LA Piel Del Cielo: The Skin of the Sky

Book Description

The Skin of the Sky is the story of Lorenzo de Tena, a Mexican astronomer born in the 1930s. The illegitimate son of a wealthy Mexico City businessman and a poor, but intelligent, peasant woman, Lorenzo is introduced to science (pasteurization and the wonders of flight) by his mother, beginning his lifelong passion.

When his mother dies, Lorenzo and his siblings are taken to live with their father. The children have difficulty adjusting to a life of wealth and privilege, but Lorenzo devotes all his attentions to astronomy. He eventually goes to Harvard to complete his studies and returns to Mexico, determined to elevate Mexico's scientific rankings.

"Lorenzo's calling enables [Elena] Poniatowska not only to write of the heavens with mythic awe and ravishing lyricism but also to ponder the conundrums of space and time, our precarious place in the universe, and the great divide between Mexico's educated elite and countless illiterate poor. . . . Ultimately, Poniatowska's capacious tale of one inspired but lonely man's heroic perseverance dramatizes the divide between the First and Third Worlds and the anguish of those caught in between."--Booklist

"When I read Elena Poniatowska, I'm reminded why she's my hero, why I write, what kind of writer I aspire to be. She's not only an exquisite writer, she's an extraordinary human being. It's this humanity that makes her writing soar."--Sandra Cisneros

"Poniatowska's capacious tale of one inspired but lonely man's heroic perseverance dramatizes the divide between the First and Third Worlds and the anguish of those caught in between."--Booklist

Customer Reviews:

skin of the sky.......2007-05-14

I have not received the item from Amazon yet but I already read the Spanish version, in fact I bought this English version to give it as a present to my colleges astronomers from UMass.
I personally know Elena Poniatowska the author since she was married to Guillermo Haro My former boss at the INAOE (national institute for astrophysics...) in Mexico and the main character (as Lorenzo de Tena) in the novel.
I enjoyed very much the novel because it was based upon this great Mexican astronomer Whom I was lucky to know and learn from him.

Cesar Arteaga.

Average customer rating:

The Skin Of The Sky
Elena Poniatowska
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OWOYWE

Customer Reviews:

Generations 2.......2004-12-09

Summary: Generations 2 is John Byrne's follow-up series to Generations. It includes eight interrelated stories set eleven years apart involving the aging superheroes of the DC Universe in era-similar stories. While Generations followed the careers of Batman and Superman very closely, Generations 2 expands the scope of the series to include Green Lantern, the Flash, and Wonder Woman as well as the Justice Society/Justice League of America. The stories aren't as cohesive as those in Generations, but still fit together well in conjunction with the first series.

Writing: In Generations 2, John Byrne has the unenviable task of keeping track of many similar characters over eight stories and trying to keep their personalities straight. He does this, but none of the characters proves to be very inspiring and none of the dialogue is particularly clever. On the other hand, the script is deft in keeping the story flowing and explains what can't be seen on the page. It's vanilla, but it's homemade vanilla hand cranked by your grandfather.

Since the stories are supposed to be era-similar, the plots might seem weak at times. I'll therefore try to discuss each chapter in turn.

1942: This chapter loosely connects two stories, a JSA story with Superman and a Batman. Neither is particularly complicated, and both insert the reader into the middle of the action. The JSA story is a Giant Nazi Robot story and the Batman story is a Nazi Conspirator story. Both are fun stories and together serve to connect the series to Generations, but neither is a full story on its own.

1953: This chapter has one main story and a lot of back story. The main story is Superman's fight to get off of a planet with a red sun. It also introduces a subplot that culminates in "1997" that is one of the most striking aspects of the series. The rest of the back story mainly deals with maternity issues.

1964: This is one of the three most cohesive chapters in the collection. Although there's some back story about Dick Grayson as the Batman and his fling with Batgirl, the story is mostly taken up with the formation of the JLA. I this series the sons and daughters of the original Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman join up with Wally West as Kid Flash in Infinity, Inc/Teen Titans style to form the Justice League while fighting Flash villains.

