Morgan Books

A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated book devoted solely to the best 75 linksland style golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland, thoroughly recommended.

This book is worth its weight in gold! I learned so much about the dos and don'ts about keeping my family and our home naturally, healthy. This book disspelled a number of myths and sheds some light on the mystery of moving in a "green" direction. I've made a number of changes in our home since reading this book, and at little to no extra expense. I particularly love the resource section of this book, which offers a plethora of websites and contacts that will take a person to the next level in their quest to "go green." The author organizes the chapters & topics very well, making the book easy to read. The colors and graphics are exceptionally pleasing. I bought more copies for Mother's Day gifts, classroom teacher & Girl Scout leader end of year gifts, a wedding shower and a baby shower gift. This was a great find!

"When David McHugh discovers an unexpected talent for finding what he calls "cold places"- sites that have ancient power- it isn't long until he locates a valuable artifact buried in one of these sites. The find excites his father, a professor of archaeology, who has been encouraging his son to follow in his footsteps. David is pleased to have made his father proud of him, but soon becomes frightened. As his "pull" to cold places becomes stronger, David discovers that these freezing energy vortexes provide a direct link to the Ice Age and he finds himself uncontrollably slipping into the past, terrified of being unable to return to the present. Worse yet, the malevolent ice follows him back to his own time! With his new girlfriend, Molly Doyle, he tries to find a way to stop the influence the spirit of the ice is having on modern weather. But while he is battling strange forces, he is also struggling to grow up and accept the changes that are taking place in his own life. An exciting fantasy adventure with an undertone of gradually increasing horror."

thank you..

"The value probably is connected with the value of imagination. It's also part of what a poet does to keep the imagination fresh. Science fiction is maybe just a modern extension of something that has always been there, in for example, Milton and Shelley" says Edwin Morgan in one of his interviews. Edwin Morgan, who is a prominent Scottish poet, dramatist and translator, is interested in many different areas such as languages, technology, art and film. In his poems, it is possible to see a variety of style, form and content. Tom Pow suggests in his article, "The Driving Spirit of Morgan", that:
Morgan has always been an imaginative explorer of the most intrepid kind. He has described poetry `as partly an instrument of exploration like a spaceship', and he has proved it so, not only in his pursuit of subject matter, but in his broadening of the possibilities for poetry, to include sound poetry, found poetry, visual and concrete poetry.

And it is quite possible to see that his being "an imaginative explorer" leads him to explore the realms of developing technology and astronomy. Through his interest in technology, he creates a world out of machines, computers and spaceships, and changes the traditional limits of poetic imagination.
His Sonnets from Scotland (1984) is one of the significant works of post-war literature. And through these poems, it is possible to explore the life, landscape and the changing nature of Scotland. The most particular thing is that in these poems he uses science fiction elements to describe the country. "Carboniferous" is one of these poems whose science fiction elements are remarkable. Carboniferous is one of the periods of the geological timescale extending from the end of the Devonian period, to the beginning of the Permian period. The name is given for the large coal beds of that age which are found in Great Britain and Western Europe. So the poem depicts the situation of the Scottish territories in the Carboniferous period. As can be easily guessed, even the title of the poem sounds quite strange and surprising. The poet prefers to use a word from geological terminology, which refers to a period of primeval world before the coming of mankind, instead of using a word referring to a realm which human experience and knowledge can reach. Although the poem is about a primeval period during which it is impossible to see any traces of human being and, thus, human technology, the poem starts with a description of a world in a "superchitin scuba-gear":
Diving in the warm seas around Bearsden,
cased in our superchitin scuba-gear,
we found a world so wonderfully clear
it seemed a heave given there and then.

These lines are suggested by some uncertain subjects who call themselves as "we". Throughout the sonnet, it is not possible to know the nature of these subjects. The poem is definitely about a period long before the human existence. Therefore, it is possible infer that these subjects are not human beings. As they dive into the sea in a "superchitin gear", they might be assumed to be creatures from another planet that come to the world in a spaceship. They dive into "the warm seas around Bearsden", a town on the skirts of Glasgow, Scotland. The poet, most probably, refers to the fact that Bearsden, even whole Scotland, is under the water at that time. The newly arrived subjects think that they have found a "clear" and "wonderful" world which they associate with heaven. However, suddenly, a shark comes and says, "Et in Arcadia ego". This is a Latin phrase which appears as the title of two paintings by Nicolas Poussin. They are depicting "idealized shepherds from classical antiquity" who have gathered around a tomb. And the phrase is interpreted as "I am also in Arcadia" spoken by death which is personified in two paintings. Thus, the tomb referring to death "casts its shadow over the usual ideal merriment that the nymphs and swains of ancient Arcadia are thought to embody".

