EG Books

I was astonished to find that there weren't dozens of reviews up for this book by Thomas Kincaid. This is a very creative book, discussing the kind of creativity and artistry that can be found in each of us.

Kincaid, a painter by profession and vocation, starts with the basic question - how does an artist do what she or he does? How does one turn a blank canvas or a block of stone (or materials even less 'naturally' artistic in mode) into something that is a work or art, a creative work? Kincaid says that the mechanics of the process are necessary, but far from being the whole story. Kincaid states that the artist needs to believe that she or he can create, that there is inside something that has the power to produce something wonderful.

Creativity is not something confined to the visual or aesthetic arts. Creativity is something that belongs to all things in life - from things as basic as everyday cooking to relationships and spirituality, from business to hobbies to art in its more pure forms, these things all afford opportunities for creative living and creative expression.

Kincaid touches on spiritual and religious ideas and images throughout this text, but it is not a philosophical/theological text by any means. This is much more practical guide of thinking about and incorporating a sense of the creative and the creator in all that we do. Kincaid writes in a broadly ecumenical way, not being tied to the dogma or doctrine of any particular faith, but rather providing insights that can prove valuable to those of many different kinds of faith and religious practice.

Some of Kincaid's suggestions are very practical - finding space for oneself, both inner and outer, physical space; minimising distractions, etc. He incorporates elements of spiritual practice into these - for example, once one has found the inner and outer space in which to explore one's creative side, has gratitude been expressed. 'Your special place of solitude - defined by both your inward values and your chosen work area - is an essential "brushstroke" in your life if you hope to become truly adept at the art of creation. So accept this current place of yours with thanksgiving.'

Kincaid draws on the arts and artists from throughout the ages, but also draws from popular and familiar culture as well. For example, he uses the character of Rob Petrie from the television series 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' as an example of a creative soul, highlighting in this particular example the aspect of creativity that is hopeful and optimistic - 'chronically optimistic' in Kincaid's words.

One of the very nice aspects of the organisation of this book is that the chapter subdivisions are set at a length so that they can be easily read even by the slowest of readers in one sitting. This is not heavy reading by any means, but those who read over it too quickly will be bound to miss something - the creative process, like the reading of this book, should be a deliberate task, one that often fails in the mad rush of the pace of the world today.

This is a wonderful book, with a nice look-and-feel to it, Kincaid's pictures adorning the chapter headings, and the typeface, white-space and page layouts done in a very pleasing manner.

In Kincaid's final chapter, he writes, 'worship itself is a creative act.' Kincaid sees the vocation of creation as one of God's highest callings, and can be a form of prayer and praise.

I opened up this book to start reading it last night. I was interested in the subject matter because I have gotten away from my creative side in the busy-ness of life, which is what this book addresses.

The prologue turned me completely off to it. In the second paragraph of the prologue he says, "On the canvas touched by a gifted artist's hand, we see something familiar -- something we remember in Grandma's house, or a vacation in the mountains... or of a Victorian house set amid a garden of roses. It seems almost miraculous. How did the artist achieve such effects? How was he able to go from nothingness to a visual image so magnificent it takes our breath away?"

Gee, I WONDER what 'gifted artist' he is referrring to??? When I first read that, I was convinced that surely the prologue must have been written by someone other than Kinkade himself. I mean, COME ON! First of all, what about all the MASTER artists such as Michelangelo, Titian, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso (and so on) whose art does not portray scenes like that? And secondly, I'm sorry, but Kinkade's art is certainly not "magnificent" enough to take my breath away. Kinkade is a decent artist whose art is pleasant to look at, and who has a brilliant marketing strategy. That's all. Not some kind of art demi-god as he seems to think. His success has gone to his head.

I remember reading an article in Guideposts about Kinkade and thinking at the time that he seemed a bit enamored of himself. This confirms it. The blatant self-aggrandizement is ridiculous.

I flipped through the book and looked at all the chapters briefly, just to see if it would be worth pushing through the ego to try to find some nuggets of wisdom. I wasn't 'hooked' by anything I saw.

Needless to say, I did not continue reading the book. It's going to be a library donation.

Abraham Kaplan was an amazing teacher of conducting at The Juilliard School. He transmitted much of his wisdom to the book, Choral Conducting. Unfortunately, the book was out of print for a long time and was hard to obtain, hence the possible discrepancies in editions. I've found the paperback in particular to be an extremely adequate and useful source for my college teaching. Other books deal with batons and CDs and other auxiliary products, but Kaplan deals with the basics of conducting--which is exactly what our students need.

this version seems ok, but I did not realize the monumental difference between the paperback which I was borrowing from someone and the hardback that I bought for myself. I thought there would be maybe some slight differences but they are monumental, they read like two entirely different books.

