Park Books

I've been reading this strip since it's debut and I was so pleased to have a book come out--I immediately had to purchase it! Bell and Heir are a fabulous team and have created a delightful group of characters that are an incredible mix of age, wisdom, thick headedness and fun. They poke fun at our obsession with coffee, computers, news stories, and the government. My favorite character has to be Sadie Cohen though---the cranky old lady who says everything we all think but that we're not always gutsy enough to express for ourselves. Go Xtreme Scrabble!!!!!

I was surprised how on-point, hilarious, and gutsy the political and social commentary in this book is. I've been reading this comic strip since day one on the NY Times website, and later in my local paper. Long before the 'sixteen words' in the President's speech made such an uproar, and back when the only other voice critical of the Administration was 'The Boondocks,' 'Rudy Park' was calling it like they saw it. This strip has spoken out when so many others in our Media have wimped out. But unlike 'The Boondocks' which is rarely funny, and is too mean-spirited for my tastes, this satire really does 'poke fun' at its targets. It's in the same spirit as 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.' It's honest and unafraid, but it's also light-hearted and whimsical at times. Also unlike Boondocks, it devotes a LOT of time to the characters, including Mrs. Cohen, a cranky but wise old lady who reminds me of my grandma, and Monkey, an orangutan Rudy bought from a broke day-trader. This first book also shows how Rudy is a constant victim of unrequited love, how his boss Armstrong is a greedy 'George Jefferson' type, and introduces us to several other endearing characters who are each a little bit mysterious. One, Randy 'The Rock' Taylor, got a job in airport security after 9-11, and routinely checks to make sure people don't have guns, knives, or ugly polka-dot underwear. My favorite is Uncle Mort, the wild-eyed, Liberal conspiracy theorist with a bullhorn who can never get anyone to pay any attention to him, no matter how loud -or how right- he is. This book is a great start, and I can't wait until the next one comes out (the next one, if they're doing them in order, should have even more commentary on the War on Terror and more developments with Rudy's unrequited love of Darlene Desai.). The strip is a wild ride, and I recommend getting this book for anyone who likes cafes, cares about politics and social issues, or who likes looking at really cute Orangutans that dream about Taco Bell value meals. If you want social satire that's endearing instead of mean-spirited, buy this book!

If you're looking for something that has funny characters, great writing, and great artwork, this is for you. I never read comics until my boyfriend got me hooked on "Rudy Park" and "Get Fuzzy." But while Get Fuzzy is a good escape from the world around us, Rudy Park is great because it lampoons the world around us.

It even manages to make the horrible job situation we're facing today funny in unexpected ways. If you're afraid of the direction our country's headed in, wary of terrorism and corporate scandals, and you're worried that your job may suddenly disappear, nothing will make you laugh like this.

I would like to say that it's a shame on my part that it took me so long after becoming familiar with this subject to now have purchased this book. It is stimulating and personal non-fiction about a man who deserves far more credit to his name than we now give him. Each chapter reads like a letter to the general public from someone who knew R. Gordon Wasson personally. If you have any interest in knowing how America became familar with the psilocybe mushrooms proceed and read the Life Magazine article from the 1950s. It's on the net. If you want an expanded version from various angles, including biographical information on Wasson, pick this book up.

"The Sacred Mushroom Seeker" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

This is a one-of-a-kind tribute to R. Gordon Wasson, widely credited as the primary founder of ethnomycology, whose history-making investigations into fungi across culture led him to the trail of the sacred mushrooms of Mesoamerica. The contributions by various authors are excellent, and the production superb. It features high-quality reproductions of historic photographs of mushroom ceremonies of the Mazatec (some originally published in LIFE magazine), along with some breath-taking pictures never-before-seen. Interesting, informative highlights come one after the other, from a nice assortment of Wasson's highly accomplished colleagues. This is a distinguished work that cannot be praised too highly, and will grow in stature with time. It was fittingly published as #11 in Wasson's Ethnomycological Studies, and goes well on the shelf alongside the others in that series. Very well done, and highly recommended for those with serious interest in this fascinating and important subject.

Rachel Wetzsteon never disappoints. She has no bottom, no horizon, and no stellar limit. I always succumb to her enticing poetry. She makes time stop at every reading. One can only hope for many more volumes.