1975: This is another coherent story. This story is basically a team-up, a type of comic book common in the 70s. In this story Batman teams up with Dead Man to help solve the problem of a phantom that's stalking the Joker. There is a Green Lantern subplot connects this chapter to the rest of the series.

1986: This is a coherent Batman story. It involves Batman's deepening obsession with crime-fighting, his conflict with the Gotham police department, and what the JLA does about it. This chapter has a rationale giving the story the grittiness that infected Batman comic books in the eighties. In this chapter Batman pursues a super villainess and is in turn pursued by the JLA. It also ties in with the Green Lantern subplot.

1997: This, like 1942, is actually a chapter with two stories. One is the conclusion of the Green Lantern subplot and the other is a Knightwing (Superman's grandson, Batman's adopted grandson) story where he fights with a random guy in a Supervillain Combat Robot.

2008: Here, a random Kryptonite-powered robot attacks Metropolis and the JLA tries to stop it. This story mostly connects Generations 2 to Generations.

2019: This is a story about Superboy and the young Bruce Wayne teaming up against the villain of Generations and seems to be an alternate first meeting to the one included there.

Generations 2 isn't well connected from story to story. Three of the individual stories are excellent and others are good, but the connections between them are the characters instead of the story. Most of the plot-based connections over time are actually Generations connections. I'm not sure if the series was designed to be read intermixed with the first series or not, but it certainly reads that way.

I'd like to give Byrne three-quarters of a star for the script and one-half of a star for the plots, so the writing gets one star.

Art: John Byrne is one of the premier superhero cartoonists today, and one of only a handful of really talented illustrators to continue to work on monthly comic books over several decades. Byrne has a cartoony style, but he can make very subtle distinctions between characters. In "1953" he has a panel, for example, with Wonder Woman as an adult talking to a "projection" of herself as a teenager, and they are recognizably the same person at different ages. He doesn't skimp on backgrounds, either. There are astoundingly intricate drawings of skyscrapers in Metropolis and elsewhere peppered throughout the collection.

One place Byrne really shines here is in giving the separate chapters a feel distinctive to their era. This is rather difficult because he's much more technically proficient than the earliest illustrators and no one would buy a comic book drawn as poorly as many of the WWII era comic books were. However, especially in "1953," "1964," and "1975," he does a great job. The revenant Batman in 1975 reminds me of several stories in the 1970s, for example. The art earns both its stars.

Conclusion: Generations 2 is a very enjoyable comic book on its own, even if it is a little fragmented. The three very cohesive chapters-1964, 1975, and 1986-are good enough on their own to justify the cost of this collection. Because the story relies on so much in Generations, I would read Generations before reading collection. The art is superb and the stories are good. Since there are no quarter-stars, I've only given John Byrne's Generations 2 four of them, but it's a large four.

Proof that comics can still be fun........2003-10-21

I loved this trade as much as the original Generation series. The Generation "Universe" has evolved into an interesting place full of new superheros and old favorites. This is one of those series where the concept was good was it was thought of...and then it was extremely well executed. Who is the new Wonder Girl? How can the ghost of Batman be haunting the Joker if Batman is still alive? What old foe of the JLA returns to battle the JLA's decendants in the future?

All of this and tons more in one book! Loved it!

Jeff

How the DC Universe should be..........2003-10-21

Generations 2 is an ELSEWORLDS story that takes place mainly around Superman and Batman. The concept is that heroes actually first appear in the date their first comic appearence was and they age nromally from there (so by the 60's Bruce Wayne is in his 40s-50s with a kid of his own). The story jumps every 11 years and gives you small snipits of the DC Universe according to John Byrne's unique vision.

This is the book to read if you want to read about super-HEROES.

