White Books

A great book with Biblical advice on anger. Also good advice on parenting. Helpful for marrieds young or old!

Great book! I've given out several copies myself, and getting ready to order more. If you want real help, I highly recommend Angry Without a Cause.

"Possibly, the most powerful book on anger on the market today!" - Husband and Father, Clermont, FL

"I recommend this book to everyone with anger issues. Great content!" - Woman, San Jose, CA

"Loving the book!" - Husband, Father, and Pastor, Gaffney, SC

"As I read your book, I kept thinking of person after person that needed to read it." - Single Dad, Jacksonville, FL

I love Miss Silver. She sees through the wicked and the good with equal acumen, helps the helpless, and gets her knitting done.

A young girl who is looking for a lost friend, and an artists' colony that may or may not be what it seems make a fine place to display a set of characters. I especially like the talkative weavers.

In this book, we get to see Miss Silver, the former governess, acting as--a governess!

I was having trouble finding this book, but I finally did, so that is why I read it out of sequence. I had finished the Miss Silver series some weeks ago. This book was written in 1951, so sometime near the last third of Miss Silver's long writing career, but it is by far the best in the series. In it we have all kinds of good things. The best part of the book is that we see our indomitable Miss Silver returning to her former profession as governess. She does this in order to get herself inside a household where strange things have been hanppening, and the latest in these strange things was the disappearenace of a young woman who had been employed in the position that Miss Silver assumes. This is a lively story with lots of eccentric characters, ss well as bank robberies, fraud and murder. This is a fine example of an English cozy, and I'm glad that I finally found the book.

Thomasina Eliot, an old school friend, is virtually the only human contact Anna Ball has; Anna is nosy, and rather abrasive.
After receiving some of Anna's things for storage while she changed jobs (no forwarding address until Anna knew if it would work out), Thomasina is getting worried after the silence stretches to a few months. She feels responsible, since there's no one else to look out for Anna or care, and engages Miss Silver to trace her and find out if she's all right.

Miss Silver, through ingenuity and some social connections that the police didn't have, manages to extract some useful information from Miss Ball's last (hypocondriac) employer and her household, and with the help of Inspector Abbot, traces Anna to her last known address: a 'mother's help' at Deepe House, Deep End, Ledshire. Over Abbot's protests (Anna's predescessor drowned, Anna is missing) Miss Silver steps back into governess mode and goes undercover, taking the job at Deepe House. (The Craddocks, or really, Mr. Craddock, have tried to rename it Harmony, while establishing an arts/crafts colony, but the new name really didn't take.)

Reading the Miss Silver series, you might get a false impression that they're all similar; far from it. Each book does have at least one set of lovers who are in difficulties of some kind, and who revere her afterwards as a guardian angel (one view of her sitting room in this book stresses all the Victorian-framed photos of young couples and their children). They're generally similar enough in flavor that if you like one, you'll like them all; nice cozy English mysteries.

Seeing Miss Silver in the Craddock household is satisfying. Mr. Craddock, the stepfather, is a pompous fool full of high-flown theories about the right to do exactly what you want, and applying it to the kids (unless they get in the way). The kids actually behave like normal kids running wild, with a mother whose health is breaking down under stress, instead of being written as midget adults. Oh, and if you don't have a sense of humor about health food and 'tea' that tastes like hay, you may be offended by this book.

The Spell Treasury is great. SRD spells and plenty of new ones. Each spell listed with heightened and dimished effects.

This arcane handbook brings you lots of wonderful spells, all in the line of the Arcana Evolved/Unearthed, with the unique flavour and rules-application that only the guys at Malhavoc's can make.

All spells come with great descriptions, heightened, diminished and other metamagic effects, including some True Name features.

¡I assure you'll enjoy it!

