Shaw Books

this is one of those plays that begs for the actress to play. it involves a scene in which two of the characters have to share about the death of their first born by burying them in cracker boxes in the snow. it so tragic and bittersweet examining both sides of the coin

The book is a great way to remind yourself what Christmas is all about. The collection of quotes from famous and not so famous authors, speakers, and the Bible are broken down into topical chapters such as Family and Christ.

This makes a great gift to give friends and family, either by itself or as a small add on.

This is by far the best information book about EVERY golf course here in California. Not only does it provide all the information someone needs to know about a course but it also contains honest evaluations about them. It was put together by golfers for golfers and the evaluations are not only informative but humoruous as well. It is well organized and it is great for those golfers that want to venture outside the area they live in. What seperates this from other guides is the quality paper that it's printed on and is small enough to fit in most glove boxes.or seat pockets of your vehicle. Don't leave home without it!!!

what a wonderful book for a grandmother to share with her grandaughter, as well as inspiring.

Shaw's musical reviews are far and away the most 'helpful' I ever expect to read, which does not mean that I agree with half of them. I am probably nearly as opinionated as he was and I am certainly nowhere near as talented, and criticism that is helpful to me is criticism that shows independent thought and goads me into some, not criticism that supports my prejudices which do not need any of that. This book is literature, it is important to the history of a musical epoch before the gramophone as well as being before Stravinsky, Britten, Bartok and Schoenberg, and of course it is sociology and politics, and above all it is entertainment. I can't get annoyed even by his most perverse nonsense such as that the Great C Major symphony was the most brainless composition ever. A free mind and spirit combined with a brain and sensibility the size of Shaw's is bound to veer off in some strange directions at times. In the last resort the man said the most illuminating things about music I have ever read. We all know that he was a devotee of Wagner (particularly of The Rhinegold) and could not abide Brahms, but it is precisely Shaw's early attacks on Brahms, before his recantation, that made sense of Brahms to me. These days we seem to have outgrown the cloth-eared criticisms of Brahms's sound that used to pass for orthodoxy, but Shaw never fell into that Serbonian critical bog in the first place. And you would never dream from reading Shaw that a whole dispute raged over Brahms's status or otherwise as some second Beethoven. Shaw had at first swallowed whole Wagner's theory that music had advanced historically from its 'absolute' phase to a new era where it required an underlying poetic idea. Wagner saw this as the logical development from Beethoven, and Shaw was outraged that Brahms was putting the whole process into reverse. Far from being any second Beethoven, Brahms was a different animal entirely, in effect anti-Beethoven. The sheer power of Brahms's music has established him, but I am not sure we have yet outgrown the decades of intellectual twaddle, largely from his admirers, that show a complete misunderstanding of what his music is all about. Implicit in Shaw's view is the clearest and best understanding I have ever come across of what 'absolute' music is. The great Tovey got into a hopeless tangle over the issue, chiefly because of his compulsion to prove to himself that Beethoven was The Greatest in every imaginable respect. To Shaw Brahms wrote absolute music and Beethoven largely did not, and that perception makes both of them a lot clearer to me.

He is a great read on Mendelssohn whom he disparages partly by contrast with Verdi, for whom his enthusiasm, as one dramatist's for another, is obviously deep as well as strong. (Please do not take me as endorsing such views as 'ratings'.) The great phrases and sayings are scattered broadcast over the pages of this book of selections, one that has lodged firmly in my solar plexus being from his obituary on Rossini -- 'I will not say "God rest his soul" for he had none'. In the final reckoning Shaw's writings on music are great entertainment, nowhere better than on the English professorial school -- how do we know that Dr Parry is a great composer? - because Dr Stanford and Professor Mackenzie tell us. And who is Dr Stanford to say? - well, he is vouched for by Professor Mackenzie and Dr Parry. And what are Professor Mackenzie's credentials? - they come from the irrefutable testimony of Dr Parry and Dr Stanford. One detail I don't understand is why the immortal review of Parry's 'Job' is printed without its immortal caption 'A Bad Oratorio'.

By Neil Shaw-Larkman
Review by Jamie (Age 8)
The Great Gob, ruler of all animals, sends two ravens named Fred and Charlie on a quest to be grandmasters of London. Fred and Charlie have a cat right below their tails and a grand criminal planning an attack. But what happens when the grand criminal Lucaf catches their guide/friend the Gronkiedoddle named Belvedere gets captured by Lucaf and the cat Mustafat? But what will happen to Belvedere? Will Fred and Charlie become grandmasters? Read the book and see!

I think the book is great because it is filled with adventures and is very exciting. I am just like Charlie because we both talk and talk so much.

