Book Description
Current philosophies of art remain sadly dominated by visions of its end and lamentations of decline. Defining the very notions of art and the aesthetic as special products of Western modernity, they suggest that postmodern challenges to traditional high culture pose a devastating danger to art's future. Richard Shusterman's new book cuts through the seductive confusions of these views by tracing the earthy roots of aesthetic experience and showing how the recent flourishing of aesthetic forms outside modernity's sacralized realm of fine art evince the persistent presence of an artistic impulse far deeper and more durable than the modernist moment.
Performing Live defends the abiding power of aesthetic experience by exploring its diverse roles, methods, and meanings, especially in fields marginal to traditional aesthetics but now most vibrantly alive in today's culture and new media. Ranging from rap, techno, and country music to cinema, cyberspace and urban design, Shusterman develops his radical theory of "somaesthetics," charting the complex network of bodily arts so prominent in contemporary life and self-styling. By blending concrete aesthetic analysis with insightful social critique, Shusterman, a well-known pragmatist philosopher, provides a rich menu and critical guide for today's pursuit of the art of living.
Customer Reviews:
Confused and confusing book.......2006-11-15
I base this review on the first few pages of this book that persuaded me to stop reading it. The author is vague and confused. Two choices: Naturalism versus Historicism. author says that historicism cannot be accurate because "pre-modern" societies also display "artistic" tendencies. Tripping all over himself: the historiciss are seem to be saying that the very notion of art is historical, so why is Schusterman extending it into pre-history? I haven't read much philosophy and this lack of precision makes me want to keep my distance.
Somaesthetics and self-styling.......2006-01-20
Most readers will run quickly to the sections on "somaesthetics" at the end of the book, for it is here that Shusterman is making claims that are both radical and fun. The main point of his chapter, "Somaesthetics and the Body/Media Issue," is that there is an interesting parallel between critique of the media (for example television) and the traditional philosophical critique of the body. He notes that at the same time the media seem to dematerialize the body, the body seems to matter more. One must concentrate on the slow savoring of deeper breathing, rather than be a couch potato captured by media-induced passivity. Media advocates often see the body as dull and inert. By contrast, Shusterman sees the body a "the primordial paradigm of the media" since it is the basic medium of human life. The chapter also elaborates the structure of the field of somaesthetics, mainly the invention of Shusterman himself. Somaesthetics is defined as "the critical, ameliorative study of one's experience and use of one's body as a locus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation and creative self-fashioning."
Shusterman is to be commended for bringing our attention to the relations between various body practices (yoga, modern dance, etc.) and the earliest Greek notions of philosophy: here, self-knowledge requires bodily knowledge. He rightly argues that we need to overcome the traditional Western denigration of the body. He uses various arguments to incorporate such body practices is "Alexander technique" into philosophy. However, the same arguments could also be used to meld psychoanalysis, prayer, and architecture with philosophy, since all of these are concerned with producing "the good life." Why can't we overcome the Western philosophical denigration of the body by simply giving credit to the various body (and psychological) practices available as contributing to self-knowledge, while at the same time setting aside a space for specifically philosophical self-knowledge through questioning and dialogue, a practice that traditionally requires no more than a brain, a hand and a pen? Shusterman perhaps answers this when he says that a central aim of philosophy is right action, which requires an effective will, which requires, in turn, an effective body: we need "somatic" (his word for body-oriented) sensitivity to make the will effective. Yet although philosophy is certainly concerned with the pursuit of happiness, and although Shusterman is right that philosophers should pay attention to somaesthetics, it is not clear that these are necessarily connected. The attention philosophy pays to somaesthetics may not significantly contribute to happiness, that is, beyond the pleasure we might gain from philosophically exploring anything. Yoga-practitioners already have a fan base, and these people are not necessarily inclined to engaging in philosophical dialogue. He is right, though, that somaesthetics has "social potential that should not be ignored" and that aesthetics should include such things as improved body feeling in its explorations.