Worth every cent of it

This book adds hundreds of new spells to the already impressive list from Arcana Unearthed and Evolved. For D&D players, many will seem familiar, but there are also plenty of new ones. Even the familiar spells are tweaked somewhat, with new names sometimes, and added heightened and diminished effects. The only problem you might have with this book is the overwhelming number of options. There is a extremely handy .pdf that can be downloaded from Monte Cooke's site that lays out all of the new and old spells in a single comprehensive list. After using this variation of the core d20 spell system, you'll never want to go back to the old Fireball, not after seeing the equivalent spell of Sorcerous Blast.

Fantastic insight to behind the scenes situations at the highest level; apart from politics, the book describes how great and caring some people can be, particularly those who are, or may be, bludgeoned, ruthlessly and ignorantly by the media.

Very well written and tells a lot about the inner being of LBJ. You won't want to put it down.

There are those who disliked LBJ. They probably would have felt differently if they had known the personal man. This book gives highly personal insights into a man often called "bigger than life." And, reading this well written and well-researched book (the author lived it), many would change those negative views.

The writing is interesting, well done, and highly engaging. The author, retired Air Force General, Air Force One Plane Commander, and Presidential Military Aide James Cross said he wanted to show the unknown and deep humanity of President Johnson. He succeeds without pandering, but rather just by stating plain-spoken truths from an impressive man himself, General Cross.

General Cross started as an Alabama country boy and became a close confidante of the President of the United States. He was not political; he was a highly respected and respectable officer in the U. S. Air Force who did his job and did it well. General Cross is the unsung hero here. The incidental glimpses we get of him in this book - definitely not given to build himself up - show a very decent man serving his president and his country well and with good, old-fashioned patriotism and honor.

I would personally estimate that almost anyone who reads this book will enjoy it, be impressed by it, and come away from it with a much more positive image of President Johnson...plus meeting a genuinely nice guy who our country is fortunate to have had that close to the top: General James U. Cross
Review by:
Dick Stanford
The Azusa Gazette
Book Reviews
May 2008

TOP QUALITY BOOK WITH EXCELLENT PHOTOS AND ARTICLES. A MUST FOR ALL REAL ENTHUSIASTIC KNIVE MAKERS AND COLLECTORS.

As a custom knifemaker I'm always excited to see new publications related to the collected works of knifemaking. Of very special interest to me are those books which focus on the art and ingenuity of custom art knives; books which explore the art not only with good photography of quality knives but also with accompanying text providing insight into the methods and intent of the maker. Truly this area of artistic endeavor has been but scarcely examined and over the years I've found only a few books which approach these criteria and which, for the most part, now sit on my bookshelves. There have, however, been two books I've come to treasure above the others; Art and Design in Modern Custom Fixed-Blade Knives and Art and Design in Modern Custom Folding Knives, both by Dr. David Darom.

In these books can be found not only the exquisite photography which occurs occasionally in other collective works but also a depth of writing exploring the knifemaker and his focus on the knives being regarded. With his writing Dr. Darom provides rare and wonderful insight into the world of knives which transports the reader, both those experienced as well as novice, to a higher level of understanding the unique experience of knifemaking. His critical selection of art knives and insistence on only the highest quality of photographs reproduced using top quality printing methods and materials have created the finest art knife books I have ever owned. Coupled with Darom's focus on quality is Amazon.com's ability to bring this treasure to the public for an amazingly low price. I applaud Dr. Darom's efforts and welcome the long awaited USA release of Art and Design in Modern Custom Folding Knives. It is my hope Dr. Darom continues to explore the rich and diverse field of custom knifemaking and finds it worthy of producing future volumes not unlike this one.

In short; Art and Design in Modern Custom Folding Knives is without a doubt indispensable to both professional and the enthusiast alike. This book is of such fine quality I truly must wonder at the ability to offer it for so low a price and advance the suggestion this serves to make it the perfect unique table book or addition to any fine art book collection.

-Charles Kain

I want to say right up front that I am David Darom's partner in his third knife book, "The Art of Modern Custom Knifemaking, 100 Custom Knife Related Projects in the Making" (soon to be released). I very much wanted to write this review, but because of my current relationship with David I was concerned that some might question my motives. But I can tell you that I would not have even met David had it not been for this incredible book.

