Morrison Books

It is always fascinating to learn how ancient technologies worked--by trying them out. The authors of this volume describe their reconstruction of such a ship, which they named the OLYMPIAS. They used the ancient shell-first method of ship construction. Planks were fastened edge-to-edge by tenons.

This method is superior to the more recent plank-on-frame method of wooden shipbuilding. Coates comments: "By that method, common in Europe for about the last thousand years, planks forming the skin of a ship are not positively and directly fastened to each other, but only via the frames. Only the caulking rammed between the planks prevents them from sliding on each other, like the leaves of a carriage spring, when the hull is subjected to longitudinal bending and to shear forces. Framed construction is heavier, cheaper, easier to repair, but inherently weaker and structurally less elegant than the shell construction of the ancient Mediterranean. The shell strength of the ancient method is essential to the trireme whose hull is fifteen times as long as it is deep, a very high ratio indeed for an undecked timber hull built without the benefit of modern glues." (p. 22).

I just had the good fortune of meeting author, Mary Kay Morrison, at a professional humor conference. She has written a seminal book for practicing educators on how to bring humor into your classroom in positive, productive ways. Mary Kay is an educator "from the trenches" so she knows first hand the importance and effectiveness of humor with learning. This book is filled with all sorts of gems - wonderful quotes, related research, and absolutely great on-the-job practical suggestions.At the closing of each chapter there are suggestions for inter-active school improvement activities. How about a year long professional development/building improvement goal to maximize learning through the use of humor? This book lays it all out. If you are an educator, be it administrator, teacher, or para-professional, I highly suggest this book. And, if you are a parent, or anyone who cares about and is interested in how people learn, gift this book to the people who can influence students to become what we all should strive for - being life- long learners. Highly recommended!

The Road to Caledonia portrays Van Morrison passionately and deeply, one of the leading figures in music in recent decades. From his birth in Belfast to his latest musical adventure, this book sheds light on an artist at the crossroads of all the musical currents: blues, folk, jazz, country, soul, rhythm and blues, Celtic music...
The book deftly brings together opinions, data and some of the enigmatic Irish musician's best texts. Mysticism, love, his fights with the record companies and journalists, poetry, the defence of art, the dream and nightmare of Woodstock. The perfectionism and magic of his concerts in Spain are narrated brightly in these pages. Some unpublished photos of the artist document his epic career and show the flow of emotions contained in an intense and passionate biography, essential to understand all the vital influences of an artist always in search of his roots.
The authors' careers have helped them get close to a living legend whom they have followed for decades. The Belfast's Lion, creator of masterpieces such as Astral Weeks, has become more than a cult musician. The Road to Caledonia reveals Van Morrison as a creator of unique musical moments.

All the people I know love this book - my children laugh and learn all at the same time, mothers love the educational content and enjoy reading it because it rhymes too. I really got my money's worth with this, the pictures are great, goofy and clever. I highly recommend it, I think it will become a classic.

Published in early 1980, this NASA produced book (NASA Special Publication NASA SP-439) contains the initial observations of Jupiter, its large moons and several smaller moons obtained by the two Voyager space probes during their flyby missions in 1979. The book opens with a review of the scientific objectives of the earlier Pioneer and the current Voyager flyby missions and includes their respective launch vehicles, spacecraft trajectories, and the instruments carried by each spacecraft. Photographs obtained by both voyager spacecraft are presented along with day-by-day summaries of the findings recorded by the various instruments and experiments carried by each spacecraft. Pictorial maps of the four Galilean satellites and lists of the Voyager science and managements teams are included.

This book officially known as NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-451 was published in early 1982, to provide the general public some of the current research and news regarding the two Voyager missions to Saturn. The book opens with a history of Saturn observations from ancient times to the present and then provides a description of the Voyager spacecraft and their instruments. The text then describes the latest findings collected by the spacecraft instruments and analyzed various scientific organizations. The text is supplemented by numerous black and white and color photographs. Six Saturn satellites, Mimas, Enceladus, Tehtys, Dione, Iapetus, and Rhea are discussed in detail, and preliminary pictorial maps of the satellites are given.

It is important to note that while the information and photographs presented in this book are quite stunning, the latest probe to Saturn, Cassini-Huygens, has gathered much more data, which now supersedes this 25 year old data. However, many excellent quality used copies of this book are available cost between $10 - 25.

FIRST AND FOREMOST --- I GUESS I SHOULD LIST MY NAME --- KARABASZ --- A NAME THAT IS LISTED SEVERAL TIMES IN THE BOOK --- NOT BECAUSE OF ME --- I WAS ONLY AN AVERAGE (IF THAT) 3 SPORT CONTRIBUTOR TO THE VIKING PRIDE . BUT I DID WANT TO SHARE A STORY ON THE AUTHOR FOR ALL READERS AND POTENTIAL BUYERS. IN 1968, MY FATHER, VIC KARABASZ, MOVED OUR FAMILY TO JASPER,ALABAMA TO COACH AT WALKER COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL. I TOO, AS A KID REMEMBER SOME OF THE GREAT MEN OF THE TOWN AT THE TIME. BERNARD WEINSTEIN,JUDGE AL BLANTON, AND ESPECIALLY GEDDES SELF! BUT ALSO, THE AUTHOR,PAT MORRISON, WHO I VIVIDLY REMEMBER TO THIS DAY LIVING WITH OUR FAMILY FOR A FEW DAYS BEFORE HIS PLACE WAS READY. COACH MORRISON TOOK A PLAIN WHITE HAT AND DREW A PERFECT BLACK "W" ON IT AND TRIMMED IT IN OLD GOLD FOR ME! AT THE TIME IT WAS THE BEST LOOKING CAP A YOUNG SIX YEAR OLD KID HAD EVER SEEN AND PROOF THAT THE AUTHOR HAS LIVED VIKING PRIDE HIMSELF FOR SOME 40 YEARS NOW !!! THANK YOU COACH MORRISON FOR THE CAP 40 YEARS AGO AND THE OPPORTUNITY NOW TO RE-LIVE SOME OF THOSE MEMORIES!!!

Mark Morrison has done all the getting lost for you. Now, you can easily find some of the best waterfalls in the Carolinas. This book is well worth the wait.

I thought this was a really cool poetry book. I am a huge fanatic for sports and I love them. That made this book just that much better. My favorite poem from this book was called "Solitary Practice". It is a fairly short poem. It's about a basketball player that's doing really good and wondering why he can't do this in a game. Although that's my favorite there are many more good ones. There is quite a variety on the sports. They have from basketball and baseball to track and surfing. Even though I love basketball I still loved all these different types of poems and I'm sure you would to if you read it.

Morrison's book outlines the Mondragon cooperative experience from its history to 1987 and Mondragon's thoughts for the future. Intertwined with this description are Morrison's own experiences with anti-nuke collectives, and his philsophical ramblings. Read it for the information on building a cooperative consciouness to produce social change.

Don't use this book as your only point of reference for Mondragon. While it gives an outline and a rosy picture there are other complexities that are missed or touched on only briefly. Another book that would be helpful in conjunction with Morrison's is "The Myth of Mondragon" by Sharryn Kasmir.