AS

As he promises Miller delivers an "articulation of craft that is simple, direct, immediate and broadly applicable." What he doesn't state is just how refreshing and relieving it is to finally have a clear and practical textbook on acting. Miller punctures the mystique surrounding actors and what they do and how they do it. He reaffirms that acting is indeed a craft with a learnable set of skills. Acting then becomes possible for anyone willing to devote the time and effort into mastering its skills. Good acting is no longer the domain of an elite few who magically possess talent. The biggest obstacle I find facing my students is not a lack of talent but a confusion about and an unwillingness to pursue mastery of the skills of craft. I find most textbooks on acting either too theoretical or confusing in their attempts to articulate craft. By clearly defining the skills and suggesting practical exercises to master them, Miller has given the student some solid footing for their journey toward mastery. Another strength of Miller's book is its enpowerment of the actor. Too often the model I see in production is the actor who comes to rehearsal and waits for the director to tell her what to do and how to do it. This totally undermines the potential strength of the collaborative process. Miller's dictum that it is the actor's responsibility to help tell the story in the most potent way possible re-establishes the potential strength of the collaborative relationship. Actors can then offer the director several choices for a moment or a scene. This enriches the production and makes the actor's job much more exciting and creative. Students will appreciate Miller's detailed guidance on audtioning and rehearsing.Again he offers very clear and practical models for these processes. His closing chapters on the "business" are honest and wise. I am using THE ACTOR AS STORYTELLER as a required text in all my acting classes. It combines good solid acting values and techniques and presents them with a simplicity and clarity that will heighten the skill of any actor who practices them. I highly recommend this text.

This book is a "must read" for working actors, drama teachers and students. This book explains acting's essence; all else is mere technique!

This is a quite marvelous new acting text that provides a wealth of exercises meant to focus the acting task squarely on the actor's intellect. Miller defines good acting as being believable and telling the best possible story (hence the title). His focus is on the actor taking circumstances and situations into account and then rendering acting choices that will be interesting and compelling. This is a liberating approach, in that it gives beginning students a bench mark from which to evaluate thier work. As a devotee of Robert Cohen's Acting One for many years, I am impressed how this book takes that bare bones approach (Goal, Obstacle, Tactic, Expectation) and really expands upon it. Students are not just responsible for determining goal, but they must tell a story as well. This places an enormous responsiblity on the actor (some HS teachers might think too much), but it is eminantly workable and pragmatic within the context of scene and character work. To his credit, Miller is taking his technique on the road. He is currently holding workshops, sponsored by the Educational Theater Association, where he spends a weekend with interested High School acting teachers actually working on the exercises in the book. Having just attended the one in Atlanta this past September, I can say that what may seem too simple on the page, comes to vibrant life in the workshop. I highly recommend it to HS teachers. Since the workshop I have been able to meld the best of Cohen, with many of the exercises that Miller provides. My students have never been more engaged and challenged with the acting process. Even if you don't adopt the book for your classroom, this is a must read for every HS acting teacher (and college profs would do well by it, as well). It also includes valuable information about the audition process and how to succeed as a professional actor.

This is an excellent book for general knowledge of the laws which apply to both the employer and the employee. It is well written, reads very easily and would be my choice as a general reference book concerning employment laws. It defines all relavent law terms and, most importantly, provides a guide or reference for additional information about each of the laws governing employment. It should be noted that the book covers federal Laws and not state laws.

I found this book extremely helpful. As an executive recruiter (headhunter) it is essential that I have complete knowledge of many areas of employment law, particularly those that deal with hiring and firing. The law can be very complex, and this book explains the most important points relating to employment in a very clear, readable way. I refer to this guide almost daily as a handy reference, and recommend it to any private sector employer or employee.

If someone is fired, what's the rate government paid for hi

I have heard several people say that they felt great conflict in their religious lives and that learning about the bible from Dr. Ralph turned them around. Dr. Ralph helped them come to terms with the misinformation or mis-interpretation they've been suffering from. Dr. Ralph's views are not her own. This approach to scripture is not something new. In fact, it is the contextualist approach to scripture that the Catholic Church teaches and has been teaching for years.

An excellent read for recovering ex-athiests like myself. If your an athiest or agnostic who is considering Christanity, I highly recommend it and Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism by John Shelby Spong. Addresses all the important questions about the Bible in a calm, rational, erudite, and non-condescending manner. A must read for Christian apologists as well.

Ms. Ralph gives an excellent exposition of the genres in the Bible. Her discussions lead to a deeper understanding about what the Bible is trying to teach about the relationship between God and Man. It is a text type book so that it is at times a hard read. It is not for casual reading, you'll fall asleep while reading it if you are looking for a light read. However, if you are after the knowledge, it is a very worthwhile effort.

