Nicholson Books

Let us say the Book Fairy comes and says you can be given one book, any book you want. Here's my advice: take John James Audubon's _The Birds of America_. Of course you want the original edition, the volumes that appeared between 1826 and 1838. Not only is it one of the most beautiful books ever printed, if you get tired of it, you can sell it. The last one that came up for sale, in 2000, went for $8.8 million. Just about everyone knows about this book, or has seen reprints from it, and has heard of Audubon (perhaps because of the Society that bears his name) and associates him with birds. He has had several biographies, but _Audubon's Elephant: America's Greatest Naturalist and the Making of the Birds of America_ (Henry Holt) by Duff Hart-Davis takes a specific look at the extraordinary book, and how _The Birds of America_ could not have been made in America.

Audubon's own adopted country had no room for his huge project of a book to show all the birds of America life sized. Naturalists at the time actively discouraged anyone's support of Audubon's efforts, and there were not printers up to the task. So in 1826, Audubon sailed with his big watercolors to England. He became a celebrated American rustic, captivating the town of Edinburgh. He went about carrying his huge portfolio which weighed nearly a hundred pounds, slung over his shoulder. The first printer of the work, having see it, responded, "My God! I never saw anything like this before." He was right; Audubon's pictures had size, drama, and color no previous bird pictures even hinted at. The pictures caused a sensation, and Audubon was caught in a whirl of dining and socializing that he enjoyed enormously. The enormous work of getting subscribers, printing the pictures, and getting a team of colorists to hand tint each one was more than Audubon had counted on. He wrote, "I am thrown into a vortex of business that I never conceived I could manage."

Audubon and conservation have become synonymous, but his process of making his art will appall those many who belong to the Society bearing his name. Audubon probably killed more birds than any man in history, saying, "I call birds few when I shoot less than one hundred per day." He liked painting birds in action, but he posed them that way, killing them and mounting them so he could get the action stilled. A companion complained about Audubon working on his turkey painting, "The damned fellow kept it pinned up there till it rotted and stunk. I hated to lose so much good eating." Audubon kept a golden eagle in a cage to observe it, and having it seen alive sufficiently, tried to suffocate it with charcoal smoke, and when that did not work, pierced it through the heart with a pointed steel needle. As Hart-Davis realizes, Audubon did not lust for blood, but for knowledge. Imparting that knowledge through his art was his great goal, magnificently realized. _Audubon's Elephant_ is a much smaller volume than the original it describes, but it is still handsomely produced on fine paper and with fittingly copious illustrations. It is a vibrant account of an artist accomplishing his dream.

i found this book very valuable and cited it as a major source at a Medical meeting on In- Flight emergency. It gives up to date understanding on many relevent aviation medicine topics. I would recommend this as a source for Flight Surgeonsand Travel Medicine practioners

Buy it now. I have other driving books, some good, some not so... this one, EXCELLENT! Teh technique of driving is what so many people just do not understand, this tells you and then shows you in superb pictures. I recommend this book for beginning drivers as well as experienced racers. This is one of those books that you will learn something no matter who you are, after all, Senna was the greatest ever! Jeff Mulvihill, Jr.

First of all, I avoided buying this book because of that brutal cover. I mean, is that the worst drawing ever of a soccer shirt. Did a 3 y/o do it? They couldn't get a real pic of Pele? Or maybe of the confetti showers created by Argentina soccer crowds?

Well, never judge a book by its cover. This is as brilliant as Futebol by Alex Bellos. The stuff on how Mexican soccer is controled by Televisa was particularly insightful. The early Columbian breakway league of the post-WWII era was something new for me and adds to the nacrodollar mystique of the Columbian league always being way out of the norm. I just loved the explanations of the Menottistas vs. Bilardistos in Argentina and the Fla-Flu rivalry in Brazil.

The only chapter that is a complete waste is the one on Latin American amateur leagues in the UK. Frankly, who cares? Every nation with an immigrant population has these leagues and I couldn't really see the relevancy at all to his dissection of Latin American soccer. I'd sonner have seen another chapter on maybe one or two of the other nations the author didn't quite get into.

This books deals with the revolutionary aspect of the career of Sir William Nicholson, the period in which he and his brother-in-law Jonathan Pryde produced work under the name "the Beggarstaff Brotherhood. The book is excellent and was able to find examples of the commercial work these two remarkable men produced is gratifying. The use of line and color was probably nothing short of a revelation, considering just how overblown most contemporary work was. The only flaw to this otherwise excellent book is the lack of examples of this sort thing, the better to illustrate just how revolutionary the Beggarstaff Brothers actually were. Still this is a marvelous study of two innovative and influental artists.

I purchased this book in 1949. It gave me a brief overview of Nicholson's work. There have been a a great many books on Nicholson since then. There were other painters in this series: Klee,Shahn and Nash. The subway drawings of Henry Moore was another Penquin I bought.When I was a student I would buy a Penquin book a month. I still have many of them.This book has good color reproductions of Nicholson's work.I think you may find the binding worn. If you are a B.N. fan you will find this paperback worth having. For seven dollars it is a good value.Nicholson is the best of the English abstractionist. He had the advantage of meeting Mondrian early in his career and visiting his studio.It proved to be a transforming event in Nicholson's career.