The book ends with a paean to genius and self-styling. Here we see to what extent Shusterman is not only a pragmatist but something of a romantic. The concept of genius has been much denigrated in recent years and, although this essay is mainly a pastiche of quotes from Montaigne, Emerson, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, it should inspire us to look again at the concept of genius. In opposition to Aristotle, who separated making from doing, Shusterman claims that artistic style must be related to lifestyle. This connects with his Deweyan (this refers to American philosopher John Dewey) desire to forge a more democratic concept of art. Shusterman also shows himself here to be something of an idealist. He writes: "If.. the art of living.. could be practiced by all, then beauty would express itself much more fully in moral integrity, political fairness, and social harmony - not just in works of art." This is a bit optimistic, but worth trying. Shusterman's main point is that the power of individual style lies in a more-than-individual force, and comes only through patient discipline followed by "letting go" -- at which point we are both true to ourselves while also transforming ourselves into something different.
This book is recommended for anyone interested in philosophical aesthetics, especially from a pragmatist point of view.
Pragmatically Original.......2001-12-07
This is a very exciting and well-written book. Shusterman develops his pragmatist perspective on the themes of aesthetic experience, urbanism, popular art and the new media. There are also illuminating analyses of multiculturalism, style, and body culture. The philosophically most original part of the book may be the two new studies that elaborate his ground-breaking theory of somaesthetics -- a body-mind discipline of theory and practice. But my favorite chapters were those on urban aesthetics, style, and genius that combine strong argument with evocatively lyrical, personal writing. Three of the book's 10 chapters are based on earlier work from his Pragmatist Aesthetics, but they help complement the brand new chapters to turn the book into a very sustained, compelling argument. It all flows together like a great CD.
A disappointing book from a very bright philosopher........2001-10-24
Having read some of Richard Shusterman's previous books, I have to agree with the previous reviewer that Shusterman is one of the brightest, most interesting philosophers writing today. However, this book, PERFORMING LIVE, is a disappointment: it reads like a boring grocery list that could have been written by a mediocre grad. student. Where is Shusterman's usually sizzling, incisive intelligence? Hopefully, his next book will be better.
Pragmatist Aesthetics Redux.......2001-01-23
Richard Shusterman is one of the most original, interesting, and relevant philosophers writing today. His recent book, PRACTICING PHILOSOPHY, was among the best published in the 1990s. Thus, PERFORMING LIVE comes as something of a disappointment. If you've read PRAGMATIST AESTHETICS in either its original or revised and updated form, you'll notice at least _three full chapters_ here that have been cut and pasted more or less verbatim. The points Shusterman makes in these chapters are eloquent and well-taken, but PERFORMING LIVE isn't that long a book, and one would have hoped Shusterman had something new to say. On a positive note, the new chapters _do_ rank with the best of Shusterman's previous work.
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La Creacion Artistica y Las Promesas de Libertad
O. Revault
Manufacturer: Editorial Gustavo Gili
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ASIN: 8425206537 |
Book Description
The magical friendship shared by Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes has endeared them to millions of fans in their comic strip appearing in more than 800 newspapers and in millions of books. Now their friendship endures in a full-color collection of Sunday cartoons and original art done for the book, all fit for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Whether visiting other planets as Spaceman Spiff, transmogrifying into a dangerous dinosaur, or just hanging around with Hobbes, Calvin's adventures display a showcase for the masterful art of Bill Watterson. The enlarged format of full-color Sunday illustrations provides more room for all the action and imagination inherent in each Calvin and Hobbes enterprise. Readers will delight in pages enlivened with the bright color images of this precocious pair embroiled in all kinds of predicaments. Watterson engages readers of all ages with the seemingly endless imagination of Calvin, tempered by the more thoughtful Hobbes. The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book will provide many lazy Sunday afternoons of smiles and laughter.
Customer Reviews:
Calvin the imaginative.......2007-05-27
This collection takes place mostly in summer/fall and the theme is around lazy days and Sundays as well. My favourite panel in this collection is when Susie and Calvin are playing house and begins: S: "Darlinggg, I'm home! And I brought a surprise!" C: "Let's hope it's a divorce!" I still go off into spurts of laughter at that one... **LOL** Enjoy (in full page and full colour) the adventures of Spaceman Spiff to a max here. There is also a lot of "pouncing" which I thought would have been more appropriate in Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat but....nevertheless 5 stars for a great strip that never gets tired!
THE BEST SUNDAY COMIC COLLECTION FROM WATTERSON.......2006-06-18
This collection is the best from Watterson. 5 stars. Calvin and Hobbes are great in this one.
