Customer Reviews (3)

Fairly General
The AWP guide is fine if you're looking for general information, but it doesn't go into a lot of depth about any of the programs. The standard guide that everyone recommends is Amy Holman's An Insider's Guide to MFA Programs, which is actually outstanding. The MFA Handbook by Tom Kealey is okay too, but it's pretty subjective and not always accurate and a lot of people seem to distrust it. I haven't actually seen it so I can't say, but that's what I've heard.

I don't think it would hurt to have the AWP Guide as a resource, but if you're only going to buy one I'd go with the Insider's Guide.

very limited helpfulness
Overall I cannot give this book higher than two stars, even if I did find it quite helpful because it could have been about twenty times more helpful than it was.

I think that this book did help me in some ways: it is a compact list of every place you can go for a writing program (at least probably 98% of what was available at the time of print). For example, I did a lot of research for M.F.A. programs, but I decided almost last minute, only a little while after I got this book, to go to an M.A. program instead, and this helped me to make the switch on a dime.

But as a previous reviewer noted, the information throughout is significantly lacking. It's inconsistent, says little beyond what can be found on websites, and often is somewhat misleading. However, in the book's defense, I got it as soon as it came out and, after I selected fifteen or so M.A. programs (a good number to apply to since each program is so selective and the faculty at each school will have different tastes) literally six of them changed to M.F.A.s this fall. So things change much more quickly than can be traced.

My advice: look at the colleges you're hoping to apply to and check if they have a (preferably national) literary journal, good faculty (read one or two of their short stories--if the style doesn't grab you right away, then move to someone else), and assistantships (you don't want to get out with a bunch of debt and no experience teaching in case that's what you need to do before your big break).


Bottom line: This book is helpful as a place to start--more so than gradschools.com--but ask professors, look up the MFA creative writing guide (just search amazon... it's by Tom Kealey, a former Stegner fellow at Stanford), and keep reading these professors works. This should not be more than the first resource you look at, and should certainly not be the last.

Where is the editor?
I bought this book for its graduate programs, and I am disappointed with what it has to offer.

This book is a collection of advertisement with minimum editing work. The inconsistency among schools is disturbing: Few schools list their tuition for year 2004-2005; some list their acceptance rates; some don't have their URLs listed; some (5 - 10%) don't have any information other than their names; some list low-residency under "Type of Program", some under "Length of Residency", and some bury the information in description.

There is very little effort put into the indices section. Schools are only listed by states and degrees, but not by emphases (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.), length of residency, scholarship, literary magazines, etc. Unless you know which geographic area and degrees that you are interested in, you have to go through the whole section (231 pages).

I understand that books will always be outdated the day they come out (both U of British Columbia and U of Nebraska offer low-residency programs now), but the sloppiness of the book is troubling. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a new edition of the precalculus text developed by the Consortium based at Harvard University and funded by a National Science Foundation Grant. The text is thought-provoking for well-prepared students while still accessible to students with weaker backgrounds. It provides numerical and graphical approaches as well as algebraic approaches to give students another way of mastering the material. This approach encourages students to persist, thereby lowering failure rates. A large number of real-world examples and problems enable students to create mathematical models that will help them understand the world in which they live.

The focus is on those topics that are essential to the study of calculus and these topics are treated in depth.

• Linear, exponential, power, and periodic functions are introduced before polynomial and rational functions to take advantage of their use to model physical phenomena.
• Building on the Consortium's Rule of Four: Each function is represented symbolically, numerically, graphically, and verbally where appropriate.

Customer Reviews (1)

Modernism in Motion -- Practical, Detailed, Philosophical
This isn't a glossy coffee table book. It is a book by architects for architects from the middle of the 20th century -- documenting modern houses built by over 30 working architects.

The houses are documented with photographs, ground plans, elevations and statements by the architect(s) regarding the factors such as the site, the needs of the owners, climate, construction details, and cost.

Theory is not tossed out of the window. In an introductory section questions such as "What Is Modern?" are posed as the authors quickly cover topics such as "Revolt From Traditional Architecture" and "International Style a Misnomer." A concluding section features statements from the architects.

A superb resource. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: J. A. Scott Kelso, Philip Rubin, Donald Shankweiler, Franklin Seaney Cooper, Katherine Safford Harris, Michael Studdert-Kennedy, Alvin Liberman, Michael Turvey, Caryl Parker Haskins, Elliot Saltzman, Louis M. Goldstein, Robert Remez, David Ostry, Ignatius Mattingly, Isabelle Liberman, Leigh Lisker, Susan Brady, Catherine Browman, Arthur S. Abramson, Carol Fowler, Mark Seidenberg, Douglas Whalen. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 78. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: J. A. Scott Kelso (born 1947 in Derry, Northern Ireland) is an Irish-born neuroscientist, and Professor of Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Professor of Psychology, Biological Sciences and Biomedical Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida and The University of Ulster (Magee Campus) in Derry, N. Ireland. Kelso has worked on coordination dynamics, the science of coordination and on fundamental mechanisms underlying voluntary movements and their relation to the large-scale coordination dynamics of the human brain. His experimental research in the late 70's and early 80's led to the HKB model (Haken-Kelso-Bunz), a mathematical formulation that quantitatively describes and predicts how elementary forms of coordinated behavior arise and change adaptively as a result of nonlinear interactions among components. Kelso was born in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. He attended Foyle College (1958-1965), receiving his undergraduate education at Stranmillis University College Belfast from 1965 to 1969, and the University of Calgary, Alberta from 1971 to 1972. He obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1975. From 1976 to 1978 Kelso was Assistant Professor and Director of The Motor Behavior Laboratory at the University of Iowa. Between 1978 and 1985 he was Senior Resear...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2938828 ... Read more

