Hart Books

An excellent collection of cartoons. I've always liked B.C., but I haven't seen
most of the cartoons in this book.
The book breaks the cartoons down by the decade in which they were drawn.
It also gives short bios on his friends that he based his cartoon characters on.
This is a book worth owning. It also has thick glossy pages.

There's no shortage of books compiling comic strips to buy and/or read. When I was much younger, I devoured Doonsebury books whenever I had the chance, amazed to discover what usually required waiting every day to read could be found in large volumes. I have recently read, however, one very special book regarding a very special cartoonist and his cartoon: GrowinGold with B.C. A 50 Year Celebration of Johnny Hart. I highly recommend it.

(One item to note: most of the time people refer to the title as "Growing Old With B.C." The cover spells it "GrowinGold," which, from what I've seen from Checker Publishing, is the correct title.)

Unlike some Herculean efforts to put together gargantuan books containing every cartoon in a strip's history, this book is very direct and personal. The author himself compiled it, shortly before he passed away. It contains selections of his favorite strips from each decade the strip has been in existence, right up to the present. Think of it as a combination Best Of and Director's Cut.

The first section of the book features comments from the friends upon whom the characters were based. What's amazing to me is, not only does it appear Johnny Hart kept in touch with most or all these friends from the 1950s, they wrote jokes and gags for the series throughout its entire history. Clearly Hart was a man with a rich sense of humor who surrounded himself with similarly blessed people.

Part of the magic of B.C. was it was funny to look at, not just to read. Even my five-year-old son has enjoyed this book, especially the cover, which depicts B.C. as he was drawn from the beginning of the strip to now, ranging from short and stout to tall and less stout. He takes great pleasure in describing how "the man is growing" from picture to picture.

GrowinGold with B.C. would make an excellent gift for yourself or anyone you know. It's very reasonably priced and bring pleasure to friends and family this Christmas season.

The delivery took quite a few weeks to arrive; plus, the condition it was in was very disappointing. The entire book itself was mutilated into a thick wave-like sahpe, and there is a deep one inch thick rip in the last thirty three pages. I will never order from this seller again. I suggest you all refrain from doing so as well.

I love cartoons. Johnny Hart is amoung the best of the modern cartoonist and B.C. is one of the best strips. The history and comments accompanying the cartoons are just a bonus.

Bought this for my father for Christmas as he has always enjoyed B.C. and often saves his favorite strips. Great read for anyone who loves the comic strip. Only issue I have with the book is that the writer seems to skirt around Johnny Hart's religious centered comics in leu of a more p.c. collection of pieces. Hart wasn't ashamed of his beliefs... why should a tribute to him ignore his statements of faith? Perhaps I missed the relevant comics as I only skimmed through the book. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

This was exactly what I was looking for in a tutorial for painting people. The reader does need to know some fundamentals in watercolor though. Its well planed and explained. My work has improved 10 fold because of it.

Thought this was a wonderful book. Just what I was looking for ie. impressionistic images of figures in watercolour. The demos are clear and easy to follow. Her paintings are full of light and she sets everything out very clearly. More helpful than a DVD. Highly recommended.

After years of avoiding attempting to paint figures, I am now able to put people into my paintings successfully. Laurels book is beautifully written and well laid out, which makes it easy to use. She manages to communicate the techniques and instill confidence, so a big thank you!

This book is mainly about watercolor painting. There is a lot of focus on how to simplify the complex, and determining values. It is an absolutely wonderful book to develop skills at value sketches and seeing the light and shadows. It is filled to the brim with valuable information, and it is also filled with stunning artwork by the author.
The teaching style and organization of the material taught is great.

The author/ artist has a talent for simplifying complex information. She also teaches the reader/ student artist how to take a complex scene that you want to paint and learn the methods of simplifying it. Some of this simplicity is based on exercises of being trained to see light and shadow and values. It is a unique book--I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning to paint. It is not a basic beginner's how-to book, but can be very helpful to all levels of painters--especially in developing better skills at value sketches, and emphasizing light and shadow in your work.

