EG Books

Mitropoulos's career, method of working, extraordinarymusicianship are described in detail. Also described is his sweetnessand naiveté. Aside from some special pleading when he bashes other conductors in defense of Mitropoulos, Trotter does a fine job of pulling together the research of Oliver Daniel who died before he could write the biography.

At the time of Dimitri Mitropoulos' death in 1960, he was regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the century. His spellbinding performances in Minneapolis and with the New York Philharmonic were legendary. Then he handed (or was forced to hand over) the baton to Leonard Bernstein, Mitropoulos turned to opera. Virtually all of those performances are legendary. Even when let down by poor casts (such as a Met broadcast of DIE WALKURE) his conducting leaves the listener breathless. Yet the irony is that with a decade of his death, he was virtually forgotten. William Trotter's well-written, well-paced biography reminds us of Mitropoulos' great musicianship and encouraged me, for one, to pull the maestro's recordings off the shelf and become reacquainted. My only quibble is the lack of a discography. Maybe Amadeus will remedy that in future editions or maybe they'll give us a separate volume (as with their excellent Bjoerling discography). Highly recommended to all music lovers.

I stumbled on the name Dimitri Mitropoulos quite by accident, as one never hears him mentioned much in the same way Karajan, Bernstein, and others are. Neither have I heard any of his recordings. This book helped me delve into this great man's life - what a singular purpose of mind he had - total dedication to his craft. William Trotter succeeds in giving us not just the details of his life (which, by themselves, are not exactly mundane), but also in bringing the reader the imagery, the depth of feeling of Mitropoulos' work. One can feel and see him conducting in his full glory. Having had this marvellous biography brought to me, I am now eagerly buying whatever recordings conducted by Mitropoulos that I can find. I agree with the other reader who commented - a discography would be most welcome.

As with Masereel's other graphic novels, this relies on energetic imagery more than strict sequential narrative to carry its story. A few sequences of three or four pages have unambiguous order, but the overall effect comes across more like a collage and less like a movie.

"The Sun" makes an interesting contrast to Masereel's "The Idea," but that similarity never wholly shows itself until the end of the story - which I leave you to discover for yourself. Until that point, however, the main character's quixotic quest engages the reader in its blind and impossible dedication.

Although "The Sun" came out in 1919, nearly 90 years ago as of this writing, the story and its telling work well for a modern reader. In fact, when I tried to find markers that anchored "The Sun" to one era, I found almost all of its woodcut images floating timelessly free. I'd like to add one technical fact that might help a reader's enjoyment of this book: the cover image, like others in this story, depicts the tools of the wood engraver at work - presumably, Masereel himself. I leave it to nigglers fussier than myself to resolve the mismatch between the woodcut lines of the imagery and the wood-engraving tools shown. The story itself is a gem, and a valued addition to the heritage of today's graphic novels.

-- wiredweird

Frans Masereel's book "The Sun" is subtitled "A Novel Told in 63 Woodcuts." It's a a dreamlike tale (or a tale-like dream?) that is told entirely in visual images. The story concerns a man who is literally in pursuit of the sun. His quest takes him across urban landscapes and through the worlds of book-learning, religion, sex, nature, and industry.

The intriguing woodcuts of "The Sun" have a strangely iconic feel to them, almost like the illustrations from a set of tarot cards (I could imagine an entrepeneur creating a similar tool from Masereel's work). The artistic style reminds me somewhat of Art Spiegelman's "Maus" books.

In the end, what does "The Sun" mean? I'll leave it to each reader to answer that. But the book is certainly a distinctive work of art.

If a novel told entirely in woodcuts seems somehow simple, Franz Masreel's work will set you on the right track. Each cut holds endless stories while still allowing a single story to be told.

One must see Masreel's work to appreciate it but consider this: if, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, then this is a 63,000 word novel - and you can read in 15 minutes! After which you can read it again and get a slightly different story. And again.

This book (and The Idea set) is a great gift for that literate, hard-to-surprise someone.