Fun, Fun, Fun.......2006-02-07
What a treat, 126 large pages of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips in full-color. Having this book means being able to read and re-read your favorites. There are even a couple I'd like to frame and look at every day.
Bill Watterson does such a great job getting inside a kid's head and what a kid. Calvin's active imagination creates imaginary worlds, monsters under the bed, and bedevils his parents and Susie who lives down the street.
Hobbes comes alive when he's alone with Calvin, but reverts to a stuffed tiger when others are present. Their conversations are inventive, philosophical, and sometimes just silly. It's great fun!
My Very First Calvin and Hobbes Experience.......2005-01-20
Six years ago this book was my very first introduction to the world of Calvin and Hobbes. I had seen these comics in the newspapers, but for some reason had never really bothered to read them. Needless to say, this book changed all that.
Calvin is a 6-year-old with a rather imaginative mind. He spends his days imagining himself as a dinosaur, a human bug, a space hero or a superhero. Hobbes is his stuffed toy tiger, an imaginary friend (or so it seems...), who has a rather funny philosophical take on Calvin's doings. Other important characters include Calvin's mother and father, who sometimes have it tough trying to put up with their son, and the neighbour's girl Susie, one of Calvin's main "enemies".
Basically this book consists of various Sunday strips, each the length of one page. In the beginning of the book there's also a 10-page short story about Spaceman Spiff, one of Calvin's many alter egoes. No former experiense with the comics is needed to enjoy this book.
Calvin & Hobbes is definetly one of the funniest comics of all time. Along with the Far Side, Matt Groening's Life Is Hell and the French Asterix comics these books manage to make me giggle aloud every time I read them (which can be quite embarassing when you have company).
But the Calvin and Hobbes books are, I think, also somewhat more than just a good laugh. Mr Watterson has a wonderful ability of going inside a child's head and seeing the space monster in the neighbour's girl or the time machine in a cardboard box. His characters feel very real, and at times, remind you of your own childhood.
I guess that's why these books also have such a strange sadness to them, because always behind the corner there lurks the awful possibility that Calvin, too, will have to grow up someday.
I miss these guys so much.......2004-05-15
Calvin and Hobbes was by far one of the most creative comic strips of the 80s and 90s--right up there with Bloom County and The Far Side. As a matter of fact reading this brilliant trio was a daily ritual for me.
But there was a perverse sweetness (I can't explain what that means) to Calvin and Hobbes that the others lacked. This collection, THE LAZY SUNDAY BOOK, features many of the best. Each time a look through it, I laugh out loud like an idiot. The overall effect, however, is nostalgia. There's nothing as good out there now, and I miss my trinity of comic geniuses, but Calvin and Hobbes the most!
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Calvin and Hobbes' Lazy Sunday Book
Manufacturer: Time Warner Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Calvin and Hobbes
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ASIN: 0751508942 |
Customer Reviews:
It Is all Colorful Art.......2006-09-09
If all the other Calvin and Hobbes books I have are excellent, then surely this one must be great. All the comics in this wonderful collection are in color, and are rendered incredibly well. If you thought the original Sunday comics were good, then you'll love the rich color of these.
This book opens with a 10 page mini-story about Spaceman Spiff, Interplanetary Explorer Extraordinaire. The art in this story is very good. I think that Bill Watterson was born in the wrong era. He would have been much happier in the era when Sunday comics were permitted a full page to tell a refined story, where the art was rich with detail.
Once into the book you get a collection of comics that originally appeared in Sunday newspapers. While the humor level varies, most will make you smile, and some will give you laughs. It would be impossible to describe the variety of stories, but a couple of examples will help.
In one story Calvin has glued paper feathers to his arm in order to fly. Consistent with Bill Watterson's father's profession (he's a patent attorney), Calvin tells Hobbes that he will get the patent when his device works. Hobbes gives Calvin a heave over a cliff with predictable results. Hobbes advises Calvin, "Don't sell the bike shop, Orville."
For a Mother's Day related strip, Calvin has created a Mother's Day card, including a poem he wrote himself. Included in the poem are comments regarding the size of his allowance, and the poem ends with a request to get out of bed and cook breakfast. His mothers comment? "I'm deeply moved."
