Richards Books

I am such a lover of the Sweet Pickles series. I still have almost every book in the series. I am 27 years old now. My mother used to get them for me when I was growing up. My favorite character in the series is Iguana. They were always getting into some kind of mischief. I will put the titles of the books that I have at a later time.

The Sweet Pickles series brought so much joy to my childhood. I was devastated when I learned my mother had sold my books. I would love to have them once again. taranova@hotmail.com

I am 32 years old and my brother is 28. We loved the Sweet Pickles books while growing up! Luckily my mother saved the few books in the series that we actually owned. Now my 2 year old daughter is in love with "Me too Iguana!".

These books are simple, easy to relate to and the topics are timeless and totally applicable to young kids today.

I can only hope that some innocent fool will let go of thier kids set at a garage sale and I will be there to snag them for my daughter to treasure in her own book collection.

We are having an Arts and Humanities fair in our school district. Our high school kids read to the preschoolers on our campus. We also have a science room with an iguana and we want to bring our iguana Iggy to the fair and we wanted a book to read to the children. I remembered the Sweet Pickles books I read to my daughter, she is now 23. We loved those books. This is the perfect book about an iguana and I hope all the children at the fair will enjoy it as much as my daughter and I did years ago. Recommend it and all the Sweet Pickles Books. T

I absolutely adored this series of books and now I want copies more than ever. I don't remember how I ended up with the whole series but they were by far my most loved and abused books as a kid. In the spirit of sharing the wealth (much to my own protests) my mother gave my collection to a younger relative when she thought I had outgrown them. I'm sure the relative enjoyed them as much as I did but I thought she should have found her own set and left mine alone! I hope that these delightful stories will be reprinted. I desperately want to collect the set so that I can enjoy the series from a parents' perspective when I have children. To anyone who is lucky enough to have copies of these treasures, by all means hold on to them, they're worth it!

Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers
by Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann, and Christian Rätsch

Publisher:Healing Arts Press/Inner Traditions

Year:2001 (revised and expanded edition)

ISBN:089281979-0

Categories:Book Reviews, Recommended Books

Reviewed by Jon Hanna, 6/26/2007

It may be a rare thing for a second edition of a book to warrant its own review, but such is definitely the case with the new edition of the Schultes' and Hofmann's 1979 classic Plants of the Gods. The updated version was produced as a German translation in 1998 by Christian Rätsch, and Healing Arts Press released the English translation of this in late 2001. It is a thing of beauty.

The primary and most dramatic improvement is the inclusion of numerous new photographs and art images. Although this second edition retains many of the same photos, it introduces a lot of new ones as well. In some cases, the item depicted-such as the statue of Shiva with Datura flowers in his hair (p. 11)-has been revisited with a higher-quality photo. Frequently, black and white images have been replaced with a similar image in stunning full-color. While this works superbly in most cases, there are a few situations-such as the replacement color photo of an aerial view of the Kuluene river (p. 24)-where the original black and white photo was much better. New psychedelic art is featured throughout from the likes of Pablo Amaringo, Walangari Karntawarra Jakamarra, Nana Nauwald, and Donna Torres. There are even some incredible watercolor paintings done by Christian Rätsch himself (think Codex Seraphinianus on acid)-where can we see more of his art!? A beautiful mural of an ayahuasca ceremony that graces a wall at the Cuzco Airport in Peru reminds us that some countries have a more enlightened attitude towards the use of psychoptic plants.

"Fourteen Major Hallucinogenic Plants" of the first edition has been altered to become "The Most Important Hallucinogenic Plants," and expanded to include new sections on Anadenanthera colubrina, ayahuasca analogs, Salvia divinorum, and Duboisia hopwoodii. There have been numerous expansions on the old chapters as well, including many additional species of the genera discussed. Six new plants have been added to the "Plant Lexicon," and this section has been vastly improved through the addition of color photographs. Previously, the majority of the plants described were depicted via illustrations, with only a few photo images; this situation is now reversed, with only a few illustrations. (It is a shame that there are any drawings remaining, although I suspect in some cases it might be hard to obtain photographs of the plants in question. Still, in other cases it should not have been difficult-photos of Banisteriopsis caapi, Lagochilus inebrians, Mandragora officinarum, Mimosa tenuiflora [= M. hostilis], Peucedanum japonicum, Scirpus atrovirens, Tabernanthe iboga, and Virola theiodora are all available via the web). The map of "Native Use of Major Hallucinogens" has been expanded to include Hyoscyamus sp., Duboisia sp., and A. colubrina, and the depicted range of Cannabis use has been increased.

Some problems that the original book had are, alas, retained or, in a few cases, exaggerated. The gutter of the book is too tight, causing one to crack the spine to get a full view; this was the case in the earlier edition as well. New layout glitches include shaded backgrounds for text boxes being placed too close to the edge of the text (in some cases touching it), and headlines that sit too close to the images. The problem of citing alkaloid contents as fixed numbers is still present (although in a few cases ranges are presented). Those with little knowledge on the subject might actually believe that all dried Trichocereus pachanoi plants have a 2% mescaline content, while this is actually the peak of the range that can be determined through a survey of the scant few published isolation analyses (which dips down to 0.33%, and even lower in published HPLC analysis), and may not be typical. In new cases when ranges are presented, such as the case with Mimosa tenuiflora root-bark said to contain 0.57 to 1.0% DMT, the information may not be correct. (M. tenuiflora has been reported to contain 0.31 to 0.57% DMT with specific analyses available in the literature of Gonçalves de Lima 1946 and Patcher et al. 1959, and there have been unsubstantiated counter-culture claims of 1% to 11%, see ER Vol. X, No. 3, 2001 and Ott 2001). Both the new and the old editions of this book are riddled with statements about alkaloid contents that are presented as if they were fixed amounts, when in reality alkaloid content can be highly variable.

