Powell Books

Bob Powell's paintings are extraordinary and luminous, conveying both the ethereal nature and the earthiness of this ancient realm. The introduction by Roberto Vitali is a wonderful tour de force. He sums up the artist's work: " In some cases I am led to think that his documentary paintings are imaginary, while those that are imaginary seem documentary."

The magic and mystery of the Kingdom Lo, high in the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal on the border with Tibet ... this is as close as you can get without being there. More than a coffee table book, this book won't let you rest until you have stood and gazed upon the majesty which provoked the works. Rob's works are on display at the Smithsonian through September 26.

This book is a wonderful tool not only to help children understand their natural intutive qualities but helps parents understand their child and encourage thier talents in a way that does not frighten either the child or the parent. This book explains how parents can come to a better understanding of their child's questions when something happens to the child that they do not quite know how to handle. This subject is one that has been overlooked because parents just didn't listen or take time to take their children seriously when they talk of psychic or intutive happenings. All parents should read this book even if they don't believe in ESP. Knowing how to recognize words espressed from your child and if what they say is fact or fiction will be helpful to any parent.

This book teaches young children and their parents many useful ESP skills such as:meditation, spoon bending, clairvoyance, dream recall, dream control, psychic plant growing, and many healing techniques

The author says that parts of today's bible (in matthew's book as an example) were inserted. He explains his argument by using some quotes from different bibles, and he tries to reach a conclusion that he is right. In his introduction p.xx, line 29, he says: "1)...passages about John the Babtist have been inserted. 2) A framework that did not fully fit the intdnded contents was created..." The author is a well respected English Politician, and I encourage every Christian to read that book.

By page-count, most of this book is an English translation, with detailed scholarly commentary, of St Matthew's Gospel. However the book is about precisely what the title says - the evolution of the gospel in general. In his closely-reasoned preface Powell argues that the text of `Matthew' is the source, and the sole source, of Luke, and that Luke in turn was drawn on by Mark, but only for help with his own account, also deriving directly from `Matthew'. The derivative synoptic gospels, in Powell's view, followed quickly on their original, and before distinct families of copies came about. For this reason he gives no `stemma codicum' or hierarchy-chart of the MSS such as normally accompanies a critical edition of the Greek or Latin classics. His reasoning basically is that the text of `Matthew' is a complicated (but intelligible) combination of two main and two subsidiary threads, the two main threads representing two conflicting early schools within the new faith, the two minor threads being a `Joannine' school that interpolated as many references as it could to John the Baptist and a careful attempt, with an eye to avoiding trouble with Rome, not to criticise the Roman imperium. By adducing examples Powell illustrates his conclusion that Luke and Mark were concerned to give coherency and consistency to the slightly chaotic and self-contradictory text of `Matthew', given its importance as the basic document of the new faith. In his translation Powell himself deploys a variety of typefaces to illustrate the various influences - original, interpolated, edited and corrupted - that for him make up the text of `Matthew' as we find it.

There is nothing adversarial in Powell's style, which is dispassionate and detached, although he shows a touch of humour here and there in the course of arguing that this or that passage does not make sense. He was no stranger to controversy in his political career, and he will have known that some of his conclusions would on their own be dynamite to conventional believers. He explicitly ignores the work of other scholars and presents his own findings backed up with detailed ratiocination but with total indifference to the effect they may create. He says in so many words `The agony in the garden is transparent fiction', and if I have even understood him he seems to say that the crucifixion of Christ never happened, as once Christ was convicted in the Jewish court of blasphemy the penalty for that, namely death by stoning, was inevitable. His approach throughout is the traditional one of the great textual critics, and he subjects the text of `Matthew' to exactly the processes that his great Cambridge predecessors Bentley, Porson and Housman (his own teacher) applied to the texts of Manilius, Horace, Juvenal or whoever.