And with the words of the shark, the tranquil impression that the coming subjects have received disappear, and the following situation takes its place:

How could bright water that hid nothing stem
our ancient shudder? They themselves were dark,
but all we saw was the unsinister
ferocious tenderness of mating shapes,
a raking love that scoured their skin to shreds.
We feared instead the force that could inter
such life and joy, in fossil clays, for apes
and men to haul into their teeming heads.

The initial tranquility of the water leaves its place to a moving liveliness and love that take its power from its paradoxical nature, just like the death which has changed the mundane lives of the shepherds in Poussin's paintings. The poet depicts "dark shapes" which are "mating" with a wild "tenderness". And their love is so powerful and cruel that the coming subjects fear from the force that will destroy them for the mankind to find their fossils. The strong love between the "mating shapes" can be associated with the primordial forces in Greek mythology which mate with each other, no matter how opposite they are, in order to create the world. And in the poem, too, the beings of the water mate with each other in order to create newer kinds which will evolve into "apes and men". And throughout this process, the new comers having "superchitin scuba-gear" observe the world while fearing the power revealed before their eyes.
His another poem which depicts the same beings visiting the world is "Travellers (1)" from Sonnets from Scotland. In this poem, the beings who are called as "travellers" describe the universe with interesting and creative similes. They use the universe as a "trampoline" to jump on it back and forth to the world and stars:
The universe is like a trampoline.
We chose a springy clump near Arrochar
and with the first jump shot past Barnard's Star.

And the poet emphasizes certain places of his country by portraying the travellers visiting Scotland by using the universe as a trampoline. Then the travellers think that "the universe is like a tambourine". The reason for this simile is that while jumping on the universe back and forth to the world and the stars, they hit the planets and this causes a sound like that of a tambourine. By jumping on the universe, they "dropped to the House of Tongue" which is a beautiful place in northern Scotland. Then, they jump back to "a satellite bank" and they "photographed a mole, a broch". This poem of Edwin Morgan depicts the universe almost from a childish perspective. Just like children who are observing the world as they are unfamiliar with it, the travellers do the same thing and come up with quite creative and unfamiliar similes. In general, the poem almost depicts an amusing scene of cartoon in which a few unfamiliar beings jump on a universe-like trampoline by making a sound like tambourine.
In "The Coin", Morgan depicts the travellers' another observation of a "coin". Quite different from the previous poem, "Travellers (1)", it addresses to some political and social views of Edwin Morgan about Scotland. The poem starts with the following lines:
We brushed the dirt off, held it to the light.
The observe showed us Scotland, and the head
of a red deer; the antler-glint had fled
but the fine cut could still be felt...

As can be seen from the starting lines of the poem, certain qualities of the coin attract the attention of the reader. First of all, it is covered with dirt which has to be cleaned so as to see its real surface. When the beings "brushed the dirt off", they see the name of Scotland and "the head of a red deer", typical of Scotland. Then, the travellers remark that the glint of the antler has faded away but it is still possible to feel the "fine cut". With this statement, the reader catches a glance of Morgan's political and social views. He implies that Scotland and its people are not as before; there are changes toward corruption and the dirt of the coin is associated with it. However, Morgan implies with its "fine cut" that Scotland has always a genuine quality which will always remain even if it undergoes great changes. The poem continues with the lines below:
We turned it over, read easily One Pound,
but then the shock of Latin, like a gloss,
Republica Scotorum, sent across
such ages as we guessed but never found
at the worn age where once the date had been
and where as many fingers had gripped hard
as hopes their silent race had lost or gained.