I first heard about "Art & Design in Modern Custom Folders" a couple of months prior to its release. I am a part-time knifemaker, and a member of a group of online forums that are devoted to custom knifemaking. David had "teased" us with sample photos from his soon-to-be-released book. And the preliminary taste worked...Like most of our 7000+ members, I was more than a little bit intrigued.

Hard bound, printed in Italy, 260 full-color pages filled with breathtaking photos of the some of the most exquisite knives in the world... The book sounded incredible and I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. And so with the single-minded goal of acquiring my own copy, when the book had its world premier at New York's annual East Coast Custom Knife Show, I drove up with a few friends.

When we arrived I made a beeline for David's table...I was fortunate enough to meet him, if only for a few minutes (he was swamped with fellow enthusiasts trying to get their own copies). The meeting was brief but enjoyable...and I got what I came for...my own signed copy of the exciting new book.

As soon as I got home I dove in...Every page was a delight and I spent hours and hours fully immersed. David's love for his subject matter was apparent...Never before had we seen such a collection of photos...no props, no distracting backgrounds, just page after page of beautifully-done, world class photography, that showed off the knives in all of their glorious detail.

Needless-to-say, I couldn't wait to tell all of my online friends about this wonderful new book and I posted my own review, followed by much discussion. This ultimately led to an ongoing, long-distance correspondence with David. We became good friends. Several months later he asked me to write an article for his second knife book,"Art and Design in Modern Custom Fixed-Blade knives"...and that experience eventually led to our partnership in the 3rd book.

Not a week goes by when I don't refer to my copy of "Art & Design in Modern Custom Folding Knives"...The pages are now quite dog-eared. I have a sizeable collection of knife-related books and magazines, but this is easily my single, most often used resource for inspiration and ideas.

Am I prejudiced? Absolutely! But I can say without reservation that for overall production value and presentation, David has set the bar high with this book. Nothing else out there comes close. The skill and love that went into the making of this magnificent "coffee table" book of museum quality, folding art knives is unequaled. This masterpiece led me to David...And I am honored to have become his friend and associate.

It is impossible to glance at even one page of this book without being completely drawn in. If you are a knife enthusiast, or if you simply appreciate any form of extraordinary art and craftsmanship, this book is a joy to own.

Dennis Greenbaum

"The Art of Black and White Photography", by Torsten Andreas Hoffman, is the latest Rockynook book that I have read. So far, only one Rockynook title has disappointed me. "The Art of Black and White Photography" was definitely not a disappointment.

Black and white photography has interested me for some time, but I haven't really found the right subjects for it. When I thought I had a good candidate, it turned out to be much better in sepia than b&w. This book went a long way in helping me to understand what subjects woiuld do better in black and white. It also presents a wealth of knowledge about using modern tools (Photoshop CS2 was quoted) to refine images and get the most out of the exposure. The insistence to shoot in RAW was spot on. I learned this the hard way, but if you haven't gone to that exclusively yet, you need to.

While the title of the book implies exclusivity to B& photography, there is still quite a bit of useful information that crosses over to the color world also. Since I plan to keep shooting color and selectively convert to black and white in post processing, I was happy to see this. Every aspect of photography is addressed - landscapes and portraits, motion and still life, day and night exposures, you name it. Extensive sections cover Genres and Concepts as well as Composition Rules. Perhaps most useful to me (and well worth the price of the book) is the last section covering "The Digital Darkroom". I love getting useful Photoshop tips, and this book does not disappoint. Hopefully future editions will also include Lightroom tips.

"The Art of Black and White Photography" is one book that I could not put down once I started reading it, and I cannot wait to apply some of the concepts I learned.