This collection is filled with a variety of Calvin and Hobbes staples. Calvin the dinosaur makes several appearances, there are a variety of snowman comics, there are a number of with Susie Derkins, and frequently these strips feature Calvin's usually bizarre viewpoint of life. Given the quality of the book, the longer length of the strips, and the full color, I consider this book to be a very good value, particularly when you consider other graphic books of similar size. Bill Watterson has been a consistently good writer and artist, and each of these full page, full color strips will be a treat for fans of the series and anyone else in need of a smile.
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Calvin and Hobbes' Lazy Sunday Book
Manufacturer: TIME WARNER PAPERBAC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Calvin and Hobbes
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ASIN: B000GSE73W |
Book Description
Ah, the ubiquitous art photography book with its boring pictures of boring celebrities. Not so, Famous Pairs. Still life with fruit? Not exactly. Think famous couples as fruit. Pears, more precisely. Photographer Jeannie Sprecher and writer Kim O'Brien have created a deliciously twisted take on celebrity photos and art photography. In Famous Pairs, they present some of our culture's most famous and infamous duos as pears. The result? A juicy collection ripe with funny social commentary.
Don't worry. You'll have no trouble recognizing these couples. Bonnie and Clyde riddled with bullet holes. Adam and Eve confronting the apple. King Henry VIII beside a decapitated Anne Boleyn. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky . . . Let's just say it's a good thing the artists used fruit as their medium.
With artistic arrangements of shapely Anjous, Bartletts, Red Bartletts, and Boscs that will make your mouth water and rich four-color photography, Sprecher and O'Brien have assembled a unique collection that both skewers and rivals the most pretentious art photography books. After one taste, you will certainly agree. Another serving, please!
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant with a bite.......2005-10-03
The visual wit of Ms. Sprecher and Ms. O'Brien is keen. Their brilliant portraits of well-known duos captures the essence of their fame with humor and charm. And as shown with the depiction of Michael Jackson "Then and Now" with an occasional (hilarious) nasty, um, bite, too.
How is this possible?.......2005-09-24
I would never have believed it could be done. That humble pairs could actually take on distinct and identifiable human personalities. The secret is just as much in the first class photography as the clever positioning. Well worth the tenner as a present or just something fun for the coffee table.
PAIR PARES PEARS.......2005-09-23
Sprecher & O'Brien are horticulturally hilarious to the core. FAMOUS PAIRS is even funnier on the second read and funnier still on the third. It's a great buy for a pair of fivers!
Funnier Than Grapefruit.......2005-09-22
This is a very funny book. The visual wit startles, like a jack-in-the box to a two year old. My mother in law would have bought copies by the dozen as stocking presents. She gave the best stocking presents. Buy this book as a stocking present and make someone laugh.
Fruit through new eyes.......2005-09-22
This book is a REALLY creative way to view the common, but curvy pair. I have to admit that I didn't get EVERY SINGLE reference, but I was able to relate to most of the vignettes and each invoked a smile if not an all-out belly laugh.
More of this kind of book.
Book Description
Films about "the love that dare not speak its name" have been around for decades, but only recently have they formed an out-and-proud genre. In the first overview of its kind, The Queer Movie Poster Book traces the history of gay film through its posters and promotional art. Sometimes alluring, sometimes lurid, often coded, the posters speak volumes about the social mores of the times and the struggle for queer identity. Historian Jenni Olson includes over 150 posters -- from Wallace Beery drag follies to the latest indy productions -- which showcase the varied spectrum of queer cinema. Fascinating sidebars discuss dykesploitation films (typically made by straight men for straight men), gay porn (an overlooked means to social liberation in its own right), and films with transgender themes (studded with pulled-from-the-headlines movies). From the earnest to the campy, The Queer Movie Poster Book constitutes a vibrant feast of popular art and a valuable document of gay film culture.
Customer Reviews:
Witty, wicked, smart, & entertaining gay lesbian film book .......2004-09-14
Filmmaker and queer film archivist and historian Jenni Olson returns to print with this dazzling visual tour through the history of marketing Queer films to mostly straight, and eventually gay and lesbian audiences.
Starting in 1915! and moving to the present day, the beautifully designed QMPB chronicles the evolution of imagery and words used to convey queer-themed films to the ticket buying public, from the homophobic to the homoerotic, from the exploitative to the honest, and from the cryptic to the comic.
