Howard Books

When I teach world history I always give my students a project in which they are to read a piece of historical fiction and do a bit of research. This book is exactly the type of book I recommend for them to read and why I created the project in the first place. It is well-written and re-creates a little bit of the historical world for the reader.

Set in 2nd Century B.C. Israel, this is a story of national liberation and freedom of religious expression. Many Protestants will be unfamiliar with the Maccabees since Maccabees 1-4 is not included in the Protestant Bible. This book is an ideal place to start to explore that time between the exile in Babylon and the Roman occupation that is featured in the New Testament.

The main characters are 5 brothers and their father, descendents of the Tribe of Levi. They refuse to be "civilized" by Hellenized (Greek-influenced) Syrians - they want to keep their old traditions and religion. They revolt against too many taxes, too many injustices and being forced to worship Greek gods. ("Thus they 'Hellenized' us, not with beauty and wisdom, but with fear and terror and hate." - p. 33)

I strongly recommend this one. Despite being more than 50 years old, this book can stand on its own among newer and more popular works about the ancient world such as Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae in both its battlefield descriptions and its cultural explorations.

Quote from the book I particularly liked: "What does the Lord require from a man, but that he should walk humbly and love righteousness?" (p. 142)

Yes, this is a vivid account of the Jewish struggle for freedom, but it is also a beautifully written love story. I never tire of reading it, and it never fails to elicit a tear of joy, or of grief. Howard Fast at his best.

This book captures the most important part of Hanukkah, a celebration of Jewish liberty. For anyone who wants to learn more about the kinds of lives Jews lived, why liberty is such an essential aspect of Judaism, or why we must sometimes fight for the liberty and freedom we enjoy, this is the book for them. It is beautifully written and joyous to read.

I just finished this book. First and foremost I really enjoyed reading it. I decided to read it because I know so little about Jewish history; I had heard the name Judas Maccabeus but I didn't know who he was. I would like to say that it is wrong to consider this book primarily from the vantage point of describing the Jews. I kept asking myself if the story of the Maccabeans was considered such an important part of Jewish history, then why did so many Jews let themselves be led to the slaughter by Hitler? So, for me, this book was not so much about the Jews as it was about history. Also,to me, this book is fictionalized history, where the author tries to incorporate the facts as much as possible. Even the narrator in the story, Simon, says you can't take it as genuine fact. Regardless of that, Howard Fast does a magnificent job. It took a few pages to get into the flow, but once into the book, I was caught. I bought this book used for 2 bucks, but I am going to send for a better copy to keep. For me, the lesson in this book is not so much about how great these ancient Jews were, as it is about why man has to keep fighting wars. And as a corollary, why our societies demand slavery (of one form or another and don't kid yourself, it exists today, but in a different form). Of note, these ancient Jews made very limited use of slavery. One of my favorite teachers once said, "Wisdom comes when you put the book down". From reading this book, I felt I learned a great deal about war and slavery. And I had to ask myself the question, Do the Jews of today believe in the same God who is portrayed in this book about the Jews of 150 years B.C.?

I remember being really taken with this book when I read it as a kid, so I found a used copy to read to my kids. We make a big deal of Hanukkah so that Jewish kids don't feel gypped compared to everyone else, but hardly anyone really knows the story of Hanukkah in all its graphic detail. We should not shrink from telling our kids this story, and Fast's book is the only popular book I know that does it. The kids will not only have a better appreciation of the meaning of this holiday, but will also have a better appreciation of current events.

I had the pleasure of not only using this text for my neural network design graduate course, but also taking the course from one of the authors (Professor Howard Demuth).

This book is extremely well written. Being a PhD student in computer engineering, I have read many math books and advanced engineering books. Most of these books are informative, but difficult to read. Much of this is understandable because the topics are complex and explaining them in a very simple manner requires significantly more time. More diagrams, more examples, rewriting paragraphs to improve clarity, etc. This book tackles all of those issues perfectly!

Right now I am reading one of the other "classic" math texts and while I am already familiar with the topic, the reading is extremely difficult. Due to this, I recalled how easy it was to understand the neural network design text and wished my current author wrote more like them.

If you are interested in machine learning, in particular, neural networks, this is a superb book to get you started. Even the most complex mathematical topics in linear algebra and network design are explained so almost anyone can understand. Even if you do not have a strong mathematical background, you'll be able to understand almost all of the math.

Excellent book - (5/5 stars)!

I knew the very poor Matlab Neural Network Toolbox User's Guide by the same authors and I was kind of expecting the same, and boy was I wrong!

