Richards Books

Your child (and you too!) will have some good laughs reading this fun loving book together! My kids couldn't stop laughing! Worth every page of reading........Jamie

Great for beginning readers! Kids listen to the nonsense word the townpeople hear and guess what the monster is really saying. Playing with word sounds is an important part of learning to read, and this book is excellent for this. Fun to read aloud because of good story cadence!

This is a great book for SLPs (speech-language pathologists) who work with groups of K-2nd grade kids who aren't "getting" rhyming. The kids love to try to be the first to guess what the Hungry Thing is asking to eat. For example, the book reads "tickles, you know, are curly tailed hot dogs that grow in a row. 'Of course,' said the cook, 'tickles taste yummy, and you giggle and laugh with ten in your tummy!' 'I think,' said the little boy, 'it's all very clear. Tickles sound like sickels sound like......pickles to me!'" Great read aloud.

This was one of the first books I could read by myself, back in the '70s. I am now a school librarian and a parent, and this book is still a big hit with the kindergarten and first grade crowd. They laugh out loud and LOVE that they are smarter than the assembled townspeople. Our school's ancient copies have been borrowed to the point that the covers are worn and the pages are falling out. Time to purchase replacements!

THE HUNGRY THING SHOWS UP IN A VILLAGE & MISPRONOUNCES EVERYTHING HE WANTS TO EAT, SO THE VILLAGERS HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HE WANTS. I REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK, BUT DIDN'T THINK OUR TODDLER WOULD BE INTERESTED IN IT RIGHT NOW, BUT ON THE CONTRARY, IT'S REQUESTED ALOT.

When I was in 5th grade (25 or so years ago), our teacher, Mrs. Smith had a reward system where if the class got enough checks, we could redeem them for various treats. Time after time, once we got enough checks, we'd beg her to read to us from this book. I don't recall our class ever asking for anything else. I'd strongly recommend this one to parents of kids of any age. This, to me, is as good as American fairy tales get.

This book is very dear to my heart. The stories told in this book came from my family, R.M. Ward. I grew up hearing my grand parents, father & Richard Chase tell these tall tells. I read them to my kids now and I hear my relatives in my head so I begain tellin-um like they told me.My hope is that these stories live on through the generations of my family as well as other families.I love hearing my daughter ask for just one more just like I did.

I remember reading an earlier version of this book as a child. The collection of folk tales is as enjoyable to read as an adult as it was years ago. In fact, I can now bring my children the tales of the Appalachian Mountains and let their imaginations run wild with giants, witches, talking animals, and a witty little scoundrel like Jack. The tales are preserved in a very close "mountain vernacular" language. There is a noticable difference between some stories in the use of terminology, but this helps me to envision another storyteller spinning the yarn in his/her own fashion, which is part of the fun of listening to folk tales. My only complaint is that the collection is not larger.

I had this book as a child, and loved it so much that I bought it for my own children and read them a story out of it every night until they had heard all the stories it offered, and they loved it, too.

I heard about this book from a teacher who used to sub. in inner city schools. She said kids always remembered her for it. It's a compilation of short stories that are supposed to be told orally. They use HEAVY Appalachian dialect and I had thought that might be a problem for my second language learners, but THEY LOVED THEM. The stories tell of how Jack (from the beanstalk) outsmarts giants in different situations. His tricks often have a violent description, but because he's doing it to giants, it's not very traumatizing. A terrific oral language developer, and a whole lot of fun!!

Basquiat is one of my favorite artists. I was first captivated by his works that were used in conjunction with Mya Angelou's poem Life Don't Frigten Me None. I was entranced by his art! I looked all over for a book that would give me a retrospective of his art. I found it. This book is wonderful. Great color great art work. Check it out. You'll Dig it too.

