5 comments about Earth from Above: 366 Days.

1. I had no idea how much fun a book of pictures could be. Both my grandson and grand daughter love going through this book with me each time they visit. We all have learned a lot.



2. The only way I seem to be able get out and about these days is through the internet or books. So I indulge in travel books and books about the world. This is my idea of travel. You might as well be hanging out the bottom of a plane, the view is incredible. The colors so beautiful and the sights amazing. You learn so much about your world through this book. I had no idea some of these places exist and I'm pretty well travelled and knowledgeable so it was fun discovering new places - places I may never get to in my life time. But Yann takes you there. I wish he would do more!



3. I could give 5 stars for the pictures but becouse of a big mistake, stars come down. Okay the photos are good but somewhere I am very dissapointed. On page August 22, where the comments for the picture were about the genocide of Jewish, it was written that Turks did the same thing to Armenians. But that was a lie. Some nummamorous people told this allegation and the writer believes them. This is very sad. If someone writing a book, he/she must be very careful about his/her words. Books must not contain allegations. Or author must tell that it was an allegation, unless it is proved.



4. 
   For all intents and purposes this book is no different than the same author's book titled "Earth From Above 365 days". My comments are the same for this book as I wrote in my review of the other book;dated October 7,2004.The only difference is in the pictures. There are both good and poor aspects to this book and I have elaborated on them in my other review.



5. My husband and I love this book. We look at it every day. The text may be depressing, but it's a wake-up call to the destruction of beautiful areas like the ones depicted. The pictures are absolutely stunning and you will be astounded that there are such places in the world.

5 comments about Ricky Lauren, Cuisine, Lifestyle, and Legend of the Double RL Ranch.

1. Ricky Lauren wife of Ralph Lauren has published a great book with allot of recipes and pictures of their Double RL Ranch. I just wish they would have chosen a better quality of paper for this wonderful book. For the price I feel that should have been done. But I am still happy with this purchase, I love their style Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Lauren are American Classics.
   Isis Primus
   Scottsdale, AZ



2. 
   And, yes, a beauty of a book is exactly what one expects from Ricky Lauren, wife of a preeminent arbiter of taste, Ralph Lauren. However, this satisfying volume is far from a glossy paged fashion journal, it's the narrative of a life well lived remembered through seasons of the year and meals shared.
   
   The Laurens bought their Colorado ranch in early 1982. For Ricky, she says it was a dream come true because as a child she had watched Western movies and longed to be a cowgirl. Little did she know then that her childhood imagining would actually come true. In this richly illustrated coffee table book filled with thoughts and recipes she shares the fruition of her early dream.
   
   Beginning with summer she describes the meadows that have come alive with flowers and the startling blue of the vast Colorado sky. She loves the natural beauty that surrounds them as is evident by her description of an early morning hike: "Here we are, the mesa, the meadows, the pines, the mountains, the flowers, and me, all bathed in the same glorious sunlight under the deep, rich Colorado blue sky." Glorious double page photos are testament to her words.
   
   Fall at the ranch is another palette of colors and there is frost in the air. Meals are hearty with full breakfasts to start the day. A typical morning menu consists of Challah French Toast, Buckwheat Fruit Crepes, Lox, Eggs & Onions with Assorted Bagels, and Corn Muffins with Strawberry Preserves. (Recipes for all of the menu items are included.)
   
   Winter brings snow and after a two-day snowfall the accumulation was two feet high in some places with drifts reaching to five feet. It's warm inside but the Lauren family can't resist saddling up to explore the white vastness or ride their snowmobiles. A lunch of Elk Draw Chicken Potpie or Deep Dish Pizza is welcome and warming.
   
   Spring unfolds with a world of promise and as Ricky puts it " a life affirming energy."
   
   Gorgeous photographs, bits of history, tempting recipes, and personal musings all in one lovely volume - enjoy!
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   - Gail Cooke



3. A lovely coffee-table book, with plenty of glossy photos of Lauren's glitzy ranch and his family in Ridgway, Colorado. For those of us who live in Ridgway, very few of recipe ingredients are available locally. Best to live in New York City close to Zabar's Deli to take full advantage of the "western" meals. The book also includes an inaccurate, but romantic, history of the area surrounding Lauren's atypical cattle ranch,a created nirvana where the western image is more evident and important than a authentic "working ranch."



