Western Books

I have had this book for years and also the Best of the Best from Louisiana II. This is a great book (and set) to own. I have many friends out of state and out of the country and I always use this book for personal gifts. Everyone is always thrilled to receive it. I live outside of New Orleans proper and the recipes are authentic and delicious, a great combination of most of the best recipes of the state. This book is truly the Best of the Best!

Although I haven't cooked any of the meals from this book I can't wait to try them. They all look delicious and easy to make. Definately worth the cost plus some!!

Excellent collection of real recipes from real locals. Captures timeless flavors. Straight format of recipes makes reading and reference very handy. The title is true.

All the recipes I've tried from this cookbook have been great.

I've had this cookbook for 2 years now and have tried many of its recipies...They are SO GOOD! This cookbook gives a wonderful variety from many southern references of traditional and some contemporary creations. This is the most used cookbook I own. Really great!!

Although Habermas may come across as a post-metaphysical thinker somewhat austere and reserved, his voice has always been there in dialogue with topical controversial political issues. Over the past thirty years he has written essays of a profound nature,as the xenophobia of race after the break up of the Soviet satellites, bio-genetic engineering(quite literally the future of race),and the strengths and weaknesses within Western institutions.He has to date 9 Volumes(in German only) of incredible "Political Writings".
Here,fellow Amazonians all these dribble reviews really masterbations of detritus are less than useless,Habermas deserves better than this;but a sign of democracy I suppose.
Habermas with this very comprehensive work is trying to intervene into the current paradigm of law democracy and globalization; how financial institutions(as an extension of the law, the distribution of wealth) really cannot provide the necessary stability as they once did for the dispossessed within liberal democracies.
It is fairly certain now with the arrogant drum beatings of Washington that there is a real threat of loss of power if some Western power does move quickly to manipulate what Engels referred to as the co-relation of forces today,like who controls oil(and natural resources);Technology hence (Time)nuclear power,or space militarization (in the Virilio-ian sense) or for instance who will help the new cheap labour factory, China industrialize.
Habermas sees democracy-in-development only in Europe with the formation of the European Union as an activist agent a proxy of intervention from the vagaries and many times anarchy of globalization for the globes working classes.This within the context where Washington sees no equivalent agenda to nurture and desires to jettison all the post-WW2 Atlanticist structures, as the United Nations and their derivatives. These organizations for other reasons have become corrupt,but they still service some parts of the globe who depend upon them for food and medicinal deliveries. The fact that Habermas focuses on the relative strengths of bourgeois laws is indeed his own self-created cul-de-sac as paradigm that there is no alternative to this reality at least not in the forseeable future.I suspect Habermas has been purging himself for quite some time from his early days as Adorno's student from the negative/critical,more classical sides of Marxism that appraises power wherever it exists as an "odometer", a measure for the dispossessed of the globe, do they eat?,or die?,something that embarasses him I suspect.Laws should monitor where the food chains exist, Laws should monitor atrocities,genocides,corrupt leaders.These very laws (within the West)historically have always been frought with reservations contingencies,and are constructed to preserve the staus quo,and can be easily changed and amended when their agency or proxy comes to an end; yes a classical Marxist view still alive although to some detestable. At least for those below the subsistence levels it is somewhat comforting to know that there is a "conscious" within the West someplace, although it is seldom exhibited as for example within the continent of Africa.

His central concern is implied by the title. We can't really see a law as a law unless it's backed up with enforcement. That's law as a "fact." But we also want law to reflect values that we can rationalize and validate. That's law as a "norm." This difficult study is worth the effort for anyone who wonders about law's nature and about how ideas like "justice" claim our attention. Habermas wants to define an idea of law that lies "between" law as a fact (what law is and says) and law as a value or norm (what law ought to be, or what we feel law ought to be). The classic test case is a circumstance like Nazi Germany, where policies of Jewish extermination were "in fact" legitimated within the state power structure. If you are interested in an argument that respects the importance of state might but also resists the notion that might makes right, then this book should be on your list.