I am not convinced that this is the BEST Jean Michel Basquiat retrospective catalogue to date...but the work selected for this publication is certainly consistently better than most others published before or after this one. Basquiats peak of productivity was from1981-83 and much of that work is catalogued here..But the dissapointment is that many of his last works (circa 1988) will not be found here....but in the more extensive Basquiat catalogue published by the Tony Shafrazi Gallery.
There are also a few images here that will make you wonder why they were selected and some of the text seems to over emphesize  
the fact that Basquiat died of a DRUG OVERDOSE.
You can skip the text or consider it ....it's the work that counts in the end!

This is by far the best catalogue of Basquiat's work as it was shown at the Whitney. By far, this book superseed others as it relates to quality and quantity of plates. Strongly recomend.

If you are looking for a wonderful combination of Basquiat's work and biography, this is the book to own. This book is full of many beautiful color plates of his work, as well as the story of his short, successful, but tragic life as an artist who had his brief moment in the sun before succumbing to the drugs.

Such a tragedy for a talented fellow like Basquiat to succumb to the temptations of drugs at such an early age. His paintings are so raw and fresh. I feel as though he used canvasses as giant doodle pads which he displayed to the world. Many of our own doodle pads (next to our phones, on our office desks, etc.) end up in the [bin] but Basquiat's ended up in the galleries and museums of the world. Some think of his work as [bad] but I view it as a treasure. Fine art, cartoons, grafitti and doodling...the best things in life. This book is the best collection I've seen of his work. The reproductions are well done and the essays are enlightening. For the art afficianado, this book needs to join the collection.

This book is great for first time parents. This is my most referenced parenting books and I have several! I kept checking this out from the library before I finally bought my own copy. You won't regret buying this one.

This book has been incredibly helpful to my husband and I, we purchased it after hearing one of the nannies on a morning weekly radio show in Minneapolis. The nanny gives out advice to parents each week and we always enjoy listening to what she has to say. We have 3 kids under 5 and really value the advice of British nannies, this books encourages a routine and schedule, fresh meals and plenty of sleep for kids (and parents). Since reading the book we have introduced these things and have seen incredible changes, our kids are so much happier, they are now going to bed earlier, helping me out in the kitchen, and our bedtime routine is so much easier. Thank You nannies.

I have read every baby book there is, and this definitely rates in the top 5. It's nothing earth-shattering or totally new, but there are great examples and good real-life ideas to use with your kids. Plus, it's entertaining to read.

My kids are 2, 5 and 7 yrs. I actually bought this book because I saw that it had a chapter on school.

My 5 yr old had a rocky first week at school and I was really worried. I read the school chapter first and the first thing it did was it made me feel better. The book reminded me that starting school is another new experience for my son and he needs time to get used to it, which of course on one level I did know but reading it made me believe it. I started using the "Goodbye Routine" and it definately resulted in less tears than the day before. I kept doing it and things have improved.The school chapter is really helpful and I am now using their homework advice for my 7yr old and Hooray what a difference!

I had just accepted that with 3 kids weekday mornings were always going to be rushed and stressful. This book has helped me to change all that and it was not difficult to do. Now most mornings we actually all sit down to eat breakfast together and I don't have to scream at the kids to turn the TV off.

I am also using the strategies on improving communication with all my kids but especially with my two year old who likes to say no to everything I ask her to do. I didn't realize that I was inviting her to say no by giving her too many choices.

My only complaint is that Nanny Wisdom does not cover Potty Training. I am just about to start that with my 2 year old and I had a hard time with my other kids. I would like to know how the nannies do it. Also, the recipes have been so popular in our house that I wish there were even more of them in the book.

Nanny Wisdom is it is actually fun to read which is an added bonus. The book has little stories about the kids the nannies have looked after and experiences they have had in their different jobs. It makes you understand how experienced and caring these nannies are.

After reading this book I really trust their advice 100%. I always say to my husband now, The Nannies say this or The Nannies say that!!

I loved this book because it covers such a big range of parenting problems and situations and really gives parents great answers. It has helped me more than any other parenting book I own (I did like What to Expect when my kids were newborns and I do like Pocket Parent). I know it will keep on helping me as it has so much in it. I am so glad I stumbled across this book in my parenting travels!