This book is simply brilliant, a miracle of pedagogy. It is intended for undergrad classes, but it is so clear that graduate students will benefit enormously from reading it before any other material. Plainly put, this book makes you UNDERSTAND this difficult topic, more than any other book that I know of (Zurada, Smith, Hassoun, Haykin, Duda-Hart, Caudill, etc)

A selection of worked out problems are included at the end of each chapter, a practice that is highly beneficial but alas too rare in books of the kind.

I very much appreciated the very clear exposition of backpropagation, and optimization methods such as Levenberg-Marquardt.

A note to Matlab users: funky demos are available for free and illustrate the main points of the book.

I purchased this book while looking for an appropriate textbook for use in my class on neural networks. This book is excellent for both beginners and experts. It is a rare book in that it demonstrates complex mathematical manipulations and principles (that are difficult to grasp and visualize - and explain) using examples. The review on mathematical principles is very useful. The book makes it easier to teach the subject now. Given the way everything is presented, this book will also help those that want to code their own networks. I recommend this book to everyone.

Very useful book to have if you plan to use NN (specially in matlab environment). The theory is very well covered and explained, along with graphical examples. The book lacks however, more insight into how to implemen NN in real world problems (for that, I would suggest seeing Fundamentals of NN by Laurene V. Fausett).

I have been studying neural network design for almost 30 years now and I have never found a more enchanting text book than this one. From day one I could not put it down. In fact, I bought a copy for each member of my extended family. Beale is brilliant in the way he demostrates the design and capability of neural network systems. No one has ever captured the public's imagination and heart the way he does in this compelling work. He has taken the study of neural networks to the next level. Hence, the world will be a better place. H2BurBabes4Ever.

A GREAT CARTOON VIEW OF HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND DO CALCULUS!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Of course, I must be biased, since I have not read every intro to calculus book ever, but yet I maintain my position. :-)

I first saw this book when I was about seven years old, and fell in love with the comics. I didn't understand the math at the time, but eventually I got to calculus level mathematics in college, and thanks to this book, I not only had no fear of calculus, but rather looked forward to it.

I only wish that the authors had went on to cover integral calculus and infinite series... but I shan't blame them. This book is great enough as it is. :-)

As one who struggled with Calculus as well as "Math Anxiety", I can only say 'thank you, thank you, thank you'.
I also saw someone with a copy of the book in my first calculus class and I ran to the library. All copies were checked out! Once I went through this wonderful book, it baffled me that not one instructor was using or recommending it. Yet all the students knew about it.
If delta-episilon has you mystified, Prof McSquared can help. It was enlightening, encouraging and confidence building. I still use it as a refresher.
My only question now is - will there ever be a continuation into Calc II & III and differential? I await the arrival.

Reviewer Jerry Harper spotted a typo in the 1975 edition
of Prof. McSquared's book and calls for a reply. The answer
to problem II.3.3 on page 205 contains the WRONG statement
(BUT 1/2 e < -e...). PROF. McSquared GOOFED! It should be
1/2 e < e!! This is corrected in the Expanded Intergalactic
Edition NOW reissued and available: ISBN 0971462402.
H. Swann, co-author, for Prof. McSquared

I'm a student at University of Chicago, and got into an advanced Calculus class, because of my good luck of having done well on the AP test. Immediately I was thrown into a confusing world of espilons and delta and omegas and proof and theorems not on the AP cirriculum. I am by no means an abstract symbol-based learner, so I was thrown by all these new concepts thrown at me at a breakneck pace.

Three days before my Calc midterm, and desperate to salvage my grade, I ordered McQuared's Calculus Primer.

And I was saved.

If you are a new student thrown by epsilon delta, and need a detailed, non-symbol based explanation to understand, this is the book for you. My only complaint is that the book only goes up to the first couple chapters of an real calc book (though at the high level of explanation it gives, it does those chapters justice at the highest level imaginiable.)

With its cartoony illustrations and backhanded sense of humor, Mc Square Calculus makes Calculus accessable and (dare I say?) makes learning fun.

I found this book fascinating and it actually brought back fond memories of life when life was not so hurried. While Howard Mansfield's thoughts seem to flash from one event to another, it gives the reader time to pause and reflect on their own historical experiences in perhaps a small town they once lived or at least wished they had lived. This book reminds us how sweet life was before the words tract (home), fast (food) and drive-thru (service) became a prefix of our vocabulary. Don't think for a moment it's a dull book--its far from! Appropriately, Mansfield manages to interject his humor which at times had this reader in stitches! He also reminds us how much we ache for that simple, easy existence and that deep sense of community. A great book from a genius author.