In trying to grapple with a work like this there is no need for any of us to be unduly overawed by the fact that we are less brainy than the writer, something that would go for most of us as far as Powell is concerned. The reader is like a juror applying thought and common sense to the case put before him or her. I am not particularly convinced when Powell jibs at `Get thee behind me Satan' on the grounds that Satan is as dangerous behind as in front. To me this order is contemptuous and imperious, given by one who had nothing to fear. Again, Powell is amusing about `Capharnaum-on-sea' and may well be right in thinking the adjective superfluous as there was no other Capharnaum. On the other hand it was quite regular in Homeric Greek for a place name to have an adjective tagged on, e.g. `sandy Pylos', and although I know the usage is far less common in Greek prose I would have to do a lot of work to prove the issue one way or the other, and similar idiom survives into modern place names. There is only one Bexhill and one Angmering in the English gazetteer, but one sees them called `Bexhill-on-Sea' and `Angmering-by-Sea' at times. At other times he is acute and to the point, as in pointing out the absurdity at 21.18 of a text that seems to tell the disciples that if they just have faith they too can go around shrivelling fig-trees. Nor, surely, can he have been the first to see that something must be wrong with the text about the seed of `mustard'. At other points it is a matter of knowledge of Greek, and in these cases I recall an expression P used in a political context - `There are no two ways about it except a right way and a wrong way'. Powell finds a `splinter' not a mote in someone's eye because `skarphos' (a stick) cannot mean `mote', and he is not even too sure it can mean `splinter'. Again, `ou me timeseis' in Greek is an emphatic prohibition `thou shalt not honour' and cannot bear any weaker meaning; and the master who rewards his workers `kata ten idian dynamin' rewards them not according to their ability but according to his own ability to reward them. Throughout, P properly draws attention to cases where the usage, or even the word itself, is unparalleled, but is equally properly wary of jumping to conclusions. Greek is a huge, flexible and untidy language, not a neat standardised little effort like Latin, and it lends itself to on-the-spot coinages.

The production of the book is top-class. I noticed only one error in the Greek throughout, a smooth breathing for a rough breathing on the first letter in the footnote on p 95. In doing so I exercised textual criticism. It is not magic and not a mystery - one exercises it in noticing and correcting a minor misprint. In the commentary Hebrew is translated at all points, and is always a matter of citing parallels, references and quotations, never central to the argument. Greek is usually but not always translated or explained, and a reader without it will struggle a bit. The real struggle will be for anyone who believes that every word of the bible is true. Sometimes the Greek bible says one thing and the English another, sometimes the text has been altered, and sometimes we have to conjecture what the author said. So the question has to be `WHAT bible, precisely?'

This is such a great book! My 12 month old grabs this book out of the stack everytime. He really likes to open the flaps and loves the googley eyed animals. I really want to get him that rest of the Eye Spy series.

My twin girls have been enjoying the Eye Spy flap books since they were 7 months old -- and at 13 months, they still are among their favorites. This particular book has very colorful, lively illustrations, good rhymes, and the flaps are large enough that the girls can easily pull them by themselves -- and they're sturdy enough to withstand lots of play! They love to read them over and over again, pulling the flaps, watching the eyes move, and putting their fingers through the holes. I've given this book to lots of their little friends, with similar results.

I have been interested in Trans-Pecos plants for over 20 years but have been terrified by the prospect of learning how to identify them by species. After one hour with this book I am 'fern savvy' and really enjoy identifying ferns in the field. It is very easy to read and understand, the technical terms are very clearly explained, the illustrations are excellent and I don't get frustrated and confused. I bought one for myself and then bought a second one to keep in my truck all the time and then bought 2 more for my job and my employee! Worth twice the money (don't raise the price!)

[Ferns and Fern Allies of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas by Sharon C. Yarborough and A. Michael Powell], Native Plant Society of Texas News, 20 (Nov.-Dec. 2002): 3.

