Ford Reviews

Reeves is a veteran political reporter whose excellent insights and smooth prose are guaranteed to provide a pleasant, educational read. Although Reeves portrays Ford as a dummy, he presents him as a well-meaning dummy. Thus his take can hardly be considered critical. Indeed, Reeves assigns Ford's every success to the latter's naivete combined with his unquestioning loyalty to party. Ford's rise to Minority Leader and eventually Vice President are based on the actions of others, and the estimates of elites that Ford will be inoffensive and controllable. Indeed, he portrays the President as a captive of his own administration, controlled by the Nixon holdovers and their strong ideas, from the ubiquitous Kissinger to the reluctantly deposed Haig. Reeves explains the Nixon pardon strictly in this context, as the innocent action of true party loyalist, not as a cynical payoff for services rendered, or even a cynical partisan f-k you to the country. For those interested in politics and Presidents, Reeves should be classed with Witcover and Germond, as a must read. For those who have a passing interest he should be taken as an excellent readable primer, if it's not all you need to know, it's most of it. A bargain at any price.

This is a must-have book if you're a Ford classic car buff--or a 50's fan. Author Mike Parris has a way with words--and pictures. Parris provides the pertinent (and most interesting) facts and stories behind Ford cars of the fab 50's, gleaned from research as well from interviews with some of the decade's key Ford execs. Included: behind-the-scenes info that brings the auto scene of the era to life. Photos are from premiere Detroit auto library collections--but also include Mike Parris' original (and outstanding) photography. (I especially love the pics of the Woodies, wood-sided station wagons that came and went with bobby-sox--seems they weren't practical once put to the test--but talk about a look that's gotten funky-cool with age!) Also included: some of the fun and nostalgic advertising of the era. This book is a visual treat and captures the golden glow of one of FoMoCo's fabbest decades.

For anyone who loves old time tractors and agrcultural machinery this book is a must.

David Ray Griffin's essay on Hartshorne is more than worth the price of the book all by itself.

I could not stop turning the pages! I read & re-read the book, and I am still completly compelled with the Godfather! Much better than the movies! This is simply one of the best novels that has ever been written. It can hold its own among some of the greatest writers in history. Truly the defining novel of its genre. Mario Puzo has written the perfect novel and I for one will never forget his work.

This is a refreshing way to spend your time listening to some of the best interviews from the show. I like the show but sometimes don't have time to catch it on NPR. This audio set gives me lots of the memorable interviews I've heard or partially heard over the years. It's a great collection of some of the folks who are major influences in their work. The inquisitive and probing questions of Terry Gross really open up conversations with the likes of Tracy Ullman and Dennis Franz, they sound like us. These are wonderful snippets of real life.

Margrave poured dark rum into a shallow glass. "All right, we're self-referential beings, and the quality of mercy is not strained either. But I know where that reference comes from, and it's not some vast collective."

...

Vogel said, "We've always defined memory in terms of memory, while forgetting -oops, pardon me, but you see the problem- that memory is subjective. . ."

This book is the single leading authority on functionally graded materials. It is the result of a comprehensive, multi-year effort by several dedicated researchers and engineers. Unlike many books which have numerous editors, this book reads as if it has been written by one author -- it is cohesive and the writing flows well, even though it is terse. The bibliography is enormous and by itself represents a unique collection in this area.

Even though functionally graded materials have been utilized by people for hundreds of years, it is only lately that it has been realized that material advances may be made by bringing together the many materials disciplines that work on functionally graded materials. This book accomplishes such a unification.

Powerful observations written about the Spanish people, culture, government, it the time of the 1840s, Richard Ford has uncanny ability to observe, understand, analyze, and then put down his observations with wonderful prose, sharp wit, great philosophy, and an obvious love of Spain and things Spanish.
As an interesting aside, written at a time when England is very powerful, America young, France despised (Napoleon having been beaten by the British at Waterloo), the writing gives an insight into British culture as they saw themselves at that time.
If you love Spain, if you love truly superb travel writing, it is worth working through the obscure references in some passages to be amazed at the truly brilliant writing of Richard Ford. Insights into the Spanish that still hold true today, and universal insights into travel as an art that will always be true, page after page of great reading. I liked it.