A big book on the big topic of 'how do we all get along' by one of the biggest of living philosophers.

I'll not address the details of the argument or Habermas's place in left-wing politics. Instead, I'll address the intellectual and cultural context.

What Habermas says he is doing is looking for a way to hold societies together that are no longer composed only of one ethnic group; that are no longer made up of adherents of one religion; and are no longer made up of people who accept one myth of their nation or one philosophy of life. We wouldn't need his contribution here, he is saying, if we were not in "postmetaphysical" times--by which he means two things. First, he means that we're in a scientific, secular era when the educated classes, anyway, of major Western countries can no longer be convinced of much of anything by *religious* arguments. Religion doesn't command much belief among social elites, and many others, let alone the kind of universal belief it once inspired. And theology has long since been driven from the position of being 'queen of the sciences' by physics. The second thing he means by "postmetaphysical" (which he uses instead of "postmodern") is that we live in a time when it's hard for any of us to believe that only what we believe is true, and that what we believe is totally true...because our world is so interconnected and we are aware of so many different religions and worldviews people have. That is, religious and worldview pluralism relativizes the authority any one religion or worldview could have now.

Mostly Habermas thinks our "enlightened" state of cosmopolitan equality is really good. But he acknowledges that we've lost something in losing the certainties and meaning and ethics of religions. Among other things we've lost is the social glue that holds citizens of countries together. Since Habermas is a social philosopher of hope, who wants to prevent a Nazi regime and a Holocaust from ever happening again, this is really important to him.

So after saying why socialist welfare states, with their paternalistic governments, and unregulated capitalism, with its discrimination against those who are such losers as to not be affluent, can't be the way forward, he then surveys and rejects other options. Of course, the way forward is his theory, which in his lingo is a constitutional deliberative democracy with a free public sphere and a vibrant lifeworld. Never mind all that, unless you want to get into his theory. The force of it here is that, in a way most people afraid of getting speeding tickets would not expect, he, as a leftie, sees The Law as the best means for keeping all of us together. Even if we don't respect each other so much, basically, if we respect the law we can get along. Even if we don't care about each other so much, if we do as much for each other as the law demands, society will be livable. So the right kind of law makes possible a peaceful society of people who radically disagree on really basic stuff that would often make people violent.

The book is designed to sort out the right kind of law. It is the kind that you can obey not just because you'll get in trouble if you don't, but also because you can agree in principle with how the law was made (even if you don't like the law itself). And the right way to make laws is for people to talk long enough and openly enough with each other in political publics and fora to come up with basic rules of the game we can all live with.

Highly technical, highly abstract, assumes you know basic stuff about Aristotle and Kant without him explaining it, amazingly comprehensive. Underrated in the US because it's not done in the usual Anglo-American way, but not only great for legal theory types, but also for people doing Rawls or Rorty or Derrida or MacIntyre. And for systematic thinker people, think of Between Facts and Norms as Habermas's equivalent of Aristotle's Politics or Hegel's Philosophy of Right. If you like the Olympic pool these guys swim in, this is gold medal contender material.