To look at a fern is to travel back in time. Ferns date from over 300 million years ago, long before the appearance of the first flowering plant. Although I knew nothing of this remarkable ancestry when at a young age I saw my first ferns in the forests of Breton Woods, their delicate beauty nonetheless captivated my imagination. My childhood fascination with ferns was hardly unique, however. People have been attracted to ferns for some time. During the 19th Century, for instance, nothing less than a fern craze sprouted up in England, where suddenly once wild ferns were abundantly cultivated in gardens, purchased as indoor potted plants, and replicated in ornamental designs on numerous household items.*

When I arrived in Austin in 1969, whatever fern-desire I may have harbored soon withered in the heat. Although my first Austin home was located on a creek site, all the land surrounding it was caliche-hardly ideal for ferns or much else. Ferns, I had always observed, thrive in a shady, moist habitat. It was not until many years later when an acquaintance of my daughter gifted us with ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) that my fondness for ferns revived. While this Texas native plant may not be as aesthetically appealing as the more delicately textured wood fern (Thelypteris kunthii), it is both hardy and drought tolerant. I have become very attached to ebony spleenwort. Planted along the north side of my home's foundation, it has thrived, even remaining green throughout every winter. After a protracted stretch of heat and drought, it signals the need for some water by yellowing slightly.

That there is yet more hope for Texas fern lovers who live in such dry places is evident in Sharon C. Yarborough and A. Michael Powell's new book. It identifies many native pteridophytes adapted to the arid conditions of the Trans-Pecos region-that Maine-sized western part of our state situated between the Rio Grande and the Pecos rivers where the average annual rainfall is a mere 12 inches. One of the intentions behind this book, in fact, is to promote the ferns of this locale as suitable candidates for xeriscaped home gardens.

The Trans-Pecos ferns conserve water by producing hair-shaded fronds somewhat smaller in size than average. Some of these plants will wither after a long period of dryness, and yet these very same seemingly dead flora will immediately green up again whenever water becomes available. It is likely, moreover, that these plants reproduce more by asexual means-vegetative buds forming on a tiny heart-shaped prothallus that normally produces eggs and sperm on its underside when moisture is present. Fern reproduction is a curious business, in any event, and the authors of Fern and Fern Allies do very well explaining the intricate process so that it can be easily understood by lay readers.

Including spikemosses, horsetails and scouring rushes, this attractive field guide provides detailed keys designed to facilitate plant identification in the wild. Besides useful information concerning the floral morphology and habitat conditions of Trans-Pecos pteridophytes, Yarborough and Powell provide 37 line drawings. In the matter of fern identification such detailed drawings are more helpful than photographs.

A comparison with David L. Jones's Encyclopedia of Ferns and Boughton Cobb's A Field Guide to the Ferns, in the Peterson series, provides another measure of the value of Ferns and Fern Allies. Of the 15 examples in the new book of members of Cheilanthes, the largest genus of the maidenhair fern family, only 3 appear in Cox's book and only 2 in Jones's volume. Similarly, of the 11 members of Selaginellaceae (the spikemoss family) described in Fern and Fern Allies, 2 are included in Jones's work and none in Cobb's guide. As these statistics and results of a comparative review of the remaining plants both suggest, Fern and Fern Allies is as valuable as it is handy.

What an invitation to adventure Yarborough and Powell's book provides. Like several columbines native to the same region, many of the Trans-Pecos ferns are hidden in unusual places. To be seen they must be searched out. And, as the authors note, "there are probably more rare treasures to be found in certain microhabitats" of that area of Texas. Let's hope so, and let's hope, too, that native plant nurseries will make some of these arid-adapted ferns available for our home garden landscapes.

*See David E. Allen, The Victorian Fern Craze: A History of Pteridomania (London: Hutchinson, 1969).

William J. Scheick, a former NPSOT vice-president, is also a member of the Central Texas Horticulture Council and a frequent contributor to Texas Gardener.

If you've ever seen the magnificent, nationally famous Texas A&M University Band perform during half-time, you will want to own this fine volume. It offers a comprehensive history of the first 100 years of a college organization that has become, literally, a state institution. Being in the Aggie Band is not simply membership in a music outfit; rather, it is a comprehensive, fully consuming Way of Life. Rich with details about how the present-day Band evolved, the Powells' account also grandly illuminates other facets of Texas Aggie history - the Corps of Cadets, A&M athletics, campus development, memorable faculty folks and general local color (in native lingo, "good bull."). Numerous photos trace Aggie traditions from their earliest days to the present. It was startling to this reader how some campus/Corps images are practically ageless. Many of the pictures - fish standing on the wall, Elephant Walk, Ags working on the Bonfire, meals in Duncan Dining Hall - could have been taken in 1930 or 1950 or 1975 OR 1995, since the traditions, and the scenes they propagate, are so firmly embedded at A&M.