Just finished the final chapter and although my parenting of "lovely's are now with my grandchildren, you can always learn something new. The recipe's and the "how to" approach is consistent and right on! All the advice on how to deal with a child sleeping through the night helped out my daughter immensly. The nannies are great and their knowledge is superb. I highly recommend this book to new mothers, new dads, grammies and granpies - everyone who needs "expertise" on handling all the new situations that come with the title of parent.

richie was a friend first and later my brother-in-law. you need to read this book to understand what the brave pathfinders endured. i was very lucky to have personally know him before and after the war. writing this book was both theraputic and heart wrecthing for him but, he knew he had to write it. the big c took his life much too early. rest in peace brother.

This is one of my favorite audio books. The narrator does a fantastic job.

Great book. Absolutely loved it. Very sad he's gone and won't be able to follow up on the next tour he did.

I was in Vietnam with the 9th Inf Div Pathfinder Det (13 Pathfinders for the entire division) and the 1st Bde 101st. I knew about half of the people that were with Rich Burns at the time, but don't remember meeting him. I can vouch for his accuracy of a lot of what happened during that period of the war.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about what we did. There is a US Army Pathfinder Association that is trying hard to gather more information from those of us that did this job. It's located at www.USPathfinders.org. For those interested, There is a history section that might be helpful.

i cant say anymore but its a must read dam good book

A friend referred to the Sharpe series as literary opium...he may be right. They are guilty pleasures, for sure....and I worry what will happen when I have read them all.

The thing is, drug or not, Cornwell is a wonderful writer. I laughed out loud a couple of times, was riveted by a love scene, and ran to the computer to look up the actual battle and scenes described. Great stuff.

And then I had the misfortune to read the new McMurtry novel....

"Sharpe's Sword" is a decent entry into the Sharpe series, but I happen to tend to prefer the Sharpe adventures that are primarily military rather than the ones with espionage plots. And, for my taste, "Sharpe's Sword" is a bit heavy on the spy angle and a hair light on the battles. But the book's action scenes, while failing to rival those in, say, "Sharpe's Rifles," "Sharpe's Eagle" or "Sharpe's Company," are still pretty satisfying. "Sharpe's Sword" is far from the weakest of the generally very strong Sharpe series (of the ones that I've read so far, I'd say that "Sharpe's Prey" my least favorite), but it doesn't quite rank among the very best, either.

I've been reading through the entire series chronologically and up until now i've been hard pressed to pick a favorite. After reading Sharpe's Sword however i have a clear choice.

In Sharpe's Sword, Cornwell gives the reader his true best - putting together a plot so interesting that one can even claim that in this novel it trumps his ability at "battlefield writing" where i believe Cornwell is the best living author- and that's saying something.

If you want a good introduction to cornwell's writing ability and you don't mind starting most of the way through a series i highly recommend Sharpe's Sword.

This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.

Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...

And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.

Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series is one of the most beloved collective works in the sub-genre of historical fiction. Spanning over twenty novels (and counting!), Cornwell has treated his readers with thrilling battlefield and bedroom exploits from Flanders to India to Spain and France. While the novels have a definitive formula, they never grow stale.

"Sharpe's Sword" is among the best of the Sharpe novels. Sharpe is a captain of the 95th Rifles, attached to the South Essex regiment as a light company. As fans of the series know, Sharpe has made himself indispensable to the British army (including his patron, Lord Wellington) by being the most lethal rogue in an army full of cut-throats and vagabonds. But in "Sharpe's Sword," Cornwell has created a foe worthy of Sharpe - the French spy-hunter Leroux, a lethal aristocrat whose charge from Napoleon is to topple the British spy network.

Leroux is captured by Sharpe early in the novel, but takes advantage of a foolish British officer's notion of "parole" (in which a captured officer may keep his weapons and freedom if he gives his sworn statement that he will not try to escape). Acting quickly, Leroux murders his way back to freedom, but in doing so he earns Sharpe's undying hatred . . . and envy. Sharpe hates him for being a backstabbing liar, but Sharpe envies him because Leroux has the most magnificent sword Sharpe has ever seen, and Sharpe wants it.

