The Culture of Contentment

Customer Reviews:

A Compelling Argument is it........2005-04-16

Galbraith's argument in this book is that since the end of World War II a larger number of Americans have prospered more and struggled less to make ends meet and their new-found contentment has changed society. These changes are because the contented class will not accept any threat to their prosperity.

I'm not qualified to judge the arguments made but I found the them compelling especially given the recent lassie-faire business and anti-government trends.

One major distraction in the book is Galbraith's unusual writing style. Most sentences are phrased oddly, the result sounding like something Yoda might write.

Prescient insights!.......2003-03-16

After reading this book I was struck with the profound nature of both the "Economic Accommodation I/II" and "Military Nexus I/II" chapters with regard to the current tax cut proposals and the impending war with Iraq. As Galbraith asserts in Economic Accommodation concerning questionable supply-side tax policy, "it must be emphasized, the required doctrine need not be the subject of serious empirical proof." When, oh when, are we going to realize as an overall society that the 80's boom was a deficit spending trick and the late 90's boom was the product of massive business productivity gains from global expansion after communism, computer/telecom technology and increasing consumer debt (not "the maestro"). As Galbraith points out, the long-term implications of these macro-economic policies are scary, but our culture seems incapable of thinking long-term. The Military Nexus section also makes you wonder about the "War on Terror". A conventional military war on an invisible (or nearly invisible) enemy - Hmmm? Excellent book!

The author's practically vindicated by our times.......2001-07-08

I read this book when it was first published and I can confidently assert, after reading a very detailed Congressional Budget survey on income growth over the past 20 years, through both the Reagan And Clinton years, and a throrough reading of the culural trends of the past decade that the author stands virtually vindicated. I suppose only a fairly steep recession will persuade the masses, especially those people of whom Professor Galbraith writes of, something's seriously awry today in many spheres of everyday life and only then might prompt serious consideration to bring the regulatory state back in to remedy these glaring problems. So kudos to Professor Galbraith for an extremely prescient piece of social commentary. Only the most devout free market acolytes could miss the significance of its message!

Excellent.......1999-07-15

This and all of Galbraith's books are classic. I noticed his books sometimes have gotten rather negative reviews. These seem to come from the same people who will be voting for Pat Buchanan for president. Galbraith is very much a Democrat. His ideas are "liberal". That does not stop him from being one of the most brilliant Economists of the 20th century. The joy of reading his books goes beyond just Gabraith's ideas. In reading his books one gets to know him. He is the sort of writer who lets the reader into his world. Some people may not like what he says. It is hard to take a look at yourself sometimes. Others will cherish his writing.

Making the same point over and over again.......1999-03-04

This is not a bad "state of the nation" book, I've read much worse before. The central is idea of America held hostage by a sizable minority of affluent and content citizens and therefore blind for the plight of the less well-of is interesting, even thought-provoking. However, one good idea does not make a good book. These 180-odd pages ought to have been condensed in a 5 page article. Also, Galbraith uses this one idea to explain an astonishing variety of phenomena, which undermines its credibility. On the positive side, this book certainly contains some very poignant observations, written in Galbraith's typical witty, sometimes even sarcastic prose.

Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom and the Life Issues

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The Guide to Happiness
Is the author happy, or healthy for that matter?
Excellent and desperately needed!
Moral Therapy
lost in space

Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom and the Life Issues
Robert Spitzer S.J.
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0898707862

Customer Reviews:

The Guide to Happiness.......2007-07-22

Although somewhat academic in style, this book is important for those wishing to explore the keys to being in the state of happiness. The author describes happiness in terms of four levels, with Level 3/4 being the ultimate goal. Along the way, he explains the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic rights and how the issues of abortion and euthanasia fit in.

An important book to read for those in the pro-life movement or on the fence, or those wishing to explore the philosophy of happiness further.

Is the author happy, or healthy for that matter?.......2005-02-16

What on earth is this guy talking about? Pop in a human being, let him roll through the Hegelian system of abstract cogs and wheels and out pops Mr. Happy. This guy's ramblings rival the opium dreams of William Burrough's "Naked Lunch". In fact, he must have smoked something stronger. Don't waste your money on this one.

Excellent and desperately needed!.......2004-04-02

Fr. Spitzer uses ancient wisdom of the Greek Philosophers to remind contemporary society what happiness is truly about. Our society has become increasingly shallow and selfish. Please, read this book!