Some new errors are introduced with this edition. Spelling mistakes are peppered throughout (they've misspelled author Hofmann's name on the back cover!), and awkward phrasings are not uncommon in those sections that were translated from German. In some cases, plants are presented as containing specific alkaloids that they do not have. For example, it is remarked that "The Turkey Red variety of the grass Phalaris arundinacea contains liberal amounts of DMT." This is in error, as this variety contains liberal amounts of 5-MeO-DMT, not DMT. Also, photographs of four cacti-Ariocarpus retusus, A. fissuratus, Astrophyton asterias, and Aztekium riterii-known in México as "peyote" are depicted, with the statement "They primarily contain the substance mescaline and other psychoactive alkaloids." This too is in error, as only A. riterii has been found to contain trace amounts of mescaline, and no mescaline has been found at all in the others. (It was interesting to see that Rätsch considers a heftier amount of mescaline, "0.5-0.8 gram" to be a dose, compared to the Shulgins' more conservative 200-400 mg dose listed in PIHKAL; I tend to agree with Rätsch.)

Any and all criticism of this book should be viewed as minor, as it is truly a marvelous work. Rätsch has taken a great book and made it better. Especially if you own the first edition, you owe it to yourself to pick up this revamp. It is visual delight, a joy to read cover-to-cover, and it will no doubt be revisited repeatedly for years to come.

This is a good starting point for working with Psychoactive Plants. It is however not quite as informative as the author's "The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications". If you are interested in working with plants but are not sure then this is the book for you to get the real information you need to make a informed decision.

This is a good book on the topic of psychotropic plants, though I have to admit that I'm a little shocked that the opium poppy wasn't included. Oh well. There are enough books on that subject that I'm sure if you really want to study the "black smoke" you can find another book to read. It presents an interesting subject in an approachable, readable format. My one complaint is that parts of it read a little too New Age-y, which irks me. But that's the way I am. Aside from that one (rather small) problem, I would readily recommend this book to anyone looking for an all-in-one look at this branch of botany.

The authors Richard Schultes, director of the Botanical Museum at Harvard and Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD and former director of the Pharmaceutical-Chemical Research Lab in Basel, Switzerland, together have over fourteen years of research in field of botany, chemistry and ethnobotony. In their book the authors offer an ethnobological look at the sacred use of hallucinogenic plants and include: an introduction to hallucinogenic plants, a plant lexicon, overview of plant use chart, detailed section of fourteen major hallucinogenic plants, and concludes with an overview of the chemical structure of hallucinogens.
The plant lexicon includes ninety-one known and most common hallucinogenic plants with: a colored picture for each plant, botanical name, geographic location, hallucinogenic properties and a short description of the individual plant. Following the lexicon is a chart overview of each plant that includes: usage in history, context and purpose, preparation, chemical components and effects. Following the chart is a detailed account fourteen major hallucinogenic plants. "Most of these plants are or have been culturally and materially important...that they can not be overlooked "(81). The authors include: a descriptive history, gathering techniques, rituals, the chemical make-up of the plant, pictures of ceremonies, and artwork of "visions" by people.
Plants of the Gods is more than a research book, it is a guide to understanding the role hallucinogens play in various religious cultures using a scientific and anthropological approach.

This review is based on the 1992 publication:
Schultus, Richard E., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers. Rochester: Healing Arts Press, 1992.

If you're looking for information on how to prepare psychoactive plant medicine and, well quite frankly, how get high, this is not the book for you. However, if you'd like to gain more wisdom and insight into shamanistic practices around the world, this is a wonderful history that draws you into the mind of the shamin. I loved this book. It gave me new respect for the wisdom of those ancient people of whom we know so very little. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in shamanism and herbalism. It offers insight into not HOW but WHY psychoactive plants are ingested. Plant medicine is afford the tremendous respect it so rightly deserves.

The book Smarts is an exceptional read for anyone interested in the consumer buying process. The book introduces the 12 Executive Skills and explains how they are "hardwired", the strengths and weaknesses, how to identify and use them efficently in the work place. This book would be an excellent training tool for the sales industry as it would enable the associate to correctly identify an individual based on their Executive Skills and then be able to interact appropriately. Ultimately, the correct identification of these skills in consumers could lead to an increase in the organization's sales by allocating time to "needy" consumers.
It is amazing how much this information has helped in the marketing field in aiding to identifying and understanding the consumer which in the end is basically crucial. The informatoin learned through this book will help me as I continue my life in the marketing profession by assesing and understanding the consumers I am marketing to.

I realy enjoyed reading this book because it taught me a lot about myself. After reading about the 12 executive skills, I was able to see which skills I was highest in and learned how to manage the skills I was lowest in. The book was clear and to the point. An easy read, but VERY informative.

Smarts also helped me to better understand my friends and family. I was able to recognize their strengths and weaknesses. I recommend this book to all.

SMARTS is an excellent read in relation to business management and also how it plays in ones everyday life. Not only does Chuck Martin provide a great tool to look into your own Executive Skills weaknesses and strengths, but also to understand the skills in those around you.
This book explains some of your interesting character flaws and how to make them work in your favor. If you can learn to manage your weaknesses and play to your strengths you can really learn to reach a new level of potential.
This book could also be a helpful for managers to understand how to make their peers more efficient in their jobs by managing their Executive Skills strengths and weaknesses. I personally found the chapter on matching your Executive Skills to the best job fit very intriguing and helpful.
I would suggest SMARTS to anyone interested in furthering their personal success.