In my opinion, this is the basic book for those interesed in psychodrama. It contains the fundamentals and is worth reading for both beginning students and seasoned therapists.

"Acting In: Practical Applications of Psychodramatic Methods" is a good companion to Blatner's earlier work, "Foundations of Psychodrama." He takes the reader step by step through the elements of psychodrama, including principals and pitfalls and techniques such as role reversal, doubling and surplus reality.

As usual, Blatner's writing is clear and succinct and will be helpful to students as well as experienced psychotherapists and educators who are new to the psychodramatic method.

Of special interest is the section that notes that psychodrama has many applications, not just in the mental health professions but also with the education of children and adolescents, and in creative dramatics, industry and religion.

As a newly graduated art therapist in Australia, this book came highly recommended by one of my tutors. I found it to be a valuable resource, providing a great overview of group work. Great hands-on examples were included throughout the book which added to my ability to improve my knowledge in this area.

if you do art therapy with groups BUY THIS BOOK! it's fantastic! i use it all the time!

This book was one of the assigned texts in the art therapy research class I am taking now. Although I have chosen to become an art therapist, I still have years of traditional thinking to work out of my system...on what kind of output (research, in this case) has value. This includes a tendency to think of research as most important when it is of the quantitative variety. Some people may see nothing problematic in this, but as a budding art therapist, I find this to be one of my deficits. I need to really embrace the art process and the possibilities for investigating it in various kinds of research...think outside the box, if you will. And I found this book to be fantastic when used to that end. While reading each chapter, I found myself pausing to reflect on new ideas that had come to mind on what I could choose to research, inspired by McNiff's writing. And if that weren't enough, the last chapter is full of more suggestions for areas of study. True, this book was first published 10 years ago, so one ought to check for new developments in the literature before committing oneself to a specific topic. But this book jump started my brain in a way that I knew I needed, and for that I thought it was worth every minute I spent reading it.

There's much to be found in this book .Many sugestions are made for further research and many links are made to previous material.Mc Niff's language and stance are typically poetic/tricky.I suspect that art therapy students will find it a very useful introduction to this area with much to ponder on . I'm glad to have it on my bookshelf+ to have it to thumb through from time to time. N.B. I havn't read ( every word) cover to cover - but then I don't do that .

This book is is easy and quick to read, and ready to be put into practice. It is most helpful for those who have a few years experience on the guitar and are already able to create/improvise melodic lines with their instrument. In fact, the melodic improviser will quickly make sense of all the chordal forms and inversions and find ways to connect them in a good musical context.

No extra junk, just new interesting ways to voice chords. I love this book.

As a person with Asperger syndrome, this book won brownie points with me straight off when it says in the intro. "The Asperger perspective is just as valid as the non-Asperger perspective". I found the approach described here refreshing and interesting and I wish that I could have gone somewhere to take part in these sorts of activities when I was an adolescent... they actually sound like they would have been quite fun as well as helpful. I'm not a teacher, or a social worker, or a psychologist, and I don't know what you would be looking for in a book like this, but it seems to me like it has got loads of well thought out and explained activities, so I would be surprised if it were to disappoint.

This a a refreshing, true hands on gathering of information, just chuck full of great exercises for bringing out the best in those affected by Asperger's Syndrome. Martinovich shares her in depth knowledge very freely, with a keen understanding of what makes these individuals tick, and then follows with terrific activities that are well thought out, truly creative, and actually fun! Therapists, counselors, parents and individuals with Aspergers traits are fortunate to benefit from the brilliance that has brought this comprehensive enlightenment of very workable tools together in such an intelligent and pleasurable way. The book will become an indispensible handbook referred to and used time and time again. Judy's creative spirit is quite remarkable, and her point is that creative effort is the cornerstone for working with this remarkable population. I am a parent of a child with Asperger's, and I wish every teacher and therapist can be sparked with the enthusiasm and energy that Judy has to share. I am grateful for this wonderful work, and the processes in this book will greatly enhance therapist's or counselors experience in working with those who present Asperger's traits.