Some commentators of Habermas' work have argued that he changed his position from "The Theory of Communicative Action" (see review in here at Amazon.com) to "Between Facts and Norms" (BF&N). In the preface of the English edition of BF&N the author himself replies to this issue: Habermas hopes that the book will clear the impression that "the theory of communicative action is blind to institutional reality -or that it could even have anarchist consequences (p. xi)". Thus, the purpose of BF&N is to apply discourse theory to the analysis of democracy in modern societies and not to change the route of his critical theory, as some have argued. Having said this, the reader may be interested to know whether it is possible to understand this book without reading TCA first. I would reply to this question with a cautious "yes". But, of course, something of the understanding will be missed without the theoretical background of Habermas' magnum opus. For someone who would like to read BF&N but is not willing to digest TCA's two volumes, I recommend reading his essay "Three Normative Models of Democracy" (in "The Inclusion of the Other", ed. by Ciaran Cronin and Pablo de Greiff, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998). This essay presents an outline of the arguments that Habermas will fully develop in BF&N. In this book, he proposes a normative model of democracy as a middle point alternative to the republican and the liberal models. While the republican model relies on Rousseau's idea of collective opinion and will-formation, which demands communication and consensus, the liberal model attributes supremacy to the institutional protection of individual freedom. Habermas affirms that his proposal is normatively "stronger" than the liberal model, but "weaker" than the republican model. In other words, in his deliberative model of democracy, institutions should do more than just protecting the individual from state oppression and act also as carriers of communicative rationality. Institutions are crucial to democracy because they act as legitimacy 'gatekeepers', transforming public opinion into communicative power. "According to discourse theory, the success of deliberative politics depends not on a collectively acting citizenry but on the institutionalization of the corresponding procedures and conditions of communication, as well as on the interplay of institutionalized deliberative processes with informally developed public opinions" (BF&N, p. 298). In a deliberative democracy, opinion formation in the public sphere is to be transferred to the legal and political systems in order to legitimize binding decisions that apply to a political community.
Habermas model is not, therefore, a radical departure from what we know nowadays as a "democratic system". However, most existing democracies lack the conditions for an unconstrained opinion formation in the public sphere due to ideological manipulation,as Habermas points out. Thus, democratic institutions do not guarantee an authentic democracy. As much as Habermas see institutions to be fundamental to democracy, the improvement of the democratic system cannot come from within the institutionalized system. Institutions can stabilize democracy, but are not meant to change society. According to Habermas, only communication action is able to lead us out of our current political predicament.

The reviews for this book are really poor, so I'm going to take a shot at this book....

Habermas in this book is very German. The book is straightforward: it deals with the dual nature of laws.... i.e. that the ideals we establish in laws are conditioned by a sociological process and then interpreted through the same process. It's not a book that one would read for pleasure... it's not a book that one would want to have around to please girls. It's dry at times, but CAN BE very rewarding. Please, dear God, do not let this be an introduction to philosophy. But-- as the reviews above hint at-- it is an important work by an important author if taken in the right light and for the right reasons.

I do not intend here to write a review of Habermas: that's way beyond what needs to be done in this situation. He's not a whole lot of fun though.... ;)... but a brilliant man, nonetheless....

I agree with the other reviews that this book is informative and engagingly written, with excellent and thoroughly researched paved and back road routes. However, I noted two cases in the Yosemite descriptions where the author confused left and right. In ride 74 at the bottom of page 264 he writes that you "turn left (south) and then xleftx RIGHT! immediately again onto narrow Crescent Meadow Road. That one is obvious when you're there, but the other is crucial: In ride 70, in the middle of p. 258 "...before arriving at a meadow. It seems like you should go left, but stay to the right of the meadow." Nope--you must indeed go to the LEFT of that meadow to follow the described route (and the overall loop is to the right), while the right fork soon turns into barely recognizable cowpaths that eventually dead end in the woods. I mention this mainly because he makes such a big deal of it, and want to warn cyclists using the book to take the directions with a hint of caution.

This book must be the first of its kind--a guidebook about bicycling in the national parks. The author shows that the common misperception that bicycling is not allowed off-road in national parks is just that-- a misperception. This book features some outstanding road rides as well as mountain bike rides. I think the descriptions of the parks themselves and the rides therein are well-written and clear. The author gives the kind of information you'd want to know before setting off on a ride, and does it in a colorful, sometimes very deadpan funny way. There's also some cool trivia about the parks and good, useful information about where to buy supplies, repair your bike, do laundry, take showers, camp, and other stuff like that. I think this is a book that shows you how to take part in the most fun sport in the world (bicycling) and do it in some of the most spectacular places in the world (the national parks of California). A must for any travelers to the national parks who want to get out of their cars and explore. (By the way: it's not just for hardcore bicyclists--there are numerous family and beginner-level rides as well.)

This book "Bicycling America's National Parks" is part of the Backcountry series. Even thought I like bikes I prefer to go on foot. The same trails lend their selves to foot also.