Smarts is an incredible read. With each chapter comes even more information that answers so many questions about why people behave the way they do. Smarts is easy to read and to understand. It provides great insight into really knowing who around you would be the most punctual, or the most organized, or who's bound to act on an impulse, and so on. Whether you are a top executive or a struggling student, this book will help you understand so much as to why the people around you act the way they do.

SMARTS is an insightful look at how our workplace strengths and weaknesses are not taught, but rather predetermined. With the help of psychologists Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, business guru Chuck Martin takes a unique approach at explaining how the frontal lobe of our brains work.

Why can you never keep your workplace clean? Why does it take so long for your co-worker to finish his modification report? Why can your boss never fit time in his schedule to take you golfing?

These aren't flaws, but rather weaknesses in one's "12 Executive Skills," which are: Self Restraint, Working Memory, Emotion Control, Focus, Task Initiation, Planning/Prioritization, Organization, Time Management, Defining and Achieving Goals, Flexibility, Observation, and Stress Tolerance.

Each of these skills are have been right under our noses for so many years and Martin finally identifies them in this carefully written business-best seller. Applicable to real-world experiences, SMARTS is a must-read for anyone interested in business-psychology.

This is a fantastic Bible for the kid who is always asking questions. The question and answer section provided real, current issues with Biblical answers. It's written is a way that they can understand.

This Bible is absolutely wonderful. At the start of each book it tells who wrote the book if known and why the book is important. The text is written in plain English much easier for kids to understand (and myself). There are side texts with sugessted activities and additional explanation of significant stories. I LOVE this Bible - this is the one I read personally now myself and I don't know how I would get through Bible School without it!

Adventure Bible, Revised, NIV This book arrived in exellent condition. It was exactly what I was looking for.
The 7 Day Mental Diet This book arrived in excellent condition. It was exactly what I was looking for.

I received book in excellent condition, a lot faster than I expected (within days). My son loves it!

Love the historical/background information. This is a good resource for helping today's kids identify with the Bible's historical figures, cultures, and lessons. Without completely altering the poetic language, it offers activities and ideas to improve comprehension and help children see the relevance of the text to their own lives.

I truly believe the title of the book Everything Belongs is the ultimate invitation for every christian. The title is the basis of the mystical union that I truly believe the Lord tried to teach us and the Gospel writers, esp John, and the Book of Revelation, by John of Patmos, proclaimed. They are proclaiming that we are Mystical Beings presently in human form.

This book is nearly perfect. I wore out two highlighters and a pen while reading/studying. Rohr doesn't waste a line; something poingent and worth really examining on every page.
I am fully aware that different books speak to different people at certain times of our lives. If it doesn't work for you, be patient and revisit this one.
Blessings to you,
Josh

In a lifetime of reading and contemplation, I have yet to find a book which leads one on so many paths, all of which are headed toward forming a relationship with God.
I often find that a paragraph may be all that I can read at one time, for it may start me on another unending journey.
I am sure that it is a cliche to suggest that a book is "full of insight." This book, however, is full of material that will drag insight from your soul, though perhaps only at the rate of a few pages each day.

Growing up in a fundamental Christian home and attending a conservative church,I was at first hesitant to read such a "out there" book by a catholic none the less. But it being recommended to me by my counselor as the middle road between the eastern way and the western, I was intrigued. I was so refreshed and renewed in my walk with Jesus to see Him as one who loves all and wants to be reconciled to all, no judgements. The Eastern way of looking at life used to frighten me but after this book, I feel more open minded and walking down the road God wants me on. I have such a new appreciation for the Catholic religion and their view of who God is. I reccommend this book to any who are searching for more of who God is.

If the idea of a prayer to a "Father-Mother God," a study of New Age enneagrams, or a retreat with nude men jumping over fire pits is in line with your notion of spirituality, then this is your book, as Richard Rohr is notorious for promoting oddities like those just described. But if you're interested in straightforward spiritual direction, you might stick with works by more reliable figures like St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis De Sales, or Fr. Thomas Dubay.

Reading and/or listening to this management story is a fun way to gain insight about people with whom we work and interact. I enjoyed the positive presentation about different perspectives and strenghts that people have and where the best place to deploy people with these attributes might be. The book encourages objective interactions that are win-win and non-judgemental.

Here we go again, another personality classification system and the author's premise that if you can stereo type people you can manage them more effectively. I don't see what this system has over other personality classification systems, such as MBTI (which has been around longer and more people seem to be familiar with).

The book tries to be humorous, but it just didn't work. The story telling wasn't bad, but I'd almost rather listen to nails on a chalk board then listen to the voices of the people reading this book.

Bottom line. I learned a little, but not much and I'd like my money back.

I found Kingdomality (the test) almost 10 years ago. I took the test and was impressed by its accuracy. Since then, I have taken the online test 3 or 4 times more, with the same results.

So, when browsing on a local bookstore, I saw that the test creators had a book about Kingdomality, I did not hesitate and bought it.

What is Kingdomality (the test and the book) about? Well, it basically sustains that people can be grouped in 12 categories of personality types. These types are a function of how people see the world, what are their motivations, how do they interact with it. It's called Kingdomality because the personalities can be linked to "standard" professions in the Middle Ages (the time of Kingdoms...).