Product Description
Royalist Women Writers aims to put women back on the map of seventeenth-century royalist literature from which they have habitually been marginalized. Looking in detail at the work of Margaret Cavendish, Katherine Philips, and Aphra Behn, it argues that their writings inaugurate a more assertive model of the Englishwoman as literary author, which is crucially enabled by their royalist affiliations. Chalmers reveals new political sub-texts in the three writers' work and shows how these inflect their representations of gender. In this way both their texts and manner of presenting themselves as authors emerges as freshly pertinent to their male and female royalist contemporaries for whom supporting them could be an act of political self-definition. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Church and State, published by J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State on January 1, 2008. The length of the article is 696 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: To Have and to Hold: Marrying and Its Documentation in Western Christendom, 400-1600.(Book review)
Author: Katherine Christensen
Publication: Journal of Church and State (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2008
Publisher: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
Volume: 50Issue: 1Page: 166(3)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
An illustrated catalogue of 63 major winter landscapes by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Calliebotte and Gauguin.
Amazon.com Review
It may seem eccentric to gather together paintings accordingto the season they depict, but this large, handsome volume will makereaders wonder why no one thought of it before. Winter is differentfrom the other three seasons, with its extraordinary range of colorand light--from subtle grays and pinks to deep blues and yellows--andthe distinct absence of that difficult color, green. This book, thecatalog of an exhibition at the Phillips Collection in Washington,D.C., is a collection of more than 60 large color plates ofimpressionist paintings. They form a surprising group that presentseach painting--even if it is already familiar--in a new way. Thepaintings are beautiful--Monet's Magpie soaking up the sun ashe sits on a fence gate; Caillebotte's lacy iron balcony railingoverlooking the Mansard roofs of Paris; Renoir's black-cloaked iceskaters in the Bois de Boulogne--but in this frigid season, theimpressionists' penchant for working outdoors is arguably what is mostimpressive. In the introductory essay, Charles S. Moffett, the formerdirector of the Phillips, deftly traces the artistic history of snowimagery from the Limbourg brothers' Les Très Riches Heuresdu duc de Berry through Dutch 17th-century snowscapes, CasparDavid Friedrich, and Claude Monet "and a few others," as he wrylyquotes another historian's "nod" to the impressionists. There arethree other essays--on Monet, Pissarro, and Sisley--by three otherscholars, as well as lengthy, readable captions filled with quotesfrom the artists and discussions of their influences. --PeggyMoorman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

White is so beautiful.
I saw this exhibit at the Phillips Collection in DC.It has stayed with me ever since.I love the use of such minimal color creating such beautiful pieces.

Fantastique!
Add this gem to your art book collection. As a screen printer, I have been increasingly seduced by the "winter palette". This wonderful volume compiles the best of the Impressionists as they, too, came toappreciate and explore the unique light, the effects of the weather, theshapes of hibernating nature, the muted hues, and the brooding melancholyof Effets de Neige.

deply, deeply moving
i saw this show in san francisco, and, as an artist, i was moved to silent reverie. the works are astonishing! whoever asssembled them deserves the thanks of anyone who has known the cold, stark beauty of winter and keptits memory in their souls. the artists who captured these moments in timeare unmatched in contemporarypainting. simply, i thank god for theirlives and work. as one who still believes in the power of beauty upon thehuman spirit, i walked away from this show elevated and in awe. mostparticularly, i was enveloped by the works of gustave caillebotte --- solittle known in america; so wondrous in the realization of his vision andhis time. this show is serene. and this book comes close to reflecting itsessence. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Good book
If you like Pissarro's earlier landscape work before he got involved in neo-Impressionist stuff,this is pretty much the only book I've seen with a good selection of prints from that period.I wish it were more comprehensive but there are a number of lesser known paintings in here. A few knocked my socks off (such as Houses at Bougival 1870).At his best, he was every bit as good as Cezanne, Monet, and Corot; sometimes better. Its a shame that so many paintings from this period were lost in a fire.