The author's artwork is very inspiring. Her demonstrations are very clear and well-organized. The exercises are exceptionally well-taught, with illustrations that help you understand easily. She teaches you how to take black and white photos of a scene and make value sketches and interpret the light and shadow. The author explains that "figures are patterns of light and shadow". She demonstrates how this light and shadow is then used to put people in paintings, find a center of focus, set mood with color schemes, triads for fleshtones, etc..

I love the author's methods of explaining the painting process: An example is:
A demonstration on watercolor washes are taught in a simplified way called "watercolor laundry method"--basically, as in household laundry, learning to separate lights and darks, (i.e. painting lights first, letting it dry (hairdryer), then doing the darks. She then demonstrates how a series of washes over each other builds up the shadows and creates light.

This book definitely deserves 5 stars--it is one of the best watercolor teaching books that I own! It simplifies the difficult.

This book is written by a professional portrait painter. She is fabulous in her approach to watercolor portraits but I believe not that helpful to the beginner like myself. The hardest thing to do is to put figures into a landscape or seascape and this book has the information but assumes you are comfortable painting faces and figures in the first place.
Should you already feel comfortable drawing and painting faces and figures, by all means buy this book.
The beginner should look elsewhere to realizing the concept and instruction of figure placement.
There are many videos on the market like Don Andrews - "Painting Figurs in the Landscape" - and Tony Van Hasselt - "Fun with Figures" -that do the job for tyros like us.

Attachment theory provides valuable insights on why we react the way we do - and why our spouses react the way they do. Understanding why is a basic first step in restoring harmony and security in a marriage. Putting into practice what we learn is an entirely different matter. The suggestions provided are very practical but are increasingly difficult as marriage partners have retreated from one another. If your marriage is on the rocks you probably won't be able to fix it on your own, no matter how good the advice.

I have read many books on marriage but found this one to be different and most helpful. It outlined how my wife and i fight, and then showed us a way out of our fight cycle. We are beginning to learn how to stay emotionally connected, despite our differences. I highly recommend it. We are reading through this book at our monthly couples group - and find the questions at the end of each chapter very helpful.

When you get married, your partner becomes a secure base, a safe haven; someone you can trust to listen and care about your concerns. The secure base is at the heart of your marriage. Whenever this is shattered, the marriage begins failing and, if the wound is not repaired, the relationship can eventually fall apart. This book does a wonderful job of explaining how to identify the wounds in your marriage and how to--practically--go about healing them. I have recommended it to many of my clients and they simply love it. If your marriage is struggling, you may want to check this book out.

This extremely well written book offers sound physical, emotional and spiritual assessments to marital situations and give practical solutions to resolve these inevitable problems. Authors are quite knowledgeable and effective in their presentation. A must have book for all married couples.

My wife and I lead the marriage ministry in our church and do much of the marriage counseling. We have used a number of Christian resources to help couples. Our approach is focused around Emotional Focused Therapy. This is the best resource we have found that captures the "process" of how to apply this concept to a realtionship. (works with kids, co-workers, etc as well) If a couple is committed to healing the marriage, and will learn and apply the skills outlined in the book--the marriage can be healed.

Osprey's new 'Duel' series scores a hit with Stephen Hart's Sherman Firefly vs. Tiger volume. Since the Firefly was specifically developed to take the measure of Tigers, a blow-by-blow comparison is entirely appropriate. Hart's book is an interesting, educational, nicely-illustrated look at how these two metal monsters were developed and then utilized in combat.

The Tiger had been dominating European battlefields for two years before the Brits fielded the Sherman Firefly model. As befits a wartime expedient, the Firefly had all the shortcomings of a Sherman but boasted the Tiger-killing 17-pounder cannon. In face-offs the Tiger had heavier armor and its 88m cannon versus the Firefly's 17-pounder, thinner armor but greater mobility and speed.

Hart does a marvelous job of relating each tank's history, strengths/weaknesses, tactics and battlefield exploits. I found it fascinating, for example, that the Firefly's back-blast was so bright that it temporarily blinded the crew, a failing that higher command accepted because of the cannon's tank-killing potential. Likewise, the 17-pounder's HE performance was so poor that British tank squadrons only wanted one or two Fireflies assigned to each troop despite the fact that the standard Sherman couldn't compete with the Firefly's Tiger-killing abilities.