I was brought up a dispensationalist without knowing it but this book changed my belief. Today I have a much more optimistic outlook in regard to the plan the Lord has for the church and earth. I have been freed, no more confusion or fear of the end times. Thank the Lord! I never knew there was any other interpretation of end times things until this book. I would recommend to all christians that they look at other possible views on this before they choose. The Word even tells us " My people perish for lack of knowledge" Hosea 4:6.

While I was reading this some of the ideas were VERY strange to me but others bore witness to my spirit. With continual prayer and trusting in the Holy Spirit to help me separate the wheat from the chafe I continued. I had to read it a few times and study the Word as well. I still don't know if I agree with everything addressed in the book but what I gained in new revelation of the truth far outweighed any possible error.

I this book John Noe did not overwhelm me with terms I did not understand such as preterism, dispensationalism, postmillennial, eschatology, etc. and this helped me embrace the teaching more easily. But what really changed me was the scripture reference . The book was not the complete answer to all the questions it raised in me, but a more in depth study of the Bible finalized the change. I recommend finding this book (not real likely) or better yet go to John Noe's web site and keep watching for him to reprint this which was mentioned would happen next year. His site is at www.prophecyrefi.org.

Jesus already won the battle and has COMPLETE victory! He is seated at the throne NOW reigning and ruling in that victory! The Holy Spirit has been sent to empower us to win the Great Commission and He will not fail! It is time to rejoice in the victory and stop worrying and planning for the end destruction. We are called to think on those thing that are pure and pleasing to the Lord. We need to believe the good report in the good news of the gospel and stop walking by sight but by faith.

I read this book quite a number of years ago and it changed everything I thought I knew about the end-times. It set me free, no more fear or confusion. Now I read the bible with a much better understand and I have more victory and joy in my life. I am not waiting for some future victory of Jesus, He has already won the victory at the cross! His blood was enough! I have yet to read a book that addresses the end-times as this one does. It was the use of scripture that allowed me to study this out for myself and I finally understand and agree with most of what he addresses in this book.

It was just recently I found out John Noe and I are not alone in this understanding of the end-times. And here I had thought everyone else were premillennialists. But there are a couple of groups that have similar understandings. There are preterists and the postmillennialists but he never used terms like these in his book. I am glad to be honest, labels turn me off. I just want to be Christ-like not Luther-like or Calvin-like or any one else for that matter. If you don't know what these labels mean don't worry it is not as important as understanding what the bible says about the end-times. What you think you know now could be someone else's interpretation of what the bible says and maybe you should look at a few before agreeing with one. I am glad I did.

I have not yet laid my hands on a copy of this book,although I earnestly continue to look. I am hoping that this work reappears in publish. I can comment on his most recent work 'Beyound the End Times'and will say this one is a classic! I would have to sit and ponder for a moment to remember one that I read on eschatology that surpasses this one. It is truely an incredible work. I could only look forward to getting up the next day to continue where I left off. I implore Amazon.com to put this book into their already outstanding stock of material. Go with God!

Appalachia: As I Remember It - by author Arnold Smith is a book about his life while growing up in Appalachia. It is beautifully written and each chapter is a separate story that is hilariously funny or very touching. This is an extemely enjoyable read, full of tales that recall the sweet and naive adventures of a boy growing up in much simpler times.

Arnold's book is so funny I laughed out loud. I have added this treasure to my "bag of goodies" that I take into the classroom when I substitute teach.

In Appalachia: As I Remember It, author Arnold Smith drew upon his memories of growing up in the hills of southeastern Kentucky in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Appalachia is an engaging story that is by turns interesting, informative, sad, funny, and eminently satisfying reading, a tale of life and family in a post-frontier age among mountain folk with strong traditions of pride in family, a love of freedom, exceptional work ethics, honest, discipline, and faith in the God of their forefathers. Written in a true storytelling fashion, Appalachia is a testament to a people and a way of life that is wonderfully and entertainingly presented from first page to last.