Many a time I have been able to locate ranger stations where you can check in and be loosed on the back country trails. Luckily many people are not aware of these areas. Some trails you can go all day without running into a soul.

David Story should be ashamed of him self fore giving away the secret. But I am glad I found this book.

The book is divided into 15 locations and in each location there is a description of where you can stay and where you can rent bikes along with other relevant information.

There are also trail maps and photographs from the area. Most important is inclusion of addresses for more up to date and more detailed information.

I just returned from a mountain biking vacation to Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area and this guidebook proved indespensible. It contains almost all information necessary to plan your trip and somehow manages to be both concise, thorough and readable.

Story introduces each chapter with a brief description of the geography and history of the park. Then Story lists several rides within the park, each accompanied by detailed descriptions (including technical and aerobic difficulty, best time of year to ride, overall length of trail, etc.) and maps. Though some road bike routes are included, most trails are for mountain bikes. Each trail I rode was accurately described. Each chapter also contains boxes describing the fauna (animals) and flora (plants) you'll likely encounter within each park.

This book isn't just a cycling guide, it contains virtually all the information you'll need to plan your trip. Story concludes each chapter with information about local lodging, camping, bike shops, grocery stores, and restaurants (his recommendations are first rate). He also provides helpful contacts (park visitors centers, etc.) which should be able to provide any other information you might need. Story has also eliminated the extraneous elements so many other cycling guidebooks seem to contain (elevation maps might be visually enticing, but let's face it, they aren't necessary).

What is really remarkable about this book is Story's terse, engaging writing. The abundance of information this book contains is presented in readable, often witty language. He doesn't just describe, he gives the reader a feel for each park and the surrounding communities (when applicable). Unlike most guidebooks I've read (which usually contain flat, predictable humor), Story's humor actually works; it isn't "laugh-out-loud" funny, but wry, witty humor that always relates to and never detracts from the subject matter.

The only improvement I would suggest for future editions is to provide a general map of each National Park. The trail maps only feature a small segment of the park where the trail is located. It is sometimes impossible to decipher where each trail is located within the entire park itself. This is particularly difficult for visitors not familiar with the area (like me). It was sometimes impossible to tell from the maps where the most convenient place to stay (closest lodging to the trails) is. The next edition should provide a map showing where each trail is located relative to the entire park. Before visiting a park, you should obtain a complete map from the National Park Service (Story does tell where to obtain these).

Story has set high standards with this guidebook, the first in the "Bicycling America's National Parks" series. It's the kind of book you'll enjoy reading even if you don't plan to hit the trails anytime soon. Story's writing is so engaging that finishing the 300-pages is effortless (300 pages may sound long, but it really isn't). This book is a must read for any cyclists interested in visiting the National Parks of California. I can't wait to read the subsequent guidebooks for other states.

This book must be the first of its kind--a guidebook about bicycling in the national parks. The author shows that the common misperception that bicycling is not allowed off-road in national parks is just that-- a misperception. This book features some outstanding road rides as well as mountain bike rides. I think the descriptions of the parks themselves and the rides therein are well-written and clear. The author gives the kind of information you'd want to know before setting off on a ride, and does it in a colorful, sometimes very deadpan funny way. There's also some cool trivia about the parks and good, useful information about where to buy supplies, repair your bike, do laundry, take showers, camp, and other stuff like that. I think this is a book that shows you how to take part in the most fun sport in the world (bicycling) and do it in some of the most spectacular places in the world (the national parks of California). A must for any travelers to the national parks who want to get out of their cars and explore. (By the way: it's not just for hardcore bicyclists--there are numerous family and beginner-level rides as well.)

I must agree with all the previous reviewers. This book really should be first on the list before reading the rest of the novels about Sam's adventures, but I had read 5 or 6 before discovering this one.

Now I have a really good understanding of how Sam became an Arizona Ranger. This tale makes me appreciate Sam all the more now that I understand where he is coming from.

A book you will find hard to put down, even to sleep.

Ralph Cotton has gotten back to his writing roots! In the tradition of "While Angels Dance," Blood Rock is packed full of great dialogue. The interchange between the outlaws at times had me laughing out loud.

