as wicked or as mesmeric as I anticipated, basically he's just cheap and spits on Little Billee. Take it up another level of vagueness (hard to call it abstraction) and you've got a guy with a messed up face, a mask, and a protege calling himself the phantom of the opera.

These are the shortcomings of the book as I see them, but I can see why it's a classic the story/plot is well done, and the filler is well written, and occasionally entertaining, and occasionally you or I sort of laughed and identified with the the character-introspective passages, but I rarely felt for the characters genuinely.

The story essentially centres on the competition between two men for love of one woman, but ultimately each of them abuses her with their own notoins of ownership. It seems to focus on the nature by which we can kill those we love with strangulating beliefs of ownership and imposing standards of behaviour which kill the spirit of the being we direct them at.
Given that "ownership" was a strong theme in Victorian marriage, this book was being ultimately brave but it seems the audience at the time of it's release, revelled in it's horror form a gothic point of view, a hugely popular novel movement at the time.
It has taken time and changes in attitudes to see the themes beyond the story. This book still has enormous contempary resonance and is a disturbing but important read.

I was assigned this book for a class on Aesthetic and Decadant movements in Victorian British literature, and had never heard of it before then. However, I did enjoy it. It has a sardonic but good-natured tone that is winning, and it's not surprising that Du Maurier was greatly influenced by Thackeray; they share the same subtle sting in their prose.
Unfortunately, contrasting with the entertainment value in the novel, there is little of substance, unless one wishes to dig back into the social mileau of the time, which included many anxieties expressed in this book. It is interesting in this context, but I don't know if I would have done the work on my own without the class to guide me.
So, if you want some light entertainment of the Victorian variety, I definitely recommend this book to you--otherwise, look elsewhere.

Reading "Trilby" is like listening to a lively, friendly raconteur taking you into his confidence. All the characters are interesting and lovable despite their faults. Ultimately, du Maurier even has a soft spot for Svengali. Sentimental, yes...but effervescent and with a broad tolerance for life and human weaknesses. It's a fun, memorable read and easy to see why it was a huge hit of the 1890's.

The book which put "Svengali" into the English language. I had heard of this book long ago, of course, though i can't remember whether it was first from learning about Svengali or finding out that du Maurier was Daphne du Maurier's father. But i had never read it. In a way i'm glad i didn't, becuase that has given me the opportunity to read it now, for the first time. It has taken me a little longer than i might have expected, but was well worth the time. The story of the tragic Trilby, who cannot sing a note to save her life, and how she is moulded into the singer who takes Europe by storm, by the evil (?)(i'm not sure) musician Svengali, who uses mesmerism of some kind to play her as an instrument. The story is told from the persepective of three Englishmen who lived in Paris during the time Trilby was an artists' model, before she fell under Svengali's spell. The three, Taffy, the Laird, and Little Billee, who was her fiancé at one point, briefly, are artists, of a sort; they love Trilby for herself, and are devastated when she is removed from them by events. Naturally, they are shocked by her reappearance in the world of Culture. But they are delighted at the possibility of renewing her acquaintance.

I could wish that du Maurier had not been so cute with his French as "spoken" by the English. I could wish that there is less French altogether, as it does slow down the reading ~ perhaps one reason "Trilby" isn't read any more (is it?). It does generate an atmosphere, though, and you begin to know what Western Europe was like in the middle years of two centuries ago. This edition, Dover, has over a hundred illustrations by du Maurier, who had made his name as a cartoonist for Punch. They are lovely, and add immeasurably to the book.

This is to say "Well Done" to the seller, Colorado Mist Sanctuary...they were great!! Received notification of receipt of my order and next day shipment within 24 hrs of placing my order. The book is brand new although I purchased a "used book". All monies (minus Amazon's commission) go towards last chance help (feed, vet bills, etc) for wildlife and horses. They have no public funding and I was very pleased to not only receive a great book, but to help in the rescue of hurting animals at the same time. I highly recommend their organization for purchasing books. Amazing service, great reason to buy and enjoy a good book.

This book was given to me on my sixteenth birthday from my Dad; naturally I will cherish it always. Dad is a very wise man and he knew that this was the perfect book for an impressionable young lady with her whole life ahead of her. This book truly makes me understand that "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Proverbs 25:11

"Apples of Gold" contains short sayings of wisdom about numerous virtues WE ALL should strive to attain. These virtues are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE Galations 5:22-23; entitled "The Fruits of the Spirit." These 9 "fruits" are the table of contents of this book: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONG SUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS and TEMPERANCE.

