Form-3 Books

This "Color Special" reprints some of the stories from Dark Horse's series of Little Lulu books, but in color rather than black and white. The color improves the stories, especially in cases where color is integral to the story, like the one where Lulu accidentally dyes her skin green. Little Lulu is generally considered to be the best comic book about a little girl ever. This book provides solid evidence in favor of that belief.

Finally! After 11 volumes of classic Little Lulu stories in black and white, Dark Horse has released a "Color Special" of stories reprinted from issues as early as Little Lulu #4, ending with a tale from Little Lulu #86. Except for Tubby's little cousin Chubby no longer being a mini-Tubby (in this Dark Horse release he's inexplicably blonde instead of red haired like Tub), I have no argument with this issue. "Witch Hazel" stories abound (including "The Witches Picnic" from Little Lulu #75, one of my all-time faves) and there's a sampling of "Spider" stories, wherein Tubby acts as a detective to clear an innocent Lulu of blame for some misdeed committed -- usually -- by her dad.

There is no other comic I can think of that can be read over and over for sheer pleasure than Stanley's Little Lulus. Brilliant writing, clever plotting, and funny gags abound. Except for Carl Barks, who wrote and illustrated the magnificent Donald Duck comics, John Stanley was without peer in comics for juveniles.

John Stanley's Dell Little Lulu Comics are some of the most popular comics in history, and Dark Horse's recent decision to reprint them vies with The Complete Peanuts as the comics publishing event of the century. The Dark Horse series, currently up to twelve books, reprints the comics in black and white with color covers. Even the Another Rainbow hardback reprint volumes were black and white with included color covers. Here at last is the first all color volume, and it's a Lulu!

Little Lulu Color Special reprints twenty six stories random from Dell's Marge's Little Lulu comics numbers 4 through 86. Since they're not being released in order, this leaves plenty of room for future volumes. Remember when comics were a quarter? Neither do I, but this is almost as good, with Amazon bringing the price down under 50 cents per story. Of course then you got a whole comic for that. But there are tradeoffs. Instead of newsprint, here's a high-quality 10 X 7 inch over 200 pages bound volume with clearer printing than the comics ever had. These are the same comics, though; you can still see the mistakes common in the Dell and later Western Publishing reprints.

These comics were the inspiration for CINAR's The Little Lulu Show cartoon seen on HBO Family, with Lulu initially voiced by Tracey Uhlman (and now on DVD). Many show episodes were based on the John Stanley stories, and many of those stories are in this book, including "The Green Girl" and "Boy Canon Ball". Thanks to Dark Horse, fun comics are back, and heralding their return, the queen of them all: Little Lulu.

This short volume betrays the late David Sylvester's masterful understanding not only of his subject, but of modernist aesthetics overall.

"Looking at Giacometti" documents the way an extraordinary analytical mind came to understand a critical modern artist. The book has a tripartite structure: the first five essays were written while its subject was living; the next five offer a retrospective view of the artist and his work; and the final chapter, written during the 1980s, offers yet another perspective. With each successive chapter, Sylvester's understanding of Giacometti's work deepens, and his passionate, probing curiosity leads him to greater insights.

Of course, Sylvester may be remembered most as a sensitive interviewer (cf. his brilliant interviews with Francis Bacon, his probing Duchamp interview, and his book of BBC interviews with American artists); but his criticism -- particularly on Giacometti and Bacon -- remains exemplary, and indispensible.

This brief but exceptionally insightful study of Giacometti's work is highly recommended to anyone interested in modern art -- and to anyone hoping to write precise, incisive art criticism.

This excellent volume offers an in-depth look at the evolution of Alberto Giacometti's sculpture and painting. Having often visited Giaometti's Paris studio during the last twelve years of the artist's life, the author is able to provide an intimate portrait of one of the major figures of 20th century art and presents a comprehensive, analytical survey of the artist's work. Included is an extensive interview with Giacometti from 1965 and sixteen of Patricia Matisse's black-and-white photographs of the artist's work and studio. The author explores the artist's interest in the process of objectifying reality, the question of how art is perceived, and how Giacometti's work is related to the work of other modern artists. In so doing, he has written a book that is valuable not only for the study of Giacometti's paintings and sculpture but also for a deeper understanding of modern art as a whole.