Those who have already taken the test and have enjoyed its simplicity and accuracy will enjoy this book. It will allow them to have a more comprehensive view of all the 12 types and how could they be used productively in a work environment.

For those who have not taken the test, but enjoy learning about new and different personality type tests, this is also a great book. The test concept is simple, and the types are clearly different among them. Still, I think I would advise all to take the test first and then read the book (doing otherwise might "contaminate" your test with your expectations for its results).

Well, as I said, I always got the same result in the test. So, in case you wonder, I seem to be a Merchant.

This loosely medieval management parable about "a king at his wits' end" has several winning characteristics. First, it's relevant without taking itself too seriously. The light, self-effacing - even occasionally tongue-in-cheek - tone makes it easily readable. Authors Sheldon Bowles, Richard Silvano and Susan Silvano actively engage readers with a brief interactive online test that reveals your personality "guild type." Then they draw on their narrative's strength to move forward. Many books about emotional intelligence give readers little practical help. This one is fun, helpful and entertaining even though its guild classification system may need additional tweaking. Apparently designed primarily for workplace applications, it lacks the specificity of the more familiar Myers-Briggs test, which in comparison practically predicts how you'll want your eggs cooked a month from next Tuesday. Notwithstanding these minor limitations, we recommend this book to managers, coaches, consultants, EQ practitioners and those HR folks burdened with softening the Type A corporate hearts who run most organizations.

I had the chance to attend a book signing by Sheldon Bowles of his book Kingdomality. When he started to speak to a large crowd there was a table loaded with books and I wondered how many he'd sell. When he finished talking, we all rushed to the front to get a book and an autograph. By the time I got to him the books were all gone! Now I have a copy. This book contains so much insider information about how different people are motivated and why people behave as they do, that it seems like you become a mind reader. It's easy. It's accurate. It has given me the tools that make me a better manager, a better father, husband son and friend. In the paper here last weekend KINGDOMALITY was #1 on the bestseller list. Go to www.kingdomality.com and find out what it's all about. You won't be dissappointed! I predict KINGDOMALITY will be the killer book of 2005.

I felt like I was sitting in Ronda Rich's living room and she was talking only to me as I read this book. It's so personal, warm, inviting and irresistible. There are no startling revelations in this book, except perhaps Dale Earnhardt's reaction to a race track incident with Bill Elliott, and I, for one, am thankful for that. I'm happy to see people who are heroes portrayed that way and not torn apart. This book is written in a way that I got the impression that if the author had crossed paths with bad people, she just didn't write that. Instead, she wrote of the good in people. Bless her for that. My 13-year-old son is a race fan and I have given him this book to read. I think he needs to know of the good that still lies in many people.

My wife bought this book, read it and kept bragging on it. I was reluctant to read because I'm not a big reader and I just didn't think I'd enjoy it that much. One day, I picked up the book and read the chapter about the late champion Alan Kulwicki. That did it. I then had to read the entire book. I enjoyed it very much. It shows the human side of a sport that is becoming so slick and so polished that it's easy to forget that the drivers are often regular guys with problems and struggles just like the rest of us. This book reflects on many of the heroes and legends who made the sport like Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and others. There are places, like where she talks about her friendship with and the death of Tim Richmond, that really put a lump in my throat. As in the case of Kulwicki, who is displayed here to be a serious loner who saw too much death in his young life, his mother included, that shaped his life and personality, you are shown an inside to the sport that is seldom seen. The men in this book are true heroes and the author is to be commended for writing it in a way that we feel we are being treated to VIP look at these guys.

I was pleasantly surprised by the spell binding content of this book. I read everything I can on NASCAR and just added this book to my collection as a matter of course. I ordered four books at the same time but read this one last. I should have read it first. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. The author has a way of pulling you into the story in such an interesting way. I stayed up until 4 a.m. in the morning until I had finished every word. This is the first book about NASCAR that I ever read that shows such an emotional intimate inside look. Be ready -- you'll laugh, cry, laugh, cry. It's an emotional rollcoaster but very, very fulfilling. Without a doubt, it's the best NASCAR book in the world and I think I'm qualified to say that since I have read them all.

I couldn't really get into this book. While I chuckled at some of the stories (like the muffler bearings story), other times I thought the book delved into the sugary-sweet. As an example the two and a half pages taken up to spin the tale of her date with a present day driver. Another time she writes how dressing femininely works for you in business dealings. Huh? This book seems to be an extension of What Southern Women Know with Nascar thrown in. I don't think we're getting a good picture of life in the pits. There is Ms. Rich's side of pit life, and there is the grease under your fingernails and a motor roaring in your ears side. I would've liked a view from both sides. Perhaps it is because I've read Dale Jr's and Tony Stewart's books that Ms. Rich's book is a bit of a disappointment.

I got this book for Christmas and could not stop reading it. Just as someone else has already said, when you are done reading it, you will wish there was more. I am an aspiring motorsports public relations lady, and Ronda's book is hands-down the most insightful book about the "inside" of this sport that I have read. Her point of view is different from most writers, in a very refreshing way! If you are new to the sport, or a fan for life, this book will turn you on to the sport, or let you in on a special side of the lifestyle you already know and love. I want to thank Ronda for being so helpful to me, and sending some much needed advice my way. I would recommend this book to anyone that has ever wanted to experience "life in the pits."

Popular scholarship at its best: engaging, entertaining, and very informative. Magee systematically illuminates some of the most elusive and misunderstood aspects of Wagner's life, work and influences, with graceful clarity. He summarizes and recapitulates just enough so as to ensure that each idea is remembered and understood in light of what proceeded. A broad scope of complex topics are made remarkably easy to digest. A tribute to Wagner both unapologetically celebratory and intellectually rigorous!

