My Quest for Beauty

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A flawed but beautiful book

My Quest for Beauty
Rollo May
Manufacturer: Saybrook Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0933071019

Customer Reviews:

A flawed but beautiful book.......1998-07-14

This is not technically May's best work, but it may be one of his most powerful. He writes of beauty as "ultimate concern" to use Tillich's term, and tells of how his own discovery--or really, rediscovery--of beauty literally saved his life from the devouring jaws of depression. This is the most personally revealing of May's many books, including some of his perceptive sketches and watercolors. Despite the somewhat fragmented, discontinuous quality of the chapters, this book is fascinating and its effect on me was profound: shortly after finishing it, I found myself more highly attuned to and appreciative of the beauty all around us everyday, sustaining beauty we tend to lose sight of in our busy lives. Thank you, Rollo May, for the priceless reminder.

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In My Quest for Beauty
Fran Stiff
Manufacturer: Lourie
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0958461112

Book Description

Drawing on the combined expertise of conservators, scientists, and art historians, ArtMatters brings together a wealth of information about artists' materials, techniques, and studio practice from different periods and disciplines. This volume presents a collection of lavishly illustrated articles by important scholars working in the interdisciplinary field of technical art history.

ArtMatters goes beyond the pure identification of materials toaddress the connection between the artist's methods and intentions, as well as the relationship between changes in style, technical developments, and materials available, all set against an art historical context. It will be an invaluable resource for art historians, conservators, collectors, and all those interested in the making of artworks.

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Forget about the experts, Dave Barry describes exactly what it's like to be a foreigner in Japan.

Failed to find the humor.

It's hard to write humor but this one suceeds!

One of Barry's Funniest Books!

So Funny if you are a gaijin in Japan

Dave Barry Does Japan
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0679404856
Release Date: 1992-10-20

Amazon.com

Is this comedic tour of Japan discreet, tasteful, or politically correct? The answer, thank god, is Naaah! Yet Dave Barry's travelogue never grows mean-spirited, and he's always ready to laugh at his own country--and by extension, himself. An example: "I understand that, even if two Japanese have worked together for many years, neither would dream of using the other's first name. Whereas Americans are on a first-name basis immediately, and by the end of the first day have generally graduated to 'Yo, Butthead!'"

Book Description

"One of the funniest peole ever to tap tap on a PC."
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Not since George Bush's memorable dinner with the Japanese prime minister has the Land of the Rising Sun seen the likes of a goodwill ambassador like Dave Barry. Join him as he belts out oldies in a karaoke bar, marries a geriatric geisha girl, takes his first bath in public, bows to just about everyone, and explores culture shock in all its numerous humorous forms, including: Failing to Learn Japanese in Only Five Minutes (Or: "Very Much Good Morning, Sir!") ; Humor in Japan (Take My Tofu, Please!); Sports in Japan ("Yo, Batter! Loudly Make it Fly!"), and more.

Customer Reviews:

Forget about the experts, Dave Barry describes exactly what it's like to be a foreigner in Japan........2007-10-01

The publisher's money was well spent in sending Dave Barry and his family to Japan to write this book and I really hope they do more of this. He managed to make fun of Japan without being insulting--which seems otherwise impossible to do, as my fussy Japanese wife constantly reminds me. If my wife had her way, I would have committed ritual suicide at least twice a week since we married.

I've spoken Japanese since I was a teenager; lived there nearly a decade; and my wife is from Japan; yet for all my experience and knowledge of the country I, nor any expat I've ever known, nor any native Japanese (perhaps particularly my wife) could describe what it's like so well as Dave Barry has after a two week trip.

My only complaint about this book is that at some points he looked up a few actual facts and presented them seriously. These are the only weak parts of the book because they can't compete with any off the shelf fact book on the country or academic work, and they miss the point. The point is that Japanese people fart, kiss butt, get silly, have fun, argue, make love, and can be real a-holes just like you and me--but in a different language and setting. The point is that Japan is so different, that people are people, and that differences are funny in themselves.

