Stone Books

A reality check for those of us who were brought up to think that mathematics is dry and esoteric.

This luscious book amply attests to the affinity between art and mathematics, and does so in an unusual and striking way. Bertrand Russel once wrote: "Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty---a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture." Russell's beauty is that of intangibles, as when mathematicians speak of an elegant proof, a beautiful theory. Ferguson imbues mathematics with another kind of beauty, accessible to everyone.

Ferguson's sculptures are attractive both in their shape and in their materials. This lavishly illustrated book exhibits them to advantage. The artist's comments on each piece, at the end of the book, are quite valuable; in spite of the mathematical nature of some of them, they convey a sense of personal intimacy.

I.f Stone presents a very well documented case much of what most people know about the Korean War is false. A must read.

A must read. Published during the war, I.F. Stone exposes US military communiques on the criminal bombing of North Korea which killed 2 million civilians, one-quarter of the population, as well as the use of millions of gallons of napalm on the civilian population.

If a higher rating were available, I would give it to this book. This is an illustrated history of human creativity with its primary focus on several hundred inventions. The range of inventions discussed extends from "stone axes to silicon chips." The book is lavishly, abundantly illustrated. Vivid and compelling graphics include artists' renderings, photographs, maps, and time lines of various eras, from "The Beginning of Civilization" (Chapter 1) until "The Shrinking Earth" (Chapter 35). The concluding chapter, "Into the Future", examines three driving forces: convergence, communication, and collaboration. The reader is then provided with an immensely useful Biographical Dictionary and Bibliography to pursue in greater detail subjects of special interest.

Without the illustrations, this book would still be a magnificent scholarly achievement. Lest you be deterred, I hasten to add that its narrative frequently reminded me of a novel such as Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. What I have is a "Revised Edition" of a work first published in 1987. For me, as already implied, this is one of the most entertaining as well as one of the most informative books I have read in recent years. Trevor I. Williams is identified as the author; William E. Schaaf, Jr. with Arianne E. Burnette are credited wth the updating and revising of Williams' original material. For purposes of convenience, I shall refer to them as "the collaborators" and hope that no one takes offense.

The collaborators examine those inventions which had especially great impact on the societies in which they were introduced. These were inventions which, thousands of years ago, created new industries (eg agriculture, construction, and transportation) or transformed basic human activities (eg education, communication, and war). Indeed, the term "revolution" is especially appropriate when we consider the impact of cereals, the domestication of animals, irrigation, writing and the calendar, and farming implements during what the collaborators refer to as "The Agricultural Revolution." With regard to the first half of the twentieth century, the collaborators examine the impact of military technology during the First World War, new sources of energy, new channels of communication, the emergence of travel by road and air, new building techniques, and the rise of the chemical industry. No brief commentary of mine can possibly do full justice to a book such as this. It provides a feast for the mind as well as for the eyes. Bon appetit!

I am very impressed by the usability of this book. The cross referencing footnotes really helped when flipping to different subjects or time periods. The index and biographical information really work well for me.

The organization of subjects is wonderful, inventions are arranged linearly within the subject chapter.

The information is concise and interesting. The illustrations, timelines and photographs were extremely helpful. This book is a great way to familiarize oneself with man-made technological progress.

This short, but ancient and valuable little book is a Japanese classic.
Anyone into japanese tea ceremony, haiku poetry, etc. will love this book.
I'm SOOOO glad I bought it!

This is the most poetic book of prose I have ever seen. Kamo-no-Chomei starts the book with recollections of a series of disasters that struck Kyoto in the late twelfth century: fire, plague, famine, and more. The descriptions are personal and vivid. The near-poetic form of the writing puts intense feeling behind the words. Although Chomei wrote many years after the events, his grief and horror came through as very fresh.

The second part of the book describes Chomei's gradual withdrawal into solitary monasticism. The string of successively less grand homes ends in his famous 'ten square foot hut.' He was not strictly a hermit, but seemed mostly content with a small and simple kind of life. I was especially moved by his descriptions of time spent with a small boy. It brought to mind the end of Hesse's Glass Bead Game.

It would be easy to write a review longer than the work itself, so let me finish with a few words about the translation. The text is readable, elegant, and unaffected, quite an achievement for a book of this sort. The historical footnotes add real insight to the text, they are not just academic filler. It won't take long to read this book, but I promise time well spent to the thinking reader.

My daughter loved this book. Once she picked it up she never put it down until she had read the entire thing from cover to cover. If you know anyone with a keen interest in this subject, I highly recommend this book as an addition to their collection on the subject of the Holocaust. It makes a thoughtful gift as well, due to the quality of the binding and the layout of the cover.

Really great book for teaching the Holocaust. I bought this book to add to my Holocaust unit that I teach inthe Spring. It has great information, written so intermediate kids can understand. The pictures are also great.

This book is an excellent historical review of the computer and telecom technologies, and it is a must-read for anyone interested in the convergence of technologies, surely the most important phenomenon of the next century. The book's historical analysis of where we've been puts into perspective where we are going.

One of the most brilliant and insightful books that I have ever read. I was engaged from the first page to the last. I couldn't put it down.