People who have learned how to write properly organized essays in school might find the kind of writing that Wagner did rather loose, to say the least. I'm far more interested in rock 'n' roll as an artform that appeals to the contemporaries of those who are moderately talented than in the fine art of Mozart, but favorite songs can be done well no matter where they came from. Not half bad is more likely to be my judgment on anything I would like to hear. I have enough CDs to remind myself of music in many forms, but the creative tension involved in trying to write a review of a book like THE TRISTAN CHORD also reminds me of many things that are not in this book.

THE TRISTAN CHORD ~ WAGNER AND PHILOSOPHY by Bryan Magee starts out strongly with the idea that Wagner's work is based on an understanding of life that exceeds anything within the confines of philosophy or knowledge as it is contained in universities. Clearly Nietzsche acquired so many of his ideas from Wagner because Wagner had realized that ancient Athens was the kind of society he wished to inhabit, and the festivals at which tragedies were performed were so different from the commercial nature of entertainment values in modern global intellectual property that the context has to be explained to modern readers as follows:

... Third, human participation was also maximized, in that the whole community was involved. Dramatic performances were accorded the highest possible importance, a significance that was tantamount to religious - nothing that the community did was seen as mattering more, unless it was fighting a war. This attitude could scarcely be further from that of a bourgeois society towards its commercialized art. When Athens put on a play the entire life of the society revolved around it: the day was a public holiday, all other activities came to a halt so that everyone could go to the play, no one talked of anything else, attendance was free, the actors were maintained by the State; what we would call commercial considerations were totally absent. As Wagner summed it up in his essay `Art and Revolution,' published in 1849: `With the Greeks the perfect work of art, the drama, was the sum and substance of all that could be expressed in the Greek nature; it was - in intimate connection with its history - the nation itself that stood facing itself in the work of art, becoming conscious of itself, and, in the space of a few hours, rapturously devouring, as it were, its own essence.' (pp. 86-87).

Few adults in American society were able to offer young people anything as compelling in the 1960s, when Walter Kaufmann was writing and translating, but rock 'n' roll was having more impact. The Beatles are not listed in the index of THE TRISTAN CHORD, but one of their songs, `All You Need Is Love,' is mentioned on page 60, long after comments about the early Wagner opera `Das Liebesverbot' (p. 24) being in response to the intellectual discontent of the Young Germans:

In the arts they saw the classic figures of their immediate past, people such as Goethe and Mozart, as pre-revolutionary, and therefore antediluvian, no longer speaking to the condition of the young. ... They glorified love as it really was, the sexual intoxication of the young, and they saw it as socially subversive. To express it they wanted an art that was freely and frankly erotic. In opera this caused them to look away from Weber to the unabashed sensationalism of the French, and also, much more seriously, to the sensual, hedonistic lyricism of the Italians. Perhaps most important of all to the Young Germans as individuals, they wanted to live out these principles in their own lives, loving and expressing themselves as liberated beings, innovating boldly in politics and the arts, deriding authority, and free for ever from the stultifying conservatism and conventionality of their elders. (pp. 24-25).

The philosophy of Feuerbach is considered a major source for the setting of Wagner's `Ring' cycle of operas. I tend to associate this kind of catastrophe with the Vietnam syndrome of my generation, but THE TRISTAN CHORD links Feuerbachian philosophy of religion to picturing the gods as a gang of crooks. Just imagine, "Isaiah Berlin used to exclaim complainingly, `But they're just a lot of gangsters!'" (p. 54).

The interesting theme for me is the idea that Wagner did a lot of writing to generate the creative tension which he would like to turn into a form of art critical of his own society by composing music that would maintain a stream of consciousness worthy of the kind of life currently possible or imagined as a future ideal. "Because Wagner believed that we live in `a whole world of injustice' which was about to be swept away and replaced by `a righteous world' there is a sense in which he was living for the future." (p. 59). "Because the drama of ancient Greece is the art he is bent on re-establishing, and the opera of his contemporaries is the obstacle he is determined to sweep away, he is liable in a discussion of almost anything to dive off into the question of how whatever it is he is talking about relates to either or both of those things." (p. 91).

... The musical motives need not simply be repeated, they possessed infinite possibilities of musical transformation - the light hearted could be made tragic, the triumphant hollow, the confident full of foreboding, the loving grief-stricken. The potential for musical metamorphosis was protean, and also endlessly subtle. (p. 91).

Rock 'n' roll has filled many pockets with big bucks, but it is also carrying remnants of more than philosophy could say. The vocabulary was entirely different, but the simplicity of a chorus that kept repeating after verses that can go from bad to worse in so many ways, certain songs could be described as blues. Just one example is a song, `(Down to) SEEDS & STEMS (Again)' recorded in Austin, Texas, November, 1973, written Billy Farlow and George Frayne, who do vocals and piano for a group called Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, which was included on a collection of their songs `Too Much Fun' released on CD in 1990. A looser version on `Marijuana's Greatest Hits Revisited' has someone singing, "I have a few decent memories of what I was going to say. I'm down to seeds and stems again, hurray!" At times, it is nice to discover that the fun is going to stop and life can go back to being about something else. But for us, what else could there possibly be?

