Harris Books

This large format book has two major appeals: the beautiful paintings that illustrate the planes - and the nicely written biographical pieces. Each section averages about 3 pages, some more, some less. Typically there are 2-3 small photos and 3-4 paintings (some large) per story. There are about 60 such sections, each on a famous flyer or flight. This a much more international selection than you're used to seeing.

While the stories are fascinating, it's the paintings that will draw you back again and again to this book. They appear to be a mixture of oils and watercolors I think (I'm no artist!). Many are beautiful action scenes; all show great detail.

This is the kind of book that will inspire you to go buy a cheap set of watercolors and see if you can capture some of this magic yourself!

Highly recommended.

This well-illustrated and well-written book will fill in some of the interesting missing chapters from the story of flight. Any student of flight's first century will have developed a mental catalog of the famous fliers of the period. In this collection of refreshing biographies that Bruce Harris has woven together, most of those particular names will prove to be missing. In their place are over two hundred of the less recognized pioneers of flight. In reading this book, I will hazard to guess that you'll meet at least two dozen people for the first time. Fill in a few missing chapters from the story of flight from the pages of this well-researched and enjoyable book.

Well....it's an interesting story how I came upon this book..but basically..I'm a crispin Glover fan, and knew there was only one way to receive one movie he did, and that was to kiss the directors Butt. Which I did so in email, he was more than happy to sell me a copy of the movie, and in the package, was this book..signed "merry x-mas, trent harris". What an unexpected surprise!!! But even more so, was how great this book was! I was not expecting it to be that interesting...a very short book about a trip to Africa...but low and behold! I found myself laughing out loud ATLEAST 3 times per page! I am a busy working mother, and I read this book withen 2 or 3 hours in two days, i DEVOURED it! This book was insightful and incredibly moving....( not to mention a bit embarrassing..being in the dr.s office and suddenly bursting into laughter) I definatly recommend this book to anyone with a weird or off set of humor..it was fantastic!

This is the honest, funny and eye opening tale of Trent Harris, director of the cult film Rubin and Ed. The story begins when the film is released which coincides with the LA riots in 1992.
"It was 1992. People were against me. No one in LA would give me a job. No one would invite me to a party...It was the week after the LA riots. My house had nearly been burned to the ground and my film Rubin and Ed had just been released. Nobody went."
Ultimetly, Trent decides to get out of LA and to chase the "Wild Goose" and go to...Timbuktu. The resulting events are as weird, humorous and interesting as any of his films. After reading this his films will make a lot more sense...erm, well maybe not, but you will understand something about the man who made them.

The following review was written by my friend who, among other things, is a true aficionado of both the literal and figurative value of windmills:

Thank you for the wonderful book, "Windmill Tales". I received it as a gift from a good friend upon my recent retirement, and I can't tell you how much pleasure I have derived from this "jewel". The tales were quite entertaining; and, of course, I enjoyed reading them. However, it was the photographs that kept drawing me back. They were like an open door to my past.

I spent much of my youth on the Spade and Wulfjen "96" ranches in west Texas, and the photographs in your book are like flashbacks in my mind. Through the pictures in your book, I can almost feel the warm sun upon my face as I rode with my dad making the rounds checking on the windmills that might require repairs. I can hear the gentle rhythm of the windmill blades turning in the evening breeze, as I sat on the porch steps watching the sun sink below the horizon. They even bring back the sweet taste of cool clear water spilling into the tank.

Your book has given me the opportunity to slip back from "city life" into the past to once again visit these silent sentinels that dot the landscape and provide the life-blood water for the people and pastures of Texas.

The Wyman Meinzer photographs in this book are so beautiful that it's perfect for the coffe table, but the stories are so funny, so interesting, so odd that you'll want to keep it by your bedside.

Modern Americans are so urbanized that windmills seem almost exotic, but they were a daily experience for most rural dwellers in the Southwest and West from the mid-19th century to nearly the present. The stories in this book illustrate the importance and the ubiquity of this mechanical marvel.

In his forward to the book, Steve Halladay, a descendent of Daniel Halliday, the inventor of the self-regulating windmill, notes that, while it is often claimed that the Winchester rifle tamed the West, a good case can be made that it was really the windmill. Indeed, without massive windmills stationed every 50 miles along the tracks, the mighty railroads would not have been possible. It was the smaller household and ranch windmills, though, that people remember and revere with surprising passion and persistence. The American Wind Power Center, which produced the book, is a testament to this enduring fascination with windmills.

People visiting the museum at the Wind Power Center frequently shared stories about the windmills that they and their families and friends lived and worked with over the years. The staff at the Center recorded the stories for their archives, and eventually Coy Harris, the director, realized that this trove of anecdotes would make a great book. He enlisted Meinzer to provide photographs to accompany the text, and the book was published by the Texas Tech University press.