Worth Generations of PRAISE!.......2003-10-21

I thought G2 was an amazing read and the perfect example of John Byrne's excellent ability to tell complicated stories with faultless plots and an uncanny ability to understand his characters.
The comics of the "imaginary story" DC universe are my all time favorite comic books and give readers an unprecedented take on superheroes and how they would change and affect the world in "real time".
What stunned me the most about this series was the wonderful way it touched and connected with the first series and took the stories where no reader would guess until after the fact.
Also the ending where Superman helps Batman learn something he didn't know about his past was one of the most touching and heartfelt stories in a comic I have ever seen.
Buy this book; the artwork alone is worth the price.

Superman and Batman are Joined by Other Heroes.......2003-10-08

In this second volume of Generations, the stories jump ahead at eleven-year increments. While there is some additional information given about the Superman and Batman timelines from the first volume, most of the book actually concerns the lives of other DC heroes.

Once again we see classic heroes in a universe where they age and breed at normal rates. This could have been very good, but there was just not enough space. Too many heroes are introduced with little or no explanation. Some are better fleshed out than others and some secrets of the universe are revealed.

Generations was a wonderful book, but Generations II makes the reader feel that Byrne will have to fill in all of the years to make it work for the DC pantheon. But then that would eliminate the Generations idea. The adventures are entertaining, but we want to know more. Perhaps it would have been better to do a Flash Generations, Green Lantern Generations, Wonder Woman Generations, etc.

Average customer rating:
SUPERMAN & BATMAN GENERATIONS: An Imaginary Tale, Books 1, 2, 3 & 4
John Byrne
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000H068NQ

Average customer rating:
Superman & Batman: Generations 2: An Imaginary Tale (Book 1 of 4)
John Byrne
Manufacturer: Direct Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000IOCYIE

Average customer rating:
Superman & Batman: Generations 2: An Imaginary Tale (Book 2 of 4)
John Byrne
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000V77BUO

Average customer rating:
Superman and Batman : Generations 2: An Imaginary Tale - Book two of four: 1959-1969
John Byrne
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000SJMYEI

Average customer rating:
Superman and Batman : Generations, An Imaginary Tale, Book 2 of 4
John Byrne
Manufacturer: DC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000J0SFEY

Book Description

Most of us do not remember that we have volunteered to remember our multidimensional heritage and unite with our true SELF in the higher worlds. Remembering this unity would be difficult indeed with the knowledge of only one lifetime. Fortunately, as each of us begin to awaken, we remember our "past lives". These "past lives" are actually all occurring at the same "time" in different space-time coordinates. With the assistance of our fifth dimensional SELF, also known as our Soul, we can act as a "Higher Self" to our other realities.

Reconstructing Reality is a journey to the Violet Temple of Transmutation on fifth dimensional Venus. From this fifth dimensional perspective, it is possible to release our belief in the illusions of separation and limitation so that we can objectively view and heal our many other lives on third and fourth dimensional Earth. From the fifth dimension, we can act as a Higher Self to assist whichever Earth life that is in need by transmuting the fears of that reality into love. In that manner, we can recover the wisdom hidden within the pain of that life to illuminate our present reality.

Reconstructing Reality, part two of the Visions from Venus series, follows Shature as she returns to the Violet Temple on fifth dimensional Venus to heal her Earth self with the love and power of her Higher Self. Reconstructing Reality stands alone, or it can be read as a part of the series.

Customer Reviews:

Thought provoking - as are other books by this author.......2004-06-06

I found the author's website and downloaded her electronic book "The 30 Veils of Illusion". After reading this book, and exploring all of the information on her website, I then went on to purchase this book and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

This book is for anyone who is curious about or who is exploring the multidimensional reality of our existence. It is written in a fictional style. The focus is on a character (Shature) who, from a higher dimension, reviews several of the lives she experiences in the 3rd dimenion.