My favorite saying in each chapter is:

LOVE: "Success in marriage is much more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person."

JOY: "Just think how happy you'd be if you lost everything you have right now--and then got it back again."

PEACE: "That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."

LONG SUFFERING: "A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to its job."

GENTLENESS: "True nobility comes of the gentle heart."

GOODNESS: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

FAITH: "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."

MEEKNESS: "The best medicine for you to take is yourself--with a grain of salt."

TEMPERANCE: "Wise men aren't always silent, but know when to be."

"EVERYTHING HAS BEEN THOUGHT OF BEFORE... THE DIFFICULTY IS TO THINK OF IT AGAIN."

Now do you understand why I treasure this book? Go buy it! This is a keeper folks!

WHENEVER I NEED A LITTLE PICK ME UP, I FIND MYSELF GOING BACK TOTHIS BOOK, AGAIN AND AGAIN. THE PHRASES SEEM TO ACQUIRE A NEW MEANING ASTIME PROGRESSES AND AS SPIRITUAL NEEDS CHANGE.

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK YEARS AGO, READ IT AND FORGOT ABOUT IT. HOWEVER, YEARS LATER HAVING LOST TRACK OF ITS WHEREABOUTS, I FIND MYSELF REMEMBERING BITS AND PIECES OF THE GEMS HELD WITHIN. I'M PLACING AN ORDER FOR A 2ND COPY SO IN MY OLD AGE I AM NOT WITHOUT WHEN I NEED A LITTLE REMEMBERENCE.

Jo Petty certainly has a real winner with "Apples of Gold". I am over fifty and can relate to many of the phrases quoted by the compiler. The book generated rather mixed reviews from my young granddaughter who seemed bewildered at some of the outdated metaphors. However, to most of us "oldsters", we are quickly able to grasp the wisdom behind the phrase.

I do home recording as a hobby. In the past I have taken recording classes and usually ended up getting bogged down in the science. But as a hobbist I always wanted something that would show me how to do things in the studio in a fun and practicle manner - something I would want to wrap my hands and head around. Finally Bill Gibson has produced it. I bought all three books. I love the CD's and the work examples. I have taken some of the concepts and reproduced them in my own project studio. What a diffence it makes! My musician friends are very pleased with the improved quality of our sessions and recordings. Let's face it: From a fundamental level quality recording is really a very hard thing to do. This series of books makes it easier and fun. Thanks Bill!

The best part of this book is the 2-cd set which contains a plethora of samples. The samples all describe various scenarios of compression, limiting, microphone strategy, enhancement, you name it. I was impressed with the authors articulation toward a brand new user.

However, I was expecting a "Comprehensive Guide." The book was quite basic and never got past the fundamentals of anything. Common sense topics such as reverb literally go on for pages and pages. For example, it takes 3 pages to explain the punch-in process on a 4-track.

Speaking of punch-in, this document is targeted at people using tape. PC users should investigate another document, there are however 12 pages dedicated to 4-track usage.

I'll warn you, most of the samples are things you could do with your own effects. "Here's a violin with no reverb. Here's the same violin with hall reverb," etc.

What really frustrated us was that there are endless references to sections in Volume I. It interrupts the flow of the book. I feel that the author misled me. I was tricked into buying half a book. I can't return the book because I opened the cd already.

This is a great book if you are new to the concept of recording your music and want to be eased into it.

The Audio Pro Home Recording Course (a comprehensive multimedia audio recording text) excelled in showing basics like mike placement augmented with audio clips that let you hear what the text wrote about. It started off too basic, then built to great interest, then faded fast with too much that was too basic and too little that was important. Like, lots of clips about where to place a mic over a drum set, but little to nothing on how to set various effects and processes. The cover picture shows an engineer at the console looking at artists performing, but not a piece of paper in sight to show who does what, what notes to take, how to keep records, how to create a decision making process and who to include it. This is only Vol. I. It apparently takes all three volumes to be be "comprehensive", so prepare to invest in all to get the gems found in each one. I learned a lot, there were reference gems to treasure, but "comperehensive", well, I'd need to spend another $[money] to know the rest of the plot.