As an example of how the two fared against each other, Hart uses the legendary 8 August 1944 engagement that pitted the WWII's greatest tank commander, Michael Wittmann, against a lone Firefly. It makes for fascinating reading.

Thus far, I have only read two 'Duel' titles. I was rather critical of the P-51 vs. FW-190 match-up but, if Stephen Hart's Firefly-Tiger volume is an example of what the series aspires to be, I'm definitely going to check out more of the titles. And so should you!

Sherman Firefly vs Tiger: Normandy 1944, by Dr. Stephen A. Hart, is the second volume in Osprey's new Duel series. This volume seeks to compare and assess the relative merits of the German Tiger I tank against the British Sherman `Firefly' tank in the context of the Normandy campaign in 1944. However, rather than looking at the tank vs tank battles in Normandy as a whole, Dr. Hart focuses most of the volume on a single famous action on 8 August 1944, that resulted in the death of the famous German Tiger `ace,' Michael Wittmann. This methodology has its advantages, in that it offers a more intimate account of a particular engagement and allows for a blow-by-blow explanation, but it also suffers from trying to extrapolate too many technical and tactical lessons from a brief battlefield `snapshot.' Overall, Sherman Firefly vs Tiger: Normandy 1944 is well-written and engaging, although the argument that it advances that this particular action demonstrated the Firefly's `moment of triumph' is a bit of an over-stretch.

The opening sections of the volume on design and development and technical specifications are decent, but tend to summarize information on these two tanks that are already readily available. On the plus side, these sections provide a good introduction and would be useful for readers who want to know a bit more about these famous weapons, but without drowning in technical detail. Graphically, the volume provides color profiles of each tank, with ammunition. The author provides three sidebars on individual tankers: Michael Wittmann, Otto Carius and Sergeant Wilfred Harris.

The next section, Strategic Situation, lays out an overview of the Normandy campaign up to early August 1944 and then discusses Operation Totalize and the British efforts to trap the German army around Falaise. Beginning in this section, readers will note just a twinge of British chauvinism emerging to color this account, which seeks to downplay not just American but other Commonwealth and Allied participants. The only really sloppy section in this volume is that on Combatants, which has several errors and misconceptions. The author writes that in Germany, "each military district [Wehrkreis] had at least one tank training school and panzer training units." Actually, most of the individual panzer training in Germany was centralized at just two schools, with several others such as Putlos for advanced gunnery training (which the author mis-labels as a `maneuver area.'). Each Wehrkreis that was home to a panzer division had a panzer replacement battalion that did some unit training, but very few of the Tiger units belonged to a division - they were corps assets. Indeed, throughout the volume, the author does not seem to appreciate the distinction - the Firefly was organic to British tank divisions but the Tiger was not organic to any German panzer divisions in Normandy except some of the SS ones (not Hitler Jugend). Finally, it is also clear that the author is a bit hazy on the life of a tanker, since he writes that cleaning gun barrels "had to be carried out on a daily basis" and infers that this was quite arduous. Actually, punching the gun tube is normally only required after firing the main gun, only you are in some very wet, muddy climate like Burma. Track maintenance is far more of a grind, requiring constant attention and many bruised fingers.

The main action, the duel between a British tank squadron and Wittmann's four Tigers on 8 August 1944, is the centerpiece of the volume. In a nutshell, Wittmann's Tigers launched a counterattack across open farmland and were ambushed by British tanks in an orchard that hit them with flank shots from about 800 meters. Three of Wittman's Tigers were destroyed and the author writes, "in the space of just 12 minutes, Gordon's Firefly had dispatched three Tigers with just five rounds." This section is accompanied by a color battlescene depicting the destruction of Wittmann's Tiger, as well as a sequence of gunner's views of the same event. Most readers (except perhaps Wittmann's next-of-kin) will enjoy this section greatly. However, the author notes that "the Firefly emerged Triumphant" in this last great clash of Tiger versus Firefly, which is a bit over the top. This action was an ambush, pure and simple, and if the roles had been reversed (as they often were in Normandy), Wittmann's Tigers would have brewed up a bunch of Fireflys in the open. Earlier, the author notes that one British unit lost 21 out of 34 of its Fireflys in one day in July 1944, so it is unclear how the situation was really changed by Wittmann's death. In short, the Tiger still had superior protection, while the Firefly still had better maneuverability and numerical superiority, and each had guns powerful enough to destroy the other. The author never addresses mechanical reliability, but the Firefly also had an edge in that category, which further amplified its numerical superiority.