I received this book from Ben Browns and the assignment pages from the first 6 chapters were missing. I am very disappointed with my order from him. I need those assignment pages for my class. Not recommending.

overpriced, but still very good. great exercises, because with music, repetition is the best way to make things stick.

The book did a good job in helping me prepare for the exam. I really liked the fact that it includes practical exercises and I highly recommned working through these. FYI, the correct link to using to find the online content mentioned in the book is [...]

This book is a good introduction to the new features of 2008. If you plan on taking the exam, you are definately going to need some help from a testing website, like transcender or others. The book itself read easily enough, but there are several editing mistakes that make for a slight annoyance.

In hindsight, I think I would have bought a book geared more towards MS press, then used a test engine to study, since those books, or books like them tend to be more of a useful resource.

Not a fan of Ruxpin here, so take my critique with that in mind. I also no longer have the audio that went with this book, and have blocked it from my memory, so I can only comment on the book.

The colored text on top of dark and sometimes busy graphics make reading the badly written poetry (ok, lyrics) a chore. Not every page has that problem, but the ones that don't still suffer from horrible efforts at stringing together rhymes. The illustrations aren't bad, but again, a little busy for the eyes of one trying to drift off to sleep.

All in all, I wouldn't buy the book and can't give away the 2 copies I have. My dislike of poor Teddy might be colored by a memory of a singing Teddy Ruxpin doll that once tried to bite off my child's fingers, but that memory along with this book make me wonder what in the world these folks are thinking in their "Worlds of Wonder". Sing your child to sleep, no matter how bad your voice, and pass up Teddy this time - they'll have much more pleasant memories of that than of this book.

For those of you who adored Teddy, this book is sweetly done, I do disagree with the other reviewer, the illustations were nicely done, Althought I wouldn't say they are warm and cuddly like a soft lamb, something by Szkeres as an illustrator, it does stand true to the Teddy Ruxpin image. If you love bears, you will like the book. I also no longer have the musicals but the book can stand on it's own.

Loved this book. Chapters were engaging and presented the evidence on writing and health in a balanced, rigorous manner. Sweeps away old notions about why writing improves health by presenting provocative new perspectives based on self-theory, emotion regulation, and social-cognitive theory. This is a must-read for scientists or practitioners interested in language, emotional expression, writing and health.

This is strictly a rehash of Pennebaker's (and other's)research. Nothing new here if you've done much reading at all on the topic. Not for the individual looking to use writing in their own life...and not much here for the clinician looking for ways to incorporate writing into your practice.

This book contains a child's drawing illustrating a point in each page. However, only one element of the drawing is explained, leaving the rest, and the context of the element in a vacuum. Explanations are simplistic and the logic behind them is left out. Part of learning a technique lies in understanding the thought process involved. If you want to understand why shading depicts anxiety, or why the author arrives at that conclusion, for instance, don't look for it in this book.

This work was originally published almost 20 years ago; the copyright date indicates the paperback version. Potential readers would be wise to go to more contemporary volumes than this one for current info on art therapy. This book is basically well-written, just terribly old information and more historic than anything else.

Informative value: 2 out of 5
Musical excerpts help improve this otherwise over priced text.

You can easily find books that are much more helpful than this one. Brock McElheran's Conducting technique for beginners is much more relevant and informative, not to mention way cheaper. Anything by Elizabeth Green would also be great. I believe the problem with the book is that it relies too much on defining gesture. Whenever gesture rather than music is the source of information for your conducting, you will have problems. The irony is that people (conductors and performers alike) become so concerned with maintaining a clear beat pattern and that everything is 'correct' that they disregard the music.

One good thing in the book is the large number of musical examples and excerpts. Over half of the book is dedicated to excerpts of good music that present a variety of challenges. This does raise one large question, though. Why not just have the students buy the McElheran and use scores that they bought and can later use in their own classroom or with their own ensemble? It seems that many people find the collection of excerpts helpful, though. It would be ridiculous to require students to buy even half of the score that are represented in this book.

The challenge in writing a text on conducting is that it needs to be helpful to all sorts of people. Different people will need different help, and the book attempts to cater to this variety. However, Labuta's attempt to inform the least knowledgeable people brings the level of the book so far down that it looses meaning after you can conduct a six pattern.

This book is good for general knowledge of dance therapy, it provides pretty good examples of mind-body relation in a form of case studies. Though this book lacks detail of the therapy session, methods used, group dynamics, etc. If you are looking for a real detail and structured explanation, look somewhere else.