And so Sharpe and Leroux are caught in a duel to the death while the French and British armies slug it out in the gorgeous city of Salamanca and also on the plains of Spain. "Sharpe's Sword" has it all - humor, romance, intrigue, friendship, betrayal, and battles. And what battles! Nobody writes a better battle scene than Bernard Cornwell, and he tops himself when describing a suicidal, insane cavalry charge by Wellington's German heavy cavalry against formed French squares. The reader is flung into the wild madness that is Napoleonic warfare, and it is a glorious madness indeed.

Well-researched and lovingly written, "Sharpe's Sword" exemplifies all that is good in the Sharpe series.

Tom Clancy once observed that a war of agression is armed robbery writ large--"they've got it, we want it, let's go get it." That's a simplistic if accurate observation, but it only describes war in only one incarnation. This book was written during the last few years of the Cold War, when very few "experts" on the issue could be described as objective. Back then, only two camps were being heard from. One was the "gung ho" school of thought that admitted that war might not be very desirable, but when your country got a slap in the face from someone "over yonder", those responsible had to be taught a lesson. That of course is the product of nationalism having been confused with patriotism--the terms are not identical. The other was the pacifist school of thought, which maintained that any enemy can be reasoned with and should be at all costs, and that anyone in uniform is by definition a bloodthirsty human predator. The first is the product of a bottomless naiivete about human nature and ignorance of how societies other than one's own think--the second forgets that it's the criminal, not the soldier, who's a predator in human vesture. Out of curiosity, I viewed the PBS series based on this book. I found myself intrigued by Dyer's observation that the way to make a fighting man out of a young man raised to believe that killing people is wrong is to strongly imply the enemy aren't really people. When you get right down to it, that is borne out by the historical wartime habit of referring to the enemy by demonizing the enemy and referring to him in subhuman terms. Another of Dyer's comments that interested me was the observation that a nation that piles up stockpiles of weapons in preparation for war will sooner or later get that war. Dyer of course isn't the only writer who's been able to look at war in such terms--Herman Wouk postscripted "War and Remembrance" with the comment that either war is finished or we are. The sad irony of our age is that some of us may be able to view war with this level of objectivity, but most of us still haven't outgrown nationalism--a phenomenon which Dyer correctly identifies as the root cause of war.

When a tourist lodge opened about twenty years ago in Kenya, the alpha males of a nearby baboon troop helped themselves to the easy pickings at the garbage dump. In the time honored tradition of baboon despotism where status obsessed males strictly enforce the prevailing hierarchy, the top ranking males claimed the spoils for themselves, and drove away their lower ranking brother baboons. The alpha males then perished en masse when they become infected with bovine tuberculosis from the rotten meat they ate at the dump. Once the alpha males died and their terroristic bullying tactics with them, the survivors were suddenly able to relax and began treating each other more decently. A new more peaceful baboon society was born.

Gwynne Dyer recounts this incident in the last chapter of "WAR: The Lethal Custom" to summarize and exemplify one of his main arguments in this thought-provoking work -- that our species' penchant for violence, although it does have roots in our evolutionary past, does not mean it is inevitable. He argues that as sentient beings we do have and have shown the capacity for making peace, too. In what is a hopeful but realistic retelling of the founding of the League of Nations after WWI and the United Nations after WWII, Dyer suggests that through it these organizations human beings are attempting to deal with the very real possiblity of species annihilation. He argues that the reversal of despoliation of the world must begin in earnest now so as to prevent the international anarchy that will undoubtedly follow if nations choose not to cooperate and instead chase after and fight over diminishing resources.