Beth Chatto's GARDEN NOTEBOOK is a delightful and instructive read for advanced gardeners, nursery folks, landscape designers, and/or horticulture majors. Thomas Fischer, Executive Editor of Horticulture Magazine updated the Latin nomenclature for the 1998 edition. Amateur or new gardeners will probably enjoy the book, even if they stumble over many of the plant names. Chatto includes many interesting personal notes about herself, her family, and other folks-including the odd visitor to the nursery.

Chatto operates the Nursery for Unusual Plants at Elmstead Market, Essex, England. At the time she wrote her book she had been awarded the Royal Horticulture Society's Victoria Medal and had won many gold meadows at the annual Chelsea Flower Show (the largest in the world) held every May in London. Folks who have seen the film GREEN FINGERS with Clive Owen and Helen Mirran can appreciate the work involved with an exhibition at Chelsea.

GARDEN NOTEBOOK was based on Chatto's observations and activities over the course of one calendar year in the 1980s. Sooner or later, every garden writer uses the annual cycle as an organizing principle, but Chatto's book is quite original. Unlike many writers for whom gardening is a hobby, Chatto is the consummate professional nursery gardener-one who gardens herself and maintains stocks and seeds for others. Over the course of a year, she manages her nursery and prepares for her entry in the Chelsea flower show. She says she begins to think about the next show as far as a year ahead. Many plants must be prepared for a climax showing on a particular date, and as anyone who gardens knows timing is everything. Temperatures, light, and many other factors affect outcomes. Chatto uses all sorts of tricks to speed up and slow down the development of the plants she intends to show in May.

I enjoyed Chatto's narrative about the "running of a nursery for unusual plants" more than her discussion about the prep work for Chelsea, meeting the Queen, or visits by illustrious people like Elizabeth David (for whom Chatto prepared lunch and shares her menu and recipes with the reader). Nursery owners (not to be confused with the managers of solely profit-based garden center factories carrying only best-selling lines) have quite a challenge. In addition to the many ordinary tasks any gardener faces, the nursery owner must stay abreast of current developments in the seed and plant world; determine the suitability of various plants for the area served; train staff to recognize plants and learn about their proper care and feeding; as well as a miscellany of other chores. Chatto has been able to operate what is clearly a successful enterprise; participate in a seed bank; work for the preservation of endangered plant species; write several books; and enter Chelsea year after year and win medals. She says she is very reliant on her staff, but it takes talent to train and retain a good staff. She also maintains good connections with other nursery folks around the world. She deserves her medals for Chelsea and more. If you enjoy this book, I also recommend A YEAR IN OUR GARDENS by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy.

Understanding kinesics for the rider's interaction with the horse lead me to order this book which came today and it is so full of data and rich in detail it deserves detailed analysis and study. I am hoping to get through it by next week but in reading it already my wife and I have learned things that are making us think as riders on how to interact with a horse. We are also trying to rehab a mare that may need some stretching out to repair past damage before we encountered her and this may be of aid to us in that effort.

In the 1930's young librarian Lucy Merrydew is about to marry into the wealthy Bolsover family when she receives a threatening letter accompanied by a severed finger. Private detective Johnny Black's enquiries to find out who is behind this blackest of mail takes him firstly to Buckfast Hall, the Bolsover family sesat, a seething broth of intrigue and emotions. When a body is found floating in the river, the emphasis shifts dramatically, and Black finds himself up to his neck in murder most foul.

Readers may wonder about the obscure title: why exactly an `Encyclopedic Dictionary'? Don't be put off, however, by this imposing name. What we have here is a genuinely useful book that should be close to hand in the offices of managers who really want to understand their profession. Organisational Behaviour studies what makes people do as they do when they gather together in task-oriented groups. This dictionary provides a (largely) jargon free guide to the best academic thinking on the subject. It contains around 500 entries of about 1000 words each, written by 180 specialists from the discipline.

The entries are cross-referenced so you can start reading on any topic of interest and follow a web of connections through the book that broadens and deepens your understanding of the subject. Like the best reference books its easy to pick it up wanting a quick definition only to find you're still reading an hour later because of the fascinating connected material it contains.

For example, looking at the entry on "crises" leads to references for `accidents' (reviewing how failures happen because of the complex interactions of systems); `Identification' (of causes); `decentralisation' (as a means of avoiding accidents); `risk taking and `organisational learning'. Entries on `decision-making', `group decision-making', `organisational neurosis', `culture' and `innovation' to name just five are all equally fascinating and lead on to yet more useful entries.

Any one responsible for managing people will find material here to improve their understanding of the task. Managers should avoid the latest airport news-stand pot-boiler on business advice and instead invest in this book. By business book standards the paperback is good value. More often than not you'll find it will be open on your desk rather than gathering dust on the shelf.