This is THE book on Wagner that I hoped would one day be written and which I knew could be written. The author has no use for post-Holocaust axe-grinding or ideological regard, and neither does he indulge in any of the by now ubiquitous but ultimately superficial KULTURGESCHICHTLICH approaches in which Wagner is one more symbol-player to be pigeon-holed and arranged (much like the props in Hans-Juergen Syberberg's "Parsifal" film), nor does he dish up Wagner with a sideorder of Marxist criticism. Instead you get Wagner as a living, breathing, thinking, AND creating human being, a real man (no mere puppet of impersonal cultural forces here!) who encountered ideas and reacted to them in the completely unique way that his personality demanded.

In a way one can only appreciate this book if he has already spent time ploughing through even a fraction of the tendentious trash in print that attempts to deal with this man (e.g. Gutman, Millington, even M. Owen Lee at times). If you have done that, then you will really be in a position to enjoy what Bryan Magee has done, how he has done it, and what a tremendous debt we owe to him for presenting to us Wagner the man in all of his outrageous but fascinating complexity. This is a book for people who are interested in learning more closely what kind of man Wagner actually was (that, for example, he was a 'commanding' personality and what that might mean in real terms, and that, in itself, should not be held against him) and who are equally interested in distinctions being made along the way that really do amount to something and are not just so much critical hot air.

For example, people need to know about Wagner's anti-Semitism, but that fact alone must be seen in relation to the greater fact that he despised so many other groups and that he did so in accordance with his own artistic/intellectual principles. And besides, whence this smarmy assumption that any artist or intellectual must already be some fully formed politically correct forerunner of our own pseudo-enlightened age? It is a woefully dishonest attitude to adopt since it serves to divert us in the end from the demons lurking in our contemporary secular righteousness as it is manufactured and propagated by the literary Left.

After you read this book--and if you have not already done it--read Michael Tanner's "Wagner" and enjoy hearing from someone who actually knows what he is talking about and who has bothered to spend some time thinking about it instead of listening to the clowns who parrot the easy cultural prejudices culled from "The New York Times Review of Books".

Bryan Magee writes with enthusiasm and clarity. He's particularly good at explaining philosophy in layman's terms. According to Magee, Wagner was the most erudite of all the great composers, and his philosophical beliefs profoundly effected his compositions. His intellectual life can be broken into two main periods: the early, one of political radicalism and activism, and the late, one of resignation and mysticism.

As a young man Wagner believed that a revolution - a total annihilation of the existing order - must take place in order for people to start anew to build a free and equal society. This was the intellectual zeitgeist throughout Europe in reaction to the sweeping changes brought about by capitalist industrialization in the early 19th Century. It was, in part, a romantic longing for a simpler past.

In Wagner's first period two figures were his main influences, Mikhail Bakunin, the anarchist, and Ludwig Feuerbach, who taught that mankind created the Gods, or God, in its own image. This was not to dismiss religion but to appraise it seriously as something illuminating about human beings.

After numerous inconsequential attempts at revolution took place throughout Germany in the mid-1800's Wagner became disenchanted with politics. He immersed himself in the philosophy of his contemporary, Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer wrote a great deal about music and it occupied a large part of his philosophical outlook. Both he and Wagner shared an interest in Buddhist thought.

Schopenhauer maintained that human beings are the embodiment of a metaphysical "will", so that willing, wanting, longing, craving and yearning are not just things we do, they are what we are. And he believed that music was a manifestation of this metaphysical "will." Thus, music directly corresponds to what we ourselves are in our innermost being. Wagner's "late" period dates from his extensive study of Schopenhauer.

Schopenhauer wrote that music proceeds by creating certain wants which it then spins out before satisfying. Even the simplest melody makes us want to close eventually on the "tonic" and provokes dissatisfaction if it ends on any other note than that.

Schopenhauer gave special attention to a technical device in harmony known as "suspension," and this instantly appealed to Wagner's musical sensibility. The suspension in music is the penultimate chord, when what we had just heard was what we thought was the penultimate chord. This causes a sense of discord in the listener. Schopenhauer said "this is clearly an analogue of the satisfaction of the will which is enhanced through delay."

This inspired in Wagner the idea of composing an entire piece of music moving from discord to discord in such a manner that the listener was always in a state of tension waiting for a resolution that did not come. This would be the musical equivalent of the dissatisfied longing , craving, yearning that our being is. There could only be one resolution to it, the final chord that was the end of the musical score (and in an opera, the end of the protagonist's life). This would be a musical expression of the essence of humanity in the universe.

The first chord of Tristan is the most famous chord in the history of music: F, B, D sharp and G sharp or any chord of the same intervals. It contains not one, but two dissonances. It then moves to resolve one of the dissonances but not the other, thus providing resolution, yet not resolution. Thus as the music proceeds, in every chord shift something is resolved but not everything. This "partial satisfaction" yet continued "frustration" carries on through the entire work. The only point where all discord is resolved is in the final chord, which is the musical analogue of freedom from striving, freedom from the tension that is existence. It is like a mystical state of nirvana.

What made this double-dissonance chord so famous was that it, in effect, closed the door on the age of classicism. And it opened the door to impressionism, atonalism, and modern classical music in general.

It was under the influence of the Schopenhauer-Buddhist belief system that Wagner's late works, Tristan, The Mastersingers, and Parsifal were written. Actually, since most of his operas were written piecemeal with many interruptions (sometimes years in length), there are traces of the early and late philosophical influences in almost every opera. Tristan is the only opera that Wagner wrote uninterrupted from start to finish.

There are many more aspects of Wagner's life and work contained in this book. New insights are provided into the Nietzsche-Wagner relationship and the vexed anti-semitism of Wagner. It should be noted that although Magee believes the above conjunction of philosophy and music in Wagner, he is not dogmatic. He says late in the book that "one does not have to be familiar with Schopenhauer's ideas, let alone accept them" to appreciate the greatness of Wagner's music.