One of the best studies of Giacometti available in English, written by a a professional critic who knew, interviewed, and even posed for a portrait by Giacometti. It covers all of Giacometti's artistic periods, his work as both painter and sculptor, and takes into account his writings, to produce a detailed and nuanced portrait of the artist and his work. And, it's especially refreshing to read a book about Giacometti that focuses more on his work than his personality.

As a general introduction to Giacometti, Sylvester's book is far superior to James Lord's overrated "A Giacometti Portrait," and is much more useful than Lord's biography, if you want to understand what Giacometti was trying to accomplish. This book is obviously not as exhaustive as Bonnefoy's enormous study on the subject (160 pages versus 574), but Sylvester's analysis is sharper and more hard-headed.

The photographs of Giacometti's work are limited and rather poor in quality, and none are in color. You'd have to go to the Scheider or Bonnefoy studies of Giacometti for reproductions. But for a serious analysis of Giacometti's work as it developed over his career, read Sylvester.

For years to come devotees and admirers of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Prasanthi Nilyam, the world over, will be immensely grateful to Dr. Ranganathan Padmanabhan for compiling and preparing Volume I of a Biographical Series on Sri Sathya Sai Baba, titled "Love is my Form. Volume I: The Advent (1926-1950)" which chronicles the first 25 years of the life of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The text of "Love is my Form" knits a rich tapestry of recorded history, interviews of contemporaries and devotees, narration of landmarks events, personal experiences and an incredible album of photographs, letters and other authenticated documents to give us a panoramic view of the unbelievable life of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. In the words of the compiler "The experience of working on the present volume has been nothing short of living out a divine miracle. It has been a miracle of love." Six more volumes, each dealing with ten to fifteen-year spans are in the production pipeline. When completed it will be one of the most comprehensive biography of an "Avatar" ever compiled.
Who then is this popularly called "Sathya Sai Baba" (or just Baba for short)? "Descending" on this earth on the twenty-third day of November 1926, as an "Avatar" in human form, He was born to a humble family in South India, in the then town of Puttaparthi, as "Sathyanaran Raju", He is known for His miraculous powers and His ability to transform and heal the hearts of people. Baba's central message is based on the "Unity of Faiths", a revival of "Vedic" life and the importance of "Love" as the principle human value for all mankind to live by. He has described Himself in His own words as: ""Sathya" is my "prachaar", "Dharma" is my "achaar", "Santhi" is my "swabhava" and "Prema" is my "swaroopa"". Simply translated it means "Truth is what I say, Righteousness is what I do, Peace is my nature and Love is my form". He also says "Start the day with love, fill the day with love, end the day with love, that is the way to God." About religion He says "There is only one religion - the religion of Love. There is only one language - the language of the heart. There is only one caste - the caste of Humanity. There is only one God and "He" is Omnipresent."
Words fail to describe the wonderful photographs that adorn almost every page of this 620 page tome. The detail chronology of events, exhaustive footnotes and commentaries speak volumes of the scholarly capacity of the compiling team assembling this book. The book ends with an impressive glossary of religious and technical terms. Sai Towers Publishing has performed a yeoman service to mankind in creating, designing and publishing this most wonderful and unique biography of a remarkable "Avatar". Devotees the world over are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the other planned volumes.

My husband and I, along with my family, spent years in India and have fallen in love with the culture. My husband is a professor of philosophy and religion, and he went to the Puttaparthi ashram, there meeting Sri Sathya Sai Baba. My father, a Quaker, is also very much open to the cultures and religions of India and has performed a Quaker/Sikh wedding.. All of us loved the book -- its detail and photos and offering of new information, and its clear showing of the beauty of India Thank you!!

I got this book after some trepidation as it cost INR 2,250 (~USD 50). But what a joy it has been to go through.

I've experienced the grace of Sri Sathya Sai Baba; the most significant being the villa where I stay, which is in a unique housing project called Palm Meadows in Bangalore. All the money for it has come from the Infosys stock options that I received on Baba's birthday (23.NOV) in 1994.

I like the manner in which this book takes the reader through a descriptive journey of Baba's first 25 years (1926-1950). Some of the photos are simply amazing.

It's evidently a labor of love by R Padmanaban and his team and the end result is a thing of beauty.

Quino is just a mind-boggling genius. Everything is funny, everything is still applicable to things happening today. My dad had most of them when I was a little girl, and I started buying them for myself. Best seven dollars I have ever spent.