I recommend this book for kids and grownups that like adventure books, mystery books, information/fiction books, or animal books. I think you will like it but of course I don't know.

I read the back cover and instantly knew it was a good read. I read the last page and the next day read the whole book again. It's this amazingly funny look at an overweight [person] getting back at the school for apparently torturing him. One of the best highlights was his everyday situations ie. at the mall(if i was him i wouldn't go as often as he does, which is once!), his best friend( resident mr perfect. His gorgous, popular, smart and into sports!..."It's almost as if Matt adopted me like a little lost puppy one day..." The only problem is...a sequel is needed! Summary: think Bridget Jones' Diary only harsher and from a 17 yr old nothing(no really, he is!) who actually keeps his resolutions.

This book captures the articles surrounding the great revival in Southern Wales; you get a glimpse back in time of what people were talking about then as the wave progressed. The effects and ripple effects spread across the country, and in some cases, across the world. A good sense (as can be felt through reading a book) of what the people experienced in the early 1900s.

One caveat. Even though the book is an excellent collection of articles, it is extremely broken up because of this and reading straight through may seem patchy. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

"In a library archive in Surrey can be found the last words Andrew Reed ever wrote. They sum up his philosophy, that true gospel compassion, true gospel charity should look to the needs of the whole person; that individuals should be cared for holistically, both body and soul. They are words of Scripture written in a spidery hand with failing strength, but then underlined with a firmness and resolve showing that in his dying days his conviction and spirit were undimmed: 'The greatest is charity.'" To Andrew Reed these words were more than a mere motto, but were words that drove his life.

That Andrew Reed's name is not better known among Evangelicals is sad, yet it is probably exactly how he would have wanted it. A man of extreme humility, Reed dedicated all he did to the service of his Savior. He desired no praise and honor among men but only to serve the Lord.

Andrew Reed was both a philanthropist and a pastor who lived through much of the nineteenth century. He pastored a single church for fifty years, building it from a declining congregation of sixty to a thriving church of around two thousand. All the while he was engaged in establishing charities. In 1813, while he was still in his early twenties, he established the London Orphan Asylum and followed that in 1827 with the Infant Orphan Asylum. In 1847 he founded the Asylum for Fatherless Children and later in life the Royal Asylum for Idiots, and the Royal Hospital for Incurables. His charitable ministries were dedicated to extended help to the helpless, to those that society had chosen to overlook. These charities brought hope and life to countless thousands of men, women and children.

Dr. Ian Shaw does not, as so many biographies do, neglect the shortcomings of his subject. There were several occasions in Reed's life where he allowed his enthusiasm to cloud his judgment and his biographer writes honestly about these times.

Andrew Reed was a godly man and one God saw fit to use in mighty ways. Reed's legacy continues to live to this day as four of the charities he founded continue their work today, though in a form appropriate to our modern context. Evangelicals would do well to read his story and to learn from his example of putting his faith into action. The book closes with just this type of challenge.

Many of the needs identified and addressed by Andrew Reed have now diminished, or are met by government agencies. Yet the world remains a world of need. In Africa, there are now around eleven million AIDS orphans, calling for vast philanthropic work by enlightened individuals to provide orphanages for their care. Across other continents, millions of orphaned, unwanted or abandoned children live on the streets of major cities, pray to hunger, disease and exploitation for sexual purposes. Around the world, the need for enlightened, compassionate care for those with severe learning disabilities is as great as ever, as are the needs of those suffering from severe physical disabilities, or degenerative and terminal illness. In the face of such needs, moved by his Christian compassion, Andrew Reed would not have stood idly by.

This biography is well-written and, as with most biographies of great Christians, is inspiring. There is much that we can and ought to learn from Andrew Reed. If he is still a stranger to you, buy this book, read it, and get to know this great man of God. You will be better for it.

The Green Earth: Poems Of Creation is a volume of free-verse poetry that celebrates nature and growing things. The warm, sparkling lines resonate in the joy of life and an abiding faith in God the Creator and his wondrous gifts. Overleaf: After a breathless dawn the wind blows free,/upturns the silver poplar leaves. They glance,/pale faces, restless, up and down the tree./Life poplar leaves, the words within me dance,/but does some secret hope pervade my heart?/And might I be content for youth to play its part,/then reach its nadir at the end of Fall?//Perhaps my words glisten against their will./Soon, will their transient luster turn to yellow--/a gold, translucent foil -- enough to fill/the cracks of footpath, hill, and rock hollow?/Come Fall, word-weary minds dream of recess--/the lightness, and the light, of leaflessness.