*A powerful book with a unique perspective on the following:

--What we can learn from the past

--The fragile finite nature of physical objects and the material world

--How to breathe life into a restoration and learn from it, as opposed
to shellaking it over with a polished artificial veneer

--That the work of restoration is as much about the action of
restoring as about the finished product

--That the work of restoration is never done

*Personal essays and interviews rather than a how-to-manual

*Poetic and thoughtful

*SPECIAL NOTE FOR PEOPLE WITH SEVERE CLUTTER/HOARDING problems*
Please note that for people with a hoarding/severe clutter problem, this will be a hard book to read, because it definitely hammers home the fact of "dust to dust".

You will find a new name for yourself however: a "Noah"! In fact one of the chapters is called "An Arkload of Noahs."

And you might even find for yourself a paradigm 180 degree shift in the way you view the objects you are trying to save. The lesson here may be to save less, so that you conserve your energy to try to protect the objects you love the most. Also to realize that the act of preserving should be one of life-giving affirmation for YOURSELF in the
process. It's what you learn and pass on that matters, more than the actual objects.

*Most interesting fact from the book:
(p. 5) "We have our own shrine,...the U.S.S. Constitution, Old Ironsides, the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world.....The ship has survived some close calls with oblivion....Saving a wooden ship is a job that's never finished. The Constitution has been rebuilt and repaired in 1833, 1858, 1871077, 1906, 1927-30, 1953, 1963-65, 1973-75, and the most recent and most extensive...1992-96. ANYWHERE FROM 10 TO 20 PERCENT OF OLD IRONSIDES IS ORIGINAL." (The rest has been replaced over the years through restoration.)

*Here are some favorite quotes from the book:
(pp. 270-271) "Noah gathered two of all that lived, following some of the most specific instructions in the bible. We aren't always so carefully guided. Voices, visions, burning bushes are given only to a few....All Noahs are like Sadie Huntoon. They pull from the wreck we have made of the world what they can, and time will judge its value."

(p.274) "We must let go of some things--some beloved things--to allow the birth of the new, which at times will be shocking and awkward."

(p. 58) "An earthquake in 1997 destroyed important frescoes in the 13th-century Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the ceiling came down in thousands of pieces....One Franciscan nun said: Sometimes things
need to be destroyed so they can be renewed."

(p. 58) "All materials are fugitive. Things fade, dry out, crizzle and craze. Glass is a liquid. Mountains are borne to the sea. Life is fugitive."

(p. 275) "Nothing is ever (permanently) saved. ...Restoration is a legacy. The job isn't finished; it is handed off to the next generation of caretakers."

(p. 53) "To the keeper of a historic house, the earth is a science-fiction horror film. Life-giving water rots roofs and dissolves stone; benign sunshine reduces silk curtains to rags, bleaches wood, and cracks leather.....The curators are condemned to live on a planet where the fingertips of earthlings leave behind acid that tarnishes silver, where bronze and pewter are prone to 'diseases,' and dust can defeat a suit of medieval armor.
Life is a fire. Sunlight, air, and water sustain us and destroy us. Life consumes all we wish to save."

(pp. 55-57) "The curators' task is impossible: preserve all this stuff FOREVER. They are in a pitched battle with the elements.....Says Pam Hatchfield, an objects conservator at the museum. At best, you can extend the life with low humidity. 'You have to assume that objects you're using are disposable,' she says. 'No matter how much you love them.'"

(pp. 57-58 )"The philosophers call it EVANESCENCE, the passing from one state to the next. Under the right conditions, ice evanescences to vapor....Evanescence is a wonderful phrase, but when I pry back a board on our old house and reach in, and the beam comes out in moist handfuls like devil's food cake, it's not evanescence, it's rot....Everything
created will rot eventually: the Mona Lisa, the Brooklyn Bridge....The world works to recycle itself.....Without rot, life itself is impossible. Rot probably deserves a better name....Most of life is....maintenance."

(p. 276) "Ours in an age of broken connections...Restoration is renewal--and effort to mend the world--or it is not worth doing. Good restoration is a prayer, an offering. It's praise, attention paid; it revels in the glory and spirit of this life."

I just want to pass on this review from the Spring 2002 issue of ArchitectureBoston:

THE SAME AX, TWICE is one of those quiet books that foments revolution. Although identified as merely "journalist and author" (and by implication, non-scholar?), Howard Mansfield has just the right combination of erudition and humor to challenge conventionally held ideas about historic preservation. Like IN THE MEMORY HOUSE , his wise 1993 exploration of the New Englander's defining relationship with the past, THE SAME AX, TWICE ought to be on your bookshelf along with Wendell Berry and Noel Perrin."
-- William Morgan, Professor of Art, Wheaton College
--

Howard Mansfield has written an immensely insightful book about the ways we see our own past. If you were to say something to fault this book it would be that it has crammed twice too many ideas into half too little space, but for those of us who are tired of books with next to nothing to say, Mansfield delivers a powerhouse of ideas about where we are and where we are going.