If you liked Ralph's earlier books, you will LOVE Blood Rock!

Blood Rock is another good western by Ralph Cotton. It is the story of how Ranger Sam Burrack got started. He is a buffalo hunter that knows nothing about law enforcement. Before the book is over he has learned so much and become a force of his own. Has a lot of action and you can feel and see the western country side through Cottons eyes. For a fast paced, fast moving book with lots ot action this will be hard to beat.

This book is soooo good. Ralph Cotton really captures real life events that would have happened in the Wild West times. I'm a western book fanatic and this book was soo good. You have to get it. If you want to know what life was like for a Arizona ranger, here's your chance.

Ralph Cotton, author of "Riders of Judgement" and "Hangman's Choice", demonstrates his growth and maturity as a craftsman of great western novels with his March 2001 release of "Blood Rock". He exposes the emotional undercurrents and motivations of his characters in a way that binds them, one to another, and to the roles they play out. His entertaining blend of the philosophical with action sequences that are plausible and not over stated testifies to his insight into the humanity of his characters and his mastery of authentic western drama. The unique and spontaneous dialog that Mr. Cotton artfully weaves through this exciting and engrossing tale add to it's complexity and richness. It stands as additional evidence that he, as an author, has something original, honest and entertaining to offer. I heartily recommend "Blood Rock" and other titles by this author for the discriminating reader of western fiction.

FOr anyone trying to rediscover their faith, read this book! A true trilogy of Grace.

This book is a spiritual gold mine for all people seeking to see God in Jesus Christ as well as those from any and every background who seek the Truth.

St Bonaventure (1217 - 1274) is a doctor of the Catholic Church, lover of Christ, mystic and near contemporary of his spiritual father, St Francis of Assisi.

The book's first work, "The Soul's Journey into God", is an account of how to encounter God through creation, the soul, and reflecting on God's attributes of Perfect Being and Perfect Goodness. These encounters are treated in 6 steps leading us to the 7th and final step of the soul's spiritual rapture into the Holy Trinity.

Bonaventure cries out to us to leave behind all thoughts and desires and abandon our lives to Christ. Progressing through love, prayer and gazing on God we will see and know The Persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in this life and in the life to come.

The second work, "The Tree of Life", is a spiritual account of the central events of Jesus' Life: His Hidden Life, Ministry, Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascencion and Glorification. It is a profoundly beautiful and poetic work. Bonaventure calls us to be crucified in Christ and to live anew in Him through sharing in His Virtues.

The final work, "The Life of St Francis", is a spiritual biography of the little poor man of Christ. St Francis encounters us and bids us leave all to follow and love Christ. Bonaventure shows us that we must, like St Francis, die in Christ and reproduce His Virtues in our own lives. It is a dynamic and powerful work.

This book will appeal to all people especially those pursuing the vision of God in Jesus Christ. It is a spiritual treasure for all. For Catholics, Bonaventure will provide great wisdom from the depths of the Church's Tradition regarding the soul's mystical marriage to Jesus Christ. It will be a great blessing for Orthodox Christians as Bonaventure, following St Dionysius and the Eastern Church Fathers, shows us how to ascend to God in spiritual darkness through the Vision of Divine Light. It will greatly bless Protestants as it is a profound account of God's Justifying and Sanctifying Grace.

Finally, it will powerfully speak to all Charismatics and Pentecostals who have experienced the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. St Bonaventure is a man filled with the Holy Spirit who has produced a practical guide of great wisdom on how to see, know and intimately love the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

All in all, a great spiritual treasure at a very affordable price. Highly Recommended for all people.

St Bonaventure was one of the greatest mystics of the medieval period. This edition includes his classic work 'The Journey of the Soul into God', the 'Tree of Life', and 'the Life of St Francis.'

Bonaventure was a Franciscan mystic and theologian. He had a very positive view of the material cosmos and the figure of the cosmic christ occurs strongly through his mysticism. For Bonaventure, there are two ways we know God; the book of nature, and the book of scriptures. Through these two paths and then by looking inwards into ourselves at our image created by God, we encounter God's prescence at the heart of our very being, a journey which is deeply Augustinian in its origins.