4. Unique take on cuisine, this book is easy for anyone to follow. It is refreshing to see a cookbook that contains menus for everyone in the house. We are a family of vegetarians as well as carnivores so this cookbook was thumbs up for us. As a cookbook collector I am glad to say this book not only is a beautiful addition to my collection but it has taken center stage on the must use recipe shelf. The photos have capture the eyes of several house guest but the recipes made them order a copy for their own home. Thanks Ricky!



5. I thought that this book though very nice would have more photos from the region instead of so many recipes. My dad lives in the area, so I was interested in photographs of the area.

5 comments about The Magic of Digital Close-Up Photography (A Lark Photography Book).

1. A beautiful and inspiring book. As a retired microscopist I am glad to find this book that not only describes useful equipment and photographs that illustrates the effects of using the equipment. The results are inspiring. Going from photomicrograph's to photomacrographs is a great adventure.



2. This is a really good book for both new photographers and those of us moving from 35mm to digital photography.



3. I bought this book based on the fact that it was advertising techniques for the enthusiast to advanced users. What I got was a book that gave a fairly basic, broad overview with very little to offer me. I read through the book in only a couple of hours, with nothing grabbing me to go "Wow! I had never thought of that before!" Yes, there is a couple of unusual things in there, with close-up image capture utilising scanners and close-up stands, but the vast majority of people would never use that. A disappointing purchase.



4. I ordered this book along with "Closeup Shooting" expecting to learn some techniques for macro photography with digital and film SLRs. I got a lot out of "Closeup Shooting" - but this one not so much. (Sorry, it's hard for me not to compare the two.)
   
   This one is much more shallow in the areas I'm interested in than what I expected. A key reason for this is that so many of this book's 192 pages cover topics that I didn't expect given its title. For example, over 40 pages are devoted to creating images with scanners. The entire last chapter describes how to use copy stands. And as another reviewer pointed out, there are no exposure details provided with the example photos in the book. For me looking for tips on taking my cameras out into the world to make nice images these were all disappointments.
   
   But it's not all bad. I did learn a few things from this book. The information on lighting, in particular, I found to be pretty good.
   
   I'll keep this book, but if I had found it in a bookstore I never would have bought it. I blame Amazon as much as the author/publisher since there is no good description provided. Chalk it up to the perils of online shopping. I am very happy with "Closeup Shooting" though.



5. It's good, only if what you're looking for is a concise guide - for both digital and film photography.
   No camera info for the photos! (!)

2 comments about When The Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins: A Film Editor's Story (Da Capo Paperback).

1. This is a fascinating look inside filmmaking. Most of the examples are from the 1960s and 1970s, but that does not lessen the impact or relevance.
   
   The author is a master of the film editing craft. He also writes with insight and emotion. As you read, you'll learn how a film is "cut", how a film evolves, and what makes a film "work."
   
   This book deserves a place in the bookcase of any student of the filmmaking art or craft.



2. Rosenblum edited feature films from the late 50s until early 80s, and is most noted for his collaborative efforts with Woody Allen in the 1970s. But his most interesting stories in the book are from a decade earlier when he was still experimenting. Though, I have only seen about half of the movies Rosenblum writes of, it makes the stories no less fascinating.

   Rosenblum's major accomplishment in the book is to shed light on the importance of the film editor in motion pictures. He's not wrong in stating that their efforts have been largely ignored by critics and the public at large. What's interesting is that the editor as an influence in film is rarely even discussed by film critics and historians. It's probably because people are largely unsure of what an editor's true contributions are to any one motion picture.

   Through the course of the book, Rosenblum takes apart THE RAID ON MINSKY'S, THE PAWNBROKER, and ANNIE HALL in depth. He also gives examples of how much an initial cut of a film can differ from the final cut.

   I found the book quite informative, and learned more about film editing than I had expected.

No comments about Simple Lighting Techniques for Portrait Photographers (Amherst Media, Inc.).

5 comments about 365 Ways to Save the Earth.