I adored these cartoons when I learned to speak Spanish years ago. While Mafalda's political leanings were definitely a product of the time and place, her interpretation of the adult world is hysterical and sharply insightful. I am only sad that I can no longer understand many of them since I haven't used Spanish for so long.

Parte fundamental del humor latino es y será Mafalda. Ella, como siempre, con su fino humor nos hace reir y reflexionar acerca de la vida y el mundo en general.

I read this one when I was a teenager, although it is meant for younger kids. The story is simple: a modern good Soviet boy finds an old musty lamp in a river, rubs it. Of course, out comes a genie. And this most medieval, eastern genie has to deal with modern, Soviet reality.
Now this sounds pretty odd, and the book is odd too - in a good way.
At times it is predictably preachy Soviet (lending a certain vintage charm to the book) and at times it is surprising, weird and funny.
I just ordered this translation. Even though the book is a Soviet Classic it is surprisingly hard to find in an American library. And now, to my happy surprise it is in English!!! How could I pass it by?!!
Do order this one - odd as it is, I think you (and I) will not regret it!

I read this in Russian as a kid and like many good children's books, this can be enjoyed by people of various ages on varying levels. The story is simple - Volka, a boy in the "Golden" era of the Soviet Union finds the classic magic lamp with Hottabych the genie, his new-found willing servant. However, it turns out that the society the old genie has gotten himself into does not make much sense to him, resulting in unpredictable, funny and weird moments.

There is a central strand of Soviet propaganda in the book. Hottabych is of course painted with the exaggerated backwardness of someone from a pre-communist, "superstitious" and unscientific society: he has trouble coming to terms with the seeming lack of private property, the alleged equality of women and the scientific advances (such as the knowledge of the earth's roundness, which in reality) made since his glory days in the 1001 Nights tales and the lack of slavery.

However, as can be expected, with the guidance and friendship of the boy, Hottabych eventually overcomes some of his cranky closed-mindedness and starts showing an interest in the scientific, educational and cultural aspects of the USSR around him, so the socialist ideal triumphs over Middle-eastern romanticism.

What good might there ever be in such a blatantly propagandist book (one which pained me when looking over it for this review when I discovered some of the more sinister unintentional references)? Well, it's still a great children's story, told by an author who respects his young readers enough to use skillful satire and other "grown-up" techniques. It's also endearing, as we get close to the well-meaning but old and outdated Hottabych having adventures alongside Volka, the sober youngster. Finally, it really does provide an absolutely fascinating time-capsule-like view into the classical Soviet worldview and what it thought of other cultures, places and ideas.

An great work of Soviet 1950s imaginative nostalgia that doubles up as a fun read for kids as well as a potential PhD topic on Soviet values.

I was given a copy of this book when I was eight, more than forty years ago. It is a terrific book for children, with plenty of action and magic and humour told from the unusual perspective of life inside the old Soviet Union. But, don't be put off, as there is nothing remotely political about this book. I still have my original copy and have recently been reading it with my nine year old son, who loves it,too. It says a lot that, even after forty years, the story is as fresh as ever and even before I turn a page I still remember what's coming. Pure Magic.

The only thing I have to add to Labradorman's review is that the social commentary in The Onion never crosses over into meanspiritedness (in case anyone was wondering). But its writers have an unerring eye in spotting and reporting the ridiculous wherever it may be found. The stories aren't real but most of them contain more than a grain of truth about our society.

My favorite Onion features are the regular columns written by fictitious characters who are part of The Onion's "Community Voices" - particularly the "gansta" Accounts Receivable manager Herbert Kornfeld and slacker Craig Anchower.

The Onion levels its aim at everything from pro sports teams to the loss of a "perfect" eBay feedback rating. It's a gem.

The Onion is by far one of the best publications out there today. I really don't have much else to say other than this package is a deal and will provide many hours of entertainment and biting social commentary.

For those of us who have long chuckled at the wry and winsome humor of the collective effort at the "Onion" website, this compilation of several earlier collections into one effort is a treasure trove of biting satire and clever use of modern language. Somehow the writers manage to tickle our funny bones as they educate and entertain us with their insight and insider's understanding of the madness know as politics, social farce, and correct cultural thinking. They most often approach the subject at hand via parody, and some of the finest I have ever read have been within their pages. They are almost monotonously brilliant, nearly uniformly informative, and best of all, universally irreverent. This is one to take to a trip to the rest room, folks, for it will have you enjoying life's most personal moments with tears of laughter the unavoidable net result.