A real course on recording and mixing techniques. The 2 supplied CDs are full of examples (each one explained in the book) which let you listen to what happens when you do so and so. Of course is better for you to re-apply what you learn on your own gear, but listening to the CD is like attending a course with a teacher explaining.
Be careful that this is the SECOND volume of a serie of three, so it is better to start from the first. In my opinion this is not clearly stated in Amazon site. In any way, I had no great problems starting from volume II.

P.S.: I have some experience, but I'm definitely not a professional engineer. The book is clear enough to be understood by anyone who has carefully read the manuals of your mixer, recorder and other gear you currently use.

First... take a close look at the cover. This is volume 2 of the series. I didn't notice and was a bit miffed when I opened my box. Still, it stands alone just fine (though I still wonder what I'm missing). It is not quite as advanced as I was hoping for, but is good for the beginner or intermediate studio operator. The sound samples of different effects and settings are really quite helpful -- but listen on good headphones or monitors for the best benefit.

I found this book to be a beautiful, well-written distraction - a great rainy-day-long-weekend-nothing-better-to-do-but-relax-and-read read. I loved the characters, the unfolding story, the atmosphere and the solemn, albeit joyful ending. Uncle Joseph...and the surly Andrew Treverton, characters whom you might regard as one-dimensional give the novel dimension and feeling.

A book I have borrowed and will part with soon enough, I think it is something I would eventually like to add to my own library. It is a novel that nourishes... the pages often fly by without you noticing. I put off reading the end because I didn't want it to end. What else can one say? If you like Collins - and this is perhaps one of the better earlier novels - I'd say jump in. (I still have to read "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White"...getting there...things to do, books to read... if there was world enough and time....).

That's that.

The story begins with Mrs. Treverton on her deathbed who charges her maid, Sarah Leeson, with revealing a castastrophic secret that they share to Mr. Treverton. But after Mrs. Trevorton dies, Sarah can not face revealing this devastating secret to her master and decides to hide the letter containing the secret in an uninhabited part of the house. After she flees, the story picks up 15 years later observing Mrs. Treverton's newly wed daughter, Rosamund, and her husband, Leonard. The Secret hidden by Sarah holds bad tidings for them, and the rest of the novel revolves around how this secret is finally revealed. The big difference between this and Collins' better novels is the lack of characterization in this one. Although Sarah attracts the interest and sympathy of the reader and Uncle Joseph provides a nice dose of innocence and heartfelt kindness, the rest of the characters fail to strike an emotional chord. The servants are also not nearly as interesting as they are in Collins' masterpiece, The Moonstone. Knowing that the secret letter would negatively affect the happy couple instills the reader with a feeling of dread and anticipation, but once the secret was revealed, the story was fairly predictable. If you've read some of Collins' other novels and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one too. Just don't expect anything jaw-dropping compared to his better known novels like The Moonstone or The Woman in White. Collins was a fantastic writer, who's sadly now commonly neglected.

The more I read of Wilkie Collin's impressive body of work, I come to believe he is the greatest of the largely forgotten writers of the 19th century. While I certainly enjoy some of the Jane Austen novels being dramatized on PBS, I think this book and certainly the fantastic Woman in White would captivate modern viewers. Many of the scenes in this novel are very theatrical and I think would look translate great to television. Maybe his revival will come someday! Like his other books and stories, The Dead Secret tells the story of a "fallen woman", a favorite topic of many Victorian authors, but many of the themes here, such as the loss and transformation of identity, are strikingly modern. This is not Collin's best novel by far it is no less entertaining and a book that is very hard to put down. Plus Mozart's Don Giovanni (Collins' favorite composer) plays a small role in the novel, which is always a treat!

Wilkie Collins wrote "The Dead Secret" early in his career as a novelist, and his inexperience shows here--but the Collins aficionado will welcome the opportunity to see how his gifts first manifest themselves in this relatively simple story. He gathers together all the usual suspects: a wealthy family, an old house, a charming child, and the member of the house staff who harbors the secret in question. While Collins falls short in his effort to sketch an unrequited yearning (I can't go into more detail if you haven't read the book), he does a beautiful job of portraying the subtle class differences and behaviors in this particular house.

