Wood Books

This book is a flashback to the seventies. There are mentions of the Camp David meetings between Jimmy Carter, Menachim Begin and Anwar Sadat. The Washington Redskins football team with Billy Kilmer, John Riggins, and Joe Theismann is also featured. My favorite cartoon is a four caption one, where the Redskins coach is standing in front of the bench and we see the backs of two players. In the first three captions, the names on the jerseys are Kilmer and Thomas and in the last caption, they are Theismann and Riggins. Only a long-time football fan will recognize the significance of the names. Billy Kilmer and Joe Theismann were quarterbacks and Duane Thomas and John Riggins running backs.
Trudeau possesses the skill that all good cartoonists must have, the ability to satire the world we find ourselves in a humorous and generally subtle way.

"We're Not Out of the Woods Yet" is the reply of Menachem Begin to Sadat's one-liner "Let us begin, Begin" as related to Roland Burton Hedley, Jr. as part of "Cabin Fever" the ABC Wide World Special Report on the Camp David Peace Accord. Actually, that important little part of modern world history is a minor part of this collection of "Doonesbury" cartoons from 1978-79, but the title still applies to most of Trudeau's daily strips in his book. Zonker wants to turn pro with is tan but California's Proposition 13 has closed the tanning clinics, Duke is doing a study on steroid by secretly putting them in the Gatorade of the Washington Redskins, and Congresswoman Davenport saddles Joanie with her old Law School nemesis Woodrow. On the lighter side, Boopsie is going to Memphis to "do" Elvis while Mike and Zonker check out the King Tut tour.

This volume is really a sequel to "But the Pension Fund Was Just Sitting There," in which Uncle Duke, finally released as the infamous "bald spy" who was the last (and unknown) of the Americans held hostage by the Iranians, becomes the General Manager of the Washington Redskins. However, his glory days may be over since he has been saddled with Riley, a young assistant (and nephew of the owner), who eventually rats out his boss to Rick Redfern. Now, Uncle Duke was never one of my favorite Doonesbury characters, but his tenure with the Redskins is one of my favorite longer-running Duke storylines. Besides, if Duke stays in one place long enough, can Honey be far behind? "We're Not Out of the Woods yet" is an above-average Doonesbury collection from the wicked imagination of G. B. Trudeau.

My husband gave me this book for my birthday (he knows both authors) and I sat and read it in one afternoon. What I most appreciated about this book was its honesty and because it made me laugh. When Jane talks about throwing applesauce at her husband because he asked her how much money she had spent that week, I could totally relate. Her take on Pampered Chef parties made me call my best friend (who is getting ready to host a Pampered Chef party) and read parts of it aloud to her. I also really liked "seeing behind the curtain" at these women's professional lives. Jane is an English professor and Sue is a pastor, and I like the ways that they talk about what it's like to teach and preach. Sue's thoughts about attempting to comfort parents who have just lost a child were beautiful, even more so because she has three children. My husband said that the authors are also neighbors, and I wish I lived on their block! Enjoy the book-it's a treat.

This is a great "mirror." I saw myself in these chapters in some pretty amazing ways. These women write well, are honest in their mistakes and successes. My husband read it too and laughed at how these women talked about things I do all the time. Great book. I'm giving it to all my girlfriends for Mother's Day.

This was the first Catherine Cookson book I've read. It was also the saddest. It seemed that bad things just kept on happening to her, although the book did have a good ending. It sure took a long time for her to find happiness. Catherine Cookson is my favorite author because her stories are so realistic and almost everyone of her books I've read so far have made me cry.

...in this typical Catherine Cookson page-turner. The orphaned Emma is brought to live with her reluctant grandmother on a country farm. Life is hard. Emma endures very hard work, the abuse of her employers, and suspicion of her Spanish background.

Emma's great beauty and strenth of personality cause some men to love her and some men to hate and want to punish her for seeing through them. Circumstances force her to accept marriage from a decent enought young farmer Barney but her life is harsh, and she must endure the hatred of her brutal brother-in-law Luke, who eventually punishes both Emma and Barney in a particularly horrific fashion.

Emma must also bear the heartache her selfish, promiscuous daughter brings to the family, but she remains a good woman, working herself to exhaustion on the farm when her husband becomes disabled, and refusing to become bitter. I wish Emma had been allowed to use her Whip in a more dramatic, rescuing fashion, like Ayla and her slingshot in Clan of the Cave Bear, but it tends to serve more as a symbol in this novel.

Emma's relentless hard times depressed me more than usual, I don't think the other Cookson heroines suffer quite this much, except maybe Katie Mullholland or Tilly Trotter.

In any event, this is another superb Catherine Cookson I'd highly recommend.

Some readers will agree with Doctor Wood's underlying economic assumptions and others will want to debate them, but the wealth of information in this book, the keen insider's look into our HMO catastrophe and related managed health care issues, is nonpareil. Yes things really ARE as bad as you suspected, and Dr. Wood will accurately document statistics, cases, and legislation that led to the problem. This is an important book, well-written and professionally researched.

I read the new book "Who Will Take Care Of Me When I Am Sick"
and am very impressed with it. It is a sober, direct, and
well-researched account of the subject of today's problems in
medicine. It is neither labored nor contentious. The book does
not address any particular constituency, but it does address
people who might want to learn about a problem of concern to
us all.

