Phillips Books

"Rainstorms and Rainbows" is a delightful compilation of stories and anecdotes. Over a span of more than three decades, Barbara Phillips Stuart wrote this wonderful collection. Through the pieces in this compilation, the author, a doting mother and an indulgent grandmother, shares the pleasures and pains and the joys and vexations of child rearing. She expresses, "Life is a series of rainstorms and rainbows. Enjoy the sunshine of your life and when the rainstorms come, try to see the beauty in the lightning, enjoy the rumbling thunder, and treasure the life-giving raindrops. For only with rain can there be life. And the rainbow will come, its beauty enhanced because of the rain."
The first and larger section of the book is devoted to tales of the author's children. Though Stuart and her husband were blessed with three sons, aged ten, eight and two, and a six-year-old daughter, the couple chose to adopt another six-month-old baby girl. Stuart draws an interesting analogy between her children and a game of poker. She counts herself lucky to have the winning hand in the game with a full house - three kings and two queens.
The author wittily recounts numerous tales of the youngsters' childhood. Her vivid descriptions bring alive the children's endearing yet incorrigible behavior and mischievous antics and clowning. Handling their tantrums, disciplining them, indulging their whims, mediating their disputes, accompanying them to circus shows and movies, motivating them to help with chores, chauffeuring them to and from their diverse extracurricular activities, nursing them through their illnesses, and dealing with their adolescent concerns, Stuart shares how she coped with it all and brought up her children lovingly and patiently. "Being the parent of a preschooler is time-consuming, but being the parent of a teenager is mind-consuming," she says.
The second section of the book features amusing anecdotes of Stuart's twelve pampered, precious grandchildren, whom she refers to as "multiple blessings." The author highlights the little ones' sweet innocence, impishness and precociousness, honesty and candor, and power of observation and creative imagination. She relates how once she was tricked to allow her four-year-old granddaughter to clamp her with a handcuff, and her hand almost turned blue due to lack of circulation. She could not free herself until the child found the key quite some time later and unlocked her.
Witty, humorous, and insightful, these tales are a must-read. Mothers and grandmothers all over the world will be able to relate to many of the author's experiences. Each story or anecdote is complemented with adorable black and white illustrations.

Written by journalist and college teacher Angela Phillips, Good Writing for Journalists is a no-nonsense guide to improving the quality of one's nonfiction writing. Chapters cover genres ranging from profile writing and interviews to direct reporting, news analysis, investigation, sports writing, personal and opinion columns, "lifestyle" writing, and more. A large portion of Good Writing for Journalists is devoted to sample journalistic pieces that exemplify positive and memorable qualities, all the better to see Phillips' teachings in use. Enthusiastically recommended especially for journalism students and majors.

This joke book was certainly very goofy, and I loved the Knock Knock Joke which went :

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Popeye.
Popeye who?
Popeye've got to have the car tonight.

There were some jokes that I've heard, but the others, like the Popeye Knock Knock Joke above, I had not heard of them before, and I told some of them to my sister, who didn't "get it". Just like I've said, very goofy, very good, and very clean! D23H

"It is horrible that there are dead and wounded. Some day, instead, there will be an abundance of schools, hospitals, and clinics for everyone, food adequate for everyone, art and entertainment. But most important, there will be love among all."
- from 'A Letter to the People of Nicaragua' written by the Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal in December 1977, two months after his Roman Catholic Parish and contemplative community upon the archipelago of Solentiname in Lake Nicaragua had been destroyed, raped, burned and massacred by the US-backed Somozan National Guard.

Two years later the Sandinista Front of National Liberation came to power, and the Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal became the new Minister of Culture, fulfilling much of this prophecy, including as his brother, the Jesuit Father Fernando Cardenal initiated the national literacy campaign, and the new government built and staffed new health clinics and schools throughout the nation, before the terrorist invasion by Reagan's illegal army, the contra.

The Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal studied prayer in contemplative community in Gethsemane under the Reverend Father Thomas Merton, then Novice Master, who wrote poetry and prayed with Father Ernesto and then advised him to return to his people, who were suffering under a dynastic and brutal US-supported military dictatorship. Father Merton advised Father Cardenal to found a contemplative community there among the poor and most illiterate.