This book is a tremendous accomplishment. An intellectual pleasure. In the first half of the book, Karatani deals with what he calls "the will to architecture". According to him, the whole Western philosophy has been constructed on the basis of "the will to architecture" since Plato. (Can we see here the influence on Karatani from Nietzsche?) What is interesting in his attempt to deconstruct this "will to architecture", or a "building" constructed by it, is that he tries to get "outside" of it by taking "the will to architecture" to the extreme. Karatani calls this procedure "formalization". He refuses to presuppose the "outside" intuitively. "The will to architecture" deconstructs itself by the extreme "formalization". However, though this attempt is an tremendous attempt, he finally abandons it. For he realized that he had to presuppose the viewpoint which can look at the totality of the system from above though he did so in order to deconstruct that very totality of the system. What he did after this "turn-around" is to turn to the "outside". It might sound naive, but this "outside" is not intuitive at all. The "outside" I am talking about here is the "other". This "other" is someone with whom you don't know whether you can communicate. The "other" is like a foreigner or a child. If you say something to him or her, you can never be certain whether what you are trying to say is communicated. This concept of the "other" has a lot of theoretical implications though I cannot talk about them here because of the limitation of the space. For example, you no longer need to worry about the prison-house of language. You don't have to suffer from the closedness of language. It is impossible to introduce everything Karatani says in this book. All I can say is "Just read the book." If you do, you will see a rare intellectual accomplishment in philosophy/theory.

Sugawara, sugawara, sugawara, this is an exceptional mind at work again, and can can feel the impact of deconstruction upon Japan and Japan upon deconstruction. Let more of his works be translated>... he said, Sugawara, sugawara (as below, so above).

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this is an excellent book for the begining aromatherapist. the book covers the uses of the most common essetial oils and gives detailed profiles on them.The pictures are awesome. Simple blends are given for everyday ailments such as , headaches, stomach problems, menstrual discomfort, and basic first aid. The text is clear and concise. Blends for skin & hair problems are also included as well as blends to address emotional concerns.

This book is a great quick reference if you enjoy aromatherapy and wish to use it as an alternative medice to aid the aleviation of physical (and mental) ailments. It provides great overviews of the plants and their uses.

I have been practicing, teaching and selling aromatherapy for ten years. As such, I have many books on aromatherapy. This one is unique. I purchased AROMATHERAPY FOR COMMON AILMENTS for the full page, breath taking photographs of 13 essential oil plants. But - it is much more. Illnesses and ways to heal these illnesses with essential oils are discussed. Massage techniques are illustrated and explained. Safety guidelines are outlined. Recipes for blends are given. This is a good book for the beginning aromatherapist. It can also be useful to the more advanced person. Shirley Price is a professional, practicing aromatherapist. Her love and respect for the profession shines through-out this text. Highly recommend!

Finally...an anthem for beauty and meaning in the arts!

I sent a copy of this book, in an early manuscript edition, to Sir Kenneth Clark, the late doyen of British art historians. Lord Clark thanked me, remarking that he'd "found myself much in agreement with it."

And, no wonder; where Clark ferreted meaning from the clutter of Western art in his celebrated television series, "Civilisation," Walters's subject is even wider: the arts as a force for personal change. And he's found a marvelously clarifying key in the concept of Self-realization.

Pick up a puppet by the head, and everything becomes order; lift it by an arm and it's a jumble. Similarly, Walters shows that if we grasp the arts from the focusing perspective of human fulfillment, we'll have free sailing. At least, if we understand where human fulfillment actually lies. And Walters is sublimely qualified to talk about human potentials. In an alternate persona, he's known Swami Kriyananda--one of the most prolific and lucid interpreters of oriental philosophy and spirituality for the West.

When I was at Stanford in the '60s, I wish I'd had "Art as a Hidden Message," because it would have saved me a great deal of time. This book is quite amazing for the way it finds the essences in philosophy, the arts, and spiritual practice; and Walters makes it all immensely enjoyable. With such a vast subject before him, you'd think he'd run out of breath, but he never does. This is Michael Jordan of the mind.

"Art as a Hidden Message" is a great Groovy Book. I suspect Walters will eventually be honored as brilliant synthesizing minds. That's okay, but don't wait--this is a stunningly universal, immensely satisfying book.

What an inspiration for creative people everywhere, and certainly a guide, not only to self-realization, but also a practical foundation for anyone searching for what art, or indeed, any expression of life, means.

Nearly 20 years ago, I sent an early edition of this book (titled "Meaning in the Arts") to the late Lord Kenneth Clark, doyen of British art historians. The renowned author of the "Civilisation" book and TV series courteously responded, saying that he found himself "much in agreement" with Walters's views.

Despite its somewhat "new-agey" title (the book is, after all, addressed primarily to working artists, and not to academe), it's the most inspiring and profoundly insightful book I've ever read about the arts. Definitely, it has the power to help return the arts, and society, to a sense of meaning. After Lord Clark's "Civilisation" was published, numerous readers wrote to thank him for restoring their sense of meaning, to the extent that he'd dissuaded them from committing suicide. "Art as a Hidden Message" has that kind of power. I'm confident that Lord Clark, were he alive today, would find himself still in agreement with the views expressed in this much-expanded editions.