Tracing the rise of war from our early ancestors to the present day, Dyer relates a convincing story of increasing technological efficiency in the art and machinery of death, where the technology of war comes to outstrip the capacity of most human societies to contain and direct it. Early on when our species lived in egalitarian societies of roughly thirty individuals to a band, killing one's neighbors was a rare occurrence. In a sparsely peopled world with few competitors for game or territory, it was rare that roving bands would skirmish or fight each other. War appeared as more constant and sustained human enterprise with the rise of agriculturalism with its settled communities ripe for plunder by marauding bands whose economic lives and assumptions about tactics were based on their experience as shepherds of livestock. Highly mobile, schooled in techniques of herding, these bands employed the same principles when facing armies of settlers, e.g., using speed, terror, bluff and deception to terrorize settled communities into giving up their treasures.

War figures heavily in explaining the rise and fall of civilizations and peoples throughout history. The Roman phalanx, for instance, an early "machine" of war which used men as its moving parts, remained effective for hundreds of years, until guns eventually rendered it passe. Walled cities and medieval castles too, were marvels of defensive engineering, until they met a similar fate. Then with the end of professional and mercenary armies with the levee en masse in the wake of the French Revolution, came the era of total war when civilian populations, the manufacturers of the materiel of war, became defined as combatants, too, ushering in totalitarian states, weapons of mass destruction and the possiblity of annihilation.

Dyer also does a particularly fine job on guerilla warfare, which acquired that name during the resistance to Napoleon's invasion and annexation of Spain. He questions the notion of a "War on Terror" as espoused by the current American regime as emblematic of its naivete. The idea of war implies an end, a truce, an armistice. Dyer suggests that the U.S., by declaring a "war" on terror fell into the trap laid by Osama Bid Laden. For it is not a war that can be won through warfare. "Police Action Against Terrorists," while not as compelling from a rhetorical or strategic standpoint, has been shown to be the more effective strategy over time.

A history of the humankind told through the changing techniques of warfare and the key confrontations marking these shifts, written with verve, psychological and anthropological acuity, WAR is a valuable exploration of this most uncivil custom. Dyer sees evidence of and movement toward the restoration on an international level of the cooperation of early egalitarian societies. He suggests the spread of cross-cultural communication, which is opening a field for international debate (as evidenced in the massive worldwide anti-war protests against the invasion of Iraq), is restoring the possiblity of dialogue and a democracy of the multitude.

In the mid-80's, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) presented a documentary on the nature of war. Hosted by Gwynne Dyer, my recollection (I was barely a teen at the time) is that it was an interesting and in-depth analysis on the nature of war. Dyer then proceeded to write a companion book, which has been out of print for some years. Now, there is this brand-new, updated version. Dyer has woven the events of the last 20 years into the fabric of the narrative, instead of tacking on an extra chapter at the end - thus it reads like a new book, not a money-grabbing enhancement of an old one. It has been out in Canada for a few months, and will make it's U.S. (re)debut in the spring.

In terms of timeline, this is the most comprehensive book on the roots of, and motivations for, war. Dyer uses archaeological evidence and combines it with analyses on the behaviours of our primate cousins (chimps, baboons, etc.) to build a description of the origin of organised society and the roots of warfare. He then proceeds through the ages, from Babylon and Egypt to the Cold War and the two U.S.-Iraq wars. In this way, he builds a complex but ultimately useful and compelling description of warfare as a human activity. He makes many of the same conclusions as John Keegan and others, but the sheer depth of the analysis is more complex than anything else out there, to my knowledge.

Granted, much of the material in this book has been covered before. For example, is war a natural condition of human societies? Is it inevitable that man will fight his peers? With his trademark wit and seemingly contradictory combination of optimism and sarcasm, Dyer convincingly builds his thesis. The prose is entertaining to read, and the liberal sprinkling of photographic illustrations makes this book eminently readable.

First, the pessimistic side: Humans (and most apes, for that matter) really DO mean to kill each other. However, the average person's chance to die by a violent death has remained mainly steady over the millenia. Certainly, the chances of dying in this century's World Wars was high, but those wars only took up 10% of the century's time. Thus, as battles increased in size and lethality, societies fought less and less frequently, so it all balanced out.