You'll find many recurring visual themes such as the the torn image (Victim), the shameful downward glance (The Children's Hour), is he or isn't he? (The Fourth Sex, The Gay Deceivers), the optical illusion lesbian line drawing (The Killing of Sister George, The Fox), the nelly visual tell (The Leather Boys, La Cage aux Folles), the insert photo of insignificant character of the opposite sex to make the film seem less gay (Desert Hearts) and the mother of all movie poster phalluses (Querelle, Prick up your Ears). Written themes include exclamation marks! ... elipses, double entendres, cliches, stereotypes, first person self-loathing ("I couldn't live in a man's body! and "I don't want to live the rest of my life as a man...") and lurid alliteration ("Powers and Passions without Precedent in Motion Pictures). Chapters include Dykesploitation, Early Gay Porn, Queers of Color, and Guys with their Shirts Off.
Olson packs each page with fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes that illuminate each illustration. Sure to be under the Christmas tree and on the coffee table of every film lover gay and straight alike, QMPB takes you on a powerful journey through Hollywood, Bollywood, underground cinema and the indie scene where one picture encapsulates thousands of frames of celluloid.
Also, be sure to get Olson's companion DVD, Homo Promo (2004) which offers many of the same film's coming attractions. Olson's first feature film, The Joy of Life, bows in 2005.
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- Using Music to teach English Composition
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From Dylan to Donne: Bridging English and Music
Brock Dethier
Manufacturer: Boynton/Cook
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The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
ASIN: 0867095326 |
Book Description
Every life has a soundtrack, especially during high school and college, when we tend to live passionately and develop lifelong tastes. And everyone identifies with song lyrics that voice the love, angst, frustration, and anger we all feel at times. Brock Dethier takes advantage of students' identification with music and turns students' musical enthusiasms into material for learning and self-expression. Analyzing music and its effects makes students think. Besides, "it's the cheapest, easiest, most fun tool we can use in our classrooms," says Dethierno small thing for educational institutions smarting from budget cuts.
As Dethier demonstrates, music provides an effective way to introduce and explain virtually everything about literature and compositionfrom the importance of leads to the concept of the unreliable narrator, from the value of radical revision to romantic irony. Both teachers and students benefit from listening to music with focused attention and from analyzing their reactions just as they analyze texts. Each chapter of this book presents a different way in which music can help students see, understand, appreciate, and analyze aspects of literature, composition, and our world. And each chapter provides teachers with specific suggestions for assignments, activities, and new approaches to difficult concepts.
It takes only a few minutes each day to make the musical connection. And it requires no experience as a musician or music critic to enjoy and use this book. Teachers just need to apply the book's insights to their own classes and to let students be the experts on the current music scene. For a fresh tack in English class, bridge English and musicwake up even the most bored and alienated students and make them eager to read, write, and rock.
Customer Reviews:
Using Music to teach English Composition.......2003-07-30
This book presents an innovative approach to teaching college students to examine and write about literature by analysing music. The author uses music in his classroom each day. English teachers don't need to have a background in music to use this method. I give the book a 4 only because it doesn't address pure third person analysis, instead it uses music to teach first person reader response. It's great if you are teaching literature. I teach analysis and research papers by looking at other disciplines besides literature, such as history, art, and mythology. I've wanted to bring in music, and this book has given me some excellent ideas. The downside of the book for me is its focus on first person voice, the reader's response, whereas, I teach all third person academic voice. I highly recommend this book, despite what I just said. I'm planning to give a copy to a colleague who teachers first person essay writing. It would be ideal for that type of course. It is powerful to bring in other disciplines into the Eng composition class room.
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L'Interpretation de Chopin en France (Musique, musicologie)
Manufacturer: Libr. H. Champion
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Binding: Unknown Binding
Chopin, Frederic
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Music Philology
Georg Feder
Manufacturer: Pendragon Pr
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0945193270 |
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Ten Hispano-Arabic Strophic Songs in the Modern Oral Tradition: Music and Texts (University of California Publications in Modern Philology)
Benjamin M. Liu , and
James T. Monroe
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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ASIN: 0520097513 |
Book Description
This work explores the literary and musical connections between Hispano-Arabic strophic songs of the muwashshaha-zajal genre, and their medieval Romance cognates, the ballata, cantiga, dansa, rondeau, villancico, and virelai. The authors begin with a general essay based on recent scholarship in Arabic, Romance, and ethnomusicological studies and then present a translation of Al-Tifashi's key 13th-century Arabic treatise on the musical tradition of Arab Spain. The appendices provide texts and translations of ten poems that modern scholarship attributes to or authenticates as part of the Hispano-Arabic song repertory, and musical notations of these texts as sung in Arab countries today. The authors suggest that the living tradition of Andalusian music surviving in the Arab world preserves a priceless echo, be it ever so distorted, of the lost tradition of Hispano-Arabic songs. They conclude that this tradition was a subtle blending of imported Oriental elements combined with others native to the Romance-singing Iberian Peninsula.