Pissarro
I found that the book Pissarro was very through and had lots of his work included.I enjoyed it very much.He was one of the first impressionists and they school of impressionism is my favorite area of the arts. ... Read more

Product Description
Computer expert Cat Velis is heading for a job to Algeria. Before she goes, a mysterious fortune teller warns her of danger, and an antique dealer asks her to search for pieces to a valuable chess set that has been missing for years...In the South of France in 1790 two convent girls hide valuable pieces of a chess set all over the world, because the game that can be played with them is too powerful....Amazon.com Review
Katherine Neville's debut novel is a postmodern thriller setin 1972 ... and 1790. In the 20th century, Catherine Velis is acomputer expert with a flair for music, painting, and chess who, onher way to Algeria at the behest of the accounting firm where she isemployed, is invited to take a mysterious moonlighting assignment:recover the pieces of an old chess set missing for centuries.

In the midst of the French Revolution, a young novice discovers thather abbey is the hiding place of a chess set, once owned by the greatCharlemagne, which allows those who play it to tap into incrediblepowers beyond the imagination. She eventually comes into contact withthe major historical figures of the day, from Robespierre to Napoleon,each of whom has an agenda.

The Eight is a non-stop ride that recalls the swashbucklingadventures of Indiana Jones as well as the historical puzzles ofUmberto Eco which, since its first publication in 1988, has gone on toacquire a substantial cult following. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (411)

What?
I tried to read this book...I really did. I got 2/3 of the way through and finally had enough. Yes...I know this is fiction, but is it also supposed to be fantasy? So....two women drive through the HOTTEST desert on earth in a rolls royce with NO ROOF. They have no food, and barely enough water, not to mention a little dog and are rescued by a plane that happens to be big enough to transport them AND the rolls royce. ARE.YOU.KIDDING.ME? That along with the back and forth from past to future about a chess set and different people being the players is just too much. What is the point? NOTHING makes sense and sadly I was not willing to find out. The book could have been cut in size if there was an actual STORY. This is just fluff with each chapter more ridiculous than the last.

A pleasant road to nowhere
To her credit, Neville writes quite well.The Eight interweaves two parallel stories -- one set in 'historical' times, one set in the present -- in alternating chapters.The former are skillfully accomplished (compelling, convincing in their way), albeit somewhat forced: nearly everyone we encounter is a major historical figure (please).The latter, less skillfully accomplished (cliched writing, lame dialogue, less than credible plotting).Until I reached the final chapters of this novel I might otherwise have given it 4 stars for sheer entertainment value (of the in-flight variety; this is very light stuff).But I have to dock 2 stars for the incredibly weak resolution of its story lines.Neville runs with a hokey but entertaining enough idea through nearly 600 pages, and then gives up the ghost.My guess is she put a great deal of thought to the general arc of her story, wrote it up excitedly over a period of weeks/months, and then awoke one day panicked at the thought that it was time to wrap things up.The concluding chapters of The Eight read like panicked wrap-up chapters, offering very little payoff for the investment of reading time to that point.Is this the best KN can do?

A Steady Diet of Cotton Candy
Reading Katherine Neville's novel The Eight was like having to eat nothing but cotton candy for a week straight.Heavy-handed, unintentionally funny with dialogue straight out of a "Bad Novel" writing contest, it drags on and on like a terrible nightmare.I finally resorted to something I have NEVER done with a book--skipping to the last chapter to see Who Dun It.In my defense, this was done out of a sense of self-preservation as I thought if I had to read any more of this drivel I might go mad.I can't believe this is a best-seller!As the author was a VP at B of A, did she make her staff buy it, read it and do book reports? As her character Harry might say, "Oy, darling!"

The Eight
This is by far one of the best booksI have ever read
It may be fictional, but the rich exotic places andworld hitorycoverd is extraordinary.
i use this for all my high school students for English,Reading and Literature

Thrilling, fascinating, highly entertaining
The Eightis a thrilling mystery/adventure with smart and capable heroines, fascinating history, intriguing mysteries, exotic locations, startling discoveries, math puzzles, codes and ciphers, amusing historical cameos, twists and turns, and what I think is an epic scope. It may not be high art, but it is extremely entertaining and enjoyable. It is without a doubt one of the most entertaining books I've read, and therefore, despite it's flaws, it is highly satisfying. So either I'm not a discerning reader or the entertainment value really is that good. Or both.

This is one of those books that the cliche of being unable to put it down was made for. It took a while, particularly since the narrative switches between two different time periods with two different heroines to get used to, but once I got into the story, I did little else other than read more of it. I was in such thrall to this book that I never put it down if I could help it. I wanted to read it in one sitting just so that I wouldn't have to wait to find out what happened.

There were some complaints, namely that the characters were numerous, while the characterizations and motivations could be somewhat weak, and that the writing was a bit clunky at times and unpolished. However, none of these are condemnations, which shows they weren't too bothersome. Not having read any later books by this author, I'm hoping the less than excellent prose was due to this being her first book. Also, compared to other writing that I've thought wasn't great, Katherine Neville is way above: she's not simplistic, and she definitely has a style--it's just unpolished.

This book made me excited to learn more about its themes, locations, characters, ideas. I'd been looking forward to reading this for so long that I had very high hopes for it, but after reading some reviews, I had somewhat low expectations. Suffice it to say, my hopes were met, my expectations were exceeded, and now I want to go read the sequel that came out last year. ... Read more