In 1966 therefore Father Ernesto Cardenal founded the famous Catholic contemplative community in Solentiname, engaging with the poor fishers and farmers and families there in Biblical study and discussions of the Gospels. Recordings of these discussions were published in four volumes in several languages, including in English The Gospel In Solentiname - published by the Maryknoll Catholic Foreign Mission Society through its publishing house the respected, the cherished Orbis Books.

Here in this present volume we find snatches of these evangelical conversations matched with the beautiful artwork painted by the same unlettered yet profoundly talented, wise and expressive people of Solentiname.

Beginning with the Annunciation and completing with the Resurrection, visiting nearly every scene in the Gospels in between, each pair of pages presents a Biblical verse, a page of the conversation regarding that verse in prayer, hermeneutic, meditation and exploration of its relevance to what His Holiness Pope Paul VI called "the sign of the times." The facing page contains a painting of the parable or the Life of Christ under consideration.

Highly recommended for all Catholics, children and for adults at every level of progress in the Faith.

Important to reflect upon in this our election year, and at this point in our Liturgical Calendar, particularly the reflections and representations of the arrest, passion, death and Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Anyone who wants a greater understanding of the Lost Books of the Bible will do well to study this work. It is an essential key to the esoteric study of Christianity.

This remarkable translation from the koine Greek of the Gospel accounts is made with the practiced skill of the scholar. It faithfully focuses the style and meaning of the original authors while clarifying the message and affirming it as "good news" for our day. Prefacing each chapter are notes by J. R. Phillips that are helpful in clarifying themes, dates and authorship. Striking section headings emphasize the significance of all the passages in an easy reportorial manner.

Here is a superbly readable version of the passages that are the very essence of Christianity - a version unequalled in its power to reveal new spiritual meaning. -- from book's dustjacket

Has been replaced by 1998 second edition

Like most wildflower books that are not tools for keying out species, content is arranged by flower color. Unlike most, the images in this book are taken with sensitivity and grace. It's worth purchasing for the photos alone, which afford easy identification of the flowers as well as a pleasing aesthetic.

The Graphics Master 7 is the complete source for all levels of graphic designers. It contains valuable information on many aspects of graphic design that you need in the field no matter where you work. Here are a few examples of what you can find in this excellent book:
~printing processes
~digital prepress info and instruction
~typography and typesetting
~type face selector guide
~type size and weight comparison guide
~proofreaders marks
~movable proportion scale
~fraction to decimal conversion table
~digital imaging info
~many pages of color swatches on several paper types
~color management info
~binding and finishing info
~envelope sizes
~an all inclusive glossery to look up unfamiliar terms

Plus, this book comes with a line gauge and ruler that comes out for easy measuring.

Not only does this book provide info on everything listed above and then some, it also provides illustrations in each section to help give you a better understanding of what is being talked about.

So, if you are a graphic designer still in school or a professional who has been in the business for many years, I urge you to buy this excellent book. If nothing else, it is a great reference for all of the tasks that are performed in the industry. It is a great investment.

I just finished re-reading E Phillips Oppenheim's "The Great Impersonation". It is even better than I remembered. Definitely one of the all-time best spy novels!

The story opens in southern Africa about a year before the onset of the World War I. Englishman Sir Everard Dominey, his health broken down by rough living and whiskey during a self-imposed exile, stumbles half-dead into the camp of German Baron von Ragastein. The two men are near look-alikes and knew each other back at Eton. Von Ragastein, an officer in the German army and an espionage agent, devises a plan to substitute himself for Everard Dominey and to return to England to further German interests.

"Everard Dominey" does return to England. Amost everyone accepts him although they say he is much changed. Two exceptions: Dominey's mentally ill wife who claims he is not her husband and von Ragatein's former mistress who claims he is von Ragastein.

I won't reveal any more of the plot. The story moves along at a good clip. The are several clever subplots. The characters are a mixed lot that work well together: The main characters have complex, well-developed personalities while the minor characters are pretty much stock characters (gruff but kindly doctor, naive idealist diplomat, etal). The suprise ending may be less of a surprise to modern readers than it was in 1920 when when the book was published, but even knowing the ending it is fun to read the book and watch how Oppenheim sets up the climax.

WARNING! The first few chapters of the book, where the setting is Africa, are offensive. The Europeans (both German and English) treat Africans as an inferior race and use the N-word frequently.