Moral Therapy.......2003-08-26

Without a shared philosophy, Father Spitzer knows, debates about the controversial life issues can degenerate into point-counterpoint donnybrooks. So the bulk of Healing the Culture is a prolegomenon to the pro-life position, an extended presentation of the classical Christian argument that human happiness cannot be limited to merely material or pragmatic concerns.

That such a philosophy seems counter-cultural does suggest the need for healing, and the author's case for unselfish ethics is well-organized and compelling. Particularly strong are his discussions of how true freedom requires moral goodness, how democracy ultimately derives from inalienable rights (not simple majority rule), and the futility of fully defining personhood by merely sociological categories.

All in all, Healing the Culture is a good introduction to the good life. But one wonders if philosophy alone can heal the divisions behind the current culture wars? Changing people's convictions about issues as personal as abortion and euthanasia may require more than rational argument.

lost in space.......2003-08-20

An ultramontanist friend gave me a copy of this to read, apparently in the hope that it would quell all the questions I have about the Magisterium's long, dreadful retreat from Vatican II.

It didn't. Frankly, I find it almost impossible to read.

I agree wholeheartedly with the reviewer who says the book shows a clear disconnect with reality.

Book Description

This collection of thought-provoking essays explore the importance of escaping the lifestyle and attitudes of a "weighed-down" world and provides valuable tools for doing so. Each meditation is followed by a series of questions for reflection or study.

The Culture of Contentment. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal

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The Culture of Contentment. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal
Maryann O. Keating
Manufacturer: Southern Economic Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Southern Economic Journal, published by Southern Economic Association on April 1, 1994. The length of the article is 632 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Culture of Contentment. (book reviews)
Author: Maryann O. Keating
Publication: Southern Economic Journal (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 1994
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Volume: v60 Issue: n4 Page: p1082(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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The Culture of Contentment
John Kenneth Galbraith
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ONEBSK

Book Description

Phenotypic plasticity is the property of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes (morphologies or behaviors) in respone to distinct environmental conditions. The fundamental goal of plasticity studies is to go beyond the old nature-nurture (i.e., genes-environment) dichotomy to gain a deeper insight into how organisms are shaped by the interqaction of their genetics and ecology. Typical questions in plasticity studies include: how do novel adaptive phenotypes originate? How do organisms detect and respond to stressful environments? What is the balance between costs or constraints and natural selection? As a field of research, phenotypic plasticity has gained momentum during the past two decades, taking center stage at the interface of ecological genetics, developmental biology, and evolutionary theory. This work is the first to synthesize this burgeoning area of research, providing a conceptual overview as well as a technical treatment of its major componenets. Pigliucci describes what phenotpyic plasticity is and how it is studied, discusses types of experiments with their statistical and graphical analaysis, and provides extended examples of the molecular basis of plasticity, the plasticity of development, the ecology of plastic responses, and the role of costs and constraints in the evolution of plasticity. A brief epilogue looks at how plasticity studies shed light on the nature/nurture debate in the popular media.

Customer Reviews:

Nature-Nurture in Synthesis.......2005-12-20

Phenotypic Plasticity examines the way elements outside the organism influence the effects of the collection of genes that constitute an organism (genotype) to form it (phenotype). The author, Massimo Pigliucci, a professor of evolutionary biology and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook has achieved a widely acclaimed synthesis of research in ecological genetics, developmental biology and evolutionary theory that is "must reading" for specialists in these fields as attested by the reviews above. It will also be a richly rewarding (and challenging) read for non-specialists in the social sciences and medicine as well as the life-long learner interested in the hoary nature-nurture polemic.

The familiar story of Gregor Mendel's magnificent and painstaking genetic studies with peas often leaves out the care the good monk took to isolate pisum sativum from environmental influences. His research procedures mostly eliminated what in the early era of the gene was called the "noise" of environmental influences on the development of the pea characteristics he studied. Mendel's 1866 publication, largely ignored until it caught the attention of a new generation of biologists in 1900, ushered in the classical period of genetics. The active discussion of Mendel's thought provoking paper led Wilhelm Johannsen, a Danish botanist, to emphasize the distinction Mendel had made between the "factors" and the "characters" they produced by introducing in 1909 the terms "gene," "genotype" (the complete set of genes or more properly alleles) and "phenotype" (the appearance or expression of characters in living things). It was this distinction, with an assist from Francis Galton, which mainly accounts for the enthusiastic 20th century debate about whether we are what we are as a result of genetic inheritance (nature) or environmental influences (nurture). The reader who desires a more detailed history of genetics will find it in Sturtevant's A History of Genetics (Cold Spring Harbor, 1965/2001) and Stubbe's History of Genetics (MIT Press, 1972) among many sources.