This book has added a new dimension to my understanding and appreciation of Wagner. I heartily recommend it.

I'm a careful fellow yet I make quite a claim in the title of this review; and I confidently stand by it. Wagner has stimulated an enormous bibliography, but most of it is biography and/or polemics regarding the man himself or else "way out" (e.g. Jungian) interpretations of his art. Surprisingly little criticism of real seriousness pertains to the actual music. Bryan McGee's book magnificently fills that gap.

It is not a musical analysis per se, but a study of Wagner's changing philosophical values and how they influenced his music...and there is no composer in history who was a more acute intellectual than Wagner and more influenced in his art by ideas. You cannot fully understand his art without this book...it is that seminal. And it does not pertain only to "Tristan und Isolde," despite the title. It covers the entire sweep of Wagner's output.

Mr. McGee brings to his text the virtues which previously made him an outstanding author in "popularizing" philosophy: clarity, honesty, common sense, and even-handed weighing of the evidence. I hesitate to say he "popularized" philosophy. That could suggest a "dumbing down." And that is definitely not this book. It is crystal clear for a layman yet it is a scholar's dream in substance...a rare combination.

The book is an absolute must for anyone who has ever been moved by Richard Wagner's music...and perhaps even for those who have wondered why the rest of us are so moved by it. I cannot recommend it enough. There are only two other texts in the last century which compare, in my opinion: 1) Ernest Neumann's multi-volumn biography of Wagner; and 2) Deryk Cooke's "I Saw the World End," (first published 1979), which is the definitive (if incomplete) analysis of Wagner's "Ring."

If you love Wagner's music, or want to investigate it, this book is both a delight and a "must."

Birding by Ear is an excellent way to learn to identify birds. It is just going to take me some time to get through all the calls and get them in my poor brain. Not the fault of the cd's - just the fault of my overworked brain.

Birding by Ear is a great group of 4 CD's for beginner birders. It has great illustrations in the accompanying book and the narrator is wonderfully helpful. We love it!!

We live on 10 acres and have wondered what birds make certain calls. These CDs teach you how to learn the calls and songs in a fun way. (Who knew there was a difference in a song and a call?) We found out that we had birds we didn't know we had because we had never seen them, but after learning their songs, we started looking and have seen brightly colored orioles and indigo buntings. You would think you could see a brightly colored orange bird, but knowing what to look for is a great help. The way the author teaches is with easy to remember tricks. It is a great teaching device for kids too. There are lots of hints on how to best use the CD's too. Even knowing just a few songs makes you more aware of the sounds around you. The other night I heard "who cooks for you? who cooks for you all?" I went and woke my daughter up and asked, what bird says that? She knew right off it was a Barred Owl and got up to come hear it in person. Awesome CDs. We also bought "More Birding by Ear" but haven't had time to listen to it yet. They even have a list of songs at the end so you can see if you remember what you learned. The songs are also grouped by type to help you remember them. Similar sounding songs are also placed next to each other so that it makes it easier to tell the difference between them. There was a lot of thought put into making this such a great product and it is well worth it! I am not an audio learner, but even I am getting better at ID'ing birds by their sounds.

If you're looking to learn how to recognize birds just by sounds, then this is it. These CD's are excellent. I would recommend them for both beginner and expert alike. I have been birding since High School and am now 37 and learned about a lot of birds that I had heard but hadn't seen. I finished these CD's and am now working on More birding by ear(the second set of this series). It's amazing the birds you recognize as you are just walking down the street or in the woods. To be able to hear a bird in the distance and know what it is is great feeling.

Excellent recordings and presentation make learning bird songs easy. Highly reccomend. Combined with excellent service from Amazon made this a satisfying purchase.

First, I have to disagree with the reviews that complain about the coloring of this edition. It is colored beautifully with artistic intent behind the coloring decisions. I'm guessing those that have complained about the coloring are referring mostly to scenes in Savah's hut. The mishmash of pastel colors is what it might actually look like in a room lit through stained glass windows. This is an intentional effect. Interestingly, we see this effect again during Lord Voll's optimistic scene at the floating egg. (The egg was never lit like this when Winnowill was there...) Both of these locales foreshadow the climactic scene at the scroll of colors. Hmm. Think about that...

Secondly I'd like to praise Wendi Pini for the quality of the art. Not only are the full-page and two-page spreads worthy of wall-hanging, but the individual panes are laid out, drawn, and colored well. The eye is drawn to important story points. The strength of Elfquest is in the artwork. It is head and shoulders above any other comic in its consistent quality.

The second strength of Elfquest is in the pacing. The action is interspersed by scenes where the plot unfolds comfortably, allowing us to get to know and care about the characters. This imaginary world is creative. What's not to love about a magical fantasy world populated with wolf- and eagle-riding elves, trolls, and fairy-like preservers?

So far a five-star review. What then is the weakness of Elfquest? It seems to target an audience that can't exist. The plot payoffs aren't quite big enough for adult drama. The ignorance of the wolfriders to magnets and words like "desert," "war," and "armor," also seem to target a child audience. However, the sexual content makes Elfquest inappropriate for kids. The Pinis claim that it's just too bad that we humans are uncomfortable with some aspects of the elf lifestyle. Tongue in cheek, eh? Well, I cluck my tongue back at you. Shame on you, Pinis. You may believe in the realism of your craft, but in the end you have created their world, including the sexual content. What then is Elfquest but a medium to introduce cleavage of all types, nudity, and sexual suggestiveness (at times more overt than suggestive) to children? It shouldn't be in the story otherwise. Even when done tastefully adultery, threesomes, orgies, and bestiality are inappropriate. I'll even go so far as to suggest that depicting sex with a spouse is inappropriate.