The editors and writers at the Onion website, one of the most often visited such sites on the web; routinely attack the most sacred shibboleths and taboos of society, ranging from abortion to homophobia, from sexism to animal rights, and from racism to the dangers of cloning. One of my favorites is a tongue-in-cheek examination of the Canadians as though they were nothing more than closet Americans trying to rebel against the monolithic forces of our culture. To be sure, the humor that results is by its very nature often tasteless and even a little but crude, so if you have a delicate stomach or a fragile disposition this collection of satiric pieces culled from three previous collections may not be something you would enjoy. But those of us with a taste for such bawdy fare will read the pieces again and again, until the whole book gets a little dog-eared. Nice to have all this stuff in print and available for instant replay. Enjoy!

Thank you to Jeffry Mallow------a most wonderful and charming collection of Jewish humor. We keep our copy in the kitchen so that we can spontaneously pick it up, select a joke or funny story and chuckle out loud!!! Also--------you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this!!! A great gift-----lovely addition to anyone's library. WONDERFULLY DONE!!!!
-----SM & RM Cold Spring Harbor, New York

Jeffrey Mallow is a humorist, a linguist, and a physicist - perhaps no one else in the United States combines those three talents, and certainly not at his high level. In "Our Pal God, and Other Presumptions," Mallow puts his humor and language skills to superb use, and he even throws in a little science now and then.

"Our Pal God" is a book of Jewish humor, but it is far more than just another collection of funny stories. To be sure, it is a collection of jokes - really, really good jokes - but Mallow does much more than that. He categorizes and defines Jewish humor, explaining both its inward-looking and outward-looking aspects. He also shows how the Yiddish language contributed to Jewish humor, but you don't need to understand a word of Yiddish in order to get the jokes (Mallow deftly provides unobtrusive definitions at every key point).

Indeed, the best section is probably the one on Language Humor, especially the chapter on "Jokes that Do, Almost Do, and Do Not Translate." It is a perfect introduction to Jewish culture and the immigrant experience. Then again, perhaps the best section is "Compare and Contrast - Jewish/Non-Jewish Variants" in which Mallow shows us how one joke can show up in two or three different cultures, each time taking on a subtle variation in meaning.

Everyone knows about chutzpah, an untranslatable Yiddish word that is usually defined as temerity, gall, or unbelievable nerve. Here is one of Mallow's chutzpah jokes (I picked the shortest one)

An Israeli is walking down the street in Jerusalem, chuckling. He stops the first passerby and says, "I heard a great joke about our dumb prime minister, and I've just got to tell it to someone."

The passerby replies, "I am the prime minister."

"Okay," says the Israeli, "I'll talk slow."

There is much more. You will enjoy this book cover to cover. And that's the emmis (truth).

"Our Pal" is an outstanding and easy to read book. It covers a wide range of jokes, and will give you plenty of laugh-out-load moments. It's got something for everybody, but avoids tasteless and pointless jokes we get tired of hearing. Instead it offers real insights into the cultures and mindsets that gave rise to a very particular form of humor, as well as really interesting tidbits about languages and connections to other cultures. If I were better at telling jokes, this would be a primary source for material.

Like the previous reviewer, I found the instructions in Janet Wilson's book to be very clear--much more so than other books I have on the subject. She guides the reader step-by-step and tells what supplies are needed and how to use the tools. This craft was completely new to me, but within a short practice period, I was able to complete most of the projects in the book with very beautiful results. I've sent birthday greetings with my hand-made parchment cards and received effusive compliments and thanks for them. This is my favorite instruction book for working on parchment.

This is my favorite book on parchment craft. The patterns are just beautiful and can be done by a parchcrafter of any skill level. Janet Wilson's directions are clear and easy to follow.. The photos of her completed projects are inspiring. I use this more than any other book I own on parchcrafting....I was recently asked to teach classes in parchment crafting and this is the book I asked to be put on the student's supply list.

Of all of my parchment craft books and kits, Janet Wilson has written the one I turn to most often. I've created three cards (two valentines and a sympathy card) following her directions and designs, and she is by far the easiest author to understand. (Incidentally the directions included with the Pergamano parchment craft kit were the most difficult to follow. Go figure.)

