Gray Books

Marriage that works is work is a welcomed arrival.What Dr.Gray has done through his pulpit,marriage conferences,seminars and retreats,he now offers through his pen.This book is an invitation to earnestly put into practice a simple,positive program of matchless potential."Marriage that works is work" effectively answers the questions men and women ask about sexual happiness in marriage.There are many books on marriage today.Some are simple(too simple).Others are profound(too profound).Here is an exciting,informative,inspirational book that is "simply profound."
Bill Poore,Lancaster,S.C.

This is what is needed by every male and female. Just when you where sure that we could not get a long this book set arrives. Dr. Gray gives very common sense approaches as to why we do what we do and then tells us how to fix it. A must read for everyone!

I have so far heard 5 of the cassettes (which I borrowed from the library) and I really like it so far. The material is very good, concise and well narrated. Being my first audio book, I was really hooked on the examples provided, easy to follow material and straight forward delivery.

El libro es una excelente guía para entender cómo las relaciones humanas pueden arruinarse por no saber comprender al otro y lo mejor es que puede ser una excelente guía para intentar salvar una relación.
La lectura es fácil y entretenida con ejemplos concretos de situaciones reales... Altamante recomendable para aquellos que quieren conocer al otro sexo y tratar de mantener una sana relación de pareja

This is simply a great collection. Marvel, in an attempt to bring the Wild West genre back to comics, has put everything they can into this book. If you're even slightly interested in two-gun heroes, wild fillies of the fighting persuasion, and just good, old-fashioned Texan yarns, this book is for you. The action here is all-out but also thoughtful. WARNING: SPOILERS HEREAFTER. Steve Englehart's Black Rider-tale, "Black Homecoming," is full of fighting and shooting but also is a story about one's responsibility to family when you realize that someone you once respected is a villainous, treacherous, horrible manipulator of other people's bad circumstances. Jeff Parker's "Hurricane" and the character of the same name contains so much potential for violence that the obscene amount of bullets needed for it doesn't seem gratuitous only because the story is so well written and also because of the fact that it centers around his attempt to restore an Indian woman to her people. You get all-out hilarity from Keith Giffen's and Robert Flemming's creation, "Tall Tale," which is in all actuality a very short tale about a midget who in the first panel falls what looks like ten feet from his horse and hits the ground running from that point on until he's in love with ventriloquist's female dummy! You get some weird stuff, like She Hulk riding with a 21st (22nd?)-Century Two Gun Kid on a horse-cycle-hover-craft thing, a tale written by Dan Slott that actually turns out to be very, very good. He starts the tale on a seemingly impossibly stupid stunt, but shifts gears to go back in time to an excellent Western tale and then speeds back up to the present for a very satisfying conclusion. Then there's the appearance of Skrulls in Gray's & Palmiotti's Kid Colt and Arizona Annie tale that, to be honest, just didn't work for me. Well, okay, the line "Prepare yourself for the smell of roast lizard" before she blows up a whole saloon full of Skrulls was pretty darn cool. "The Man From Fort Rango" and "The Legend of Red Wolf" (which is probably the most famous and fan-favorite of the stories that were touted when the new line of Marvel Westerns was published in 2006) are two gripping stories about conflict between whites and Indians, but Red Wolf is undoubtedly the better of the two. There's nothing like seeing an Indian with the power of The Wolf behind him when his people have been massacred. My favorite story here is Joe Lansdale's (writer) and Rafa Garres's (artist) "Gunhawk: The Midnight Gun," a philosophical tale about getting what you ask for and why you should be careful in the asking. Garres's art is like a dark Kyle Hotz; very neat stuff. And then you also get several Kid Colt and Rawhide Kid reprints written by Stan Lee, whose writing was actually better than it's given credit for here, and drawn by Jack King Kirby. Kirby could draw anything, and it's great to see the warped craziness that he can even fit into a Western. Here it's a psychedelic walking Totem Pole bent on revenge, rage, and destruction! If that wasn't enough you get a very lengthy, thorough, and exhaustive collection of Marvel Western character files that will please any true Spaghetti-Western connoisseur; it talks about everything from the comics to the movies and the tales behind the tales as well as, in some cases, the rest of the story. If you have any inclination toward trying these stories, I would highly recommend your doing so. This is a beautifully bound book, with excellent covers by Marshall Rogers (the first issue) and Eric Powell (the rest), and it serves as one instance in which Marvel did everything they could to truly give the fans everything they could rather than taking them for a half-hearted marketing spin. This is a true homerun, and I, for one, hopes it helps revitalize the Western comic market. Better than that, I hope you'll read it and start seeing them dust bunnies in your house as dust devils and start staring folks down and slapping your hip when you think someone's insulted your mom or hoss. Okay, okay, just give it a try!

Of all the nations on earth, tiny scotland has one of the most colorful histories,and noone brings that history to life quite like Nigel Tranter. The Master of Gray trilogy is Tranter at his best. His portrayal of the infamous Patrick Gray is superb. One is constantly torn between admiration & disgust of this clever and beguiling intriguer, once dubbed `the most handsome man in Europe'. Alongside this dashing figure sits the bumbling, slobbering figure of JamesI & VI of England & Scotland, a beautifully inept character with his broad scots accent and unsavory habits who nevertheless shows flashes of genius and keeps the reader guessing right to the end. The settings are spectacular and beautifully written, and the plot twists and turns like a serpent on a hotplate! If you have no interest in Scottish history this book will remedy that. Highly reccomended.