The plot surrounding nature v. nurture thickened with renewed emphasis on the early 20th century work of the German botanist Richard Woltereck demonstrating that the genotype could produce a range of characteristics depending on the particular environments in which it developed. The implication: There was plasticity to the genotype. Pigliucci uses Woltereck's concept of the Reaction Norm as a point of departure to explore plasticity. First, he carefully explicates the concept of phenotypic plasticity, the often misunderstood idea of "heritability," and the way plasticity is studied by biologists. Also recommended in this context is the work of Sarkar, for example, Genetics And Reductionism (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998). In Chapter Three Pigliucci provides a brief but much needed conceptual history of phenotypic plasticity. The fact that Woltereck or reaction norm, norm of reaction, or the German "reactionsnorm" cannot be found in either Sturtevant or Stubbe's histories provides silent but eloquent testimony about the emphasis on the one gene-one character notion that dominated early 20th century genetics and perserveres today in press releases that usually begin: A gene has been found for...

Chapter Four (The Genetics of Phenotypic Plasticity), Five (The Molecular Biology of Phenotypic Plasticity) and Eight (Behavior and Phenotypic Plasticity) dig into the evidence for plasticity and, of particular relevance to humans, the ways in which hormones can effect adaptation to a specific ecological (outside the organism) environment by carrying information from that environment to the genotypic-specific reactions triggered by that environment. These adaptations and the responsible mechanisms are also discussed in some detail by Cellura in Chapters Two through Five of The Genomic Environment And Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2005). Pigliucci also has chapters on developmental, theoretical and evolutionary biology and the ecology of phenotypic plasticity. In an epilogue he discusses philosophical and policy issues often encountered in the nature-nurture debate.

Phenotypic Plasticity is a sweeping review of the literature that is forging a new paradigm in biology, closing the loop in the misleading dichotomy between nature and nurture. Reading it and re-reading it will provide insight upon insight about real world biological adaptation.

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Great Book

Best choice of Alaska Flies

Wishbook for Alaska Flytiers

Excellent

Fly Patterns of Alaska: Alaska Flyfishers

Manufacturer: Frank Amato Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Fishing | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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Flies for Alaska: A Guide to Buying & Tying

Flyfishing Alaska

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Alaska Fishing: The Ultimate Angler's Guide, Deluxe Third Edition

Fly-Fishing Secrets of Alaska's Best Guides

ASIN: 1878175319

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2006-03-14

Great book. I found almost all the patterns for Alaska that I had been reading about in preparation for a fishing trip there. There were also recipies for each pattern. This book would not be useful for someone new at fly tying. Only the recipies are given and not the tying instructions.

Best choice of Alaska Flies.......2006-02-06

This book offers you a very good choice of fly patern to use in Alaska. The description of the material to use is short but good (not for beginners).

Wishbook for Alaska Flytiers.......2003-07-18

"Fly Patterns" is an encyclopedia of patterns found effective by the Alaska Flyfishers. It contains both patterns that are well-known to flyfishers from the lower 48 and quite a few patterns that originated in the Last Frontier. Each pattern has a high-quality photograph, a recipe and a short description of how the pattern is used in Alaska. The chapters are devoted to particular types of flies (e.g., streamers, salmon flies, egg flies, etc.). A good, comprehensive index is provided.

Other books of interest for those intending to flyfish in Alaska:
"Flyfishing Alaska" and "Flies for Alaska" both by A. J. Route.

Excellent.......1998-08-09

Frank Amato publications recently published a super book that is titled Fly Patterns of Alaska. You can buy it online at Amazon.com. It's a beautiful book and well worth the price. You will also want to tie up some Popsicle flies, which I believe are also listed in the recommended book.

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Fly Patterns of Alaska
Alaska Flyfishers
Manufacturer: Frank Amato Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 0936608137

Book Description

An essential tool for writers, poets, punsters, lyricists, wits, and language lovers everywhere!

THE NEW COMPREHENSIVE AMERICAN RHYMING DICTIONARY is, by far, the sassiest, most fun, complete andup-to-date book of its kind on the market. This remarkablecompendium contains over 65,000 words, phrases, andcolloquialisms--a gold mine of rhyme certain to aid anddelight everyone who works with language, from the amateurpoet to the professional wordsmith.