From the Wright Brothers to the Gillette razor, Mansfield explores American culture and the complex interplay between who we are and who we think we would like to become. Solid pleasure.

This is not the kind of book I usually read. It's probably not the kind of book that **anyone** usually reads. I bought it because of a favorable review in the New York Times. The review made the book sound good and, what do you know, the book really is good.

Now, I'll never renovate a house. I'll never live in a log cabin or an old stone house. I don't want to live in New England or visit Walden Pond or petition city hall to save an old building. But when I read this book, I found out I was a "Noah." (A "Noah" is someone, according to Mansfield, who tries to preserve things that are beautiful or useful from extinction.)

I encourage you to read this book as an allegory for renewal in your own life. What important things in your own world are threatened by what's new? What can you do to preserve those things you find useful as they're encroached upon by change?

My norm is to buy books on Amazon.com and then sell them on half.com to support my habit. But not this book! This book is staying on my shelf. I'll read it again whenever I'm in need of inspiration or creative insight.

This is my first Cioran -- a friend recommended him 16 years ago (!) and I finally got around to it -- well worth the wait. Like any great literature, it "says things we've been thinking" but just haven't been able to enunciate. I *am* very glad that I have thoroughly perused Plato, the Presocratics, Epicureans/Stoics/Cynics before reading this book -- that really added the depth I needed to fully appreciate "A Short History of Decay." For me, this is a book for a "mature" person, it would have gone over my head as a teen/college student (but maybe not for all).

For some, this is their favorite collection of Cioran's writings; it certainly is the most intense of his earlier writings (see my review of his later writings like "Anathemas and Admirations"). These short essays/aphorisms by a master of metaphor (a metaphorician?) contain poetic pyrotechnics that leave permanent afterimages on the psyche.

It may be necessary to do the reading around the nihilistic skepticisms (non-being, futility, annihilation, melancholy, insomnia) and access this amazing imagination that is a metaphor generator second to none. These aphorisms are some of the most intense in the history of the aphorism; a tonic and disturbing lucidity emerges in the reading.

This writing is not quite literary criticism, not quite philosophy (anti-philosophy Cioran would have it). Cioran is a big fan of Taoism and Diogenes the Cynic (the essays "Disintoxication" and "The Celestial Dog"); there is also some dabbling with the religious subject of The Saints and their "perversities" (not sure what that infatuation is about!).

Anyway, here are some quotes to prime the pump:

"Life is possible only by the deficencies of our imagination and our memory"

"Taoism surpasses all the mind has conceived by way of attachment"

"Profundity is independent of knowledge"

"The authenticity of an existence consists in its own ruin"

"Internal wealth results from conflicts sustained within oneself"

"It is because we are all imposters that we endure each other"

All in all, a good place to start with EM Cioran if you're thinking of giving him a shot. His command of language will certainly amaze.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

Cioran became a famous young writer in Romania, but left Romania for France in 1937 and made Paris his home. This was the first book he published in French, under the title PRECIS DE DECOMPOSITION. It won the Prix de Rivarol for the best French book by a non-French author, and for decades it was the book that overshadowed everything else he published. If a reader wants to know Cioran, this book cannot be ignored. It introduces almost all of the themes he would make his own--suicide, insomnia, solitude, the importance of sickness, repugnance for professional philosophy--and it is the longest book he ever published in French. Richard Howard, the notable translator of many great French authors, has devoted his talents to translating all of Cioran's French books, and has done his typically splendid job. The translation is complete, utterly reliable, and catches all the sneer and boil of Cioran's own style.

Despite its title, this not a history. It is a series of very short essays, a few paragraphs each, on associated topics, most of which deal with his deep skepticism about God and man. Cioran spent years writing and rewriting the book and in later years complained that it was overwritten. I think the elder Cioran was correct in his assessment of the younger Cioran. It remains a book worth careful reading because the young Cioran pushed himself so hard, both in his thinking and in his attention to style.

This book is so beautiful, that's why it could be dangerous. I mean, Sartre could have written about the same, but without the feeling, not "like a burst of blood" like Fante wrote about the true sense of writing. Sartre is boring. Cioran is beautiful, is dangeraous, he can utterly destroy your will to live.

So be cautios... this book is one of the best thing I've ever read (besides T. S. Eliot or Shakespaeare).

He makes fun of all "modern" ideas, all idealism... he teach us the blessing of not to believe in anything.

A great book.