Mrs Treverton, who is not expected to live through the night, summons her lady's maid, Sarah Leeson, to her side. Their hushed conversation reveals that, many years ago, Sarah and Mrs Treverton conspired together to cover up a devastating family secret. With her death fast approaching, Mrs Treverton demands the expiation of that guilt and attempts to force Sarah to reveal the details of the secret to her husband by giving him the hand-written confession which they prepare and sign together that night. While the timid, brow-beaten Sarah is unable to muster the mental courage to destroy the note, she somehow pulls her thoughts together and finds the strength to hide the note in a long abandoned room in Porthgenna mansion in order to keep the secret hidden from her master. When she sees the stricken Captain Treverton weeping, mourning his wife's death by hugging their infant daughter, Rosamond, and asking the baby for her comfort in dealing with his grief, Sarah realizes that the hypocrisy necessary to stay at Porthgenna mansion while the note was hidden there is beyond her and she flees into the night!

The story resumes some fifteen years later as an adult Rosamond, newly married to her loving squire, Leonard Frankland, inherits Porthgenna mansion and they make plans to implement a program of renovations which will restore the estate to its former glory. A series of coincidences result in Sarah encountering Rosamond and coming to the horrifying realization that the secret is in imminent danger of being brought to light! At that point, the messy stuff hits the fan and the balance of this wonderful classic novel is spent unearthing the sordid details of the secret and its emotional and practical impact on each of the characters that Collins has so lovingly and skillfully constructed.

"The Dead Secret", the last of the so-called apprentice novels that Collins wrote before he vaulted to fame as an acknowledged master of English literature with the publication of "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone" is a superb example of the stereotypical Victorian sensation novel - Sarah Leeson, the timid, socially naïve, weak-willed and fundamentally flawed female victim of a selfish conspiracy that revolves around the hidden details of Rosamond's birth and inheritance; as an actress, an occupation in Victorian England of suspect virtue and credibility, Mrs Treverton is subject to vicious contempt from the misanthropic Andrew Treverton, her brother-in-law, who shares rooms with the equally spiteful Shrowl; a well to do woman with a dark secret that may or may not involve a criminal act; an inheritance in question; tragedy, irony, drama, outrageous comic relief and even a ghost! What more delicious menu could the most discriminating reader of Victorian fiction hope for?

Paul Weiss

"Ghosts", while not as famous as Ibsen's "A Doll's House", is clearly an interesting piece of writing. Nobody denies that. It is an interesting book to analyze, it's a quick read, but very deep, and it leaves a very strong impression on you.

"Ghosts" is in a sense, like "A Doll's House", about something that while still frowned upon today, is much more acceptable. In "Ghosts" there is the theme of the "sins of fathers", and the father's sins are brought to light. Mrs. Alving has been keeping secrets for a very long time, and here is where, through her ghosts, she reveals them.

Well, perhaps it's not as simple as that. The plot is intriguing, the plot twists are surprising, and the ending is disturbingly good. Ibsen created a fascinating story and masterpiece when he wrote "Ghosts", and it's absolutely superb. I highly recommend reading this play to anyone, especially if you liked Ibsen's other works.

Note: I don't suggest buying this play alone in a book like this, though. You might as well buy a book with several of Ibsens plays for the same amount of money, and then you'll get "A Doll's House" too.

Though Ibsen is a little bit dated, more so than his successor, Knut Hamsen, he is still one of the greatest minds to come out of Norway and is arguably the father of the modern drama - and also to some extent, the father of the modern novel. He initiated the style which was later taken up by Franz Kafka, Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer), Roman Payne (Crepuscule). Ghosts is a quick read. Dover Thrift Editions makes the price definitely worth it. A must-read once in your life. Highly recommended.

I chose this book to read and analyse a couple of years ago. It seemed to have simple meaning, but the more I tried to analyse, the more outstanding I found the book, and far from simple.
Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone.

I chose this book to read and analyse a couple of years ago. It seemed to have simple meaning, but the more I tried to analyse, the more outstanding I found the book, and far from simple.
Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone.

Although Henrik Ibsen is the first great modern dramatist, his play "Ghosts" ("Gengangere") bears a strong similarity to ancient Greek drama, where the "tragic flaw" of the protagonist lives on in his children. However, in this story the curse on the Alving family has a medical basis. Published in 1881 but not performed until the next year because of its controversial subject matter, "Ghosts" deals with the impact of congenital venereal disease on a family. "Ghosts" strongly reflects Ibsen's desire to attack hypocrisy and conventional morality and caused even more of a furor that his previous drama, "A Doll's House."