Some of the stories are hilariious; some are interesting and informative; others are almost like shaggy dog stories: not much point, but sort of strange, even mysterious. My personal favorite: during a repair of a remote windmaill in New Mexico, the storyteller's uncle found that he had failed to bring a brace and bit to drill the holes for attaching the sucker rod to the steel pump rod. He did, however, have a .30-30 rifle, which he used to shoot the necessary holes! Now, that's good old American know-how!

Get this book, even if you know squat about windmeills and care even less. You'll love it!

A delightful history, from mid 19th-century to the present, of a sport that has flourished in the state that boasts of a "thousand lakes" (that are frozen solid in Minnesota's long winter). Since the beginning of the St. Paul Winter Carnival in 1886, that city has become a favorite location for many of the historic ice shows and extravaganzas that have evolved into big-time national entertainment. Charming and often hilarious illustrations depict Minnesota skating from the 1880s. This book is fun!

Minnesota has enjoyed ice skating and ice shows for the past 150 years. There is a particular fondness for figure skating which has led the construction of ice rinks, the founding of figure skating clubs, and an enduring enthusiasm for local, national, and world figure skating competitions. Now there is "Wonders On Ice", a superbly researched and profusely illustrated history of figure skating in Minnesota by skating enthusiast Moira F. Harris. In addition to providing an historical overview, readers will also become informed concerning the basic needs of the figure skater, skating clubs they can join, ice rinks they can visit, as well as what it's like to figure skate in front of crowds and in competitions. Of special note is the chapter on 'The Learning Curve: Teachers, Coaches, and Judges'. Enhanced with an appendix listing Minnesota State Champions, and an extensive bibliography, "Wonders On Ice" is especially recommended reading for anyone who has ever wanted to strap on a pair of ice skates and take advantage of what Minnesota -- and figure skating -- has to offer!

THE BEST OF THE WORDPERFECT BOOKS I RECCOMEND IT TOTALY

This is not a WordPerfect-only book. It really covers the entire suite, even the non-Corel add-ons like Dragon speech recognition and the Trellix web publisher. Unlike most other Corel WP-Office 2000 books, this one covers the Paradox database as well. The comprehensiveness is already reflected by the number of pages (1360). Despite its size: The 'Hands on' and 'Instant Expert' sections make it quite accessible. Still, if you are looking for a 'WP in 20 minutes' book, this is certainly not for you. However, if you are looking for a comprehensive reference and self-study tool for the entire suite, this book is certainly a good choice.

For the ecology minded, teachers, homeschoolers or anyone interested in activites to show the importance of worms in keeping our planet clean and healthy this is an absolute must have book.. Activities for all grade levels, nicely supplement Mary Appelhof's book Worms Eat my Garbage. I have never been so excited by a book. Kids of all ages will find the subject matter fascinating, even those afraid of "slimy" things.

Fun Fun Fun. Surprisingly popular! Used with 4th, 5th grades... won over nearly every kid! really, with WORMS!
Important book to teach responsible living and composting of school lunches!

(Unless school lunches are so bad you can't compost them... then it teaches nutrition and govt priorities!

This is an informative (and nicely written) look at 19th century American literature in terms of the ways it understands the ideas of deafness and hearing. The theoretical matrix of DuBois's color line may be less necessary and less useful here than the social historicist theory Krentz is developing as a base for reading both deaf and non-deaf authors in their negotiations of the imaginative--and perhaps the real--space of deafness. May be engaging to anyone appreciating American literature and/or interested in concepts of deafness, as well as to academics in these and related fields.

This is an original and provocative book. Addressing W. E. B. DuBois's concept of "the color line" in the 20th century, Krentz argues that 19th century American literature grappled with a "hearing line," i.e. a contested boundary between hearingness (the author's coinage) and deafness. He examines how this hearing line appears in work by deaf authors and also in the canonical authors of the century. The readings of Melville, Twain, Cooper, and others open new perspectives on their works that should be of interest to anyone concerned with the construction of American identity. The deaf authors included are contextualized in their literary and social locations as they articulate a deaf "I" or "we."

Throughout the work, Krentz engages current literary theory on gender, race, class, and colonialism. Deaf American culture intersects with these theories, but also presents challenges to them. The similarities and differences between deaf experience(s) and those of other oppressed groups deserve serious thought by anyone interested in the dynamics of self-definition for oppressed groups. Krentz emphasizes the positive sense of deaf identity and community that emerged in the 19th century, as authors responded to the complexities of American identity at that time.