PD: If you read it in frech you can find the beauty of the sentences, the rithym, everything... if you read it aloud it sounds beautiful.

A constant bedside book for me. It dissects our decadence with surgical precision. Its prose is more relevant and brilliant than many surrealist texts to which it invites comparison. The radical questions Cioran sets before the reader makes the book quite disturbing as it often hits the reader who is brutally honest with himself very close to dead-on bullseye. It's one of the most illuminating books of the eschaton as revealed in the immediacy of our lives, as we stand precariously balanced looking direct into the abyss and its depths of nothingness. The reader must harden his heart to withstand the abyss looking back at him straight through the eyes, into the deepest recesses of his own non-being. But then, the reader is reminded by the book's lucidity and made steady through its intransigence as it perforates the existential night with light as dense and permanent as the stars seen from the vantage point of a world steeped in pitch black. Our world.

Excellent book! Well done.

This book shows the Eternal living beauty of Truth.

I met Tommy in 1980 when he came to Boulder City to hear inner life author and teacher Vernon Howard. I haven't seen Tommy for about 14 years and haven't talked to him for about 12. I purchased his book mostly out of curiosity and was amazed at its depth and penetrating quality. This is definitely not just a carbon copy of Vernon's work. The book, and Tommy's work to write it, brings to reality Matthew Chapter 13, Verse 22, which states, "He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

Tons of great and refreshing material in this book!

A beautiful synthesis of inspiring teaching stories, everyday-workable spiritual instruction and timeless truths, SuperWisdom is a valuable tool for anyone who sincerely wants to find the True Self.
We are lead through the "Four Gardens of Growth," each containing powerful, life-changing principles presented in a clear, easy to absorb way. I especially liked the "Heart Hints" at the end of each section.
For those interested in energy studies, this is a great book. Learn how to increase energy, how not to waste it, how to invest it for more learning- it's all here.
SuperWisdom gets right to the heart of true self-change. While Vernon Howard's influence is felt throughout the book (and much credit is given), Truth has found a bright new voice in Tom Russell.

This is a good book. It is admittably largely based on the writings of the late Vernon Howard. I would advise anyone to go directly to Vernon Howards many books (especially THE POWER OF YOUR SUPERMIND). A of his books are availible at a good price on Amazon.

Dave

If you're a fan of Vernon Howard's superb books and teachings then be ready to meet the man who is carrying on the torch. Tom Russell, one of Mr. Howard's students and associates, has written a terrific book based on many of the teachings learned from his mentor. (I've followed Tom's SuperWisdom ezine for years so as soon as I learned the book was coming out I knew it was something I would read and from which I would greatly benefit.)

This book is awesome. I got more than my money's worth in the introduction alone! And, yet, the information continued to get even more powerful as the book progressed.

Definitely one of those books that - once you read it one time - you'll want to keep it in a very visible place in your library. That way you can read it again, or at least just pick it up from time-to-time and turn to any of the pages. I guarantee that, regardless of the page you choose, you'll find the exact gem you needed to experience at that very moment.

Superwisdom is a 21st Century book that takes a new look at mankinds age-old spiritual quest to discover Lifes purpose. Tom Russell has created a book that will inspire any weary traveller to get back to REAL spiritual work and, as he puts it,"refuse to be a stagnant pond". Theres a real practical side to this book, something that is often severly lacking in the multitude of new age/spiritual books overcrammed full of concepts and philosophical discussion. Superwisdom encourages self-reliance and gently prises one away from spiritual dependency. Self-discovery can be fun again by using the many tools and ideas presented in Superwisdom. Theres no creed or heavy doctrine to follow but a vibrant lightness of encouragement, simplicity, and practical tips to get out there in the world and APPLY your inherent SUPERWISDOM.

I just completed this book which I did with my Bible study group as a group study. It is one of the best studies we have done. This is a great book for any Christian or really for anyone - the judgment seat is not a topic often covered in church. For individual or group study, it is definitely a must read.

This Was Your Life!: Preparing to Meet God Face to Face

Great Book! A 'Must-Read'

All I can say is, "Wow!" I could not put this book down. The authors draw you in and keep you asking for more. I had never heard of the Judgement Seat of Christ until I had the honor of being a student under Jamie Lash at Dallas Baptist University. I always thought that judgement was for the unbelievers. But there is a judgement for Christians as well. We will be rewarded for the works we do here on Earth. Not only are we saved from eternal separation from God but we will also receive rewards! God is GREAT! But it is important to know that some will not receive a reward on that day. This book will motivate you to aim for the prize!!!!!