Helen Alving is building an orphanage as a memorial to her late husband and the night before the dedication she confesses to her old friend Parson Manders that her husband had been a "degenerate," and she is building the orphanage using her husband's "dirty" money so only her own money will pass on to her son, Oswald, who has just returned from living abroad. But then Oswald confesses he has a debilitating, incurable disease that the doctors believe was inherited. Even from beyond the grave, the "ghost" of Captain Alving ruins the life of his family. Mrs. Alving has to confess her husband's past to their son, destroying the young man's idealized view of his father. Knowing he is dying, Oswald wants to seduce the maid, Regina, so that when he enters the next stage of the disease she will give him poison. Oswald does not care that Regina is really his half-sister, and in the end it will be his mother's decision whether or not to give her son the poison when Oswald begins to have his attack.

The ending of the play constitutes a Rorschach test for the audience, with Ibsen refusing to let them off the hook. "Ghosts" is probably the Ibsen drama that relies most on symbolism, from the heavy use of light/dark imagery to the purifying aspects of fire, to the obvious symbolism of ghosts. Consequently, I think this makes "Ghosts" one of the easier plays by Ibsen for students to analyze. Final Argument: Reading Ibsen's plays in order has greater benefit than usual when reading the works of a single author. If you read "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "An Enemy of the People," and "The Wild Duck," then you will see the playwright struggling to find a play that will reflect his deeply held beliefs and also find widespread critical and public acceptance. The relationship between each set of plays in the progression becomes insightful, as Ibsen either extends or reverses elements of the previous drama. For teachers of drama there might not be a better quartet of plays to study to show the growth of a major dramatist.

If you know nothing about guitars and want some nice pictures (courtesy of George Gruhn), then this might be the one for you...if you can find a copy (not cuz they are sold out, but because Gibson won't release any more of them)...This book was obviously written while the author was employed at Gibson, and heavily edited by them too...there are rare pictures of rockers (who usually played other guitars) with Gibsons strapped on...the text is slanted towards Gibson throughout, I mean, it is about Gibson and published by them too..constantly making it seem like musical instrument makers are indentured servants and the companies are having this fierce war with each other, and to survive and try just to break even...and the author is constantly bashing management techniques, even Gibsons', which is irrelevant and unimportant...its way too dramatic...music and its instruments can speak for themselves...

This book delivers an intricate history of one of the most well-known and respected musical instrument manufacturers in the world today. Gibson Guitars: 100 Years of an American Icon is comprised of a series of articles edited together by Walter Carter. The articles chronicle the entire span if the company from Orville Gibson's humble beginnings to the goliath manufacturer the company is today. This article setup is helpful in dividing the detailed account into multiple segments, each specific to a certain time period, person or instrument. It also provides the reader with an ever changing smorgasbord of authorial voice. All of the different sections are jam packed with full color photographs and illustrations, each with their own explanatory caption.

The articles are grouped into seven main categories named for the company's owner(s) during a specific period of time. This makes the book a powerful reference for those wishing to study Gibson at specific points in the history of the company. It also allows the different segments to include and elaborate on Gibson's influence toward specific musical styles of the last century.

However, with the exception of the Les Paul, it seems that those wanting to study particular Gibson instruments in detail will find that the book falls a little short. While it does mention and describe some of the classic instruments the company is responsible for, it does not go into any sort of depth with regard to guitar specifics and some of the lesser-known and rarer models are not even mentioned at all.

Overall, this is a well-rounded account of the Gibson company and its history, but those seeking a reference book of all the fine instruments Gibson is responsible for might be a little disappointed.

Anyone with an interest in music, whether it be a curiosity over which guitar (The Super 400) that Roy Rogers played, to the very stars themselves, like Little Jimmy Dickens, Emmylou Harris or Cindy Walker, will be delighted with the 314 page history of Gibson USA, GPG's "Gibson GUITARS: 100 Years of an American Icon," by Walter Carter. ISBN # 1-57544-014-8.

This amazing collaboration of works (every specialist or researcher methodically chronicles each and every era of Gibson's ownership, management, philosophy, stars, and more, epoch by epoch) is jam packed with information on the performers, their instruments, carefully interwoven with a history of the fast changing musical trends of the times. Gibson nearly always lead the way, from the very beginning, and how they did it is clearly, concisely written about here.