Sakura Park showcases Rachel Wetzsteon's poetic style and talent as she invites the reader to share in an emotional wealth of romantic insights with respect to the meaning of love, life, truth and beauty. Pemberley: The park was very large. We drove/for some time through a beautiful wood/until the wood ceased, and the house came into view./Inside were miniatures, small faces/we gawked at until a housekeeper showed us/the maste's finer portrait in an upper room./I dredged up a shaming moment:/you asked me a question, then ducked as I spewed/an idiot's vitriol, blindness disguised as rage./The house stood well on rising ground, and beneath its slopes the thirsty couples/held their glasses high at Cafe Can't Wait./ I spent time at its flimsy tables/but then I walked under trees whose leaves/exhaled gusty stories of good deeds;/I learned empty houses are excellent teachers;/I sent you away and felt you grow/tremendous sin your absence. Ask me again.

I've been waiting for this collection to come out for some time based on the strength of pieces like "Love and Work" first featured in The New Yorker about five years ago and "On Leaving The Bachelorette Lunch" from Poetry a couple of years back. If you're reading this buyer's review then you're probably already aware of Wetzsteon's formal adroitness. She's a votary of Auden and she's inherited some of her master's huge empathy, self deprecation and erudition. But unlike, say, the later work of Auden, she wears her learning as lightly as a summmer dress(the seasons are a theme she goes back to again and again in these gorgeous urban pastorals). More than any poems I know, this collection depicts a negotiation between the need for privacy (creative space?) and the need for intimacy. The tension makes for first-rate lyric drama. Sometimes Sakura Park reads like Sex and The City for the intellectually adventurous, heck, the intellectually uninhibited. It's very much a hypereducated thirty something's sentimental education. There are references to Wittgenstein and Weil which are simultaneously funny, respectful and seamlessly integrated into their respective poems. Many pieces smack of seriousness and wit:

"There is an inner motor known as lust
that makes a man of learning walk a mile
to gratify his raging senses, while
the woman he can talk to gathers dust.

A chilling vision of the years ahead
invades my thoughts, and widens like a stain:
a barren dance card and a teeming brain,
a crowded bookcase and an empty bed. from "Love and Work"

These poems are a perpetual coming to terms that we're lucky to eavesdrop on. Like good movies? I don't know of any poet who has been able to internalize the sensibility of the Sturges/Hawks/Cukor screwball comedienne like Wetzsteon has. Pauline Kael would be proud. If I have one quibble with the persona behind most of the poems, it's the x factor of social class. The poems depict the universe of The Upper West Side aesthete with refulgent beauty. In fact, the poet uses the phrase "my city" in different pieces. One wishes the poet/flaneuse would train her gaze on some of the meaner streets Baudelaire or , god help us, Eliot evoke. That being said, this is her best book yet. "Evening News", "Dachsund" "But For The Grace" and "Love and Work" are great poems. You will find yourself going back to these and works just as sprightly for their playfulness and wisdom.

I am a big fan of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and vacation there every summer! I thought this book was excellent since it captured all of the Boardwalk history and displayed lots of excellent photos. I bought this book for my 10 year old nephew and he loved it! He and grandpa keep thumbling thru it together.

Having been born and raised and still living in Santa Cruz, this book brings back so many memories. It is a beautifully illustrated book with so many wonderful colored pictures. A wonderful souvineer book for anyone to have of a very unique place.

The pictures make this book! It would have been great if there were a few more pictures of the various rides.. but thats not what this book is about. From 1800s to 2007, it's all in here!

Excellent book! I read most of this with my 6 year old son. He absolutely loved this book and we bought Haunted Hike now to read. My son said it was like Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers-helping people. I agree with the other review-we hope it becomes a series as well! Thanks for the great book!

I picked up this book on a whim at my childrens' book fair. I am so glad that I did. My sons are 9 and 7. They loved the story. I read it to them and did "voices" with the characters. It was fabulous. The author describes the characters well enough that you can really attribute a certain tone and accent to each of them. The book is short but it has a great story line. It was so good that when my mom offered to read something to them while I ran an errand I refused to let her read it to them because I didn't want to miss anything! I highly reccomend it as a read-aloud or for new readers. I am certainly looking forward to the next and hope it will become a series!