This book definitely needs to be made into a movie. Not only would it offer remarkable settings, dramatic events, dynamic characters, stupendous role models, intricate Band drills and tantalizing college-life plots, but it would feature, without a doubt, the very best film soundtrack in the history of the world.

I was the drum major at my little high school in Louisiana a long long time ago, and I never heard anything about the Texas Aggie Band until almost three decades later, when I saw them at a parade in San Antonio. Soon after that, I visited the A&M campus one football weekend and got to see them rehearse their pre-game Saturday morning drill performance. They are absolutely stupendous, the best in the world. No one else compares or even comes close. I found this book at A&M's Memorial Student Center and bought it immediately. You simply MUST go see the Aggie Band.

One of my life's greatest regrets, now, is that I knew nothing about this organization when I was eligible to march in it. Musically, and personally, I can imagine no higher achievement. Everything about this precision machine exudes excellence, from their music, to their marching, to the striking friendly politeness of all the members I was fortunate to meet. These fine kids are motivated beyond belief, and they welcome you into their world -- they know they are a part of something special, and they generously share with you the admiration for their Aggie heritage.

Their drum cadence (I was a drummer) is absolutely captivating. It has five "verses," and is militarily simple but, once you've heard it, the beat stays with you wherever you walk, any time you are walking -- you wish that you were marching with the Fightin Texas Aggie Band, every time you put one foot in front of the other.

I got to see the film, "We've Never Been Licked," a 1943 World War II story, and became a permanent Aggie "groupie." From now forward, I will always be a Texas Aggie in my heart. As Pop Lambert said in the movie, "God bless the Aggies." The Spirit of Aggieland is now an forever. World Without End, A&M.

Gig 'em. And Beat The Hell Outta t.u. !!!

I have read several books on real estate but none has motivated me more than Finding Fixing & Flipping Properties. This is an excellent book which provides a guide for the first time investor as well as the seasoned investors. Thanks to the QUEEN!!!

If you wanna make money in real estate right away this is the book for you.Ms.Powell's knowledge on finding, fixing and flipping houses is vast It's obvious this lady knows what she's talking about.She takes you step by step through the process,like she's there with you .Anybody whose thought about buying a bargain house and then selling for a nice profit should get this book,a must have.

I say that because in reading and understanding the husband/wife authors, you will become humble and start looking for opportunities to become more of a soulmate to your lover or friend. I agree that a person can indeed become jaded or exasperated with the "games" that men and women play on each other! Sometimes a person wonders how did their parents or grandparents ever get together! This book was one of the FIRST of the truly HELPFUL books in the Iyanla Vanzant, Maya Angelou, Dr. Ron Elmore tradition! This one has the benefit of a very intuitive and intelligent husband and wife team aiding you in the process ! A very good investment. May the reading and applying of the information bring about a healing and lifetime love for you! Peace -ed-

This book is one that "ALL" African American couples should own. My professor used it as the main text in his class and it not only helps you understand yourself but your mate as well. It also gives you insight on why we behave in the manner in which we do, and provides exercises to help you sustain your relationships. The authors are African American Husband and Wife Psychologist who also practice what they've written.

A book that is about making a family out of friends, living life to the fullest with a HUGE dose of Texas common sense. As a native born Texan, I recognize this woman who seems so much like my grandmother, strong as steel covered with silk, practical but teaches that to dream is a large part of life and death is not to be feared but not to be welcomed either! So much history in our own back yard.

I was visiting Galveston when I purchased this book. I loved the book & it was even mor interesting as I had been to many of the places she refers to in this book. It is a book I coul dnot put down & in fact finished in 2 days. I recommed this book, as a great summer read/

I love Garth Brooks, so I really wanted to read this book. It had good information and I learned how hard it was for him to get anyone to give him a deal. The book had a lot of cool photos too.

I am dowing a air band on gorth brooks and I wos wondreing if you cod emol me a diogrofe abowt yor life

one_bossy_boy_1@yohoo.com ples emal me by.eric atkinson