I was 26 when I first read and used this book. I was a high-school dropout (9th grade) and doing unskilled labor in the abrasive industry. I saw tremendous results in a very short time, so much so it frightened me ( be careful what you wish for syndrome). Today (I'm now 57) I can look back over a great career in high tech and a great marriage (35 years) with many other rewards as well. I credit this book and its method for providing a great deal of the early impetus to getting me on the road to my success.

Considering the average hypnosis book. Nothing, and I mean nothing is more amazing than the Hypno-Cybernetics system. Sure the method is simple. (Three steps) But in the few days that I've had this book. Wow is just the bottom of the barrel describing Dr. Petrie & Dr. Stone's system of sdubconscious programming. I did the chair and suconscious signal finger raising and subconscious command excercise, (the core of the three steps I was talking about) and the results were just amazing. And on my first day doing it. I recently went on Dr. Petrie's website for his hypnosis institute. Know that this book was written in 1973, you can only wonder what they can do now in one day. I believe and know that their claims are true and real about being able to cure certain phobias and ailments in one day because of the powerfully instant results I had with this book. This review is as for real as "a house on fire". Believe me, when I say that this book is an amazing read and practice -- I mean you read it, you do it, then you experience the incredible results.

Captain Josh.

This book is filled with wonderful ideas, activities and shared experiences from many grandmothers! It is the perfect gift for the first-time grandmother

Toni Stone offers top quality suggestions and insight for grandparents who want to create lasting memories in the lives of their grandchildren. Her suggestions are realistic and transcend all styles and economic levels of families. My favorite chapter is on sharing holidays. One of the last chapters contains very helpful suggestions for age-suitable children's reading and another has suggestions for age-appropriate toys and games. Great reading for new Grandparents - and it would make a great gift.

I'm A Grandmother!! Now What?!: Great Ideas on How to Have Fun with Your Grandchildren!

I really enjoy Irving Stone's novels. He writes factually, and very humanistically. You feel like you are right there with the characters and experiencing everything that they are going through. Immortal Wife has been my favorite book since I was a teenager. Jessie Benton Fremont was a great supporter of her husband. Whether it be his political aspirations, his travels through California, or any trouble that he got into. A great book if you enjoy romance, history and the flavor of the Civil War era. John C. Fremont was a great explorer, and he and his wife were very much against slavery, and started the civil war talk on slavery even before President Lincoln did! This is a must read.

I find reading Irving Stone very informative. I get my romance and my history all rapped up into one book. Immortal Wife has been my favorite nov el since I was a young girl. My husband just recently purchased the book for me, and I reread it. I loved it the second time too!!

I.F. Stone was a virtual legend among political junkies in the sixties and seventies, as indeed he was for well over a half century in various journalistic capacities from the Depression era until the late 1980s. He published an independent weekly journal for well over twenty years from the early 1950s until the mid-1970s in which he acted as soul reporter, editor, and publisher, and the work was acclaimed for its consistent accuracy, poignancy, and verve. He caught many scoops others were either not clever enough or courageous enough to cover, and his ability to focus on the way the facts of the situation fit together into a political byline made him a 'must-read' for anyone interested in understanding how politics actually got done (down and dirty) in Washington, DC.

This particular book, "In A Time Of Torment, 1961-1967", is a superb collection of some of his most memorable articles, thought-pieces and observations taken from both the I.F. Stone Weekly as well as from the pages of 'The Nation' and elsewhere during the most outrageous of times indeed, the turbulent and raucous 1960s. Also important in understanding Stone's approach is the book's subtitle, 'A Nonconformist History Of Our Times'; Stone is the most radical of journalists in that he approaches the issues at hand with supreme objectivity and without political blinders, and yet does so informed by a set of values and ethics that one wonders at his ability to 'cut to the chase' and render the truth so consistently and so reliably that one often marvels at how simple he makes such erudition seem.

While describing himself as an anachronism, meaning he represented no one but himself, and found himself uncomfortable working within the constraints of a more institutional setting (even though he had done so quite marvelously for extended periods of time), he was that most rare of literary lions, a widely-read and intellectually circumspect truth-seeker. Like H.L Mencken, his prose often inspired one toward imitation, yet he also wrote clearly, unambiguously, and quite memorably. Herein we find a whole rafter of memorable articles, all short, ranging from several paragraphs to three or four pages in length. He covers subjects as distant from each other as JFK and the free press, from LBJ to China, and from Jeffersonian democracy to the racist issues inherent in the Israeli-Palestinian problem.

Indeed, Stone and his opinions were often viewed with alarm by the powers that be, for they understood all too well that he was read by many of the most important opinion makers and policy wonks within the Washington beltway and beyond, and that his weighing in on a specific issue often resulted in unwanted attention and a virtual spotlight being thrown in that general direction. This is a great book to have in your travel-bag; full of little gems you can read en route to almost anywhere, a pleasurable and intelligent companion that you can enjoy and finish in a few minutes and walk away better informed. He offers timeless intelligence, perspective, and some food for thought in almost everything he writes, and he can be taken in homeopathic doses. While most of the subjects he addressed are now dated, what he had to say was truly timeless. This is a great little book, and one I highly recommend. Enjoy!

I.f Stone writes a contemporary acount of the begining of the vietnam war. He also tells us what kennedy did wrong during the cuban missile crisis.