Why rhyme "moon" with "June"...when you can use "Brigadoon", "Daniel Boone", or "picayune" instead?
A cornucopia of rhymes for exasperating, difficult-to-match words...such as "system", "hemophilia", and "Khrushchev".
Easy-to-use and read, with entries arranged by sound rather than spelling.
Authoritative and up-to-the-minute...including the latest in slang, idioms and buzz words.

Whether you're a composer searching for the perfect songlyric or a wit who revels in constructing limericks, here isyour key to a bold new world of creative cleverness-an idealreference book for the Cole Porter in all of us!

Customer Reviews:

A godsend, at least for this writer of "clever" songs.......2006-04-22

I write educational songs for a living, stuff in the vein of Schoolhouse Rock. I used to rely on online rhyming dictionaries until I found this book, which is about 20 times more thorough than any website I've found. This book has saved me countless hours and made my songs immeasurably better. I love this book!

Simply the best.......2005-09-28

I teach a college course in songwriting, and in preparing to teach the course did an extensive review of many rhythming dictionaries. This one is by far the best, for the reasons other reviewers have stated.

If you buy one rhyming dictionary, make it this one. It's the one I use.

A review and a few other recommendations.......2005-09-14

Hi

It has been my good fortune to songwrite with many of the world's greatest songwriters, and to have had a bit of commercial success. So, for what it's worth, I offer the following review of this dictionary, plus a few other recommendations for aspiring lyricists and songwriters.

I own eight or nine rhyming dictionaries, and am constantly on the lookout for others, and basically, they all pretty much suck compared to this one. You certainly don't need any of them but this one, and I am continually surprised when browsing through bookshops to see many of those other lousy books on the shelves, but not Sue Young's excellent reference book. I don't know what the explanation for that is, but whatever it is, it has nothing to do with quality. If something has superceded it, I don't know about it.

Young's book has four main strengths which put it above the pack:

1.) It simply has a greater number of rhyming words than other dictionaries;

2.) It includes rhyming phrases, e.g., when you go to look for rhymes for "ground" you will find (amongst single words) phrases like "merry go round", "lost and found", etc. This feature is a valuable rarity.

3.) It arranges the rhyming options under each suffix in groups according to numbers of syllables: first there are the single syllable options, then the two syllable options, and so on. Believe it or not, I have a number of rhyming dictionaries which instead list options in alphabetical order (mixing up one, two, three, and four syllable options), obviously a cumbersome and time-wasting arrangement.

4.) Unlike those found in most other dictionaries, Young's rhyming lists include slang words/phrases, contractions, acronyms, obscenities, abbreviations, etc. Beat poets to Broadway lyricists to Ogden Nash humourists to rock writers will all appreciate these.

Perhaps I might also add that if you are an aspiring songwriter who wishes to enjoy commercial success (i.e., getting on the radio in whatever genre, or in broadway shows, etc.), Young's book could help form a kind of "starter reference package". The components would include:

1.) The New Comprehensive American Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young

2.) Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus by Barbara Ann Kipfer (this is the best one out there).

3.) Any or all of the Sheila Davis lyric writing books, especially, "Successful Lyric Writing: A Step-by-Step Course and Workbook". (Davis' books are clinical and mechanical, but you need to know song mechanics in order to be a consistently successful songwriter. Her books are really good for this, though won't be appreciated by those certain that each aspect of a song is dictated by heavenly muses rather than largely being the product of conscious and unconscious mental effort).

4.) If you would like an in-depth, "artistic" perspective on songwriting by a successful songwriter, add to this list the Jimmy Webb book, "Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting". (This one isn't necessary, it just may be of interest to some people).

I should add that most of the other "How to Write a Song!" type books out there are total garbage, so I wouldn't even bother with them.

But by far the best thing aspiring songwriters can do is deconstruct their own favourite songs to see why and how they work, and then incorporate what they discover into their own catalogue of creative knowledge.

Anyway, bravo to Sue Young for coming up with the best rhyming dictionary out there.

I hope this review has helped someone. Good luck.

Helpful- inventive phrases.......2003-09-21

I use this book often to write poetry. It is helpful that it has many phrases that I would not usually think of on my own.

Great for the English teacher that has everything........2001-02-22

I bought this, not too long ago, for a friend of mine who is a high school English teacher. She raves about how helpful it is to her in class and how much the kids enjoy using it.

She has stressed its value so much that I now feel it is a must for my reference library. After all we've all been there, trying to find a rhymne for that odd word. It's like trying to think of a synonym something and there not a thesaurus to be found.

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When Better Drawings Were Drawed...

The triumph and tragedy of Wallace Wood

This is looking the gift horse in the mouth, but...

