Something's Not Quite Right

Customer Reviews:

Something's not quite good.......2005-10-04

This was recommended to me by the Amazon "store" for buying Masters of Deception. While a few of the ideas were somewhat interesting or clever, the renditions were so poorly done that any potential was lost in mediocrity. After Masters of Deception and seeing actual masters of artististry who also add optical illusion to the mix, this seems like an art school project were the instructor would have given a C for effort and potential. I had to pay for it so I'm a bit more harsh.

What's not to like ? !.......2005-04-02

A well-made book. Full-page illustrations are accompanied by the piece's title. Quirky, whimsical, amusing and thought-provoking. The artist plays with reality and makes you want to too.
I love this Guy!

Something Is Not Quite Right: A Find-The-Mistake Picture Book

Average customer rating:

Thoroughly enjoyable & creatively original

Something Is Not Quite Right: A Find-The-Mistake Picture Book
Ralf Butschkow
Manufacturer: Kane/Miller Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1929132298

Book Description

Children never get tired of looking at engaging pictures. They also never get tired of being right. This is the perfect combination for young eagle-eyed readers. Lisa spends the day feeling that something is just not quite right, but she can't put her finger on what it is. She's so busy trying to figure out what feels wrong that she misses the hilarious, ridiculous, absurd events going on around her, under her, next to her and over her.

Customer Reviews:

Thoroughly enjoyable & creatively original.......2002-11-16

Written and illustrated by Ralf Butschkow, Something Is Not Quite Right! A Find-the-mistake Picture Book is an engaging picture book for young children. Each of the colorful, cartoon-style, full-page-spread illustrations contains a host of unusual "mistakes" (for example, a snowman in the oven, a giraffe peeking out of a boat), for young readers to spot and find on their own. There is a simple, visual answer key at the back of this thoroughly enjoyable, creatively original, highly recommended picture book for kids.

Average customer rating:

Something Is Not Quite Right
Ralf Butschkow
Manufacturer: Kane/Miller Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PN9CS8

Customer Reviews:

Magnificent photos, reindeer herders, boots, beads and more!.......1999-01-23

Oakes and Riewe present a beautiful portrait of the indigenous peoples of northern Siberia and the Russian Far East, using their own magnificent photographs of clothing, footwear and landscapes, plus those of other researchers, and from Russian and European museums. The beauty and harmony of traditional Siberian ways of life emerge from the pages. The authors, specialists in clothing and land use among northern peoples of Canada, have avoided showing us the poverty and destruction of today's everyday life in Russia's north, emphasizing instead the lifeways that indigenous peoples are struggling to preserve. (A less romantic picture can be seen in Doeker Mach's Forgotten Peoples of Siberia. Zurich: Scalo 1993.) The text, based on the authors' fieldwork, with the help of specialists from Russian museums and educational institutions, gives a historical overview, showing varieties of environment and ways of life, linguistic and cultural groupings, details of sewing tools, materials and methods of skin preparation, and of spiritual traditions based in nature. Some of these traditions relate directly to clothing and footwear, vital to survival in harsh northern climates. For example the Even people say that footwear provides a connection between the sacred and the profane. Good boots keep them in harmony with the earth. Sewing tools frequently show up in traditional tales, protecting and empowering women in the same way hunting tools empower men. I feel that the spiritual importance of clothing could have been clarified even more, and that it would have been valuable to give a more complete overview of Siberian spiritual traditions in the book's introduction. This would have allowed the authors to show which aspects are shared by many peoples and which are unique to one. They could also answer fascinating questions like why the Even and Evenk wear open coats in winter (which may reflect more southerly origins), and why Chukchi women make their clothing from whole skins instead of cutting them, (probably to keep the power of the animal intact). Emphasis on footwear reflects the authors' area of specialization as well as the help of the Bata Shoe Museum in bringing to Canada the footwear exhibit from the Russian Ethnographic Museum (also called "Spirit of Siberia") on which the book is based. The photographs and text elaborate the uses of reindeer skin, walrus skin, various furs, embroidery with threads and with the chin hairs of the reindeer, fur mosaics and beadwork. Appendices show the distinct details characteristic of the footwear of the various peoples, as well as skin preparation techniques. Besides the uniformly positive image provided by the photos, one other problem is with the frequent use of the "ethnographic present tense", which makes it difficult for the reader to be sure which traditions are still followed today and which are not. One example is the bear festival of the Amur peoples, in which a young bear was kept in a household for several years before being sacrificed to the masters of the taiga. This ceremony has been revived only once since the end of the repressive Soviet era, and the people decided not to do it again because changed mores made the sacrifice seem too cruel to the bear. Spirit of Siberia provides a beautiful and fascinating introduction to an ancient but radically changing tradition.