The most remarkable thing is that Dave Barry tells you what it's really like largely WITHOUT satire and yet it's still entertaining.

No other book makes the point so clear as this one does, that you don't need to study up to travel to what may seem like an intimidatingly exotic land and have an interesting time. Dave Barry went to Japan knowing nothing about the place, and came back much the same, but his observations are priceless.

BOTTOM LINE: If you're heading to Japan on business or pleasure, or are just curious about the country and its people, I recommend this book more highly than any other on the subject--really, honestly, or as the author would say "I'm not making this up." I especially recommend this book over speaking to either me or my wife on the subject, and most importantly am against discussing Japan with my wife and I in the same room at the same time--seriously, I will slap you. Read Dave Barry's book instead, please!

Failed to find the humor........2007-09-04

Prior to reading this book, I hadn't read any Dave Barry since I was half my current age: 13. I remember finding him the pinnacle of humor back then, so I figured I'd give this a shot for some light bed time reading. Perhaps it was with my expectations, heightened from the past, but I barely cracked a smile throughout this whole book. The book does present many of the eccentric memes of Japanese culture, and weird situations that foreigners can get themselves into, but it seemed like very little thought went into the presentation. No real work was put into framing the situations; much of the book were just plain observations as he saw them. The result is something that would come out as funny to someone completely oblivious to Japanese culture, but bland as a technical manual to those already familiar with the culture. Also, he seemed completely in love with footnotes* that mainly consisted of thoughts you've probably had on something. The book isn't a total loss however, as even if you don't find it humorous, it at least has interesting first hand accounts of the country and some smaller aspects of culture you wouldn't regularly find on a travel show. Also the book uses fairly simple language, which you might appreciate if you were 13, but you might find yourself rolling your eyes at even if you're just out of high school.

* Like this one. Get it? Har har.

It's hard to write humor but this one suceeds!.......2007-03-19

I had to go to Japan several times for work and this book really does bring out the things (in a funny way) that are different than the country I'm from, which is the U.S. If you have not been to Japan but if you are a Dave Barry fan, I wouldn't recommend the book as I think you have to be there before you would really appreciate all that Dave talks about. I've given this book to several others who use to go with me to Japan and everyone finds is is "laugh out loud" funny.

One of Barry's Funniest Books!.......2007-02-15

I like to keep funny books on my night table so I can fall asleep with a joyous thought. For years I kept Dave Barry Does Japan beside my bed. After having read it through the first time, I would just open it to any page, giggle, and fall into a happy sleep.
This is one HILARIOUS book from the greatest humor writer of all time!

So Funny if you are a gaijin in Japan.......2007-01-16

If you're a gaijin living in Japan you will totally relate to this book and some of the experiences. Most of it is so funny. Some of it is a little outdated, but overall great fun.

Average customer rating:

The Best of Dave Barry Does Japan

Manufacturer: Dove Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1558007415

Product Description

The Best of Dave Barry Does Japan read by Arte Johnson

The Best of Dave Barry Does Japan (Super Sound Buys)

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The Best of Dave Barry Does Japan (Super Sound Buys)
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Dove Entertainment Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

Humor | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

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ASIN: 078710079X

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Dave Barry Does Japan
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Random House Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NXU1UI

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Dave Barry Does Japan
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0PMOA

Book Description

Americans have had a long-standing love affair with the wilderness. As cities grew and frontiers disappeared, film emerged to feed an insatiable curiosity about wildlife. The camera promised to bring us into contact with the animal world, undetected and unarmed. Yet the camera's penetration of this world has inevitably brought human artifice and technology into the picture as well. In the first major analysis of American nature films in the twentieth century, Gregg Mitman shows how our cultural values, scientific needs, and new technologies produced the images that have shaped our contemporary view of wildlife.

