Sherman Books

The editors have the challenging task of gathering together a synopsis of British literature from the middle ages to the 18th century. Of course we see Chaucer and Shakespeare. But more diversity is provided. If anything, Shakespeare is deprecated compared to some other texts that you might find on this field. Some people might reasonably decry this. However there is really no shortage of works on Shakespeare, and this book offers a more balanced treatment of other authors.

So there is a section on early Irish prose and verse. Certainly something not typically seen in earlier texts. The examples given are historically significant, because they were from a time when the Irish were still quite distinct from the English, including linguistically.

Minor English authors like William Dunbar and William Langland are also covered.

The book is also distinguished by lovely colour plates scattered through the narrative. These are oils and watercolours that have survived to this day; depicting how people dressed and lived in those years. Ok, granted, you should keep in mind that these were idealisations; the subjects were often well heeled and the artists probably flattered their looks. But the plates do add to the reading pleasure. A worthy addition to the book, even if it did add to the cost of printing.

The Genealogical History of the McGaffey Family, 1904, by G W McGaffey (NOT MacGaffey) is a good starting point for any McGaffey researcher. It does have some errors, both serious and minor, in its information. Don't look for any documentation or sources in it!

The information is a bit difficult to follow until you get used to G W's "style" and "form". The original is leather-bound. It does have some basic Scots & Irish information & history in it. The photos of the various family members are very good and accurately labeled.

If you're a McGaffey or MacGaffey, this book is a "must-have" for research from the 1700s through 1904.

This is a fanciful tale about the inhabitants of a dollhouse and the owners. It is a book that I enjoyed reading once but not over and over like some of my other dollhouse fiction.

This book accompanies a 2003-2004 exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. It begins with 30 pages of essays: "Introduction," "Picturing Movement, Past and Present," and "Art Photography after Photography." These essays do an excellent job of placing the exhibition in context. In addition, they mention works in a smaller 2002-2003 version of the exhibition in New York, which included some artists (e.g., Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, and Robert Smithson) not represented in the Bilbao exhibition.

The body of the book ("Catalogue Entries") consists of text about and photographs or video stills by 50 artists in alphabetical order (Marina Abramovic through Jane and Louise Wilson). Each of the artists is given up to one page of text. For most of the artists there is only one page of images, but Francis Alys, Matthew Barney, Miles Coolidge, Gregory Crewdson, Rineke Dijkstra, Olafur Eliasson, Peter Fischli / David Weiss, Anna Gaskell, Nan Goldin, Douglas Gordon, Andreas Gursky, Ann Hamilton, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Mariko Mori, Aika Noguchi, Catherine Opie, Gabriel Orozco, Pipilotte Rist, Michal Rovner, Thomas Struth, Sam Taylor-Wood, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Kara Walker have at least three pages. Some works by Dijkstra, Gaskell, Goldin, Gursky, Anthony Hernandez, Manglano-Ovalle, Mori, Orozco, Rovner, Thomas Ruff, Taylor-Wood, and Tillmans are not reproduced in the book but were in the exhibition (per the list on pages 205-216). Virtually all of the works are dated 1990-2002; some images of Goldin's were taken in the 1970s and 1980s but were published later. For each artist, 2-4 "selected readings" are listed in the back of the book.

The photography is mostly great, but the book does not really do the videos justice for a couple reasons. First, there are not enough stills to give the reader a good idea of the course of each video. I would have preferred a larger number of smaller-sized stills. Second, the one-page-of-text limit for each video artist gives the same amount of space for the massive Cremaster series by Barney as for a three-minute video by Patty Chang. You'll have to travel to Spain to fully appreciate the videos, but meanwhile buy the book from Amazon.com!

A must-read for a Borge fan. The "Great Dane" transfers his gift for musical comedy into insightful, enjoyable writing.

This book probably has about 600 "things" listed in its almost 400 pages. It's fun, it gives one a chance to really think about our likes and dislikes in things we didn't even know we had favorites. It includes fun game ideas for using it!

I think this is an extraordinary book. If you really want to know my reasons behind it, please read it yourself and you will soon find out.

The woodland trail descriptions contained in "Nature Walks" are excellent and very well detailed. My only major complaint with the book is that the directions given to arrive at the base locations are NOT accurate. I have used this guide on two trails and both times I found street names to be wrong, and measurements to be off greatly. The book does not differ between dirt and paved roads, so bring the book, but also bring a map. On a more positive note, I felt my hiking experience was greatly enhanced by the information in the book.

very happy to discover some photos I have not seen in other books or exhibitions in France or England.

AN ACCURATE AND INFORMATIVE DEPICTION OF SICKLE CELL DISEASE AND ITS EFFECTS. MILLIONS OF FAMILIES DEAL WITH THIS HORRIBLE AFFLICTION DAILY. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THIS BOOK WILL COMFORT THOSE FAMILIES AND PERHAPS BE THE CATALYST NEEDED TO GENERATE MORE RESEARCH. MAY GOD BLESS THE AUTHOR AND HER STORY.