The author provides several charts at the end of the volume, but these only provide numbers for the fighting on 7-8 August. The key question, such as how many Fireflys were destroyed by Tigers in Normandy and vice versa is never addressed. Based on known information, it is likely that the Tigers enjoyed a healthy `kill-ratio' in their favor, at least on the order of 3-1 or better, although they were outnumbered by at least that. The author also makes little effort to discuss opposing tank tactics and avoids gruesome moments for the British like Operation Goodwood, but the evidence indicates that the British generally didn't handle their tanks too well in Normandy. Even the famed 7th Armored Division was sub-par for much of Normandy and was badly shot-up by Wittmann at Villers-Bocage. In short, this duel was decided by attrition, not technical or tactical factors.

This book is easily four and a half or five star material, but I gave it four because it's not quite up to par with Panther vs. T-34. Panther vs. T-34 was written by a tanker instead of an historian and thus is a true rarity in books of the type in that it talked about things that only a tanker would think about. It convincingly shows why the T-34/76 was superior to the Panther, even though on paper the opposite appears to be true.

This book is very similar in scope and covers an almost contemporary issue, the quantitative comparison of the Tiger I opposed to the British modified Sherman Firefly. Again, on paper, the Tiger appears to have a slight advantage. It's 88mm/L56 gun was almost equal to the Firefly's 17 lb'er. In cross country mobility the Tiger's wider tracks appear to give it's greater bulk an advantage over the Sherman's higher ground pressure. The Tiger continued to have armor sufficient to defeat the majority of Western Allied tank guns at point blank range, while the Firefly's Sherman armor was easy fodder even for the lower velocity guns of lighter German vehicles. Again, getting away from the gun/armor/mobility consideration of the amateurs, Stephen Hart starts to point out why the Tiger was already starting to lose it's place of supremacy on the battlefield. The Tiger was a petrol guzzling maintenance nightmare at a time when the fuel starved German Army needed every available vehicle up and running. Most importantly, however, the fact remained that despite the Tiger's impressive armor, it was still vulnerable to the Firefly at normal combat ranges. By June/July 1944 the real advantage of the Tiger was in the fact that they were manned by Germany's best tank crews. As these increasingly fell to the attrition of the Normandy Battlefield, the Tiger's heyday was at an end.

The book has excellent graphics, as would be expected from Osprey Press, but the artwork is fantastic, even by Osprey standards. The pictures of the views from the respective gun-sights is a rare gem that is strangely absent from most books of tank warfare. The books high point, however is its meticulous reconstruction of Tiger ace Michael Wittmann's last battle. Here the author presents new and almost irrefutable proof that Wittmann's Tiger was dispatched, not by allied fighter-bombers, as has so often been speculated, but by the relatively inexperienced and unlauded crew of a Sherman Firefly. A great read in a few pages.

The German Tiger heavy tank dominated battlefields of Europe and was one of the most feared weapons of World War II. Stephen A. Hart's SHERMAN FIREFLY VS. TIGER describes its design and deployment, with chapters offering plenty of technical construction information and analyzing strengths, weaknesses and the use of these tanks in war tactics. It's an excellent survey recommended for any library strong in the mechanics of World War II.