Spirit of Siberia: traditional native life, clothing and footwear

Average customer rating:

Spirit of Siberia: traditional native life, clothing and footwear
Oakes and Riewe
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ON605M

Spirit of Siberia: traditional native life, clothing, and footwear.: An article from: Arctic

Average customer rating:

Spirit of Siberia: traditional native life, clothing, and footwear.: An article from: Arctic

Manufacturer: Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B0008GP3EO
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Arctic, published by Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 744 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: Spirit of Siberia: traditional native life, clothing, and footwear.
Publication: Arctic (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary
Volume: 53 Issue: 1 Page: 76

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

A woman driven to insanity by the murder of her child, and the horribly burned husband seeking revenge; unseen samurai under the thumb of a power-hungry woman; a beggar ronin seeking the downfall of his greedily ambitious wife; a good-for-nothing beggar willing to use a child to make easy money; a lady magician threatened by swindling gangsters: all of these people have something in common -- the need to regain their honor, and this quest almost always means death. Ogami Itto, a wandering ronin on a road to vengeance, has been paid to put these folks back on that path, at any cost. For this grim samurai and his infant son, there is nothing left in this world except honor, vengeance, death, and blood. Fortunately, there`s plenty of each to go around...

Customer Reviews:

Yagyu Retsudo renews the quest to kill Ogami Itto & Daigoro.......2002-11-22

The Yagyu letter continues to gnaw at Yagyu Retsudo who gives ample proof in Volume 13 of the Lone Wolf & Cub saga, "The Moon in the East, the Sun in the West," that he will go to any length to get his revenge on Ogami Itto. In the five chapters of the manga epic included in this volume is the most shocking act of violence we have yet wetness in this bloody saga:

(64) "The Moon in the East, the Sun in the West" has Retsudo ruminating on how he has sent all of his legitimate sons to be slaughtered by Ogami Itto. But the old man has an illegitimate son and daughter, and horrible plans for them both.

(65) "'Marohoshi' Mamesho" is another one of the fascinating characters created by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. This time around the title character is an old policeman from the capital on the verge of retirement who stumbles across Ogami Itto being commissioned for his next act of assassination. "Marohoshi" has spent his life protecting people and he is not going to let this ronin continue on the assassin's road.

(66) "Spoiling Daigoro" is an offbeat story where the family that hires Ogami Itto persuades him to let Daigoro stay with them while he goes off to do his job. They have a son who is a coward and a weakling with no friends, and the boy's father thinks that having Daigoro around might be good for Suzunosuke. Ogami Itto agrees and thinks go well for a while, but Suzunosuke soon grows tired of hearing his parents praise Daigoro day and night.

(67) "The Hojiro Yaguy" finds Retsudo's illegitimate son planning on using poison darts that can stop a charging horse to slay Lone Wolf. It looks like there is no way on earth Ogami Itto can escape, but, of course, he always has something up his sleeve. Warning: The ending of this one is unexpectedly brutual and shocking.

(68) "The Bird Catchers," is another episode where Lone Wolf and Cub are spectators for the most part as they come across a group of female falconers preserving a dying way of life. But what makes this tale of some significance, especially as the last one in this volume, is that in the eyes of his son, it seems Ogami Itto might have finally gone too far.

"The Moon in the East, the Sun in the West" is another superb collection of stories in the Lone Wolf & Cub saga. Koike and Kojima still manage to provide a new twist and turn in every volume while stringing us out as long as possible with both the short term mystery of the Yagyu letter and the long term quest of Ogami Itto to get his vengeance on the entire Yagyu clan. I read one episode a night right before bed and am almost always surprised to see what new direction each night's story might take. This has to be one of the ten greatest comic epics of all time.