With everything from motorcycles, cars, boats, Jackie O's clothes, Star Wars artifacts, elephant dung and more finding their way into the museum, this is probably a good time to examine just what the museum is and who it is for. Art Institute of Chicago director James Cuno has assembled a veritable who's who of major museum directors to hold forth on this topic. Taken together, the essays provide rare insight into how museums are being shaped in the 20th century. With sometimes surprising candor the directors make their case for how and why the museum is beholden to the public trust. A roundtable discussion at the book's end further amplifies the issues set forth in the essays. This is an important book.

This is a compilation of essays written by directors of major art museums: Cuno from the Art Institute of Chicago, De Montebello from the Met, Lowry from the MoMA, MacGregor from the British Museum, Walsh of the Getty in LA, and Wood, formerly of the AIC. Each addresses how museums can cultivate public trust in cultural institutions, the kinds of authority museums have, and how they should manage their responsibilities. MacGregor's essay was my personal favorite; it includes two amazing stories of how art proves to be valued for its emotional power during times of crisis (specifically on 9/11 and during WWII). Walsh offers suggestions as to how museums can offer its visitors a more genuine experience through curatorial choices and placement of lighting and seats. Lowry and De Montebello write about the relationship of the entertainment industry to museums. A very accessible, jargon-free text that is surprisingly interesting.

no matter how much you think you know about the natural northern world, specifically flora and fauna, this book knows more. sure, we all know that a spider's webbing can be twice as strong as steel for its size but did you know that spiders can custom blend their webbing for different tasks? stretchy, sticky, tough..umm...buoyant..er ,well, other qualities relevant to spiders. its like a more basic, easier to understand kinda string theory.. sorry, slipping off topic here. this book is great, breezily written, funny even. get it, put it in the bathroom and in just 30 mins a day.. no,wait, that's the learning company..you will be able to amaze and confound all your friends from wood chucks to marine biologists with your arcane knowledge of the great outdoors. well, hey, its working that way for me.

Having just lived through another l-o-n-g winter for the privilege of living in the northwoods, this book was like a breath of fresh air. From mosses to white pines, water striders to black bears, this very readable book covers most everything you're likely to find in the northern woods -- and there are even segments on clouds and constellations. One-stop shopping for all your info needs if you love the woods and are curious about its other inhabitants. Lots of little-known facts written in an intelligent and engaging fashion. An easy-to-use reference that even children could enjoy, with entries that make you want to check out "just one more thing." After buying it yesterday we had a long road trip ahead of us -- that sort of flew by as I read entries aloud to my husband. It would be a great addition to our cabin "library" on a pine shelf behind the woodstove, but I kind of think I'll keep it here at home, close at hand.

This is one of those rare novels that made such an impression on me that I have actually dreamed about it on several occassions. It is the story of a parcel of densely wooded land near the Smoky Mountains called Wildwood. It is a place where twisted creatures, part animal and part man, roam; both beautiful and terrifying. And where a rich mogul, Mad Edgar Langford's chateau seems to blink in and out of existence after disappearing during a masquerade ball in the 1900's. Farris' writing style has depth and emotion that goes beyond most modern authors. His ideas are richly realized and wildly original and his characters are as close to real as the printed word allows. This is a horror/fantasy blend that seduces with dark and wondrous magic. Highest recommendation.

This book is well worth the time and trouble that it might take to track it down. John Farris is one of the few authors in the horror genre who continually tries new things and can be counted on to deliver from one book to the next.

In _Wildwood_, he offers a truly involving mixture of fantasy (at times, this reminded me strongly of Robert Holdstock's _Mythago Wood_) and frightening, cosmic horror. In a relatively short time, Mr. Farris has become one of my favorite authors and I haven't been disappointed yet in any of the books I've read by him, many of which have involved some rather lengthy searching through the musty, dim stacks of used bookstores. Highly recommended!

Written and illustrated with color paintings by the late Norman Rockwell, one of America's most outstanding artists and illustrators, Willie Was Different is an absorbing children's story and features a young thrush whose tendency toward genius leads him to seek out a different life and sing the greatest songs he can. Inventive, emotional, and superbly characterized by Rockwell's uniquely expressive art, Willie Was Different is very highly recommended for both young readers, as well as the legions of Norman Rockwell fans whose work continues to enjoy an immense popularity from generation to generation.

Willie Was Different is, of course, beautifully illustrated. It is a charming story about what it means to be a success and what is important in life.

Active Directory is without a doubt the most important part of Windows 2000 and this book -- written entirely based upon the release version of Windows 2000 (not based on the betas) -- is a comprehensive introduction and reference to this important technology.

Building from the ground up, it combines step-by-step instructions to do complex tasks instead of dismissively telling you that you should do X (where X is undocumented elsewhere) and also teaches basic VBScript and integrates scripting solutions alongside point-and-click and command line methods.

The topics covered range from understanding and installing Active Directory through all the constituent parts to Group Policy, other Intellimirror technologies and advanced topics such as troubleshooting, interoperability and design issues.

I hope you enjoy the book.

I have gone over several books on AD but this is the only one that provided me in depth information. This is not a book for the very beginners of Active Directory but is a book that needs to read.

This book entertains, points out the importance of reading, and makes you laugh out loud.

An excellent book for teaching the importance of reading and gaining an awareness of simlarities in plot. Poor Winnie learns that she may the next 'stuffed chicken for dinner' as a result of not wanting to read a famous tale. The story takes the reader on a rollercoaster of 'what-ifs' and creates wonderful moments for predicting text. I will be using this story for numerous lessons in my classroom, from developing a sense of story to partner predictions. Excellent illustrations, too!