Nicholson Books

If you're like me, you look up at the night sky and wonder what stars and constellations you're seeing. Well, wonder no more! Instead delight in the stunning photos and learn from the celestial information presented in this book - Universe.

I confess I'm baised. As an avid fan of DK Publishing's Eyewitness Guide travel books, I always find their photography a visual delight. Yet Universe exceeds the high expectations that their travel books have given me. It is no exaggeration that this book is "The Definitive Visual Guide" to the Universe.

This book provides a reasoned and erudite response from the professional librarian and archivist community to Nicholson Baker's "Double Fold". Think that Baker over-made his case against the CIA/library conspiracy to destroy our print heritage? You're right - he did. In the interests of writing a ripping good yarn, Baker played fast and loose with the facts. Remember, he's a novelist, not an investigative reporter.

Richard Cox brings years of professional archival practice and scholarship to bear on the fallacies of "Double Fold". Cox rationalizes the debate by asking profound questions about how society should decide what it preserves among competing wants with limited resources, the best methods for preservation, and what the implications for Baker's solution of "saving everything" will be in our electronic age.

Most interesting perhaps is Cox's review of Nicholson Baker's public statements on the TV and lecture circuit regarding his "Double Fold" crusade. Obviously, consistency is not one of Baker's hobgoblins. He seems to have made a career out of repeatedly contradicting what he wrote in "Double Fold". Of extreme value in Cox's response is his focus on how Baker has brought the previously private library science debate on what materials to preserve and how into the public realm. Although he disagrees with Baker's caricature of librarians, Cox argues that the public perceptions of librarianship and archival responsibilities should be of extreme concern to the profession.

Cox doesn't just do a hatchet job. He uses "Double Fold" with all its warts as part of his graduate courses for archivists. Cox believes that Baker has done the profession a favor by shaking it up a bit and bringing preservation issues into public debate. The only criticism I have of the book is that its arguments are at time redundant.

The rabbit, feeling a bit out of place and a bit unworthy, nonetheless yearned to be loved, not for what he could be or should have been, but rather for what he truly was. What child (or adult, for that matter) can't find meaning here? Children yearn for love and acceptance, and unfortunately we live in a world in which that acceptance and approval usually consists of things being bigger, stronger, better, prettier, faster, newer.

The rabbit is not the 'best' toy in the boy's collection; he's not the most expensive, the best constructed, or the most interesting. But as the wise old Skin Horse knows, it isn't in the flashy paint and moving parts that true love grows. True love makes one real, and it takes a special being and a deliberate process to become real. 'It doesn't happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.'

Being real can hurt, but the rabbit in the process of becoming real barely notices that his velveteen fur is rubbing off, his tail is coming undone, his pink nose is worn and his whiskers are gone. He knows he is loved, especially during the boy's serious illness (the story was written shortly after the great flu pandemic that claimed countless lives in the early part of the twentieth century, and other childhood illnesses were still commonplace killers even in the most technologically advanced countries, perhaps another aspect of how technology can fail to address the 'real').

The ending is poignant and significant - reality means something different for the rabbit than he anticipated, but it is a joyous happening nonetheless. The Skin Horse, the rabbit and the boy are all real, and serves as an extended parable on how right relationships can overcome much adversity.

This is one of my favourite stories of all time, and the drawings accompanying this edition are very apt and special.

This is a great interactive Cd Rom! The book has lots of general info about the Vikings, but the Cd has this great game called Hnefatafl (good luck pronouncing that :-) that has become quite addictive with all of us. At first I just let the kids play, but the strategy of the game is engrossing, so we all got in on the act! This definitely will liven up any study on Vikings!

This whole series of interfact books is excellent. The books and CDs are wonderful teaching and learning tools for both home and the classroom. The user can interact with both the CD and the book and it allows scope for self correction, and the opportunity to glean many amazing facts from the many games, stories, quizzes, puzzles........ A great find!

Well, I suppose that's how it was many hundreds of years ago much as it is today. Visit the small, obscure English pub from days of yore! Gorgeous attention to detail, beautiful, clear color photographs and descriptions of each pub's unique qualities. Just like the book entitled "A Panorama of England", this book is a fantastic coffee table book. What I liked best about the book is how the author's provide information about the history of the local breweries that supply the individual pubs and what the specialty beers and ales of the area are. I never realized there were so many different kinds! There are also descriptions of the various pub games offered at the different establishments, games which have been played for hundreds of years and most of the pubs still have the authentic furniture and interior decor. There is a wonderful description of the fireplaces that warm these cheery haunts and you get the feeling that the people there must have wonderful stories to tell. It would be an ideal book to take on vacation if you go to England because each photo also has the name and county as a caption and this would make it easy to find and you can use it as a companion to the "Panorama of England" book and truly step back in time to taste great ales and view some breathtaking scenery. It's amazing how the history of the village pubs and ale houses stretches back so many hundreds of years and the famous people who have been reputed to have visited many of them. This information adds a truly mystical dreamy quality and makes this a wonderful book to explore. I actually have read the descriptions of all the pubs as I would a novel and loved the enriching experience. Written in a clear style with adequate interesting information alongside excellent photographs.... well, need I say more! So pour that pint of English bitter, put your foot up on the stool and take in the wonderful, cheery experience!

With the coming of the internet, the phenomena of the 'Virtual Library' has become ubiquitous for community, academic, corporate, and governmental libraries and library systems around the world. Compiled and edited by the team of librarians and information technology experts R. David Lankes, Scott Nicholson, Marie l. Radford, Joanne Silverstein, Lynn Westbrook, and Philip Nast, "Virtual Reference Service: From Competencies To Assessment" provides the cutting edge of Virtual Reference Services (VRS), summarizing important research, illustrating VRS principles and practices with real-world case examples and case studies. Of special note are the discussion on programs and tools that libraries can utilize to enhance their current offerings ranging from Instant Messaging, to subject-specific taxonomies enabling virtual medical and health reference support. "Virtual Reference Service" is a key and fundamentally recommended addition Library Science reference collections and library staff member in-house training supplemental reading lists.

That's what this book is for any dollhouse collector. If it is true that dollhouses are addictive and you can't have just one, Vivian Greene lives up to that ideal. Her rescue of antique dollhouses from the dustbins of Britain sparked a dollhouse revival that spread to the US and around the world. Yet the book is not full of the grandious rooms of Queen Mary's Dollhouse or Colleen Moore's. It is full of objects and ideas that are well within the reach of the serious and even not so serious collector, as well as period design authentic to each era. Mrs. Greene's dollhouse collection begins with a 17th century dollhouse and continues up to when dollhouses began to be commercially produced. Each is a one of a kind historical artifact. This is my favorite dollhouse book bar none.

This book is a wonderful example of poetry at it's finest. It's very inspirational with an underlying philisophical message. The Author writes free verse that has pictoral images that will leave the reader with some thoughts worth pondering.

this is the perfect book to read if you are about to begin working on a creative work. it is pure inspiration... igniting gratitude for the craft of storytelling, the importance of it and creation. it's a book that i give as a gift for folks who are creative, and those who want to become more creative... i call it a masterpiece. a powerful work from a brilliant writer!