1. This is a compact hardback book with some incredible photographs of various places and things in our natural world. It does have some good tips for helping the environment although these suggestions are basically repeated towards the middle of the book. The book is worth it for the pictures alone.



2. The pictures are all beautiful! The ways they have to help the Earth are well organized and very practical!



3. Good photos and points made, but #1: Recycle?
   
   Yes, yes, that's why not ONE page of this book is made from post-consumer material (i.e., the paper stock that this book uses isn't even recycled, despite recycling being the first point made in the book!)
   
   SO, #1: don't buy this book, get it from a library instead.



4. I have ordered this book as a gift for numerous friends and family members. It is a beautiful and thought-provoking introduction to environmentally-friendly behaviors in a time when most Americans aren't thinking about the problems we have created in our environment.



5. I bought 5 copies as gifts for Christmas.
   
   I gave it to some friends, to my grandmother. The whole family was looking at the beautiful pictures. I had my uncle reading the daily inspiring messages.
   
   "It brings me peace when I read this book, a day at a time" my grandmother said.
   
   Highly recommended! I even kept a copy for myself.

5 comments about The Best of Robert Service.

1. I was actually very disappointed with the condition of this book when I received it. It had been packed in an envelope that was close to being too small, and the jacket was torn in several places. I purchased this book among others, as a 45 year anniversary gift to my wife. Robert Service had been a particular favorite of her father, and I knew she would treasure the book. I will just have to tell her that I meant well, but it didn't turn out so well.



2. I am very happy with this book. It combines a lot of Service's greatest poems with great Photos of the land and people he wrote about. It is a lovely book that you can be proud to have in your collection.



3. I love Robert Service's raw tones and poems. He tells them with a grit that is true to heart and really just gives you a feel for what is going on and what it was like to be in the real wilderness days. I have heard he described as crude and if that's how you want to view it...go ahead but these poems aren't crude...they tell the true spirit of the classic days with great detail and life.



4. I first stumbled upon Robert W. Service when I found a small volume of his poetry from before and during World War One in an antique shop in Maine. I hungered for more, searched the internet, and was thrilled to find this book available, as well as others. Service's poetry is what poetry should be, at least in my mind. It flows evenly, it rhymes, it tells stories about human beings' lives, feelings, and struggles. Plus, he deals with people, places, and times in history that interest me, especially World War One, northern North America, Europe, etc. This is an excellent, excellent collection of his works.



5. Robert Service, if anyone, could be called "the grandfather of cowboy poets." This has been a popular genre over the past few years and much of the work done by these wonderful men and women can be traced back to Service's poems and style. Being called the "Bard of the Yukon" is certainly true, but sells this particular writer short. His works include so much more that just the delightful poems of the Canadian Territory. Simply written, with a story, they are quite a delight for both old and young alike. I recent years, some of our elitist in our academic world have been less than kind to this poet. This is all well and good with me. They simply don't get it. Service's work will quite likely endure far longer than some of the ranting I read in the professional journals. I read these poems to young folks in my classes, and they seldom fail to delight and indeed, inspire. It is difficult to go wrong with this one. Highly recommend.

2 comments about San Francisco: The City's Sights and Secrets.

1. I'm planning a trip to San Francisco. Beyond a travel guide, the photos inspire me and let me know what not to miss, in a visual way.



2. My wife and I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years, and prefer San Francisco over every other American city that we know--and we've visited most of the big ones. Naturally that means that we take many out-of-state visitors for a day in the city, and have a mental list of the things they might enjoy seeing and doing. Many of our frequent targets is represented in San Francisco : The City's Sights and Secrets, so that we're using the book with prospective visitors to plan their day in the city. The pictures are vibrant with accurate captions, and brief but excellent accompanying text.

   We've also started to use this book as a token of appreciation for our hosts when we travel. When they thank us for it, it is usually with enough enthusiasm that we know they are pleased to have it.

   The reader should be aware that this is not a complete guide book. It deals only with the sights and sounds of the city--not with the practical details such as accomodation, travel connections, restaurants, city and area maps, ... But then, you can get those from AAA publications or similar sources. We see this book as simply for communicating to others why we are so keen on San Francisco, and to help them plan their own visits.

   It may interest the reader that we are endorsing this short review with a new order for a dozen copies!