The answer is probably not enough. I heard an interview with Jamie Lash on the radio and was intrigued. Actually, I felt a certain fear & trepidation about reading the book, because I knew it would require a complete change of perspective & immediate action. Many people get laxidasical with the fact we are saved by grace and our works don't get us into heaven! That is true, but do our works matter--Yes, indeed! This book will help get a Christian past having mere "fire insurance," bur realizing we need to serve Christ everyday and we WILL be judged for our works while in the body. This will be a judgment of rewards or lack of rewards, but an extremely important judgment nonetheless. If you're considering buying the book, please do so, because it contains important truths not found in many other Christian books!

I believe that after THE GOSPEL, This is THE most important truth that anyone can ever hear. In fact, I often describe it as "THE GOSPEL FOR CHRISTIANS." If believers really embrace this extremely motivation truth, their lives will never be the same again.

Since reading "This Was Your Life?" in 1999, there is not a day that I do not think about living for THAT DAY instead of just TODAY. I have now bought over 400 copies of the book and about 20 copies of the video series.

I have distibuted these copies resulting in overwhelmingly positive and grateful responses. Most people have had similar reactions to mine and have in turn ordered more books to give to the believers they knonw. There is just no way to measure the far-reaching impact this book will have on eternity.

I have not had the pleasure of seeing Howard's follow-up work, "Pool Light," but if it is anything like this it is absolutely remarkable! "Water Dance" has several pages of written introduction followed by a stunning array of hundreds of full-page, sharply contrasted and brightly colored photos of nude dancers/models exhibiting many traditional ballet style moves under water. There are other kinds of poses as well, some showing full frontal nudity of male and female figures, most with long veils and ribbons that further enhance the fluidity and grace of the poses. Howard Schatz has truly charted new territory here. This work should serve as inspiration to all aspiring artists of the nude figure as well as photographers and students of dance. I bought a new paperback copy in 1998 but would gladly pay the (much) higher used prices people are selling it for (as I do intend to buy a used copy "Pool Light" for it's even higher asking price). This is a positively magnificent work!

And, to Amazon's credit, I also recommend the following: David Hamilton's "Age of Inncocence," Jock Sturges' "Radiant Identities," also (for some more abstract and hard-hitting photography, demanding personal interpretation) Jan Saudek's, "Saudek," and Boris Vallejo's, "Bodies," Christian Voght's "In-Camera: Eighty-Two Images by Fifty-Two Women" and, of course, Howard Schatz' "Pool Light."

Howard Schatz is a master at creating amazing photographic images of the human body. "Water Dance," his fourth book (1995), is a collection of over a hundred stunning color photos taken of ballet dancers underwater in what started out as an experiment and ended up as new and alluring choreography.

The introduction to this book talks about man's quest over time to conquer gravity, and how dance is created to give the illusion of weightlessness. This discussion is a perfect foreword to Mr. Schatz's work, in that having dancers "perform" underwater essentially solves the gravity problem. What you see in "Water Dance" is a collaboration between photographer, dancer, choreographer and even costume designers to produce a sort of ballet that is weightless . . . underwater. Virtually all of the subjects are dancers from the San Francisco Ballet and other companies, recruited by Mr. Schatz to perform in this project that uses a pool as a stage. Each image is entitled "Underwater Study #..." and features usually one, but occasionally two or more dancers, captured in the midst of an expressive movement or pose, but suspended in a way that the fluidity is still present. An interesting attribute to these photos is the use of the surface of the pool as a mirror, or as a plane through which a portion of the body can penetrate to become hidden. Note also the use of special chiffon fabrics which were created for the underwater studies to take a shape which complements the dancers.

You don't have to be a fan of dance or photography to appreciate this book. The images are truly amazing, and I believe anyone will find fascination with these photos.

I first saw this book over a year ago, and I have been captivated by it ever since. The high contrast cover says it all: Red and yellow fabric, and a redheaded dancer with cream coloured skin. I like drawing the human form, and especially dancers, but the positions that are achieved by the dancers in this work are floating and effortless. The use of primary coloured fabrics alongside the fair skin of the bodies is superb. The physicality of the movements and the bodies is breathtaking. This book belongs on every artist's and dancer's coffee table for all to see.

Review Summary: This book deserves more than five stars.

Take the most talented dancers from the San Francisco ballet, give them special gossamer costumes for underwater, and see how their poses and moves soar in the relatively weightless space beneath the surface. The resulting color photographs capture exquisite forms, bubbles, reflections, and stressless arabesques. The photographs are done with a Nikonos RS camera and a Hasselblad underwater camera, lit by Balcar strobes.

Viewer Caution: These images contain many nude photographs of men and women that would earn this material an R rating if it were found in a motion picture. All of the images evoke freeflowing, tasteful versions of classical poses for dancers and nudes.