However, he is quite optimistic that humans really are moving in a pacifistic direction. With the advent of nuclear weapons, the next big war will be the last one. His chapters describing the Cold War might be controversial (especially to the U.S. Right) as he maintains Reagan's defense policy was basically invented by Jimmy Carter, and the Soviet Union was already done before Reagan came to power. Whatever your political leanings, though, he lucidly describes the training and mindset of the professionals tasked with maintaining and, if necessary, launching the ICBMs that WWIII would have been fought with.

That's not to say that Dyer is a pacifist per se. He has great respect for people in uniform, and those that follow his syndicated column will know he was in favour of Gulf War I and the destruction of the Taliban by the U.S.-led coalition. He does maintain, however, that modern warfare has turned into an all-or-nothing game where the loser is wiped out (at least the government, and often entire ethnic groups). This is not a sustainable situation in the nuclear era, and so we are in great danger. However, he points out that natural human tendency is to equal rights and democracy. As modern communications and universal literacy make it feasible, nations will naturally move towards more equitable solutions. Thus, in the final analysis, war may eventually become obsolete after all. As he says in the book, it will be good riddance.

The best reflection about war I have read so far. Less detailed than Keegan's "history of warfare", but more pertinent. A clear, lucid perspective on organized human violence. Dyer is parcimonious with words and daring with concepts.
The hardcover edition is also a beautiful looking book.

Dyer has done an excellent job of revising his earlier text, although I must confess to missing a couple of particularly trenchant comments that he has left out in an effort to rise above the suspicions of today's readers, steeped as they are in a silly, false political dichotomy. Dyer's book is both a source of illumination onto how humans got here and a clear explication of how war threatens the future of the human race. He is not overly optimistic about our chances, but neither is he a doomsayer. If we have the guts and intelligence to confront the urges, instincts, and social pathologies that drive us towards violent conflict, we've got a chance. It's up to us.

John Welshons is an amazing author. Both of his books (Healing the Grief,Finding the Road back to Joy and When Prayers Aren't Answered) have brought so much peace and healing to me personally and all of my friends with whom I have shared his works. God has truely blessed him with a wonderful gift and blessed us, the rest of the world, with him. Both of his books are definately a MUST READ.
Carrie Joyce
Dunedin, Fl.

John Welshons has written another fantastic book! In an easy to read, compassionate and nonjudgemental manner, the author urges the reader to try to look at the way life is and not how we each believe it should be. A scholar of the world's religions, he draws on traditions from both the East and West. While the book does deal with different types of prayer, I think its appeal is much broader than those interested in theology. It is a book about how to find joy by understanding what is truly important. I recommend it as a gift to anyone you want to help find more joy in their lives!

First, please ignore the odd review of this wonderful book from Publishers Weekly and follow the reviews of the other readers of this book who have given John's book 5 stars. I have seen John Welshons in person at workshops and he is in every sense the real deal. He is one of the most patient and loving people I have ever come across and he has a unique ability to address every questioner in a caring and direct manner. I have given copies of John's first book to many people who have experienced a loss in their lives and they have always thanked me for the gift. They also recognize that "Awakening From Grief" is not just a book about death, but very much a book about life. I hope you will all give this book a chance to serve you in your quest for love and happiness.

A book I can pick up at any time to get an inspirational lift. Filled with such tenderness, compassion and lots of hope when so hard to find when carrying such a heavy heart. As fate would have it, When Prayers Aren't Answered came out to the bookstores it was like the book was written to match my life for the past five years as the same with John's first book Awakening From Grief. Once you start reading you will not want to put it down. I highly recommend reading it. John Welshons books are my Beacon of Light..

I definitely recommend this book. I love it because it considers all religious beliefs, and it makes quite clear that we are like little children in our love to God. If He doesn't give us what we want then we desert him and loose him all along, while the challenge is to love God and be connected with Him either He gives us what we want or not. Most of the time for our best.

For all you kids out there who picked up a guitar because you wanted to be a Beatle, this book shows you how to do it.

First, be exceedingly talented and charming, then WORK YOUR TAIL OFF! Within these pages is detailed documentation of exactly what the Beatles did to attain, then retain, their unparalleled success.