The "Sherman Firefly VS Tiger", by Stephen A Hart, is a must read for military historians and students alike. The German Panzer tank commanders were used to having a field day, as their Panthers, and tigers would cut through the M4 Sherman tanks like swiss cheese. The german tanks were by far superior in armour protection and firepower. The American Sherman tank was no match for the tanks of the axis powers, but what it did have going for it was a vast majority in numbers built, and a better track record for reliability. The Sherman proved to be a more adaptable tank when changes were needed for every occasion. The British, in the summer of 1944 rolled out its first sherman firefly variation, equipped with a seveteen pounder main gun. For the first time, German tankers in their massive lumbering Tiger tanks, had something to fear about the Sherman Tank. The Sherman was much more agile, and usually did well in city limits, as opposed to the Tigers which were better suited for the open field. The 17 pound main gun finally made the tiger vulnerable, and the moral of the British tankers increased dramitically, as reports of Firefly's destroying Tigers was filtering through. Legendary Tiger tank Commander Michael Wittman eventually met his demise at the hand of the Sherman Firefly, during a fierce battle, that is well documented in this book. The firefly became the envy of every American Sherman Tanker, who still had to do battle with 75/76mm shermans. This book proves to be a captivating read, that is full of great rare photo's and paintings, as well as thoughtful insight by the author. I highly recommend this book as a must for anyones military library.

This book was not as good as the reviews stated. I am still trying to figure out why I spent that much money on a paperback book. I was disappointed in the story. It could have been so much better if the author took the time to delve further into the lives of the characters.

I don't usually take the time to write a review on Amazon as I am just too busy. I had to make an exception for this marvelous new book! Sandra Bojtos Hart has a flair for time travel romances that absolutely astounded me! I have to say that 99% of my reading for pleasure is time travel romances ~ I love them! Some of them are just good, some are really great. "Somewhere Out There" was fantastic! Don't miss this one! When you get to the end, you'll go back to the first page and read it again ~ I know, because that's exactly what I did. I hear it is going to be made into a movie which is something that I can't wait to see! I won't go into the story line, as I believe you should experience this magical ride by yourself. Trust me ~ This is a keeper!

The problem with self-published writing is that it often doesn't go through a rigorous editing process: such is the case with this novel. I was really looking forward to reading the story, but I couldn't even get through the first ten pages. It's the most poorly written book I've ever come across. The author deserves credit for going through the excruciating process of committing her story to paper (which is the only reason I gave this effort two stars), but she needs some SERIOUS editing help. This book is an insult to intelligent readers.

This book is worth every penny spent. I couldn't put it down! I stayed up the whole night reading it and was glad that I did. Twists and turns abound in this time travel romance. I love time travel romance but sometimes they can all start to seem like the same....not this one! How refreshing it is to have an author who knows how to write a new twist on a classic concept. I can't wait for the sequel!

I just finished the book and I loved it. At first it was slow going but I stuck with it and I think this is a fantastic book. I am a huge fan of time travel and this book is going to be one of my favorites. I won't be re-selling this book! Eagerly awaiting another book by same author.

This book came to my rescue when I was in dire need of the perfect quote about how music, especially rock music, impacts us in a spiritual way. From John Cage to John Lennon, Hart covers a gamut of iconic musicians' and philosophers' insights regarding sound's powerful influence on humanity. He adds some of his own personal observations as well, making this book a "must have" for anyone interested in the magical way music touches our hearts and souls.

I really must admit that I enjoy reading Mickey Hart's works. They are very philosophical, showing how music and spirituality are connected together throughout time. In this book, he mixes his own thoughts and ideas with a variety of quotes about music and some nice clip art of music, dancing, instruments and musicians. The quotes are grouped together through chapters of related concepts, such as spirituality, the cosmos and society and span almost every source from traditional Chinese, Greek and Islamic traditions to Jerry Garcia, Ice-T, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Peter Gabriel and John Updike. Interesting figures such as Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Plato, Confucious, Einstein, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, Rumi, Mircea Eliade, Ruth Inge-Heinz, Ayatollah Khomeini, Martin Luther, Inayat Khan, Mencious, Karl Marx and many more are quoted too.

This isn't really deep reading, but it is very interesting and thought-provoking nonetheless. Every single quote will make you rethink the way you listen to music and what exactly it means to you. I think that any music fan should at least glance this book over.

One of my most favorite albums that I have ever listened to is Mickey Hart's CD entitled "Spirit into Sound", with its collection of nature-evoking drum and woodwind music. So when I saw that this book was available, too, I was expecting something about the music on the album and the ideas that went behind its creation. Instead I was disappointed to find instead a set of quotes about music that don't relate to the album. It is, however, a really good source of quotes about music, including some really surprising ones. If you want inspirational words concerning music, this is the place to find them.