Patrick Carman created these stories for his daughter while visiting the real Pioneer Park in Walla Walla, Washington. This first book in the wonderful world of Elliot's Park, is about a great adventure for the squirrels of Elliot's Park. The vast cast of characters including: Elliot the book worm with glasses who loves collared shirts, wide ties and solving problems, Mister Nibbles who is a most unusual squirrel who is introduced in the adventure, Roscoe and Coconut the two dog's from the yellow house across the street who love to chase Elliot and his friends, Scratchy Spurs a former rodeo star squirrel with a cowboy hat, spurs and a stick cane, and Sparkle the stargazer who often gets into trouble with the Owls, and many many others. The book has a cast of characters in the back of the key players from the whole series.

In this story the squirrel's of Elliot's Park, are amazed and incensed when a child receives a squirrel as a present at a birthday party held in the park. Elliot and his friends decide that this squirrel must be liberated. So they have Crash the only flying squirrel in the park follow when the party pack's up. They discover that Mr. Nibbles has been taken to the yellow house across the street. The home of Roscoe and Coconut two ferocious squirrel chasing dogs. Elliot can not think of a way to save Mr. Nibbles, so he visits his friend Scratchy, and comes up with a plan. But can the squirrels of Elliot's Park, leave the park and rescue Mr. Nibbles. Read this story and find out!

These books will captivate children of all ages from 5 to 105. I even read it to my two year old and she stayed captivated by the story. The artwork by Jim Madsen is excellent, and children will love his representations of the adventures of the squirrell's. And as an added bonus there are exercises at the end of the book, to create fun for a family or class. In this book they include:
o Elliot and Chip's Trail Mix (GORP)
o Create Your Own Elliot's Park Adventure
o Sparkle's Starry Night
The book concludes with a preview chapter of the next book The Haunted Hike. Pick up this book by award winning author Patrick Carman for he has created a wonderful world for young readers and for the whole family in these books.

I first moved to Texas, in this case San Antonio, in the winter of 1973. Of course, I went to the Alamo. Interesting, but then I asked, "Why didn't the Mexican army follow up after San Jacinto?" No one knew, but that question has stuck in my head all these years--until now. This book is an excellent resource, examining not only the archeological evidence, but the diaries, orders and personalities of all involved.

This book is the definitive work on the events following the Battle of San Jacinto. The authors extensive research into the Mexican and the Texicans side of the story makes for a fascinating tale from a formative period in our great states history.

I want to share Jim McKone's description (Museum of South Texas)of the book:
The author describes "the battle and aftermath that changed history. Dimmick, an avocational archeologist, discovered an Army site plus artifacts discarded in the mud that had been unknown to history more than 150 years. He is a medical doctor, a pediatrician with the South Texas Medical Clinics in Wharton, Tex.

Eight years of historical research, in which he learned Spanish to study documents from Mexico, resulted in the Texas State Historical Association in Austin publishing his unique book. "Sea of Mud" finds the truth of what happened before, during and after the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The 400-page book, illustrated and with maps, throws fresh light on one of world history's most decisive battles.

Both published and unpublished documents from the defeated army tell what really happened, and why. Several Spanish documents are printed in English for the first time in Dimmick's book.

The author did his undergraduate work at Texas A&M University and received his M.D. in 1977 from the University of Nebraska Medical School. Born and raised in Wyoming, he admits he "knew next to nothing about Texas history" before working eight years on a military classic.

A friend gave me this book. I have now given it to a dozen others. Important! Please read!

This is perhaps the best book (hands down) I have read. The depth and poetry with which this book was written is beyond expression. I am buying a copy for every one of my friends for Christmas.

The archetypes of Adam and Eve represent the masculine and femine aspects of personality within each of us. Our masculine qualities are outward-looking, rational, direct, practical and assertive; whilst the feminine is introspective, intuitive, sensitive and more connected with the heart. The balance of male and female makes us whole. Glynda-Lee explains how the Garden of Eden story represents the inner life of the psyche. It is actually an instructive analogy that demonstrates how to transcend our sexual stereotype and truly know ourselves, to become fully human.