Blazing Colors!

A Worthy Look At Wood's Work

Against the Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood
Bhob Stewart
Manufacturer: Twomorrows Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1893905284

Book Description

Limited to 1000 copies, the hardcover edition of Bhob Stewart's long-awaited AGAINST THE GRAIN: MAD ARTIST WALLACE WOOD includes 16 full-color pages not found in the softcover edition. It's the most comprehensive book ever produced on the career of one of science-fiction and comics' finest artists! For his Mad magazine work alone, many have long regarded Wallace Wood as the world's greatest cartoonist, and this remarkable memoir of life at the Wood Studio includes a biographical portrait, tracing Woody's life while exploring the humorous spirit, dark detours and psychological twists of this gifted maverick who often went against the grain! Many artists and writers who knew Wood personally have also contributed articles and essays, making this book a huge compendium of imaginative art, insights and critical commentary! From childhood drawings and ambitious teenage samples to an endless parade of pages for a variety of publishers—Avon, EC, Fox, Marvel, Warren, and! more—plus illustrations for Galaxy Science Fiction, this is the most stunning display of Wood art ever assembled! Bill Pearson, executor of the Wood Estate, has made available rare drawings directly from Wood's own files, while noted art collector Roger Hill provides a wealth of obscure, previously unpublished Wood drawings and paintings. Stand by to blast off! Spa fon!

Customer Reviews:

When Better Drawings Were Drawed..........2006-03-27

"Against the Grain" is an excellent collection of artwork by the late comic book artist Wally Wood, accompanied with essays by his friends and associates.

If you've never heard of Wood, you are in for a major treat here: Martians, robots, other-world landscapes, elves and dinosaurs have never looked better before or since Wood's time. Wood's crisp handling of pen-and-ink, his superb attention to detail (which fans called "beautiful clutter") and his extraordinary use of shadow and light are here for the reader to behold. The illustrations cover the entire range of his career, including his work from the 1950s with EC comics, his illustrations for Galaxy and other sci-fi magazines and his final masterwork, "The Wizard King".

Whether it was a grotesque monster from an unknown planet or a parody of Superman, a complicated machine from the 24th century or a fighter jet battle, a lush female in a tight-fitting spacesuit or a caricature of a contemporary politician, Wood could draw it. He could have you reeling in terror from space aliens or laughing out loud with "Batboy and Ruben." His influence on future generations of cartoonists was extensive, and some of them pay tribute to him in this book.

He had both friends and fans, some of them aspiring artists who probably would have paid him just to work in his studio. He could play guitar and entertain a group with his conversation, which tripped from art to politics to science.

Thomas Edison once said that invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, and Wally Wood must have understood that perfectly. His creations were the result not just of skill but of hours of labor. This is obvious from the fine details of such pieces as the spaceship interiors of "There'll Be Some Changes Made," his use of high contrast lighting in "Atom Bomb", the precisely-falling raindrops and slanted spears of "Joan of Arc," the exact movements of a medieval duel in "Trial by Arms"...

Phew! It's hard to know where to stop.

As a teenager and amateur cartoonist, I would imagine Wood as living in a Manhattan penthouse (for surely someone that talented would be rich) overlooking the New York skyline, working at his drawing board and surrounded by futuristic machines, while gorgeous women lounged about his bizarre-looking furniture. (He depicts himself in that manner in "My World", a tribute to science-fiction artists.)

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Despite his talent and his fans, Wood became a life-long alcoholic who worked in dank basements, spending weeks at his drawing board, half-wishing he could enter the fantastic environments he was creating and flee all his problems with publishers, bills and imperfect women. It was as if all his emotions had been bottle-necked and could only come out on the drawing board. (One of his three wives was a psychiatrist who concluded that he just had to control everything or else.) In the end, he just walked away from it all, putting himself to sleep with a handgun in 1979.

Still, his fans and associates have assembled this superb collection and hopefully there will be more of them.