Customer Reviews:
Thorough and convincing.......2001-09-03
This is one of those books that, although only the length of a rather thick magazine, seems like you have read volumes when you complete it. Not only does it provide you with detailed information (including helpful contrasts) regarding past and present performance practices, but they delve deeply into the controversial subject of Islamic-Christian patterns of influence in the medieval world. Medieval historians have long espoused the theory that the medieval European strophic song forms came directly from the Arabic tradition. Well, Monroe and Liu provide compelling evidence to show that the influence most likely went the other way...Read it to find out more.
Furthermore, this book is indispensible to performers of medieval music who wish to recreate the Iberian traditions with more historical accuracy than the current vogue of tossing in a few instrumental excerpts of a modern nouba and calling it quits. It almost reads like a how-to book that deals with medieval instrumentation, form, performance traditions, and even medieval vocal styles (my personal selling point of the book) which one would be hard-pressed to find in other books. He provides full transliterated and translated lyrics to ten medieval muwashshahat, the surviving fragments in the modern nouba, and the melodies to which they are sung in the modern oral tradition. Couple this with a detailed analysis of the poetic/melodic form, a history of the genre, and a portion of a 13th c. musical treatise by Al-Tifashi and you get an indispensible book for the shelves of any medievalist in whatever form.
Book Description
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something-and skip the long-winded explanations? The Visual Learning System in Teach Yourself VISUALLY Knitting and Crocheting breaks down the complexities of these crafts into graphical two-page lessons that simplify learning. Inside you'll find clear, step-by-step instructions covering all the basics of knitting and crocheting. Full-color photographs show you how to work with needles and yarns, fix common mistakes, and master finishing techniques. Plus, you get an impressive selection of patterns and shortcuts that will have you creating sweaters, scarves, pillows, and more.
- "Question & Answer" sidebars provide practical tips and tricks
- Large color photos demonstrate how to correctly perform each skill
- Step-by-step instructions explain beginner to more advanced techniques
- Two-page lessons offer skills you can practice immediately
Customer Reviews:
THE BEST beginning knitting book out there.......2005-10-27
This book is a fantastic book for a new knitter, or for a "lapsed" knitter who needs to review some basic skills. The book uses lots of excellent, close-up, high-contrast color photographs to illustrate every step of the knitting (and crocheting) process.
The book will show you how to cast-on, both a single cast-on method and two double cast-on methods. There are also photos of a wide variety of pattern stitches knitted using only the basic knit and purl stitches. Then the book moves onto more complicated techniques, such as increasing, decreasing, and knitting with double-pointed needles. Again, excellent photographs will guide you every step of the way.
Finally, the book includes clear, concise directions for a number of fun projects. And the projects are not all trivial, either. I especially recommend the design called "cozy knit socks", which yields an awesome pair of socks which any knitter would be proud to wear.
Whether you are a new or returning knitter, this is an essential reference book.
Simply the best.......2005-10-15
With its clear, color, step-by-step photographs and coverage of nearly every knitting technique a beginner or even an intermediate knitter might need, this book--which has now been reissued under a different title, Maran Illustrated Knitting and Crocheting--is simply the best knitting instruction book I have ever seen for those of us who learn how to do things by seeing rather than by reading. I've given multiple copies to fellow knitters, and I have two copies myself in case one actually falls apart from heavy use. It's an unassuming volume from a small family-run press that may well become the indispensable foundation of your knitting library. If you are a visual learner who wants to knit but haven't learned because you don't have someone to teach you in person, this book is the answer. Enjoy!