The Tree of Life is an examination of the logos of Christ, in both his passion and his cosmic role. The Life of St Francis is a work of hagiography on that great saint who was the founder of Bonaventure's order.

Bonaventure is very much an aesthetic theologian. He is deeply appreciative of the beauty of the world, of Christ, and of God. He sees the world and ourselves as 'God's work of art', to be cherished and loved for what they are, God's good creations. Such a positive view should be welcomed by any Christian spirituality today, when our world is faced with environmental problems of considerable magnitude.

In surveying Christian mystics through the medieval period, Bonaventure's The Soul's Journey into God reappropriates a radical spirituality that is best articulated as wisdom theology.

This investigation of Bonaventure's spirituality demonstrates Bonaventure's meaning of God, the human person, and how the God-human relationship is integrated with themes of creation theology and Trinitarian love mysticism.

From these understandings, it becomes clear how Bonaventure empowers personal spirituality through what can be experienced as a power of radical contradictions - a recurring theme in Bonaventure's theology that communicates the authentic paradox, the parabolic experience, and the radical irony that inspires faith.

This book touched me deeply and led me to a greater understanding of God's grace through Jesus Christ. I found myself unable to put it down even when I was very tired! A true classic!

These boatwomen are indeed remarkable, and superb ambassadors of the Grand Canyon Colorado River corridor. Sure, I'm biased: my first commercial river trip featured two of the profiled women plus another guide noted in the Acknowledgments. All were consummate storytellers, and gender was never an issue. Ms. Teal has an unfortunate habit of occasionally padding her descriptions with platitudes, but these lapses do not significantly diminish the value of this book.

A friend who is a river guide gave me this book. I never really understood the fasination with rafting until I read this. The writing leaves a little to be desired, but the subject matter and the information is very moving.

A friend told me about this book several years ago when I was raft guiding on the Colorado River a little north of the Grand Canyon. I bought the book, and absolutely loved it. As one of the rare breed of female white water rafting guides, it was amazing to read about other women who shared my passion for the river and for the wild places around us. Breaking into the Current is NOT a male-bashing book; it filled with stories that are waiting to be told--stories by and about interesting women who went into a career that few women would consider entering. I loved reading the stories about Lava Falls, the making of Crystal Rapid, and all the others. Each time I return to the book it makes me ache to be on the river yet again.

A few years back on my first trip through the Grand Canyon I was lucky enough to be in a group that included Louise Teal as one of the guides. I bought this book after the trip and read it on the drive home. I was blown away. Her love of the canyon, the river, the people...it all glows from every page. Rafting the Grand is a life-changing experience; and the elements that make it so are all here--captured and expressed by a woman who has become part of the river and vice versa. She tells the stories of the women who 'broke into the current' with humor, sensitivity, respect and love. On top of all that, she is a very talented writer and this book works purely on that basis. If you've ever run the canyon, buy this book. If you have ever wanted to run it, buy this book. If you've got no interest in the canyon or the Colordo river but enjoy good writing about real stuff, buy this book.

I recently travelled a rafting trip of the canyon and was totally enthralled by the experience. In many ways it changed my life. Reading this book brings back so many memories of what the trip there is really about. I felt a true connection with the women that travelled it before me. The descriptions are so beautiful. This book crosses genders and is simply about a wonderful place and some extrodinary women that have travelled there.

I have owned this book for almost twenty years and it is a great breakfast cookbook.

I bought this back in the '80's and have used it continually since. It will always be one of my favorite cookbooks. You cannot loose with this book.

Perfect for your cookbook library. Perfect as a special gift.
This intelligently written cookbook features homey, tasty recipes made with ingredients Americans ordinarily have in their kitchens. It uses those ingredients with an eye to twicking the recipes to make them particularly good, yet simple to make. The very best gingerbread recipe I've ever made, and have made over and over as begged-for holiday gifts, at p. 208, is made with fresh-grated ginger. You must try it. The cookbook has helpful commentaries/stories with each recipe that explain their sources and special aspects and that improve your understanding of preparation. These recipes have evidentially been extensively tested and improved to the point of perfection. It is the one cookbook I have had on my shelfing above my kitchen sink for the last 15 years along with my customized recipes.