Like the museum and the zoo, the nature film sought to recreate the experience of unspoiled nature while appealing to a popular audience, through a blend of scientific research and commercial promotion, education and entertainment, authenticity and artifice. Travelogue-expedition films, like Teddy Roosevelt's African safari, catered to upper- and middle-class patrons who were intrigued by the exotic and entertained by the thrill of big-game hunting and collecting. The proliferation of nature movies and television shows in the 1950s, such as Disney's True-Life Adventures and Marlin Perkins's Wild Kingdom, made nature familiar and accessible to America's baby-boom generation, fostering the environmental activism of the latter part of the twentieth century. Reel Nature reveals the shifting conventions of nature films and their enormous impact on our perceptions of, and politics about, the environment.

Whether crafted to elicit thrills or to educate audiences about the real-life drama of threatened wildlife, nature films then and now reveal much about the yearnings of Americans to be both close to nature and yet distinctly apart.

Book Description

Joe Ambrose has spent 5 years talking to the fans and the bands who subscribe to the violent culture of the Moshpit. This disturbing book is the result. Moshing, Ambrose says, is a unique and often violent interaction between artists and fans. Its heroes are bands like Marilyn Manson, Korn and Slipknot. Injuries to fans - even death - are all part of the attraction. A riveting expose of rock's darker side.

Customer Reviews:

Not only about moshpits and moshers.......2007-01-03

Imagine yourself being stuck in an unbearably hot room. There are tons of people all around you, the volume is ear-shattering, a few yards from where you're standing a furious punk band beats the crap out of their instruments, the drummer is pounding his kit to pieces, the singer yells his lyrics in agony, the guitarist and bass player blast out their riffs in ways that make them feel they physically enter your body, all around you the rest of the audience is going completely berserk, time and again you're inches away from being hit by a boot or a clenched fist, you must constantly be on the lookout for crowdsurfers coming up on you from behind, and sometimes in between songs you're only able - if you're lucky - to get a few seconds rest.

This goes on for more than an hour, and if that's not tough enough, you've even agreed to pay money to be there.

Sounds appealing? If not, then think closely before rejecting the entire phenomenon, because all the world there are people finding this very scenario to be paradise on Earth. And Joe Ambrose's Moshpit is all about these people, who they are and why they do what they do, and how experiencing a truly mind-boggling concert really feels.

Ambrose himself is one of these people. He's simply a music fanatic, and much of the book is basically summaries of different shows he's attended, the feelings he's experienced while moshing, the people he's met, and the bands he's seen. Not everything is about live shows and moshing, though, and Ambrose writes extensively about music and music history, especially punk and metal. Once in a while the reader is treated with an interview, and it's obviously very interesting to hear what the musicians themselves think about all the crazy moshing taking place right in front of them.

And speaking of bands, Ambrose's own taste in music isn't very difficult to figure out, talking as he does about "LA metal loser Guns 'n Roses" (pg.40), and referring to Linkin Park as "perfect MTV fodder for kids who know no better." (pg.204).

The last few years several serious accidents - some of the fatal - have happened during large shows, for instance during the Roskilde Festival in 1999 and Big Day Out in Australia the years after. Ambrose pays close attention to these tragic accidents, and it's definitely interesting to hear how the members of Pearl Jam reacted after the infamous Roskilde gig, and regardless of one's personal opinion about Pearl Jam and their music it still becomes quite moving to learn of how singer Eddie Vedder cried openly on stage.

Compared to Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, who - judging from the text - mostly got pissed off when their gig had to be stopped due to the utter chaos in the crowd. I'm not sure this portrayal is intentional or not, but it could at least be possible that that's the case, considering what Ambrose thinks about the band:

"In fact they are a very plastic and derivative combination of Kid Rock and The Beastie Boys without the creativity of one and the humour of the other. Ill-educated white trash kids are inclined to say that Limp Bizkit speak for them, are them. There is something lumpen and vulgar about the band's onstage assault on the audience." (pg.218)

I've never been a big fan of live shows myself, and because of this it's difficult to really understand and relate to Ambrose when he praises the divine bliss that in his world is a good moshpit. Either you love it or you don't; I don't think it's possible to "sort of" love going to concerts. And that's why this can be an interesting read. Because if you don't love moshpits you're likely to hate them, and because of this it can be a great treat to read about something others love while you personally hate what these people passionately love.