Excellent book.......2005-09-25
This is one of my favorite reference books. I'm a visual learner and the color photographs with contrasting yarn colors are wonderful! Lots of other books have ink illustrations and I find those difficult to translate sometimes. I also like the fact that it has crochet info in it too because some knitting patterns require basic crochet skills.
Great transaction.......2005-09-09
The book was as described and received in a timely manner. Thank you!
Just Wonderful.......2005-06-30
I purchased on the recommendation from one of the employees at my favorite yarn shop. She was right on the mark. I learned to knit back in the eighties, but hadn't kept up my skills. I really needed something that knows a beginner is just that; a beginner. The instructions and pictures really helped when my Vogue book left me clueless. I loved the book so much that I purchased a second one for my sister-in-law, mainly because of the pictures. Her second language is english and has difficulty with our written instructions. She's also thrilled with the book, since I can't pop overseas to help her with her knitting problems. If you want something that is clear and consise, this is the book for you.
Book Description
Sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer's bestselling classic is now available in paperback
Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Bible was listed as one of "The Ten Books Every Salesperson Should Own and Read" by the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage Program. Now completely revised, this book is available for the first time in paperback. The Sales Bible has helped tens of thousands of salespeople all over the world reach their potential and close the big deal. Gitomer gives sales professionals the right answers to the toughest questions:
* How to make sales in any economic environment
* Twenty-five ways to get that most-elusive appointment
* Top-down selling
* How to fill the sales pipeline with prospects ready to buy
* How to use the right questions to make more sales in half the time
This book is everything its title claims to be.
Jeffrey Gitomer (Charlotte, NC) is a world-class authority on sales and customer loyalty. He leads over 125 training programs and annual sales meetings for companies like IBM, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, Miliken, GE, Carlsburg, and Cintas. He writes the popular syndicated weekly column "Sales Moves," read by more than 3.5 million people across the United States and Europe. And his award-winning Web sites (gitomer.com and trainone.com) and his weekly e-zine (sales caffeine) feature every element of selling from making assessments to weekly articles, free sales tips, and streaming video sales training.
Customer Reviews:
same old stuff.......2007-09-27
No new information. The man has written 7 books on the same subject. I learned nothing my 20 years of actual sales experience did not already teach me. I was hoping for more than suggestions on how to "out fox" prospects. Nothing really useful here.
A Definate "Must Have" Book.......2007-09-18
If you don't have this book on your shelf, get it!
The Sales Bible is definitely one of the most comprehensive books written for sales people. It is a fun read and Gitomer uses different fonts and bolding to give you a feel of the author's sense of humor and style of "ranting".
This book covers it all; cold calling, networking, the sales process, handling objections, questioning, trade show strategies, 30 second commercial development to name only a few key elements, skills and processes of selling. This only skims the surface. The lay out is simple and the table of contents is detailed for easy reference.
This book is full of proven sales strategies, tactics and techniques that work. Even though this book is a few years old, it still comes out on top as The Ultimate Sales Resource today.
If you are looking for a resource book that contains many sales secrets - this is the book to buy. It will make it to your "favorite's" section in your personal library.
Eliot Hoppe
Author - Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success
Great resource for sales and marketing.......2007-09-16
This book has been very helpful in my venture into marketing our new product. The content is really geared toward sales people. Jeffrey Gitomer is a well-seasoned sales person and offers great advice and personal experience in his trek down the road of sales. His book deals with cold calls, followup, what to do and what not to do, and how to approach sales from a more friendly and uninhibiting direction, among much else. GREAT RESOURCE!!!
Awesome Book - Inspirational Author.......2007-07-22
I love this book, it is a must have for all sales professionals. I can't believe Jeffrey isn't already 5x as popular as he is. His articles should be in every business publication in America. I am looking forward to meeting him this September when he is in Boston.
[...].
If you dont have this... your stuck in the 80's and you wont sell!.......2007-06-08
The sales bible is the bible of sales... no joke... no compromise... its really the new way of selling that has changed from the 80's to 2000! Get this or you will really fall behind!
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- Ready-to-Wear Apparel Analysis (3rd Edition)
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- Recording Conceptual Art: Early Interviews with Barry, Huebler, Kaltenbach, LeWitt, Morris, Oppenheim, Siegelaub, Smithson, and Weiner by Patricia Norvell
- Rendering Fashion, Fabric and Prints with Adobe Photoshop
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