Review: Water Dance is one of the most original photography books I have ever seen. Most underwater images are of fairly still poses, while these are often dynamic in their movement. Mr. Schatz has also found many special effects that mimic mirror images, reflections on the surface of water, and bubbles caught in solid transparent objects. Flowing hair and costumes also serve to capture the undulations and movement in the water in ways that will remind you of the most delicate kites flying in the most gentle, steady breezes.

The dancers themselves are in marvelous shape and seem to have adapted well to making leaps and pas de deux that would be impossible above the water. Those images are the most ethereal. The images are greatly enhanced by the special costumes designed to work well in the undulating world of underwater.

Ms. Katita Waldo is clearly the dancer who has taken most naturally to this new medium, and you will be intrigued by her freedom of expression in these images. But many other dancers were able to achieve remarkable poses that were well photographed and reproduced in this wonderful book.

Here are some of my favorites:

Underwater Study #49 (Shannon Lilly); U.S. #229C (floating costume); U.S. #189 (Heather Nahser); U.S. #117 (Tiffany Heft and Nikolai Kabaniaev); U.S. #179 (Jessica Schatz and Heather Vaughn); U.S. #152 (Katita Waldo); U.S. #107 (Anastasia); U.S. #215 (Julian Montaner and Nicole Panone); U.S. #183 (Wendy Van Dyck); U.S. #130 (Katita Waldo); and U.S. #41 (Katita Waldo).

I hope that someone will take this concept the next step and choreograph a whole underwater video featuring such beautiful dance sequences.

After you finish marveling over these astonishing scenes, I suggest that you think about how your own work could be transformed by being moved into a medium in which it could operate with fewer constraints. What would glass blowing look like in outer space? How would writing change if it were dictated while roller blading?

Extend the joy of life in as many ways as possible!

Having gotten acquainted with several of Howard Schatz' books, and owning more than one, I vouch for the opinions of other reviewers that this collection of photographs of dancers, fabrics, bodily configurations and arresting visual phenomena underwater is just beautiful, and astounding! An earlier reviewer said, "The photos in this book are a bit rawer than those in 'Pool Light' - and by that I don't mean tawdry." Unfortunate use of the word; since true appreciators of dance and the human form don't consider the uncovered body as "raw", but exquisitely natural. Mr. Schatz is very discrete in his exposure of both male and female bodies in this fine collection. To my taste, this book is superior to the later one, "Pool Light" (which I also own and thumb through).

One of the arresting visual phenomena is the reflections of forms from the "mirror" meeting of water and air (mediums of different density) at the pool"s surface.

To me (dance buff) this is much more than a "coffe table" book.

This is the most wonderful collection of fairytales, which I first encountered in the third grade and have reread countless times since. I'd rank it with the multicolored Fairy Book series by Andrew Lang as world class for this genre. A classic!

This book has been in my family for four generations, the 1912 edition having been given to my father by his grandmother in 1948.

The premise of the story is given in the introduction; the narrator happens upon a marvelous clock in Father Time's attic, which strikes the hour with songs and puppet dances. Twenty-four stories follow, one for each hour of the day. Each story begins with a verse that corresponds to the hour of the day: lighting the fire, preparing breakfast, sending the children to school, making the noonday meal, milking, tea, bedtime. The verses alone are fascinating, as they bring to life the househould routines of a very different era.

The stories are illustrated with Howard Pyle's remarkable drawings. Each tale has a frontispiece for the title, and the beginning of the text and each picture caption is heralded with a large ornmental letter like those in illuminated manuscripts. The illustrations are gorgeous. Pyle was fond of capturing scenes of nobility and royal splendour, pastoral life, and witchcraft. Some are stylized portraits of princesses in exquisite gowns and classic poses, while others demonstrate Pyle's gift for caricature and expression.

The stories themselves are wonderful, full of heroes and heroines, bravery, beauty, wits and trickery. Although there are allusions to mystic and Christian themes, and to folklore and fables, most of the stories will be unfamiliar and fresh to modern readers. The langauge is rich with metaphor, droll imagery, and dialogue that is made to be read aloud. As with Aesop's fables, the stories are meant to instruct, but the morals take a back seat to the storytelling, at least until the conclusion of each tale, and a great deal is left up to the reader to interpret.

This was my favorite book as a child, and I still turn to it on sleepless nights. But our beloved family heirloom is growing very delicate, so I am very glad that the book is still in print. I hope to share it with my own children someday.