From fans of mandolins, laptops, archtops, dreadnaught acoustics, and the rock and roll heritage of Gibson solid body and semi-hollow electri! ! cs (which in the industry, generates something known as 'THE TONE') will get more than their money's worth from this veritable chronicle of the company's entire history, beginning with the day Orville H. Gibson conceived his first guitar.

Each and every era is given full coverage, from the artists and their instruments of the 1930's, generation by generation, all the way to fans of rock legends Jimmy Page and Pete Townsend, will find everything they ever wanted in a book on GIBSON, in this work. And, frankly, far from being a Gibson-is-the-only-way ad, this book frankly, if brutally, deals with the steep decline of Gibson under Ecuadorian railroad and beer distributors, in the early 1980's, the loss in quality, and the modern day heros that rescued the legendary manufacturer from certain extinction, to pre-eminent leadership yet again, and perhaps greater status (and quality) than ever known before.

This an exemplary book, graciously adorned with plenty of pictures of m! ! int condition Vintage (read 1930, 1940 and 1950 - and later! ) Gibson Instruments from various vintage collectors such as George Gruhn. In my opinion, this book rates FIVE (5) stars PLUS, and is a must read for anyone who ever wondered about the music of the 20th century: who created it, and what devices were used in doing it. There are some technical schematics to please the most picky purists.

If you are interested in any area of American music, you will more than likely find some reference to it in this book. So will your parents, and maybe your grandparents! There is something for everyone in this enjoyable and fascinating story of a modern musical legend.

This book, GIBSON GUITARS: 100 YEARS AS AN AMERICAN ICON, by Walter Carter (ISBN 1-57544-014-8) is one powerful book on THE most legendary musical instrument company of our time. To give you an idea how riveting it was, I was up 3 nites until 3 a.m. reading it. I CAN HARDLY SEE I AM SO TIRED, YET SO GEARED UP. This is complex, comprehensive and filled with substantial and very subtle information, on both the instruments and Gibson artists. Gibson builds the best looking, best sounding instruments, bar none. Check out page 234 for a little sample of one of the thousands of nuances every player and collector will cherish. Jimmy Page, no doubt playing Stairway, is on the usual over/under 12/6 SG; BUT, note the regular humbuckers to catch the beautiful ambience of the acoustic side. But when it comes to the lead, he has two double coil flamethrowers, the 496R and 500T's, the best ceramic pickups ever made, under the 6 string neck! This book is powerful, beautiful, and extr! ! emely interesting. THE BOOK on the making of a musical legend. I cannot wait to see what the next 100 years will be like for Gibson, because they are getting better by the day, and they have tricks up their sleeve we can only imagine. EXQUISITE!

Gibson has unleashed a propaganda piece on an unsuspecting audience of guitar freaks. By having their in-house historian write it and by publishing it themselves, Gibson has ensured that they retain complete editorial control over all of the content. Here's an example of the hypebole that is present throughout the book: in reference to the oncoming wave of solid body electrics Walter Carter writes, "...Gibson would lead rather than follow the pack as the electric guitar era began to take shape." I think Leo Fender would take exception to that statement if he were still around. The book features lots of well-known players with a Gibson in their hands. The captions border on outright fraud. "Jimi Hendrix reached new guitar heights with an SG Custom." Gee, I thought that 99% of his playing was on a Fender Stratocaster. "Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards plays a custom single-pickup L-55." Maybe he does in that picture, but any casual Stones fan will tell you that Keef plays a Tele. There are countless other examples of this type of misreprensentation. As much as I dislike that lame marketing approach, I completely despise the self-congratulatory chapter on the trio of Harvard guys who bought the company in 1986. I personally think they have done more to damage the image of Gibson in the eyes of players than Norlin ever did. They even went so far as to include a staged photo of Juszkiewicz between rounds in a boxing match with the caption: "Berryman and Zebrowski revive Juszkiewicz after a tough round in a negotiations course at Harvard business school." It's almost too much to stomach.

Having said all of that, the book is not completely without merit though. If you are a diehard Gibson fan and already own Duchossoir's essential book "Gibson Electrics - The Classic Years," then this book may make a nice, if somewhat trivial, addition to your collection of guitar books.