The recipes in this book are great, especially the tomato soup and chicken salad (Chinese). I really liked the simple way in which they were written and the use of readily available ingredients. My favorite part of the book was all the minutae about the restaurant itself. From starting a restaurant, to running it, to buying provisions, to personnel, the book was a fascinating inside look at the business of food. The authors never complained, but they made me realize what a tough business they are in. Hope I can visit Cafe Beaujolais sometime.

I spent a lovely weekend on the coast and happened upon CAFE BEAUJOLAIS. After a splended meal, I purchased an autographed copy of this book. The recipes are all easy to follow and each have a history or source. Her spicy buttermilk coffee cake is to die for! Ms. Fox speaks of her cookbook collection and how she "looks up" the same recipe in many different cookbooks. This is where I first understood the concept of recipe comparing. I also enjoyed reading about the goings-on in her resturant. This is a fabulous book!

This book is great for bringing the artwork alive! My kids favorites are the bumblebee and skeleton song and picture. Very well done.

This book and accompanying cd are awesome and so great at helping children to understand classical music and the stories and emotions that it conveys.

This book has wonderful pictures and the accompanying CD lets the user expand with questions and dialogue. Great resource!

I absolutely adore this book. As a preschool music teacher, I search for ways to make classical music interesting and fun for young children, and I think this book has done it. With colorful, beautiful artwork and fun musical selections, children love listening closely to "find" the items that are "described" in the music. For young children like mine, I pull out this book occasionally to work on critical listening skills by putting on one or two of the pieces at a time. The only thing I would have liked better is a little more variety in the musical pieces. Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Carnival of the Animals are both used 2-3 times.

This elegant picture book and Cd combo provide adult and child partners at any level of maturity with a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the symphony concert hall at the same time. Page after page provide opportunites for delight,discussion and description. We danced, we laughed and we were amused ,even deliciously frightened, by the music and visual art. Brilliantly done, and available to experience during any season of the year, again and again.

Stunning - Ortner's best book yet. He has captured the surreal
natural beauty of the Southwest. Breathtaking photos of a part of the country that I was not familiar with. I was impressed with both the fold out panoramic views as well as the gorgeous signed and numbered print that I am framing.
Jon and Martha Ortner's creative efforts have produced the definitive pictorial to the American Southwest. It will be among my most prized books.

What a spectacular book!! I am mezmorized by these amazing images...so beautifully shot. This is surely one of the most brilliant collections on the forces of nature that has ever been put together under a binding!
I have had many friends over to the house, and after looking at this book (and wanting one for themselves) they are so impressed by the flow, the impact of the images, the breathtaking panoramas, and the exquisite quality of the reproduction.

This book is a treasure, to be looked at again and again and to marvel at the vision of Jon Ortner, who has captured these images so exquisitely. And the foldouts are just astounding!!!
Cynthia Adler

This is rich and thoughtful book that is truly a work of fine art. The luscious landscapes are true to the spirit of Ansel Adams while maintaining a fresh contemporary feel. The print quality and color and is exceptional. It is a museum quality book that feels more like a portfolio of fine art prints. I particularly love the scale; it is quite large with tons of images and foldouts. Included is a limited edition signed print by the artist. A nice touch that feels like a personal gift. I Highly recommend this book to photographers, travelers, book collectors or any one who appreciates beautiful things.

Dare I say erotic? How else to describe the color and curving layers in these hollows and hills? The force of wind and water, pressed in the vice of time, doing its splendid work...These are visions unlike anything usually associated with America.