My father heard these stories as a child. He read them to me. I read them to my kids and my grandkids. The vocabulary, the cadences, the varied plots and the sheer magic of these tales is timeless. The poems at the beginning of each chapter are related to the hours. Kids insist that you read them too. Pyle always sees to it that bullies, evil magicians, cheaters and older nasty siblings get their comeuppance. Little ones enjoy that aspect. Great archaic words are dusted off along with long disused similies and metaphores. It's the kind of book that comes to mind when you meet a bright eyed new child who has read everything else or seen everything else. At age 70 I still keep a copy in my bed's head board. Rap, tap, tap he knocked at the door.

The narrator of the twenty-four stories (plus an introduction) finds a special clock in Father Time's attic, which strikes on the hour with songs and puppet dances. "Four and twenty marvelous tales, one for each hour of the day" all start with a verse to coincide with that particular hour. Drawings are included to add further depth. Each ends with a morality lesson, which never interferes with the story, but helps wrap up that entry.

This nineteenth century collection is remarkable in different ways depending on the reader. The tales provide insight into daily household life and the morality of a bygone era. The contributions also furbish delightful fairy tales for the young at heart that are enhanced by superb figures of speech and tremendous illustrations with a finale moral lesson. This collection is a winner and will send many a reader searching for other works by Howard Pyle.

Harriet Klausner

I have been searching for this book for quite a while. The stories included are gloriously written and the illustrations are phenomenal. The reason I started looking for it again was because my Grandson will soon enjoy it. He is only 5 years old, but again, I started reading it (repeatedly) starting at age 7. I think I re-loaned it until my card was worn out! I will get him his very own copy and I know he will enjoy it as much as I.

It's a nice book, well written and with a nice alternating between anedocts and game recaps with box scores and precise recollection of the Mets most important games over their history. I wish the author had expanded a bit more the final part of the book dedicated to players profiles. But overall it's a nice reading for baseball fans interested in the recent history of the game, not only Mets fans

I loved this book. If you are a baseball fan, half the fun is reliving great moments. Blatt puts you back on the field only the way a seasoned sportswriter can. There is also plenty of stuff from off the field. I love baseball and this book does it for me. Even after reading it, it's a book you can pick up and enjoy all over again. Buy it.

I just finished reading Howard Blatt's book, Amazin' Met Memories. I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane with the Mets. This book had terrific accounts of over 40 of the greatest games in Met history. My whole family have been fans of The NY Mets for many years. Since we don't live in New York anymore we can't attend the games, but this book made me feel that I was sitting on the third base line at Shea. I will keep this book in the company of every Met yearbook I own, since '62. Mr. Blatt, keep the Met books coming!!!

After realizing that Howard Blatt couldn't possibly have spent 40 years in the Mets' lockerroom, I became aware of the fact that his amazin' book only makes it seem so, and that he has astounding knowledge of both the Mets and baseball in general.
This is an enjoyable and fascinating chronicle of 40 sometimes great, often frustrating years.
Perhaps my biggest kick, however, came from Bud Harrelson's wonderful and honest introduction. It alone makes the book a great buy, and brought back for this original Met fan many fond memories of the '69 Miracle Mets.

Might this be the best Mets book -- ever? I'm old enough to recall the Mets first win in 1962, and here's that game again, one of dozens of games -- from the good years and the wishful -- with dozens of box scores (box scores! Why don't baseball books have more box scores like Blatt gives us?) and excellent game stories, with the best quotes, scene-setting and analysis you could want. I just pick this book up, read any game at random and next thing I know I'm reading three games, four, and the writing of each game-story is so crisp, evocative, witty and intelligent that nothing about it tires. It's like sitting next to a great afficianado who's seen it all and makes you feel as if you're seeing it fresh in the thrill of the original nights and afternoons. Like a time machine, you're placed in the game's seasonal situation, the immediate dugout calculations, and the cultural implications for the Blue and Orange. And then there are the chapters on best/worst trades, best players (complete with stats and rain-delay musings) and like the song says, "I don't care if I ever get back." And the topper is that he even includes "bonus" games, plucking the extraordinary from the ordinary (if there is such a thing as ordinary in baseball). Any old book can give you the World Series games but Blatt gives you it all, from the Aprils to the warm summers to the October chill. It works on every level. Not only is this a book for the deepest, most passionate fan but also the perfect volume to introduce and explain to your girlfriend, wife or kids why the Mets matter, why this is not just the Mets history but our own. Just as you can love and appreciate Wrigley without being a Cubs fan, or appreciate Jordan without being his team's fan, you can love this book even if you're not a Mets fan. If you value great baseball writing you'll become a Howard Blatt fan. As do all great authors and their classics, this book transcends its particulars to become something any fan will find fascinating and historically compelling. This book will become as dog-eared as your first scorecard and just as precious.