this is a very thoughtfully organised and informative book. It covers important topics of the eating disorders in an developmental way: the past, present and future of the patient's history, as well as the developing stages of the therapy. It offers an introduction to each theme and suggests art directives (about 60 in total) as well as discusses possible themes that might appear in therapy. There is a clear emphasis on a specific structure- throughout the book chapters- which is also suggested in the process of therapy. I was a bit uncomfortable with the suggestion of using merely size A3 sheets of paper as it is not explained whether there is a reason to give specific size boundaries for the specific patients (apart from making a nice portfolio of the work at the end of therapy). The 28 figures in the book are very informative.I wish there were a few more. The bibliography is excellent.

Drawing from Within: Using Art to Treat Eating Disorders is a fine reference for practitioner who wish to explore the therapeutic use of art with clients with eating disorders. Art therapy has been successfully used as intervention with this client group: chapters cover themes which can embrace programs, offering suggestions for creating and implementing exercises and translating results to therapy. It's the hands-on application of theory to results which makes DRAWING FROM WITHIN so essential for any working with clients with eating disorders - and for college-level libraries strong in psychology.

The book is very helpful for those who are involved in the human services professions. It highlights how to prepare expressive arts activities for various groups and settings. The book starts by preparing the reader to put together personal art supplies to offer clients for activities then the book segways into how to implement various activities with groups and individuals. It is a great resource for those who are interested in running activities with various people in a variety of settings.

THE EXPRESSIVE ARTS ACTIVITY BOOK: A RESOURCE FOR PROFESSIONALS compiles a set of tested activities for use with people in a range of care settings, to help them explore experiences, physical and emotional issues, interpersonal problems and more. It goes far beyond most psychology and educational guides to offer a set of creative ideas and exercises hospital workers, schools and other caregivers can use in the daily course of their interactions - and it also provides variations and assessment pointers. It's an invaluable workbook that health collections will find important.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

John Bray's "Gallienus: A Study of Reformist and Sexual Politics" is, as far as I know, the only published full-length biography of that Third century Roman emperor, a man who reigned for fifteen years (about seven years as junior co-Emperor under his father, Valerian, and then for about eight years on his own after his father's capture by the Persians). In his time, the Empire seemed near to collapse, with the westernmost provinces under a rebellious usurper and barbarian invaders breaking in from the north. But Gallienus managed to hold things together, finding time in the meantime to be seen as an accomplished orator and poet and a patron of the arts. Eventually, he was assassinated by a conspiracy of top military leaders, but not before Gallienus had reorganized the army to create a powerful mobile force to quickly react to new military threats and to give cavalry a far more important role than it had played in the past, both to prove key elements in the defense of the Empire for the next two centuries. The historical sources for Gallienus's life are fragmented and usually contradictory. His reputation suffered greatly from later writers anxious to instead laud his successor, Claudius Gothicus (who probably played some role in Gallienus's murder) who was claimed by the family of Constantine as an ancestor. In addition, later Christian writers anxious to exhalt Constantine and his reputed ancestor followed the same course. Lastly, adherents of the senatorial caste were hostile to Gallienus's memory, at least in part due to restrictions he placed upon senatorial careers in the military.

Bray very carefully assesses the competing claims, presenting a synopsis of all sides of any controversy, and delivers a well-explained conclusion in each case. His ultimate picture of Gallienus is of an energetic and intelligent ruler, although not a man without flaws.

"Gallienus" is somewhat hampered by an index that appears less than comprehensive, and Bray's arguements are sometimes spread out over so many sections of the book that the reader may lose direction. Nonetheless, the result is a valuable, well-reasoned study of one of history's more interesting, although little-known characters.

This is a wonderful biography of a fascinating, enigmatic, and underrated hero of Roman history, the third century Emperor Gallienus. The author is careful to present the full range of viewpoints on the sketchy and often controversial evidence, but he does this without losing the momentum of the story, which is historically important and very entertaining. I've read lots of books on Roman history - this is one of the best and should appeal to the interested layman as well as to the scholar. Beautiful cover!