The triumph and tragedy of Wallace Wood.......2005-06-22

I came upon this book while browsing a comic shop in Cambridge, and soon realised it was the long promised comprehensive survey of Wood's art and career. I applaud Bhob Stewart for his perseverance and obvious passion in bringing this book to publication. Any fan of Wood's will want to read this book. It contains tons of great art ; some of it obscure and previously unseen, and the biographical information it presents is thorough, and illustrated with great photos. A blurb on the back of the book proclaims, "Hooray for Wally Wood" and sure enough the vivid and imaginitive genius of Wood is on full display between its covers. This is the triumph part of his story, and it makes it a must have art book. But this book bravely explores the person of Wood as well,including the negatives, and the price he paid for his obsessive genius. It's a tragedy that anyone who knows Wood's story is familiar with, and it speaks loudly to the American culture at large, and how we have in the past, sometimes treated our heroes like throwaway commodities. After seeing some of the gorgeous art in the book, it seems incongrous to imagine the same Wood staying up for 3 days on Dexdrine to ink a Wonder Woman comic, but it happened, and frequently. A giant like Wood routinely worked on mediocre jobs just to scrape by. This warts and all approach is as honest as it is heatbreaking, and in my opinion transforms the book into a work of art of another variety, in its portrayal of a gifted but tortured individual. Attention, Hollywood!
Assistants Paul Kirshner, Nick Cuti and others contribute amazing , written tributes to Wood that say just how much they loved the guy, all the while dealing with his difficult personality. For these heartfelt rememberances alone, this book is a welcome, if sobering addition to the legacy of the great Wallace Wood.
I don't know if the author's intent was to produce anything more than a beautiful art book and tribute to his friend, but the fact that this book also functions as a cautionary tale that provides insight into the creative process and inner workings of such an American icon as Wood, is a facinating by product that should be of interest to any general reader.

This is looking the gift horse in the mouth, but..........2004-06-22

Although it had been promised to be a "definitive biography" by the publisher, Against the Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood continues the piecemeal format of everything that has been available about Wood and his contemporaries (Severin, Elder, Ingels, Crandall, Williamson, Craig, Davis, et al) for the last 40 years. -Which is to say it's a rambling book of personal essays/reminiscences, panel discussion excerpts and brief, fan-flavored interviews. The books one undeniable saving grace is that it is very generously embellished with samples of the artist's work. But overall, it feels like a blow-out issue of Squa Tront.

This will scratch the itch of the diehard and casual fan who wanted a coffee table browser on the subject. For those, like me, who hoped, finally, to see the subject's life drawn in one cohesive portrait by an insightful Boswell, it's a letdown, or "more of same."

I hope the book does well. It is, perhaps, an urgently needed Wood intro for newer generations who lack a sense of history. It is a welcome public reminder/declaration of Wood's place in The Comic Pantheon, where he clearly stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Roy Crane, Milt Caniff, Walt Kelly, Al Capp, Chester Gould and, dare one utter it, the Great Charles Schulz. Honest, it's not a bad little read. But I wish it had offered something new on the subject, or at least somehow extended the genre of fan appreciation/criticism established by Squa Tront during the 60s and 70s. As it is, this book has an odd way of making me feel that an entire generation, my generation, never really grew up.

Blazing Colors!.......2004-06-08

This is the penultimate guide on an artist who changed the way comic art is rendered today. This gargantuan exercise on artist Wallace Wood is an absolute for those who grew up with Woods magnificent style as well as the modern aspiring artist. Everything we see in comic art today can be traced in some shape or form to this master of pencil and India ink. The hand which so elegantly wielded the brush has been expertly brought back to life by Bhob Stewart. The text is written with a panache and flair almost completely missing from modern journalism on a subject so sadly underreported these days. Thanks to this wonderfully illustrated labor of love, the art of Wally Wood shall continue to live on for generations to come. All of today's modern heroes would not, could not exist had Wood's artistic creations not covered the span of decades. He was a true 20th-century Renaissance Man. "Against The Grain" is a work to be savored, embraced, shared by all serious artists who desire to know where it all began, and the man who rendered a new direction for a new century, Wally Wood.

A Worthy Look At Wood's Work.......2004-04-03

I've been reading "Against The Grain" on and off since late
December and, if you're a fan of comics art, this is a must-get for your collection: the late Wallace Wood was one of the comics field's greats, both as an illustrator and a cartoonist.

Like Wood's work, this is a beautiful book, well worth having; editor Bhob Stewart (assisted by Bill Pearson and Roger Hill), has done a great job. There are 35 essays by people who knew the artist, covering every aspect of his varied career. The selection of art does that as well: I have a fairly comprehensive collection of Wood's work, but there's quite a lot here that I was aware of and hadn't been able to obtain, as well of material I never knew about but was glad to see (like his illustrations from "Planet Stories," and his roughs for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"). There's his early work when he was just learning his chops, his roughs, his pencils, his cartoons, his comic book work, his illustrations --all done in variety of different techniques and mediums, all (save for the early material) displaying Wood's beautifully crisp line style.

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