Black and White is not dead - it has its advantages over the world of color. "The Art of Black and White Photography: Techniques for Creating Superb Images in a Digital Workflow" is a complete and comprehensive guide to the craft of taking photos in the style of black and white. Chapters discuss when black and white should be used rather than color, how to avoid the cliches so often associated with black and white, applying new technology to improve an old art, and much more. For anyone enthusiastic about photography, "The Art of Black and White Photography: Techniques for Creating Superb Images in a Digital Workflow" is a must-have.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a welcome volume for B&W photogs and a useful read for color photographers from another fine German photographer/author. This is Hoffmann's first instructional book to be published in English, although he has had numerous articles on image design/composition published in the magazine "Leica Fotographie International", or LFI, which, by the way, is not published by Leica-Camera GMBH.

Hoffmann emphasizes the possibilities in tonal manipulation in digital and analogue photographing. The point of his presentation is always to show how manipulating the tones and, therefore, contrast, contributes to the design of the image with respect to the photographer's intentions. He spends a significant amount of space on showing how to elicit mood in various kinds of photographs (content).

His chapters start with, what I find to be, rather interesting summaries of the chapter topic's history, significant practitioners, and current directions. Then he examines several of his own images in detail. His commentary on an image concentrates on the visual structure and on the darkroom and/or digital manipulations necessary to realize his intentions. The only other book that comes to mind for nearly such excellence in pictorial descriptions or captions is the first edition of Bill Smith's "Designing a Photograph," which sets the standard for applying the Gestalt visual psychological approach to analyzing image structure.

Rather differently from the other two top volumes on image structure currently in print, Michael Freeman's "The Photographer's Eye," and Harald Mante's "The Photograph," Hoffmann spends significant time looking at the various genres of photographic subject matter and then covers composing/design from the point of view of visual tensions and abstract structure. There is overlap with both of the other volumes, but also depth and emphasis that is his own. Color is not part of the subject in this book, but color photographers will benefit from Hoffmann's insights into tonality, contrast, and structure in images.

This book, IMHO, sort of completes the circle of really good books on photographic composition/design at the intermediate level. With this book, the years 2007 and 2008 have been the best in a few decades for the publication of outstanding books on design/composition, and it is interesting to this reviewer that the three best are by an English and two German photographer/authors . It just does not seem that US practioners are taught the nuts and bolts of visual design to any degree of depth and ability to articulate their thoughts about image structure. The ability of even world class US photographers to discuss the reasons that their images work in structural terms is relatively rare.

I like this book enough to make a triumvirate of this one, Freeman's book, and Mante's book for readers interested in sophisticated, analytical approaches to visual design and image structure. The only thing I would wish for is that more of his photos be accompanied by those delightful little thumbnails with his structural line diagrams. The more of these there are in a book, the more an interested reader packs away in one's mental image databank for later resurrection and use.

Some asides before I finish. Hoffmann gets more visual mileage from aircraft vapor trails than anyone else I know of. Most of us regard these as intrusions into the tranquility of our landscape images. But, in the venerable tradition of divorcing content from an image's abstract structure, and the role of structure being to support the content, Hoffmann integrates these features into his images so forcefully that to remove them would ruin the image. Bravo; Mante would be proud.

Too, the basic structural architecure of many of his images rests upon the grid formed from the golden ratio approximations of breaking the height and width into 5/8th and 3/8th divisions. One advantage of this choice versus the preference of US photographers for the Thirds Rule is that the Thirds method breaks the space into nine identical rectangles - a recipe well on the way to boring space management. Yet, as shows Charles Bouleau in his seminal book, "The Painter's Secret Geometry," even relatively simple visual architectures in the hands of someone with excellent training and inspired talent yield captivating, dynamic images, while the plodders among us achieve less subtle and interesting results.

I hope it will not be so long before Hoffmann gives us a volume on design in color photography.

This book is a must-have for serious econometrics students who want to specialize in asymptotic theory. But the price of this book is an outrage (...). The publisher should really consider publishing a paperback version to make it more affordable.

I also recommend Davidson's Stochastic Limit Theory and Billingsley's Convergence of Probability Measures.

This book provides the basics of asymptotic theory for linear econometric models. It presents very clearly the classical assumptions concerning linear models, and shows the implications from them. Then, it relaxes each assumption, and compares the results with those obtained previously. This makes the book very readable and understandable.