No other band, save possibly The Ramones, put in more stage time wherever they could, and we all know the results.

Read this book, young musicians, then go out there and do it, for the sake of us music fans.

Thanks to Mr. Lewisohn for this book. We look forward to his multivolume bio.

The Beatles weren't always big,and their was a time actually before Beatle mania.In these times we also didn't always have Ringo star to play drums.We had Pete Best.

The compiled information is outstanding.For a person to gain so much information and archives and list them all in this well priced book is a genious.Very affordable as amatter of fact i picked this up new for $5.99 just awhile ago.

With a well written list of all of The Beatles shows from Livirpool to the USA you can expect the same amoutn of quality info in each segment.The back of the book features a list/guide to all the Beatles albums and a well summed up list of al their songs.(OR so we believe)All the information found in this book is accurate never having to worry of fasle news paper clippings or romours that spread amongst those days.Cool little tid bits of info float all over the book and some well done photos.

This is truley for the Beatle fan in all of us craving that little bit of nerdiness wondering about everything they ever did.Or to some one who wants a well written chronological ordered book of the Beatles in general.Big fan or newcomer this is just right for you.

This is the best book to twin the Anthology Book.
You can get your PhD in Beatle Arts, studying this bible.
However, I rated it just 4 stars because the cover portrait says "The Complete Beatles Chronicle" and the picture below makes you think they were a duet (John & Paul). This is a huge and annoying mistake.

Mark Lewisohn has collected some great Beatles info that every fan should know. Every live performance, recording session, and even mixing dates are included here, in this fine publication. Belongs on everyone's Beatles bookshelf.

I borrowed The Complete Beatles Chronicle from the library hoping to get more info on the making of the White Album (my favorite). But, because of how well the book is written, I wound up starting from the beginning.

This book is interesting because it doesn't miss the big picture. At the beginning of each year is a concise chronicle of what happen that year and its significance. One needn't get bogged down in the details. Just read the first few pages of each chapter for a good overview.

But, if you read the whole account, you'll discover the true genius of the four lads from Liverpool and how they somehow managed to create high-quality songs in between appearances on TV shows, sitting in on radio broadcasts, making movies, going on far-flung concert tours and dealing with mobs of desperate Beatlemaniacs.

Some of this data must be conjecture (even though it's not presented as such). For example, unless it was revealed in an interview, how would the author know that Billy Preston was brought into the Get Back sessions in order to break the tension within the group.

Still, it's an easy read filled with facts. I must now buy this book. So should you.

[DW]

This book provides an excellent overview of the arc of Diebenkorn's painting style, from abstract to figurative and then to his final amazing abstracts. This is a good starting point for understanding Diebenkorn's art, with large beautiful color prints of his paintings. And, because it's a paperback edition, it's pretty affordable for an oversized, color fine arts book.

Great reference on Diebenkorn with lots of color plates and in-depth text on the process of his work. It was recommended by my professor and I keep it by my easel!

If you love the Bay Are Figurative movement as much as I do, this book is the definitive volume.

Richard Diebenkorn has finally achieved the status of Modern Master, but his success was only secured later in his life and after his death. Although he was at first an Abstract Expressionist artist who painted as convincingly as Still, Rothko, Kline and Motherwell, he was too much identified with the Bay Area, and therefore he did not have the imprimatur of the New York critics. Then, in the 1950s, he was viewed as having betrayed the New York Abstract Expressionists, when he turned to figurative painting with David Park and Elmer Bischoff. Eventually, until his death, he returned to abstraction with his much-acclaimed "Ocean Park" series. And then the critics finally realized what had eluded them for years: That Diebenkorn painted abstract realism, leaning more to one and then the other, all his life.

Jane Livingston does a fine job of portraying the life of Richard Diebenkorn through his stunning paintings, which exemplify fire beneath the calm. Be sure to read the Norland book as well, since his book is still the seminal book on Diebenkorn.

This is a great collection of Diebenkorn's work through the years. Though it's a paperback, the book is big, sturdy, and will last a long time. The color plates are very true to his original works.