This work begins with connecting archaeological discoveries to
important biblical perspectives. It teaches that the Bible is
sacred history and that the 3rd person narrative is a bridge to
future meanings/interpretations. The author shows where there
is much verbatim repetition in Biblical stories/themes. The
book anticipates a more meaningful theological purpose with the
passage of time and experience with Biblical themes. This is
a wonderfful work for biblical scholars, theologians, historians
and a wide constituency of academicians of all faiths.

Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Narrative is the sort of book that comes around once in a generation. For the most part, modern Biblical scholars are divided into two camps - homileticists, who tend to reduce every story in the Bible to a moral, and source critics, who chop up the text into various sources. Alter goes a third way. Alter's thesis is that the literary quality of the Bible has been sadly overlooked. To atone, so to speak, for this glaring omission, Alter sets out to show how the narratives in the Bible, even if constituted from a redacted text, nevertheless exhibit exquisite literary qualities. Alter convincingly demonstrates that if we overlook the art of how the stories are told, then we miss much of their meaning.

Alter reveals various techniques used by the Biblical writers to make the stories so compelling. One technique is the reserve of the narrator who often leaves unspoken the motives of the characters, thereby drawing us into the story by compelling us to try to supply what the narrator has withheld. Wordplay, the skillful repetition of words and phrases - so often lost in translation, connects seemingly disparate narratives into a fascinating montage. Type scenes, similar settings and stories such as meeting a future spouse at a well, play off each other, inviting the reader to compare and contrast what happens in one scene with its counterpart and to find meaning in these similarities and differences. The often laconic and subtle remarks of the narrator tend to support or undermine the words spoken and poses struck by the characters, which most of us will miss unless we learn to read the stories closely.

Perhaps the most delicious part of Alter's book is his frequent recourse to the stories themselves in order to demonstrate his points. For example, Alter begins his book by examining the story of Judah and Tamar that falls in the middle of the Joseph story. Tamar, you will recall, was Judah's daughter-in-law. His son and her husband dies and the other brothers do not fulfill their obligation by levirate marriage to carry on the dead son's name by fathering children with Tamar. Tamar ultimately rights this wrong by seducing Judah and conceiving two children by him. Alter reads the story closely and convincingly argues that the story has been woven tightly into the Joseph story by various narrative techniques so that it becomes the fulcrum upon which the stories hinge, making Judah a different person in time for his momentous meeting with Joseph in Egypt. Alter's treatment of the Judah and Tamar story alone is worth the price of the book. Buy the book and read it, you'll never regret having done so. In fact, you'll find yourself rereading it over and over.

I am a bilble seminary undergraduate from Hong Kong. After I read this book, I found a new perspective (and interest)to read the Bible---the narrative way. Alter helps us to analyse the underlying narrative motive of the Bible writer, which we usually missed

This is a gorgeous coffee table book. I am mostly a rubber stamper and paper artist, and though I don't do much photography per se, I still love this book. It features a lot of collage art and ideas I know I can incorporate into my own designs.

The book is broken into four sections including transformed, constructed, extended and digital images. Each section features the work of 4 or 5 different artists. Each artist was interviewed, explaining their techniques and thoughts on their artwork. Four different full-page examples of each artist's work follows, with captions giving information on title, size and techniques used. There is also a gallery featuring examples of seven other artists' work.

Because I like to work with computer graphics I especially enjoyed the digital section. The still life with people in a soap bubble by Olivia Parker is really awesome. I love John Reuter's tile effect Polaroid transfers with nudes of as well. The winged pig of Maggie Taylor is another favorite.

A handy glossary and index are included as well as a directory of artists with addresses. With such a variety of techniques and approaches to art this book is truly inspirational.

I am a painter. I have recently started making art using the computer.The computer is simply just another tool. I stumbled upon this book and found it to be very inspiring. The artists use a variety of photographic, digital and mixed media techniques to achieve a work of art that is unique and beyond the process. There are excellant representations of the works and some very good explanations of the process for achieving the final results. I reccomend this book to mixed media artists, painters, photographers, and digital artists.

This is an excellent book for those interested in photographic work that goes beyond the straight print. It essentially represents a collection of work by a dozen or so artists who use photography as a starting point in the creation of their art. Their is some information on the processes the artisits employ but it is by no means a technical manual. If you are looking for inspiration this is an excellent place to start.

The quality of the reproductions are excellent as is the text which ecompanies each artist's portfolio.