Preparing high school students for the Advanced Placement (AP) Exam in English Language or Literature requires teachers to look beyond the typical high school literature and composition textbooks. Robert Harris has done a wonderful job of defining, explaining and demonstrating the uses of the figures of speech and tropes that AP students are expected to know. Most handbooks of rhetorical devices define them and give examples, but Prof. Harris gives the AP student the most essential information: the reasons writers choose certain figures of speech. In other words, he explains the impact that stylistic choice has on the reader. In writing an analysis of text on the AP exam, the students must be able to provide this information.

A novice teacher of AP classes will be especially grateful for this book. Not only has Prof. Harris done a fine job in explaining and illustrating the devices, he has grouped related devices in chapters and provided exercises as well. I have recommended Writing with Clarity and Style to our director of curriculum as the textbook for my AP English Language and Literature classes.

I can add little except to say that this book is an AHH-HA book for writers of fiction or nonfiction. I am re-writing my book now that I am learning the art of rhetoric. I've been looking for an approachable title, one that will give me what I need without being too esoteric. I appreciate Harris, his website; which led me to buy the book and which contains much of the book. I am super busy in my career and thus have not yet applied knowledge from the first 5 pages, which is what I've had time to read, to this synopsis. If you are a writer and want to move your audience, or even a speaker or actor, this book is for you. Shakespeare became great because he was a master of rhetoric. I give this title 3 thumbs up!

There's the Poet Laureate of the United States, that profound artist who can capture the national experience in a few strokes of the pen. Labs up to national scale particle accelerators have their artists-in-residence, to bridge the gap between the deepest intellectual experience and the deepest emotional experience. Why isn't there a national Cartoonist Laureate, or funding for the Cartoonist-in-Residence at the most advanced centers of scientific research?

Maybe it's because we already have Sidney Harris. He unites our frontal lobes with our funny bones, with clear eyed but affectionate humor. That cover panel for example - yes, things do get a bit heated sometimes under the guise of anonymous review, or not so anonymous. (I had one of those go-rounds just yesterday, failing to praise what needed to be praised in front of the guy who needed to hear the praise. He's a Big Name and I'm not.)

Other humor fades into quaint anachronism just weeks after it's published. Not Harris. Look at the panel with two lab doors next to each other: "Conversion of petroleum products to food substitutes" and "Conversion of food products to petroleum substitutes." That's as pointed as today's headlines about food prices rising because of federally mandated ethanol for car fuel. Or the massive building labeled 'microprocessors'. Antlike people leaving the massive hive say "The smaller we make `em, the bigger we get." Heck, that's even more true today than it was 15+ years ago. I'm looking at the price of a new chip fabrication plant, compared to wealth of the world's nations - 30 to 40 nations each have a GDP lower than the $1-2B cost of a new fab, as of recent numbers. My favorite, though, might be a new Moses coming down from a new Mountain with new Laws: "1)Speed of light ... 2) Gravity ..." If I were a theist, I'd accept that Word before anything else.

Although these cartoons originally appeared 1991 and before, almost none of them have aged. Someone might niggle about the width of a necktie - pshaw. These cartoons are about the people in science, and face it: we haven't changed all that much since we were swinging in trees and flinging poo at each other. Harris captures all the flea-scratching and poo-flinging that really goes on inside our ivory towers and gigabuck labs. This doesn't degrade science, quite the opposite. It leaves me marvelling that creatures so flawed as ourselves have achieved what we have, even if there's an occasional flea to scratch.

-- wiredweird

Sidney Harris' sense of humor is something we can all be grateful for. His cartoons about science are without question some of the best cartoons ever created. The fact that they have a scientific theme makes them even better. Without question, my favorite is the one that shows Moses with a clay tablet. On that tablet is the heading, "Constants" and underneath there is "Speed of light", "Electron mass", "Proton mass" and so on. Most physicists believe that the act of the creation of the universe was the establishment of the value of the physical constants that matter and energy adhere to, so this cartoon has a significant point. .
Some knowledge of science is needed to understand most of the cartoons. For example, if you do not know about the Doppler affect, then the cartoon entitled "C. Doppler takes a walk" will be difficult to understand. However, that is one of the attractive qualities of Harris' cartoons. By forcing you to think deeper thoughts in order to understand his cartoons, Harris improves the intelligence of the general population.

This guy's for you. Edited and cartoons by the famous Sam Gross (S.Gross) of National Lampoon, Playboy, and New Yorker fame, with a daily cartoon by dozens of New Yorker and syndicated cartoonists. Quite a variety of places, cats, and people. There aren't any books with this same variety of cartoonists and styles.

In fact, this same calendar has been reproduced several times in succeeding years, so you know it's a winner for the company! Rare now.