For those of us who have often contemplated the meaning and magic called "music", Mick's book will certainly unlock the mysteries and shed light on this universal power that has permeated all cultures since time began. This is an incredible compilation of insights spoken by the masters and common man who have lived, loved and graced the world with music over the centuries. A great read; simple, humorous, reflective and motivating. I recommend this book to people of all ages -- musicians and non-musicians alike. And particularly children who in their youth will benefit from understanding that music is the pulse of life, critical to the soul, and as necessary as food, water and air.

It is hard to put into words how deeply music affects our spirit... and long documentary books on music don't seem to cut it, at a feeling level. This book is a choice collection of various quotes and "takes" on music and the music experience. As someone for whom playing music (and listening to others play music) is a profound part of my life.....giving me joy, keeping my energy stress-free, sharing with friends...this book is a huge validation of all the beautiful things music does for us! It's one of those books you can flip to any part of, and lift your day just by reading a page or two. Leave it out for your visiting friends! It's a great gift idea for any music lover.

A throrough examination of this most English of constructions. Recommended for the learner of English as a second language who would like to make his English sound more like that of a native speaker by substituting such Latinate words as 'tolerate' with the more colloquial 'put up with.' Abundant examples and exercises.

Focus on about 450 well choosen phrasal verbs.
Escellent choice of typical sentences in which the phrasal verbs are used
Excellent recap exercises at the end of each chapter that force you to remind Phrasal verbs defined in previous chapters.
Some explanation for phrasal verb meaning not absolutely clear (just about 10 on 450)
Some mistakes in the solution part.
Very good choice for foreign learners.

This is a book we use a lot with our students, it's pretty good, not too expensive and it is user friendly.

I've just come from a tutoring session with an adult Russian student; she was so pleased with this book that I let her keep my copy and returned home to order another for myself, its modest price being yet another inducement for purchase. The book is lucid, well-organized, and thorough. While I explain by paraphrase, analogy, and mime, here the phrases are defined precisely, with variations made explicit. As a native speaker, I found myself not only informed but also delighted by some of the book's definitions. It seems to cover the most common phrasal verbs non-native speakers encounter and understand in context but are otherwise flummoxed by. For a student who speaks competently but wants to "sound more American," this book is an ideal resource.

An excellent workbook for learning phrasal verbs in English. Its format is easy to understand, and a number of exercises are provided in each unit to help students master the phrasal verbs they have learned in the unit. However, I have found quite a few mistakes/misprints in the answer section. Some are minor: verbs and particles are separated where they should be put together one after the other; others a bit more serious: a phrasal verb that is appropriate in meaning but not covered in the given unit is offered as an answer to the quiz, or simply wrong ones are provided. Otherwise, I would have given 5 stars. I hope that there aren't as many mistakes/misprints in the text itself, and that the publisher will correct them for the next edition.

This book has a little bit of everything in it! I loved it! From the hottness that is Jack and William to the utter thrilling suspense that keeps us reading for hours on end.

I felt the The Vampires Kiss was the best one in the series. William goes to England to rescue Renee, the Daughter of his beloved friend. His wife whom he discovered is still alive and also is a Vampire kidnapped her. Jack stays home to take care of things. William reunites with his son, and shocks him when he reveals to him that he is his true Father. William's beloved Eleanor betrayed him and left with his wife and son, and his wife's lover, will he rescue her or kill her? The next book in the series come out on April 29,2008 and I already have it pre-ordered.

The Vampire's Kiss continues all of the thrills and suspense of the first two novels, while providing plenty of new twists and turns. In this book, we see the true dark side of William the vampire master (who as gone to London to "take care of business"), while his protege Jack maintains a sense of humor as he holds down the fort against a serious werewolf threat in Savannah. I won't spoil any surprises, but the introduction of Seth, a good-guy werewolf, was a delight. Oh, yes, and it's sexy, too! An outstanding continuation of a great cast and plot.