The author has a very unique way of approaching the subject of multidimensional consciousness - and I give her full marks for presenting it in such a manner that the concept can be understood by all.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on January 1, 2002. The length of the article is 654 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Engineering a New Vision of Tomorrow: Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows, founders of The Venus Project in Florida, envision a cybernated city of the future. (Visions).(Brief Article)
Author: Jacque Fresco
Publication: The Futurist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2002
Publisher: World Future Society
Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Page: 33(4)

Article Type: Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

The single best source for Jewish Genealogy I've found yet

Part detective story, part spiritual quest,, part how-to text

Excellent Primer for anyone considering Genealogy Research

From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History
Arthur Kurzweil
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Jewish | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Wiesel, Elie | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0787970514

Book Description

Since it was first published in 1980, From Generation to Generation has inspired thousands to pursue the unique challenges and rewards of Jewish genealogy. Far more engaging than a mere how-to reference guide, this landmark book is also part detective story and part spiritual quest. As Arthur Kurzweil takes you along on his own fascinating journey through his family’s past, you’ll learn about the tools, techniques, and the step-by-step process of Jewish genealogical research – including the most current information on using the Internet and the newly accessible archives of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. But even more, after reading this fully updated, revised, and beloved classic, you will undoubtedly be inspired to embark on a genealogical quest of your own!

Customer Reviews:

The single best source for Jewish Genealogy I've found yet.......2006-12-08

Having become interested in doing the genealogy of my family about two years ago, I began by going it alone and stumbling around Google and visiting some resources in New York City including the fascinating Municipal Archives.

I was told about this book some months ago and, voila!, it has opened the whole world of Jewish geneaology for me. I've bought 14 other books on the subject and find this the most interestingly written and the most complete. There are updates to the book so I'd caution the buyer to get the latest one from Amazon rather than one of the much older ones being sold as used. The list of resources is exhaustive and clearly organized and each area of investigation is illustrated by the author through sharing his journey of discovery of his own roots.

You'll find information about how to use resources in the US and in the major cities like NY and Chicago as well as information about national resources such as YIVO, the National Archives, the Mormon Church's extensive records and how to access them. Special interest groups for Rumania, Latvia, etc. are listed and you'll eventually find many rich sources which you'd probably not discover on your own except by accident.

This is the book I wish I'd had two years ago and I would have saved much time, money and frustration. No one book can be the only one worth having, but I'd definitely buy this one first, read it through with a highliter and post-it notes to mark sections worth exploring again more deeply.

Part detective story, part spiritual quest,, part how-to text.......2005-08-17

Along with the new Avotaynu Guide, indispensable.

Kurzweil's book is not as lengthy and technical as the Avotaynu book, nor as concise and tightly organized as Barbara Krasner-Khait's Discovering Your Jewish Ancestors (2001). But what it offers is something unheard of in genealogy textbooks - a work that reads like a novel. He is not afraid to be expansive and anecdotal, even chatty. His personal stories with genealogy, dating back to 1970, are gripping. Especially so because Kurzweil (unlike many genealogical authors) knows how to tell a story. The book is often lyrical and intensely earnest, without being melodramatic or overwrought. His passion for discovering his ancestral roots is sincere and infectious. In fact, his discovery of a descent from a famous Hasidic rabbi led him to embrace more traditional Judaism in his spiritual life.

But the book is not ALL personal stories, as interesting as they are. He packs the bulk of these into his opening chapters, and then sprinkles them as useful illustrations throughout the work. He covers all of the important topics, and is quite up to date on the online resources (through about late 2003). He has a great command of the details of doing Jewish genealogy, and he has some very brilliant recommendations for some unique and creative sources. (He was a founding father of Jewish genealogy in the mid-70s, and has given something like 600 lectures around the country).

His enthusiasm is infectious, and he makes strong arguments for the moral and spiritual value for Jews to explore their roots (bolstering his case with short gripping quotes from the Old Testament, Jewish sages, and Talmud). Further, he makes a good case against cremation (with which this Christian reviewer agrees).