5 comments about 100 Suns.

1. 100 Suns is a great book that shows the american nuclear tests from an "artistic" perspective. The images and the edition are spectacular, and the choice of the pictures depends only on his compilator, Michael Light.
   Anyway, if you are looking for an exhaustive nuclear test data, nuclear technology or nuclear consequences, definitely this is not your book.
   But if you can abstract the mortal power from the breath-taking image that a nuclear explosion owns, then you've got the book of the year.
   
   Greetings from Barcelona, Spain



2. If you're buying this book to have beautiful photographic prints of the major nuclear tests, you will definitely be disappointed, as I was, by the book's very poor format/layout. The overwhelming majority of the photographs are printed in such a way that the image is split apart where the paper joins the spine of the book. In other words, you get maybe three-quarters of the photograph on one page, and the remaining quarter on the facing page. What's worse is that many of the photographs are split right in the middle, so the image is completely ruined. I can't believe that they were so stupid as to produce the book in this way. If I had know it was this bad, I wouldn't have wasted my money.



3. This is a beautiful book. Very powerful (no pun intended). Exceptionally well-conceived. Lovely art direction. High printing standards. All of which were established with the author Michael Light's previous book, The Moon. (With a surname such as Light, he was destined to be a photographer.) I first saw a copy of 100 Suns at a friend's place in Paris and, without knowing it was the same photographer who had collated the pictures in both books, said how much its aesthetics and purpose reminded me of The Moon. Rather than NASA's various explorations to the lunar mass (assuming you believe, like me, that they did indeed go to the moon), this book is devoted to the war-mongering Americans' obsession with nuclear warfare. As a counter-balance to the predilection of other superpowers, such as the former USSR and China, for power, the Americans went for gold from the outset, initially possessing a ridiculously huge nuclear arsenal, a dominance that wained during the supposed Cold War (a propaganda exercise to rival the Nazis, if ever there was one). Then, for a spell, the Soviets possessed more nuclear warheads than the Americans, which is perhaps fair enough since they did send the first man into space (well done Yuri). However, throughout the atomic age, the Americans, like the pesky French, the irritable Russians, the stroppy North Koreans, the determined Chinese, the desperate Pakistanis, the resolute Iranians, etc, have continued to conduct tests of nuclear weapons. Unfairly, the French have even arrogantly and selfishly pursued theirs in the Pacific, which, as New Zealanders, my family, friends and I occupy. Is it any wonder we now have global warming? Isn't it at all conceivable that the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of nuclear tests conducted underground, on land, at sea and in the air are partially (perhaps even largely) responsible for global warming? These are, after all, mammoth disruptions to the harmony of earth and her atmosphere. I use the word 'mammoth' on purpose too because, like the furry fellow, we may one day be utterly extinct. Of course, if nuclear weapons (and the woeful double bombing of Japan to end the Second World War) are a crucial counterbalance between good and evil, the haves and will haves, they are perhaps a necessary (yet problematic) deterrent. Now, having jumped atop my soap box (actually, bar stool in front of my computer), I must admit that the pictures in 100 Suns are utterly bewitching. To say they are beautiful is fraught with guilt, since it is members of our very species who created and propagated such an evil force. However, in many things evil a kind of beauty resides, whether we wish to concede this or not. And there is something strangely, hypnotically, philosophically haunting about the 100 pictures of nuclear tests in this book. They look like amoeba, jelly fish, demons, and, yes, mushrooms. They appear to be the visual manifestation of some weird hallucinatory concoction - though in this case it's the result of mankind's intellect run amock. Not enough is spoken about the nuclear age. The pictures in this must-have book say much. Let the buyer beware.



4. As terrible as a nuclear detonation can be, this book manages to capture the spectacle and beauty from the above-ground nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site and other detonation sites in the 50s and 60s.
   
   The book is a collection of 100 colour and B&W photos from the US National Archives and LANL of various detonations. Some are taken mere milliseconds after detonation and show fascinating detail. Others show the detonations with soldiers looking on. Aerial shots show the impressive scale of the detonations.
   
   Captions for the photos giving details on the test are listed in the back so as not to distract from the photo itself. It's an interesting book to look through and to see the scale of the above-ground nuclear weapon testing that was done in the middle of the 20th century.