In the first chapter of "Parchment Craft," the author describes and shows photographs of the materials and equipment you will need to get started in this fifteenth-century art form. She does not actually list suppliers, but they are easily discovered out on the internet. (One of my favorites is "willascommodities.com".) You really don't need much to start with, just the correct type of paper (which is not really parchment), scissors with short curved blades and fine points (very much like manicure scissors), a pen and white ink for tracing, a couple of pads to place underneath the paper while embossing and perforating, embossing tools (basically knob-ended sticks to use for drawing & rubbing), and needle tools for perforating the paper into fancy patterns.

The author suggests tracing all designs on to the parchment with a mapping pen and white ink. I tried that and found that I was more comfortable with a white Prismacolor pencil, although the resulting lines are not quite as fine. Embossing is done from the back of the paper, so don't do what I did the first time and also trace onto the back of the paper. My niece Chelsea's name came out as 'aeslehC.'

Many of the directions are illustrated by step-by-step color photographs, especially when the author is demonstrating a new method such as applying color with oil pastels, or using the four-needle tool to make lace.

There are many patterns that can be used interchangeably--for instance I copied part of the design from an Easter card for my sympathy card. However, some of the patterns are not full-sized and you will have to enlarge them on a photocopier before using them. I wish this step could have been avoided by publishing only full-size patterns, since I no longer have easy access to a copier. However, this is a minor fault in a very nice book.

What can I say, these calendars make me smile and give me a laugh or chuckle every day. Who couldn't use that?

I loved reading these so much, I gave the book to my mother...who shares them with her sister...

Pearls Before Swine is a hilarious comic strip and everything connected with it i.e. books, calendars, etc. is great. If you have a wry sense of humor, you will love it.

I just took an independent study in the calculus of variations out of Gelfand's classic text. I covered the first four chapters which is a nice introduction. However the text is pretty technical and so Perfect Form (PF) was a great companion. Its laid back, accessible to a sophomore physics student and fine for self study. It has a range of physical problems from calculations to nice little problems to think about.

Moreover, it motivates the material well. This is one of those books that keeps driving home a few, just a few points and avoids too many topics. For instance, I was never knew why the lagrangian should be the difference of kinetic and potential energies, this book will motivate this form.

Finally, its a realistic book. I found no great effort in reading the entire book and working about 3/4 of the problems (some I just didn't find interesting) on my own in a busy semester. This is just a fun little book that shows you some variational methods!

This is an engaging book, written on a fairly basic level. Any junior with some calculus should be able to handle it. The author has done a great job of introducing the calculus of variations, Lagrange multipliers, etc, and applying them to clear examples from physics (Fermat's principle, Lagrangians and Hamiltonians). I only wish he had expanded the topics somewhat to introduce a few more topics to whet the appetite, such as phase spaces, Liouville's theorem, Noether's theorem.

For a third or fourth year student in physics this short book, Perfect Form, would be near perfect as either a short overview of variational methods, or as a supplementary text for an advanced classical physics course.

I have occasionally encountered variational methods, but until reading Perfect Form I had not appreciated the significance and scope and even fascination of this topic. In a little more than one hundred pages Dr. Don Lemons does a credible job of introducing a wide range of physics problems amenable to variational methods.

He begins with optics and Fermat's Principle of Least Time and thereby motivates the derivation of the Euler-Lagrange equation. In later chapters he examines the principle of least potential energy, Lagrange multipliers, the principle of least action, and Hamilton's principle, in both a restricted and more general form. The supplementary problems at the end of each chapter are few in number, but are carefully defined and are more like tutorials than standalone problems.

In my experience textbooks dedicated to this topic - like Calculus of Variations by Robert Weinstock and Introduction to the Calculus of Variations by Hans Sagan - are difficult and require considerable mathematical maturity. Other texts - like Advanced Calculus of Several Variables (C. H. Edwards) and Advanced Mathematical Methods for Engineering and Science Students (Stephenson and Radmore) and Mathematics Applied to Continuum Mechanics (L. A. Segel) - often relegate this subject to a single (and often final) chapter.

Most undergraduates are unlikely to have time for a formal course in calculus of variations. With this book Don Lemons has convinced me that this topic is too important and too interesting to ignore. I recommend that you acquire a copy of Perfect Form for self-study or as supplementary text.