The only shortcomings of the book:
1. As noted above, this is not absolutely comprehensive. You will want both the Avotaynu and the Krasner-Khait books to fill in all of the blanks.
2. While a good scholar and critically oriented, he is generally a littel more eager than I am to accept oral traditions or unproven claims of rabbinic lines. See, for example, the material pp.30-34. At the end he is willing to claim it is `likely' he is a direct descendant from King David, because a certain famous rabbi living 1500 years after David claimed descent from him (how could he know?). And another rabbi living 600 years later claims to be a descendant of that rabbi, etc. Four or five jumps like that and Kurzweil makes it to his famous 3x-great-grandfather rabbi. Utterly unprovable beyond perhaps the first or second `jump' backwards, and pretty unlikely. But in fairness, he acknowledges the problems with these rabbinic genealogies.

In any case, a wonderful read, and a good practical tool.

It might make a nice gift for a relative who is mildly interested in their family history, but in need of inspiration to get more involved. Also, every synagogue library, public library, and local historical society needs to have a donated copy (along with the Avotaynu guide). And at just $16 (for a beefy, nicely illustrated hardback), VERY affordable.

Excellent Primer for anyone considering Genealogy Research.......2001-04-13

While this book focuses on one man's search for his family history, his examples could be of value to anyone who is considering beginning a research project. Mr. Kurzweil's joy of discovery is very compelling, and was probably a big reason why I got into the hobby myself.

There is plenty of practical advice on how to start, where to look for documentation, how to interview, etc. While the book lacks depth in some areas, it covers every important facet of Genealogical research, and provides a point to jump from in search for more information.

Average customer rating:
From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Family History and Genealogy
Arthur Kurzweil
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0688036007

Average customer rating:
From generation to Generation How to Trace Your Jewish genealogy and Family History
Arthur Kurzweil
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LDO0O8

Average customer rating:
From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish genealogy and Family History
Athur Kurzweil
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEX8SS

Book Description

A collection of heirloom recipes for delicious sweets--from gingerbread men to white wine fruitcake--for holiday entertaining and gift-giving. A bright red cover glows with Christmas warmth, and the green silk ribbon makes the book itself an irresistible treat. 50 4-color photographs.

Amazon.com

"I don't think there's any glory in being remembered as old moneybags," said oil baron J. Paul Getty in the early l950s, when he was vacillating between amassing all kinds of art and narrowing his focus to ancient sculpture. Getty's fabulous billions have spawned three museums, most recently the "architectural commission of the century," as Richard Meier's hilltop Getty Center, 13 years in creation, is called. In the early '70s, Getty oversaw the previous museum, the fabulous, 48,000-square-foot, pseudo-Roman villa overlooking the Pacific just north of Los Angeles that was greeted with critical jeers and popular accolades when it opened in 1974. As this beautiful book makes clear, Getty's spending has not been in vain. Written by John Walsh, longtime director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, and Deborah Gribbon, associate director, it serves three purposes: it is a biographical sketch of the eccentric, high-living billionaire; it is a selective catalog of the Getty's peerless collections of sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, drawings, and decorative arts: and it is a history of the three "eras" of the Getty's three locations. The quality of the museum's holdings, from Greek statuary to early-20th-century photographs, is breathtaking, and the 200 color plates here do them justice. Carpaccio's Hunting on the Lagoon, van Gogh's Irises, and Michelangelo's sketch for The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, along with drawings by Titian, Raphael, da Vinci, Rubens, Poussin, Watteau, Cézanne, and Rembrandt are pictured, as is the classical statuary for which the Getty is justly world-renowned. --Peggy Moorman

Book Description

In December 1997 the J. Paul Getty Museum will open its new home in the spectacular Getty Center, designed by the renowned architect Richard Meier, and dramatically sited in the Santa Monica Mountains above Los Angeles. This will constitute the third home for the Getty Museum collections,
which were first displayed in J. Paul Getty's ranch house in Malibu and later were housed in the splendid reconstruction of an ancient Roman villa that Getty had built on the grounds of his Malibu estate.