When they turn the coin over, a Latin phrase shines as "Republica Scotorum" meaning that "Republic of Scotland". However, it is impossible for them to see its date, which refers to the fact that Scotland isn't an independent republic yet. The poet hopes that there will actually be written the name of the Republic of Scotland, but that the symbolic Latin name is worn out shows that there is some kind of a hopelessness as on the coin it is not possible to see "where as many fingers had gripped hard as hopes their silent race had lost or gained". Thus, the poet can no longer see the same strong feelings in the people for their struggles against the British. However, in the poem, hope and hopelessness stand side by side as it is seen in last line of the poem:
The marshy scurf crept up to our machine,
sucked at our boots. Yet nothing seemed ill-starred.
And least of all the realm the coin contained.

The poem again turns to the center of travellers, and it suggests that the breath of death, implied through "marshy scurf", covers even their machine which is far from the world's mortal nature. However, the fact that there is nothing "ill-starred" proves that there is still a hope no matter how much change the country and its people have experienced.
The most striking thing in these poems is that different styles and contents intertwine each other in a very effective way. For instance, Morgan uses a very traditional poetic form, sonnet, for such a novel content, science fiction. Moreover, it is possible to see opposite natures side by side when, for example, he describes the arrival of machines, spaceships and unknown being while he is using Latin phrases and referring to real Scottish towns and cities. It is quite possible to suggest that Edwin Morgan offers a mosaic of colorful styles and forms while addressing to Scottish culture.

We all knew kids like Morgan Brenner back in school: you'd say, "Hey, let's make a skateboard!" and a year later a fully-restored '56 Chevy was sitting in the driveway.

The genesis of College Basketball's National Championships must have been something like that: Maybe the original goal was a compilation of NCAA title tournaments or somesuch. Four years and a thousand pages later, however, what Brenner ended up putting together was a definitive compendium of every tournament ever conducted by the eight national athletic associations, with every non-association tournament thrown in for good measure.

This volume is a college b-ball lover's dream. You can do your own color commentary if you have it at your elbow, as every sportscaster is sure to. Its thoroughness is dazzling: Brenner even took pains to resolve confusion involving school names - changes, mergers, common usages - and provided a cross-reference in an appendix ("If you're looking for School [a], try School [b]..."). You can also test your knowledge with "Tournament Trivia:" Which school was the first women's collegiate national champion? Which tournament participant had the fewest wins in a season?

It's a pricey tome at $98.50 (Amazon.com) but look at it this way: it effectively replaces a whole shelf of lesser reference works costing many times that. If you're a true lover of the game and its history, this is the one book you want to have.

By the way, the first women's collegiate national champion was West Chester in 1969, in the invitational IAIW (page 1,027). Fewest wins in a season? Bay Ridge Christian in 1997, with zip.

I have been searching for good resources regarding the architectural style known as collegiate gothic. This book provides a good, broad look at the development of this style at one college, Rhodes (previously Southwestern). The book gives a thorough review of the planning and acquisition of the current campus. It continues through the various stages of building that have occurred up to present times. The key figures of each of the periods of construction are highlighted. Discussion is non-technical, but does not omit key aspects of the process (I speak as an architect).

If you are interested in how a campus can--sometimes tenuously--maintain one style throughout its life, this may provide insight. If you love beautiful buildings that are well photographed, this book could grace your coffee table.

Well researched, well written. A fascinating read and reference if you're into colonial history.

I was surprised at the fun and creative art work in this book of colors. In its sixteen pages, the reader gets to explore eight colors: blue, yellow, red, purple, orange, green, pink, and brown. On every two-page layout, there are pictures of items that refer to the color, e.g., a whale, a lion, a chick, a wagon, socks, grapes, violets, pizza, a jack-o-lantern, a frog, a grasshopper, a pig, ice cream, a teddy bear, chocolate cake, etc. Kids will have fun recognizing the items that have been creatively depicted by Jane Conteh-Morgan. It's a sturdy board book with larger dimensions for smaller hands.

This is a really bizarre fiction-paperback. The author's name is currently missing from Amazon.com's listing-- but it's Cunningham.

The story is set entirely around the real-life Comfort Station building (ie restrooms) in New York City's Bryant Park (found the corner of at East 42nd St and Avenue of the Americas). I mean, entirely. It's written from the first-hand perspective of someone who sits and observes people, and their coming's and going's (literally!) in the park and to the Comfort Station.

The plot thickens with various kind, sweet or more likely shady or odd characters, building to a humorously climactic ending.

If you like offbeat or cult-classic books, this is definitely the one for you.