The church has represented this story in a way that implies Eve's subservience to Adam, and that she was responsibile for the Fall of Mankind. Women have suffered plenty because of this! But on the contrary, Adam needed Eve's aptitude for integration and intuitive wisdom to perceive the real meaning of his situation; the rationale and logic of the intellect would not be enough. Adam needs to have his eyes opened and it is the woman who provides him with this opportunity. Therefore it was permissible for Eve to eat the apple of knowledge that was forbidden to Adam - this was Eve's dowry. It wasn't a negative action to eat the apple, it was a gift to humankind of its inner awareness, its spirituality. Apparently even the symbols 'good' and 'evil' were interpreted in the Bible opposite to their original Hebraic meaning.

Hoffmann goes on to explain how each of the characters in Genesis represents an archetype of the human personality, so that the story is symbolic of the struggles and conflicts we face within ourselves daily, as people have all through history.

It is easy, as I did previously, to dismiss the Genesis material as manipulative, patriarchist propaganda. Taken at face value that is how it has been used. It took Hoffmann's profound knowledge of the Quabalah and its original Hebraic language to unlock the real meaning, and that is brilliantly laid bare in this book.

But it's not a heady, intellectual read - it's easy to follow and insight follows insight as Hoffmann shines the light of her scholarship on the original text and its wide implications. The book can open our minds in a way that perhaps the original authors of Genesis intended but which has gone unrecognized until now.

One of the true originals. One of the great poets who seem to invent a language, a world of metaphor of her own. A delight in her difficulty and a deep pleasure in her sombre tunes.

"Exultation is the going of an inland soul to sea/ Past the headlands , past the houses / into deep Eternity. "

I love poetry but had not read many if any of emily dickinson so I picked this up to read in my spare time. At first glance the book and poems seemed so simple and easy to read. I thought it would be a small little delight to read her short poems while waiting in the car, or at the bank, in line at the grocier, but as I embarked on a stolen moment with the poems of emily dickinson you discover her poems are hardly simple.

Every poem seems has more than one meaning. You can truely see how complicated this simple woman must have been even in her observations.

I have been delighted by her insight and each poem makes me wonder of the woman who wrote them. A lovely read.

Just as a prism breaks up light into a band of colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet - and their infinite gradations, so do Emily Dickinson's poems become, as it were, a prism which captures the white light of reality, a reality which as it flows through the prism of her poem explodes into a multiplicity of meanings.

It is the rich suggestiveness of her poems, a suggestiveness which generates an incredible range of meanings, that prevents us from ever being able to say (to continue the metaphor) that a given poem is 'about red' or 'about blue,' because her poems, as US critic Robert Weisbuch has observed, are in fact about _everything_. This is what makes her so unique, and this is why she appeals to every kind of reader (or certainly to open-minded ones) and even to children.

Emily Dickinson's poetry is one of the wonders of the world.

GREAT BOOK! This simple to follow workbook makes writing a business plan for a small business an easy to understand, easy to complete task! The book contains worksheets within each chapter, which, when compiled, leave you with a written business plan that makes sense. Best of all, the book is written in plain english -- no jargon, no complicated ratios and formulas, no assuming you already possess an MBA. This book is perfect for real world use -- nothing theoretical here. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

What a delight! Intelligent, thoughtful, provocative, helpful, thoroughly entertaining. A rare find!

I found this book to be simple to follow and full of practical, real world advice. There is no business theory here, just real steps to take to market on a shoestring, write a business plan, manage cash flow, understand financial statements, set goals and keep records. I enjoyed the common sense approach, and easy to understand advice.

I was amazed at the Stonewycke Trilogy and immediately picked up the Stonewycke Legacy after finishing the first trilogy. A very great read! I was totally drawn into the story and stayed up waaaaaay past when I wanted to go to bed because I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next! Very deep storyline and wonderful spiritual incites for everyday living!

If you like Gilbert Morris historical fiction books, you'll like these even more.
Keeping with family history and God's hand in people lives, this series will take you on a great journey of a Scottish family, with excitement, suspense and a great ending!

This is the greatest book I have ever read and would recommend it to anyone with a love of God and history. The Stonewycke Legacy(2) and the Stonewycke Trilogy(1) are spiritually uplifting and really fun adventures. You'll love them!