7.24.99 SJW *****

This is something of a book review, but also a commentary on the Mathematica package. My background is a recent MS in Computer Science. My interest in Mathematica is as a thinking tool for Programmer/Analysts or R&D Prototypers.

John Gray's book comes with a CD-ROM including the entire text of the book (the book was produced using Mathematica) as well as help files which can easily be integrated into the resources of the Mathematica Help Browser.

The book is well laid out (see the Table of Contents at amazon.com) topically, starting with very basic usage of the math abilities, and the user interface, then moving on to programming styles using Mathematica and methods of representing information in Mathematica. (All major commands in the Mathematica package are searchable, topical resources are available via documentation chapters on that topic, and explanatory text is hyperlinked in html format.)

The book's style is absolutely functional, and is targeted at users who have at least a threshhold knowledge of modern programming. Much of the material somewhat assumes that the reader has read enough using the Help Browswer with its on-line manual to be able to operate the notebook interface. Examples are given for almost every topic (the examples are executable in Mathematica, as the text of the book is in the form of a Mathematica notebook), although the specifics of each example are not necessarily explained.

As a programmer, the most amazing revelation of Gray's book is the degree to which the Mathematica package is programmable. Of course, procedural commands are built in to allow the coding of procedural algorithms (these commands have the form of generic pseudocode commands, or "near-C"). But Gray gives examples of programming using functions (recursion is allowed), as well as instructions re o-o and constraint (rule-based) styles of programming. (Note that Mathematica has built in pattern matching notations--especially useful for rule-based programming.)

In short, not only is Mathematica a completely integrated symbolic/numeric advanced math utility with integrated graphics and statistical packages, but it also has its own virtual operating system (full file i/o controls), and it allows the user to write rule-based programs (such as LISP or Prolog interpreters) which have full access to all of the built in Mathematica abilities, and to custom compiled components which the user has written.

Because all Mathematica's abilities are integrated, data can easily be displayed graphically, allowing visual debugging of difficult algorithms, or analysis (or reports). Gray provides a few examples of the visual display of algorithms.

The bottom line is that Mathematica is an astounding prototyping tool, as well as being the best graduate CS math utility I have used. And John Gray's book opens up these possibilities to the reader. Savor the possibilities!

Eden Gray gave modern Tarot its real start. She saw a need for clear and concise references, and she created them herself. To her we owe a great debt, and on her shoulders, modern authors stand.

The piece illustrating the cover is the highlight of this incredible collection. It is known as the Lilies of the Valley Basket. The moss is pure spun gold, the basket gold, the flowers are pearls with highlights of diamonds. The entire basket is made up of yellow and green golds, silver, nephrite, pearls, and rose cut diamonds. All the pieces in this collection are gorgeous-- absolutely amazing. This work was a favorite of Czarina Alexandra and was created in 1896.

This 57-piece collection includes three Imperial eggs. The Imperial Caucasus Egg was a gift from Czar Alexander in 1893. The portraits on this egg are covered by magnificant and ornate doors that open up to reveal miniature portraits of the Grand Duke and Abastuman, the Royal Lodge. It was created with yellow and quatre-colored gold, silver, platinum, guilloche enamel, diamonds, pearl, crystal, and ivory. Stunning.

Also included here are the Imperial Danish Palaces Egg which was given to the Czarina by Czar Alexander III. This one is light pink enamel but includes a fold out panel which holds 10 pictures of the royal residences in Denmark and Russia.

The last egg is the Imperial Napoleonic Egg and marked the 100th anniversary of the Russian defeat of Napoleon. Larger than the other eggs, there is a six panel fold out revealing the six regiments and the Dowager Empress as their honorary colonel. The materials used here were gold, enamel, diamonds, platinum, ivory, gouache, velvet, and silk. Exquisite.

There are also several pairs of opera glasses (rose and green gold, tri-color gold, anamel, silver, diamonds), perfume bottles, cigarette cases, trinkets, an inkwell (bowerite, silver, enamel, and glass) and small items of jewelry, such as rings.

The floral works, however, are the most highly admired pieces by historians and there are 18 other floral works in this collection besides the Lilies of the Valley basket. The flowers and leaves are made of carved semi-precious stones and adorned with diamonds and other gems, as well as gold. They are lavish and ornate. The Orange Blossom Spray, for instance, has leaves and petals made of quartzite, olivine, nephrite, rock crystal, with gold stems.

I was fortunate to view this magnificent collection this week and was duly impressed. This 160 page book (catalog, really) is full of beautiful color photos and descriptions of each masterpiece. It also explains the origin of this collection while giving more information about Matilda Geddings Gray.

Matilda Geddings Gray began collecting these works in the 1930s. At different times she was offered an immense amount of money to return these items to Russia. She always declined and the foundation she created has also declined to sell them. They are permanently housed in the New Orleans Museum of Art, but are presently out on loan to a nearby museum.

Just as it states, and highly recommended!

Even if you might think you are college-bound in the future, or even as a part-timer, I'd recommend this excellent short book as your own personal 'prep' and 'refresher' in math before you get there. Then, you will do well!

Also for those already at college who may not feel particularly strong in math (most of us!). Just go through this book, slowly, by yourself and at your own pace (and convenience!), and you'll learn and remember more than sitting in a 100 prof lectures!

Highly recommended, and a terrific textbook value for the price.