This book contains a lively text by the Director and Associate Director of the Museum along with archival and recently commissioned photographs to provide a biography of the Museum's benefactor. In addition, the book presents a history of the buildings that have housed his collections and of the
collections themselves--first formed by Getty in his lifetime and greatly expanded following his generous and much-heralded bequest.

Customer Reviews:

One of the finest museum books of its kind.......2007-02-22

The Getty is both superb, small collection --- and a sybaritic and monumental complex of architecture/urban planning/sculpture set in a breathtaking natural site. This book, with exceptionally accurate and well-chosen photographs of the complex, and concise summaries of the major works of art, simply stated --- succeeds on all fronts.

For sophisticated museum goers, this volume is the creme de la creme: an ample but not too cumbersome overview of the Getty, and (if you've been there), a wonderful momento.

Those who seek what this book does not purport to be should steer themselves elsewhere.

Just For Looks.......2002-04-07

After going to the Museum and reading this book I was struck by how much the fame here is driven by the beautiful building, wonderful location, and the famous benefactors name, and not really the art works that are traditionally the centerpiece of an art museum. Ok there are some very nice pieces here, but just not that many. When purposing a museum book I do so to learn more about the particular art and here the book did an antiquate job, but a lot of page space was taken up with how they got the art. Overall as a coffee table book it is not bad looking, but scratch the surface and it starts to disappoint.

Das but true.......2000-01-25

Regretably, I have to agree with the two previous readers. This is not a very good book. It offers little insight into the Getty's collecting philosophy and conveniently passes in silence over the museum's many shortcomings.

Too much about collecting not enough about art.......1999-12-17

The author spent far too much time describing how pieces were aquired and not enough time informing the reader about the pieces.

Self-serving door stop!.......1999-06-23

Walsh, the director of the Getty museum, has written a self-serving door-stop of a book, the primary purpose of which seems to be to justify his tenure as head of the world's richest museum. Unfortunately, for Walsh as well as for the museum-going public, it all rings hollow. Despite a few spectacular, headline grabbing purchases, the Getty's efforts to built a first-rate collection have failed miserably. Perhaps if Walsh and his colleagues had built a smaller museum, more along the lines of the Frick or the Morgan, they could have filled its galleries with enough good work to make it worthwhile. As it is, they spent a fortune on a building that is better than the collection deserves. Too bad for everyone.

Average customer rating:

Great for special projects!

Good-but could be great

inspirational

Wonderful Book! Don't Underestimate This One!!

Some duds but overall a nice collection of baby gear

Baby Style: Home Accessories and Irresistible Knitwear Designs for 0-3 Year Olds
Debbie Bliss
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Knitting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Debbie Bliss | Expert Advice | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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New Baby Knits: More Than 30 Patterns for 0-3 Year Olds

Baby Knits Book

ASIN: 0312267142

Book Description

Bestselling designer Debbie Bliss is known worldwide for her ability to combine practicality and style in her immensely popular designs. In this new collection she provides a complete range of ideas for the new baby or child, including ideas for the home and stylish accessories, as well as irresistible clothes. Each of the 30 designs is beautifully photographed and clear instructions make the patterns straightforward to knit. Some of the original ideas featured include:

A denim throw, with pockets for favorite toys and books
A variety of mini cushions
Knitted coathangers
A cozy dressing gown and hot-water bottle cover
Practical and stylish sweaters, cardigans and jackets to suit every child

Customer Reviews:

Great for special projects!.......2005-04-17

I agree that the lack of diagrams and measurements make for some moments of head-scratching, but overall, I think it's a decent books. The designs are not your average baby sweater...there are some excellent pieces that are sure to become treasured hand-me-downs. The patterns call for premium yarns, but if you're going to go to all the trouble of making something like the frilled edge crossover sweater (my favourite), why not indulge and use a high quality yarn?