But who among us would get out there intrepid in the hot desert with great stamina for weeks of travel to see these extraordinary landscapes? Fortunately Jon Ortner and his partner Martha McGuire have not only made the difficult trips to these stupendous and hardly seen treasures, but have the talent to bring back, through the eye of a panoramic lens, the best of what they saw. Vistas in the first morning light, in the sunset glow, gazing up from the watery bottom crevices of the deepest canyons , and down over the long distance of white crusts so delicate that every step must be measured--have been captured with a practiced eye and consummate skill.

These trekker photographers bring us the greatest and unknown gifts of this country, and an experience that is bigger than the page. Who ever thought that rock could sing such a siren song? The photos speak the story, deepened by masterful writing. If ever a book of photographs and words compels us to understand the evocative, magnetic, and soulful power of landscape, it is this book. It is a sensual, compelling joy.

Canyon Wilderness of the Southwest, by Jon Ortner, is unique in at least two very important ways: First, Ortner has gone to places so remote that few other photographers have been able to attempt these ambitious images. Ortner's images - the most extensive and most beautiful documentation of this endangered American legacy - reflect his seemingly supernatural dedication to his craft. How could he have captured that astounding image of the North Teepees in Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness? How many days hiking with heavy, large-format, panorama cameras, tripods, and other equipment did it take for Ortner to arrive at - and bring home to us - the one-of-a-kind image of Paria Canyon? Second, captured with a large-format, panoramic view camera, these images have immediately become the standard by which all other such photographs will be judged. This book redefines southwest U.S. photography and is unlikely to be approached for many years to come.

The locales of course are the core of the book and cover all of the most extreme sites, including the spectacularly sensual Waves site in Paria Canyon - Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, the astonishing slot canyons of Antelope Canyon, Zebra Canyon, and Peek-a-Boo Gulch, as well as practically inaccessible tribal lands that together make Ortner's accomplishment all the more impressive. This work obviously required not just photography skills, but expedition skills as well, that reveal a sensibility that harkens back to a time before SLRs when Ansel Adams and the great documentary expedition photographers took the care, risk, and time to document a vanishing wilderness. Canyon Wilderness reflects that sensibility, alive today in Ortner's monumental work. (Another beautiful element of Canyon Wilderness is the presence of lush, expert, illustrative quotes throughout the text.)

And the book itself is impressive. At almost 250 pages, with hundreds of images, multiple fold-out panoramic images extending to over four feet wide, Canyon Wilderness is a substantial experience in itself. The large-format panoramic images are nothing short of immersive - they are literally enveloping. As if I were there, I had to move my head, panning from side to side - for my eyes to take it all in. The vivid palette and intense color saturation in this book are unlike any I have ever associated with the American southwest, with many images that are more like what one would expect in Patagonia - or Venus - proving that for the dogged scholar-artist, spectacular, novel sites may be found even within supposedly well-explored America.

Canyon Wilderness of the Southwest is an extraordinary achievement.

I needed this book for a paper I was writing. This book came in a timely manner and was filled with everything I needed to write a report on Carl Rogers and his theory.

Though the book is lengthy, I enjoyed his tone more than other physchologists of his time

The Carl Rogers Reader is an excellent, thought-provoking collection of articles by Carl Rogers from different stages in his career and covering many subjects linked to the person-centred approach to psychotherapy. I found this book fascinating, enlightening and occasionally surprising; for example, when I realised just how much he was against accreditation for therapists. At all times, the life-affirming nature of the man shines through. If you are preparing to be a therapist and are drawn to the person-centred way, or are simply interested in the life and work of Carl Rogers, you will find this book a treasure trove.

This book is an excellent synopsis of Carl Rogers life's work. Instead of researching several other volumes, this text provides an accurate and complete re-telling of the development of Rogerian Client-Centred Therapy. The authors have captured the essence of Carl Rogers and his voice is evident throughout the text. A worthwhile read for those new to Rogerian Therapy.

always a pleasure to read rogers. this book is a compilation of many wonderful pieces. rogers had a great ability to see beyond the surface and connect with people in a very real, personal, and therapeutic way. in an at times parental sort of way, rogers was able to see through to the heart of a patient and his issues and bring insight and hope. great read for those new to psychological theory/practice AND those who have been doing it for awhile.