When I was 12 years old, my oldest sister Kristine gave me ElfQuest Volume 1, and I said "a comic book?" and she took it out of my hands and said "No, it's a graphic novel and you are going to love it" and handed it back to me like she was passing on something very important. She was.

From the first page, I knew I was hooked for life. I had read other stories about Elves and quests and fantastical worlds but Wendy and Richard Pini had created something amazing and new that has never been matched to this day. The Elves are drawn with such personality as are every other creature in that world. You know their names by the end and actually care about them fiercely.So many characters but each carved out of love and loyalty so unique.

The story itself, a family of Elves burned out from their forest home by humans, and tricked by the trolls, trying to find a new beginning and ultimately trying to find out where they really came from and if there is any ancestor (the High Ones) left to tell them the true history of their race.

Within elfish lore, partners came be formed through mutual consent and these creatures have no problem expressing their needs in that matter, but there is such a thing called "recognition" where "soul meets soul" and you find yourself knowing the other persons true name that cannot be shared with anyone else. Cutter, the leader of his people the Wolfriders, finds that recognition with a perfect stranger, Leetah and she doesn't know if she wants him (a barbarian to her) as a life-mate (the elf's version of marriage). This first Volume basically deals with the Wolfriders trek into "sorrows end" where Leetahs family also thinks they are the only ones of their kind! The battle for her heart is a tough one, seeing as how she has another Suitor in Rayek, the village's hunter and protector. I personally loved how the start of the series doesn't just take for granted the need to build up familiarity, background, and a wonderful story.

I guarantee you at the end of Volume 1 you will be scrambling to pick up volume II, and than onto a lifelong adoration of everything ElfQuest. My own copies of these are ragged and well read.

BTW I hear there is a movie in the works, and being an old fan I know that there have been rumors before of a film version, but I really hope this time its true and they do the novels justice!

And rediscovered. I never really knew there was alot more to elfquest than those first five or so. Can't really remember the number offhand.

My original collection had somehow been lost over time, so I just rebought all of them, and then some. I got lost again in a beautifully created other world. Great art, epic story, what more can one ask for.

Elfquest has been my favorite literary work since I was introduced to it in 1983 at age 14 (matched only by "The Count of Monte Cristo" in my list of favorites). If you love fantasy, you will love Elfquest.

Being an artist myself, the wonderful art by Wendy Pini has always been just as important and valuable to me as the wonderful story. The Starblaze editions colored with watercolors and printed in the 1980s were my first introduction to EQ. I have always been perfectly happy with the Starblaze volumes, but I wanted to get an Archive volume out of curiosity. And I do think the coloring of the new Archives edition (done in Photoshop by Wendy Pini) is superior to that of the Starblaze edition. Everything 'pops' and often looks like it's in 3D. It also is more accessible to a modern audience which is used to Photoshop-based comics.

The lettering is also much cleaner and more elegant, and some awkward or 'amateurish' wordings were fixed. And the paper is so lush and nice-feeling it's a sensory delight as well. I am very glad I bought this edition and will be re-reading this edition of Elfquest exclusively from now on!

I only have two small complaints about the Archives. One is the size: the original EQ comics were 8.5 x 11 and these have been reduced to the 'standard' comic size of 6.5 x 10. That's a big reduction, especially for someone like me who loves just staring at Wendy Pini's beautiful artwork.

The other is that in Archives Volume 1, an extra story is inserted at the end called "The Heart's Way," an extremely minor side story which was originally published in 1998 in "Elfquest the First 20 Years." I wish this story hadn't been included in the Archives because it doesn't mesh with the rest of the volume. It was written 20 years after the original series; the story is (IMHO) just plain DUMB; and the artwork, although by Wendy, doesn't 'match' and is looser. And unlike the rest of Archives 1, it's not appropriate for children because of its heavy sexual content. The Pinis never claimed EQ was for kids in the first place, and of course it's their right to write stories that are not appropriate for kids. But it's a bit annoying that a book that is pretty much PG throughout has an "epilogue" that is NC-17. Knowing the Pinis' fierce dedication to "hippie" values (pacifism, tolerance and free love) I wonder if it was perhaps included as a way for them to say, "In your face, all you Puritan prudes!" Anyway, for all those reasons, to me the insertion of this story was not only unnecessary but annoying. So I had a simple solution: I got an Exacto blade and cut those pages out, and secured pp. 175 and 192 together with photo mounting tape. ...ah, much better! ; )

Cutter is determined to find the rest of his tribe, and save them from whoever has taken them. However, when he finds that the wolfriders have been taken by flying elves, he is very surprised. These powerful elves claim to be the long-lost High Ones, and their powers seem to confirm that. But, there is something strange going on, something unseen, something strange and sinister.

In 1978, Wendy and Richard Pini started self-publishing the Elfquest saga in comic book form. The rest, as they say, is history! This graphic novel contains the third five issues of Elfquest (11-15), and is quite an entertaining read. I really enjoyed the story (I love stories of elves and magic!), and thought that the illustration work was quite excellent. Some people have criticized the coloring, but I thought that it was quite good, a little bright like older comics, but that is what it is.

Overall, I found this to be a fun and very entertaining read, and I give it two thumbs up!