This book was the third in this series of William and Jack, centuries old vampires that rule Savannah. While the book was okay, it just didn't blow me away like the first two in the series. For one thing, the book was a lot smaller than the first two books and it makes me think they took book 3 and 4 (that is coming out later this year) and divided it into two when it should have been one book. It was readable but it didn't have the excitment that the previous two books had. All in all, not a bad read.

I was not disappointed with the continuing saga of William and his friends. I was surprised by the actions of his son. The next novel may shed some light upon his true turn around. Anyways, this is a great vampire novel. Has a little of everything in it. Zombies, werewolves, vampires, a Goddess (who is the "slayer"). Great reading material. Hard to put down.

if i only knew then what i know now!!! this book shows how a few artists made history and real art

This zeros in on what the sixties meant to me. A period of artistic creativity without bounds and limits. One giant leap for mankind...I used to sit in art class and try to copy the lettering in some of these psychedelic posters and it was hard. And to think these San Francisco artist were so prolific as to produce a new one or two every week. I was in awe of this period and love to look back on that scene. Thanks to the Bill Graham estate for compiling this tomb from the ancient ones that came before us.

This is the most comprehensive collection of psychedelic art I could find. Remember a time when commercial design came from the heart to the pen. No computer enhanced 3-D images. Just wavy brush strokes and colors bold enough to get you high. Pick it up, and trip out.

The main positives: this is complete, showing the first and most modest flyer, up through the closing of the Fillmore; almost all the flyers are at least partly in color, and they do indeed show the tenor of the era (which I well remember).

The main negative: most of these are shown as a small part of each page; few are relatively large, and I don't recall any being full-page size. So, don't buy this book in the expectation that you're getting a collection of full-page reproductions (even reduced in size from the originals, as they would be).

The psychedelic posters from the late 1960's are classic and very much a part of rock history. These posters were commissioned by Bill Graham, who ran the Fillmore East and West, and other venues. The posters were beautiful and colorful and psychedelic. They were carefully created and used to promote the concerts, but what makes them so amazing is that all this work to promote only a few weekend concerts, which typically featured three or four bands playing on Friday and Saturdays. Never again would such works of art capture the moment. This book tells you about the artists and how they came to become Fillmore artists, and of course full color reproductions of the Fillmore posters are prominently featured through the book. If you love the posters, you'll love the book.

This book is a fantastic resource for investors who are new to convertibles, convertible experts and everyone in between. It provides a great breadth of topics as well as a perfect amount of depth. It covers the full range of convertible products, the theory behind them and convertible investing strategies. I'll be keeping this book handy.

Hart Woodson has put together an easy to understand guide to convertibles. The book covers all aspects for hedge funds to outright purchasers of the product on a global basis. In depth enough for the seasoned professional and yet basic enough for those trying to understand convertibles for the first time.

Quite a few books have been written about the specialized subject of convertible securities, but Hart Woodson has distinguished himself by writing a comprehensive book that includes all of the latest types of convertible securities as well as the latest strategies--in plain language that a beginner could comprehend, and with sophisticated equations included for the sophisticated quant. Better still, the book is not simply an ad for convertibles nor for his employer, Gabelli Asset Management. The pitfalls as well as the potentials are described. Hart can write. Hart has broad experience. He puts it all together in this practical book.

A must read for anyone interested in a clear and consise review of all the relevant information regarding this timely topic. Mr. Woodson demonstrates his precise and broad understanding of all the issues surrounding convertible investing, and presents such knowledge in a profounding easy to read fashion. This one shouldn't be missed. Clearly one of the authoritative sources out there!!

I am unsure what book the rest of the reviewers are reading; but it was not this one. The book is not only ambiguous, but poorly crafted with topical transitions sloppy. I can comfortably say that there is not a single section of the book that adequately unveils the dynamics of various convertible instruments or their pricing. Indeed, the book reads more like a glossary than an explanatory text and for persons new to converts, the spate of regurgitated pricing theories will likely do more harm then good. Perhaps the one strength of the text is that it serves as a broad reference for readers truly interested in converts to seek out more educative pieces. For more informed readers, modest incremental knowledge seems to be the only gain.