Of course, the reader is required to have taken a course in Econometrics, and should be used to matrix notation.

I strongly recommend this book for those who wish to deepen their undertanding on Econometric Theory. I think this is the first book to be read.

The exercises are proposed in the body of the text and should be solved before going on, because in fact they are part of the text. The solution is in the end of the book.

This is a must-have for economists who do any work with theoretical econometrics. It is the kind of book I wish I had when I was a graduate student in economics. It provides kind of a theoretical backing to books like Greene and updates the more difficult to read econometrics texts of long ago like Theil.

White starts out easy (easy if you do econometrics, that is). The linear model and the consequences of violating the basic assumptions. But from the basic beginning, the book goes far and seems to focus on those issues I consider to be most important (and things I didn't get first time around). And it takes you up to the "cutting edge."

Too often, things like Laws of Large Numbers and Central Limit Theory are thrown at you like a tool that you must accept. But reading White's book helps you understand why these things work the way they do. I found this helpful.

One more thing: Solutions in the back! perhaps this will start a trend.

Some of the items might be difficult if you haven't had a bit of analysis or your understanding of applied econometrics isn't too good. But I guess if you pick up something called "Asympotic Theory" you know what you are getting into.

I enjoyed it.

I am very satisfied with the book. We have had a great Bible study class so far. I wanted to promote another class but after looking at the cost of the books now, I can't. I have limited funds and most of it has come out of my back pocket; I have been reembersed for all but with a higher price I can't count on it. Oh well.
Warren Pass

Our Church, Gethsemane Presbyterian Church, began several small group bible study programs and our Young Adult Bible Study Fellowship Group has decided to use this book as our study guide. The most convincing arguement to select this guide was the fact that our group contained several very knowledgeable people and several individuals that were either new to Christianity or new to our church. We decided that this guide would allow us all to have at least the same foundation to build upon in the future. What is even more exciting is that the more knowledgeable ones are learning a great deal as well. We are all in love with the book and the supplementary instructional guide that goes with the study. This is a must if you plan to lead a bible study group using this book. The "instructor's guide" offers additional information on the topics and suggests further study options. We have been very pleased with this Bible Study Guide.

I began the Baby Boomer Bible study with virtually no knowledge of the Bible. The maps, tables, and diagrams included in the book enabled me to quickly gain a grasp of basic Biblical facts. This has fast-forwarded my understanding of God's word. Complicated material became much clearer and easier to learn through the flow charts and other study aids, such as the "Theologically Speaking" areas that help provide an understanding of the theological aspects of The Bible. The Baby Boomer Bible Study has had a profound influence on my life. I am no longer intimidated by the Bible. Something surprising has happened as I study God`s word. He has come into my heart! Steve M. Lupe

I'm the mother of two kids, ages four and two, and they really, really like cake. Happily, I really like cake too and have spent lots of time looking on the internet for interesting ideas for birthday cakes and was always sadly disappointed. So imagine my delight when my sister gave me this book - it's really easy to read and to follow (and it stands up on it's own so you can easily see the recipe) and the cakes are WONDERFUL! And the cookies and cupcakes. I want to make everything in the book and am glad Easter's right around the corner because the Silly Rabbit Cupcakes are next on my list.

This is an excellent baking book for kids. As the mom of two little girls, I am always looking for creative ways to get them involved in the baking process. The author does a great job using the step-by-step method to teach you how to make some pretty amazing (and delicious) cakes.

The super easy to follow recipes for every occation and age-group garantue great success even for a first-time baker. The beautiful pictures make you want to bake every single one of the cakes and cookies.