A few organizational problems, but otherwise good........2006-06-29

Joe Ambrose, Moshpit: The Violent World of Moshpit Culture (Omnibus, 2001)

I can't review this book-- nor even start talking about it-- without griping about its title. Yes, I'm getting old. But starting sometime in the early nineties, the term "moshing" drifted away from its original meaning-- what Ambrose, early in the book, terms the "circle pit"-- and started being used as an all-inclusive term for slamming, skanking, pogoing, and various other dance moves one found in use at punk shows. But if you want to be old-school, folks, get your hands on a copy of the first Circle Jerks album, examine the amusing pictures in the liner notes, and follow along. That's moshing. (As an alternative, check out, if you can find it, the video for Anthrax's 1986 hit "Indians," perhaps the best filmed depiction of moshing extant.)

Okay, that said, this is otherwise a pretty fun book. Ambrose alternates (roughly) between wandering through shows on a couple of different continents and looking at the pit from a more philosophical perspective. On the upside, Ambrose retains the same tone throughout, making this somewhat more readable than, say, Steven Blush's American Hardcore: A Tribal History. On the downside, however, Ambrose's tone is about the only thing consistent about the book. The various pieces of text (they don't seem like chapters, per se) have a disorganized feel to them. The book seems thrown together more than anything.

There are certainly some things to like about it; Ambrose traces the devolution of pit culture from its beginnings to the stupidity that has plagued pits for the past half-decade or so. In the process, he takes us inside pits from the destructive chaos of Woodstock '99 to the last bastions of true pit culture left today, hiding out in underground and squatters' clubs.

If you can sift through the organizational problems, there's a good deal to be enjoyed here. You just have to work a little harder than you should to get it. ***

Moshpit Editor's response.......2003-07-22

I am the London-based editor of Moship Culture by Joe Ambrose and I take exception to the comments of your reviewer in Pocatello, Idaho. In the UK, where this book was originated, 'realise' is spelt thus, as is 'organise'; indeed, almost all those verbs that end in -ize in the US end in -ise in the language of the country where it was first written and spoken. 'Quick march' is a common phrase here. Comments like this reflect a deep ignorance of language on the part of this reviewer.

An Englishman replies.......2003-07-21

I found this thought-provoking, interesting, an essential read about contemporary music styles and what it means to be a fan. Your reviewer from Pocatello needs to know that 'realise' and 'organise' are the recognised English spellings of these words (as is 'recognised' by the way). In addition, 'quick march' is a English expression. There are other forms of the language besides the one adapted for American usage. If your reviewer is uncertain of England's location, I suggest he/she logs on to Amazon again and buys an atlas.

solid, fact driven, written by an obvious fan of the music.......2002-02-07

The title is doesn't really cover the depth of the contents nor the knowlegeble (sub-culture / music) fan the author comes across as...
it is very well written...as are Joe's other books.
As one of the "30-something fat gut types" the thread from old skool punk to straight edge to indie to nu-metal was a great nostalgic journey. The descriptions of the surrounding cultural influence to all the music genres is spot on. highly recommended for any lover of live music. in the pit or not.

also sports an excelent set of well placed interviews.

/neil

Book Description

Easy to solve . . . hard to resist! For solvers who want more of the fun and less of the challenge of solving the legendary New York Times crossword comes this collection of light and fun puzzles. All the puzzles in this book originally appeared in Monday editions of the paper---the easiest of the week---and they're fun and enjoyable while still providing the same high standards that have always been the mark of The New York Times and its crossword editor, Will Shortz.* Fifty of the easiest daily crossword puzzles * Edited by crossword great Will Shortz* Puzzles feature fun, fresh clues and vocabulary

Customer Reviews:

Challenging but not too much!.......2007-09-29

Love these Monday puzzles! Keeps the brain moving and gives me a sense of accomplishment when I can complete most of the puzzle vs. the Sunday editions! Perfect for relaxing or winding down after a long day.

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