5. Some of the most brilliant photos of nuclear explosions you will EVER find. The book is almost all photos with a small documentary section in the back to help augment the photos. VERY nicely done for the non-technical person.

5 comments about The Universe: 365 Days.

1. I am a HUGE fan of Earth From Above, I think it's by far one of the best photo books out there. This book pales in comparison to the caliber of the photography in Earth. Very disappointing. There a couple of amazing shots, but that's about it. I wouldn't bother, unless you're super into astronomy.



2. We have purchased several of these books - one for ourselves and the others as gifts. It is awesome.



3. This is a truly awesome and inspiring book. The gorgeous photographs and the informative text will challenge your imagination to the breaking point! Best of all, this book will strengthen your faith in our awesome Creator God, and in the Bible - His word of truth to all mankind.
   Consider the following Bible verses, written hundreds to thousands of years before the invention of the first telescope:
   "The host of heaven cannot be numbered." Jeremiah 33:22
   "As many as the stars of the sky in multitude - innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore." Hebrews 11:12
   "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing." Isaiah 40:26
   "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have made, what is man that You are mindful of him?" Psalm 8:3,4
   "[God] hangs the earth on nothing." Job 26:7
   "It is [God] who sits above the circle of the earth." Isaiah 40:22
   "There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." 1 Corinthians 15:41
   "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades? [Can you] loose the belt of Orion?" Job 38:31
   "Can you guide Arcturus?" Job 38:32
   "God ..... has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." Hebrews 1:1,2
   "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it ..... who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited." Isaiah 45:18
   "You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host ..... the host of heaven worships You." Nehemiah 9:6
   "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and there words to the end of the world." Psalm 19:1-4
   "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10



4. I wanted to buy this book for a long time and waited until the price was right. When I bought it, I couldn't check inside because it was wrapped in plastic. So when I brought it home and opened it, I was very disappointed with the photos. I was expecting super high quality photos and instead found tons of OLD photos of galaxies and stars that have been available in other books (which I have or have read) since the 1960s and 1970s. Or worse, photos seemingly taken directly from websites, with web quality, ie: not very good.
   
   They had to fill this book with 365 photos and I say 250 of them are not worth spending any amount of money on, because they're free on the internet or the quality is terrible or simply because they've been available in other (and better) books for several decades now and the writer didn't bother getting updated versions of those old photos. As an example, on Nov. 27, there's the famous "Earth at Night" photo. I already have the photo as a desktop image (it's widely available on the net) and it looks better on my computer than in the book, which is murky and lacks detail.
   
   The Universe: 365 Days is just not what I expected. The concept is actually cool but the execution is very uneven and at times poor. I would have left it at the bookstore if I initially had the chance to look inside it before purchasing it.



5. There is a website called "Astronomy Picture of the Day". The website is exactly what it claims to be. Every day the website posts a new picture related to astronomy with a description of that picture written by a professional astronomer. With the first archived photo on that website from June 16, 1995, the editors of "The Universe: 365 Days" had nearly 8 years of photographs to draw on when this volume was published in May 2003. This book can be used like a calendar because that is how this book is laid out: every day of the year has an astronomy photograph, with a description of each picture.

   As someone who knows very little about the universe, or astronomy, even with the descriptions next to the pictures I still wasn't always sure what I was looking at and how one picture was truly different from another. I understand that they look different and that they are pictures of very different parts of the universe, but the details are far beyond my comprehension. What is not beyond my comprehension is the fact that these are stunningly beautiful pictures. Even simple pictures that we may have seen many times before, like a picture of our planet from space, is striking and beautiful. Others are of star clusters and galaxies that are so far away and so alien that it boggles the mind to know that there are places like this out there and we really know nothing about what it would be like to travel there.

   This book can be read as a calendar, where you flip the page each day and see what new photograph is waiting. It can be read like that, but I couldn't imagine only looking at one of these pictures a day. After seeing one picture, I just had to turn the page to see what wonder was waiting for me, and almost without exception, there was a wonder on every page. Beautiful space photography (though some are on Earth, and others looking out from Earth). If that sounds interesting, this collection is probably for you.

   -Joe Sherry