This was one of Safire's first books after leaving the government and setting up shop at the New York Times. It's a massive but highly readable memoir of his service as speechwriter at the Nixon White House. His view of the president is highly nuanced but ultimately sympathetic. He unloads on Henry Kissinger for having Safire's phone tapped; writes a revealing portrait of Pat Moynihan and how that administration became more "progressive" than either liberal critics or conservative allies could admit; writes admiringly about Julie Eisenhower as "a glimpse of what her father could have been if he hadn't listened so often to the dark side of his personality." He touches on Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and the dirty tricksters and puts them in context of the domestic civil war that was produced by Vietnam--Safire was ahead of his time in giving Nixon more mercy and judging his adversaries as hypocritical (and disasterously wrong about the consequences of a Communist takeover in Southeast Asia.) Highly entertaining and informative--also see his novel of about the same time, "Full Disclosure", for a "roman a' clef" about his Nixon experience.

Content aside, whether or not you are interested in the Nixon administration, this is a wondeful memoir written in a very readable yet elegant style. I suspect that Safire had the Earl of Clarendon leaning over his shoulder when he wrote this.

It's full of wonderful character studies of the major and minor players in the administration. Safire is not enitirely candid in what he writes and he does pull his punches, but if you are good at reading between the lines, it's all there.

A very enjoyable read. Each chapter focuses on a person or key event during the years. Watergate is covered but only tangentally.

The Watergate break-in was terrible for President Richard Nixon and great for William Safire's Nixon memoir. Because the worst of what went on was already out in public view, it allowed Safire's 1975 account of his time as a speechwriter in the Nixon administration to be brutally frank, a luxury he puts to good use.

Safire had more reason to be disappointed than most of Nixon's former aides: he had had his home phone tapped by his boss, apparently because he had friends in the press. Safire's sharp narrative eye picks out weeds in the Rose Garden, like top Nixon aide Jeb Magruder, "a man of mirrors" Safire writes, for whom "buck-passing and back-stabbing was standard procedure."

But the overall sense of "Before The Fall" is of a man who likes Nixon, warts and all, determined to record the good as well as the bad. This was an unfashionable take in 1975: The book's original publisher-to-be, William Morrow & Co., rejected it on the grounds, Safire claims in his introduction, that it "did not join in the general revulsion."

Because of that, "Before The Fall" may have never gotten the due it deserves as one of the best books ever written by a White House observer. Nixon was one of his nation's most flawed and most interesting leaders, and Safire's book, in nearly 900 pages, keeps a running account of his unique complexities.

"Nixon's Dr. Jeckyl worried about Nixon's Mr. Hyde, and usually tried to suppress him, but mostly only tried to conceal him," he writes of his boss's duality.

Safire, who became best known in his subsequent job as the right-leaning columnist for the New York Times, displays a seeming photographic ability to take it all in. Because he writes about so many aspects of Nixon's presidency in focused chapters (such as his relations with Catholics, his friendship with Bebe Rebozo, his trip to China), you feel a fuller sense of what goes on in a presidency, its many facets and challenges.

Safire augments his eyewitness account with a fondness for historic lore and frequent wit (a footnote notes Cambodian leader Lon Nol's place in the pantheon of famous palindromic names.) The engaged nature of Safire's commentary, its lack of pretense and moralizing, its understanding treatment of human frailty, makes this very long book a very easy read.

Give Safire credit also for not slamming the usual suspects. Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman get much of the blame for Watergate and did go to prison for it, but the two top Nixon aides are seen by Safire in a kinder light. Chief of staff Haldeman is an office ramrod, but stands by Safire when a televised Nixon speech goes awry and encourages open discussion around the President. Ehrlichman, receiving an apology from a magazine for misspelling his name, writes back to say he likes it better the way they had it.

Liberals may howl at his supportive depiction of the Christmas bombing of Cambodia, while conservatives may find themselves fuming at his happy recounting of Nixon's domestic policy, which matched LBJ's Great Society for largesse. Too bad for them. Safire's account is middle-of-the-road, but never lukewarm.

As political commentators go, Safire is one of the best. He enjoys ideas and has a way of relating them elegantly but plainly. One gets the feeling that Nixon's hall of mirrors served him well, a training ground that taught him the intricacies of politics and the dangers of excess, and provided material for a very fine book with which to begin his path to Pulitzer-prizewinning punditry.