I doubt that I would use the book for all baby shower presents. But when there's somebody special to knit for - a friend, maybe, or a family member, or even your own child - it's nice to be able to make up something that's guaranteed not to be found in a retail store.

Good-but could be great.......2004-10-11

Debbie Bliss did a good job, but I would like to see more colorful sweaters for kids. The designs are simple and cute, but not irresistable.

inspirational.......2002-12-05

i found this book at the library, and after my maximum renewal time i had to go buy it myself. as a beginner+ knitter, i found many projects in here that i a) could make b) *wanted* to make and c) enjoyed making! it's nice to see children's wear that isn't frou-frou, but has interesting detailing. debbie bliss has inspired me to continue knitting (when i would have otherwise put it down for lost!) i highly suggest this book to anyone, if not for the patterns, for the beautiful photos.

Wonderful Book! Don't Underestimate This One!!.......2001-10-31

I was hesitant to buy this book after reading the other review.
I'm glad I didn't, this is a wonderful book, the hangers and hot water bottle cover are wonderful, as are the other patterns in this book.
She has not lost her inspirational touch!

Happy knitting!
Nanette of Fruitland, ID

Some duds but overall a nice collection of baby gear.......2001-07-21

Let me start with a disclaimer: I love Debbie Bliss patterns for children and babies, and feel she is one of the best young designers out there today. So I guess you could say I'm predisposed to like whatever her latest book is. "Baby Style" contains many of her trademark knitted patterns that will please her diehard fans: sweaters, booties, caps, stuffed animals. While there was some feeling of repetition from her earlier books, I felt there were enough fresh ideas to make this book worth owning. I have knit from this book and had no problem with the patterns. My criticisms: (1) there are some ridiculous patterns interspersed with the good ones, like a knitted hot water bottle cover, and coat hanger covers done in a tiny gauge. Who has the time or inclination for such pointless knittery? (2) as usual, the trendy photography doesn't give you a clear look at the finished items. Close-ups of the collar or yarn are nice, but how about including a photo that would be helpful for a knitter in gauging fit or getting an overall sense of how an item looks? (3) While measurements are given at the beginning of the patterns, there are no diagrams. I find the diagrams helpful in estimating size and substituting yarns at different gauges. (4) While I am also a big fan of Rowan and Jaeger yarns, be forewarned that using the listed yarns may put quite a dent in your knitting budget (e.g., Rowan Wool-Cotton is a gorgeous yarn, but at 8 bucks and change per skein, the price of even a kid's sweater is steep). Best to be prepared to substitute if cost is an issue.

Baby Style: Home Accessories and Irresistible Knitwear Designs for 0-3 Year Olds

Average customer rating:

Baby Style: Home Accessories and Irresistible Knitwear Designs for 0-3 Year Olds
Debbie Bliss
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Debbie Bliss | Expert Advice | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OTLMSQ

Book Description

This gorgeously illustrated book tells the history of the Peacock Room, decorated by James McNeill Whistler for wealthy London shipowner Frederick Leyland and currently on display at the Freer Gallery of Art. The history offers fascinating insights into nineteenth-century British culture-taste, patronage, attitudes toward Asian art, origins of art nouveau, and relation to American culture.

Copublished with the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. .

Customer Reviews:

Whistler's Aesthetic Interior.......1999-05-31

"Remember," wrote the British art critic John Ruskin in 1853, "that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance." When a peacock unfolds its plumage, the eyespots on its feathers form exact logarithmic spirals, like those in a daisy, a pinecone, and a sunflower. Twenty years later, Ruskin's remark inspired the Aesthetic Movement ("Art for art's sake"), of which the chief proponents were the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde and the American painter James A.M. Whistler. Wilde sometimes wore a sunflower in his lapel; and Whistler, as is documented in this thoroughly researched and richly illustrated volume (with 250 illustrations, nearly half in color), created an opulent dining room for London businessman Frederick Leyland, with peacocks as the main motif. Completed amid controversy in 1877, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room was dismantled and sold after Leyland's death, and, in 1923, reconstructed in the U.S. at the Freer Gallery of Art, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains on view. A key event in design history, it was restored physically in 1989 through 1992; and now this book restores it historically, thereby "dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions that had settled over the story like mantles of aging varnish." As a cultural biography, the book's greatest virtue is its breadth of focus: Just as Whistler's interior served as an elaborate setting for Leyland's Chinese porcelain collection, Merrill provides a rich wide factual setting for the Peacock Room. (Copyright © by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 14 No. 3, Spring 1999.)

incisive view into the life style of Frederick Leyland.......1999-01-20

This is an erudite investigation into the life styles of both Whistler and his patron Frederick Richards Leyland. Whilst being essentially an art book, it deals with its subject matter in a lively mannner which could well form the basis of a movie script.

Average customer rating:

The Peacock Room: A Cultural Biography
Linda Merrill
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS3QU4

Product Description

A pair of wisecracking Chicago detectives decides to single-handedly take down a gun racket. Only things don't quite go as planned, and a screw-up earns them a reassignment to a new case investigating the bizarre murder of a man found in an alleyway. Little do they know that this mysterious body will soon plunge them in a world far bigger and more dangerous than they could ever imagine.

Customer Reviews:

Slick, fast-paced, and immensely engaging........2006-03-17

Writer/artist Dirk Tiede unveils the beginning of a creepy, kinetic mystery in this first volume of Paradigm Shift. Detectives Kate and Mike tangle with the mob and their fellow cops while investigating a savage series of deadly attacks that seem to be the work of some strange animal -- a very large, very hungry animal. Tiede draws terrific action scenes, wonderfuly detailed environments, and appealingly manga-flavored characters. His story's a wonderful tease, too, cleverly layering hints of the supernatural into the cops-and-robbers goings-on. Tiede's one of the Web's most underrated comics talents, and his work deserves wider attention.

Book Description

"Sam Peckinpah is, by his own admission and that of almost everyone else in this richly entertaining book, a director who needs adversity to get the juices flowing. As shooting goes on, complications multiply and tensions increase. The wild man, fortified by booze and shots of vitamin B12, rides the whirlwind he creates firing the incompetents beneath him, baiting the ones over him, and bullying and testing and goading the rest...[This book gives] a nuts and bolts account of the...complex interplay of power and art or movie and myth-making as practiced by an idiosyncratic but skillfull manipulator." -New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews:

Solid and fair-minded........2006-02-02

This is the kind of bio that should be written about every important film director. Simmons is just detached enough to be objective, but not cold and removed so as to miss the color and flavor of this remarkable man. Highly reccommended for all interested in films - not just Peckinpah geeks.

Someone should get this guy to do a series of books on directors.

Great Peckinpah biography.......2003-12-16

This is one of the first and best Peckinpah's biographies. Written a few years before his death but with a new preface and postscript it is a superb account about the life and films of Sam Peckinpah. Garner Simmons talked to many friends, family, actors and producers to make this a wonderful readable experience.If you are in the films of Sam Peckinpah get this book!

Peckinpah - just the facts.......1999-11-22

Peckinpah, written by Garner Simmons and published by the Universtity of Texas Press in 1982,is a no-nonsense, non-opinionated look at the life and work of director Sam Peckinpah. The first few chapters are devoted to his early life: parents, childhood, growing up, early TV work, etc. The rest of the book is presented in a movie-by-movie format, with one chapter being devoted to each film. The chronological discussion of each film pays great attention to detail form pre to post production. Lots of good insight from cast and crew members help make this book really special! There is little info on Peckinpah's final film, "The Osterman Weekend", as it had not been released at the time of this book's publication. The book is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Fielding, the extremely talented composer who worked with Peckinpah on several films.

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