Ogami Itto is hired for several intriquing assassinations.......2002-11-17

The mystery of the Yagyu letter is apparently forgotten in the five Lone Wolf and Cub tales told in Volume 12, "Shattered Stones." However, one thing that really stood out in these stories is that since he was reunited with his father after they were separated by circumstances, Daigoro has been smiling a lot more:

(59) "Nameless, Penniless, Lifeless" is one of the most disturbing stories in the Lone Wolf and Cub saga. It begins with a woman putting on a sex show for peasants. But what is even more shocking is that the woman has lost her mind and that her husband, whose face is half scared by terrible burns, is the one who talks her into her displays. There is more here than meets the eye, as is often the case in these stories, and the way in which the truth is revealed might remind you of part of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

(60) "Body Check" is another one of those tales in which Ogami Itto has to use his brains to put himself in a position to use his sword for his next assassination.

(61) "Shattered Stones" begins with one of the most different ways that Ogami Itto has met someone who wanted to hire him for an assassination. On top of that the rules of the assassination are quite different (again, I am reminded of a Western parallel in the novel "Sophie's Choice").

(62) "A Promise of Potatoes" is an amusing little change of pace story for this series. Daigoro is off by himself again, being beaten up by a group of kids, when he is rescued by a con artist who teaches the boy to sit by a bowl looking pitiful as a way of making money. But where there is Cub can Lone Wolf be far behind...

(63) "Wife Killer" is a wonderfully ironic title, which we learn is used to describe somebody who gives away the tricks of magicians, who are known as "hand wives." Noronji Hoya, the Princess of Magicians, who has been using a delighted Daigoro as her "assistant," is about the encounter the "wife killer," an old saki-sotted magician who travels with two thugs who extort money from magicians: pay up or have your secrets revealed. But Noronji Hoya has a better proposition: she will perform a trick and if the old man can reveal her secret she will kill herself; if not, then she will take the old man's eyes.

Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima are back to telling tales in which Ogami Itto is more often than not more of a spectator to the action in which other characters carry the stories. One of the testaments to the greatness of this manga epic is that the title character can be almost incidental to the story and it is still completely riveting. Here we are, not even halfway through this saga, and they are still coming up with new and intriguing variations on the basic themes they established early on. The fact that they can maintain this high level certainly justifies the exalted status Lone Wolf & Cub has in the international world of comics.

At long last, Ogami Itto gets emotional over Daigoro.......2002-11-12

"Talisman of Hades" is a nice title, but "Thirteen Strings" is the one you are not going to forget of the four stories collected in Volume 11 of the "Lone Wolf & Cub" magna epic. We had been confronted with a major development in the story as Ogami Itto stole the Yagyu letter. All pretenses were dropped as Reshido Yagyu declared open war on Ogami Itto, but Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima were showing the same sort of audacious subterfuge as their heroic creation, for as Ogami and Reshido crossed blades, Daigoro lost is hold on his father's shoulders and literally fell over a cliff. Suddenly the mystery of the Yagyu letter has become secondary because father and son have become separated. Their search for one another continues in these stories and for the first time we see Ogami Itto express emotion for his son:

(55) "Talisman of Hades" finds Ogami Itto is now putting up pictures of a baby cart where once he had pasted the talismans of meifunado to invite clients of death and assassination. A group of young students on their way to an academy stumble upon the mystery of the signs and when they see the strange ronin slay a "priest" (another Yagyu assassin in disguise of course), they decide they must intervene, forcing Lone Wolf to teach them a valuable lesson.

(56) "Ailing Star" has Daigoro finding a place to stay with an old granny who lives under a rotted bridge in danger of collapse. The locals keep trying to convince the old lady to leave, but she refuses. "Ailing Star" forms an interesting counterpart to "Talisman of Hades" as Daigoro has his own little lesson to impart.

(57) "Thirteen Strings" is an 118-page story where Koike and Kojima come up with their own version of a Kurosawa film experience (the rain during the last acts of the story is a clue). When we come to end of this epic tale, surely "Thirteen Strings" will be one of the most memorable episodes. A runaway horse is about to trample a child in the road when Ogami Itto intervenes. The horsewoman turns out to be the Lady Kanae, Daughter of the Go-Jodai of Odawara Han, and a spoiled brat who fancies herself a samurai. Ogami also learns of a larger conflict between the Go-Jodai and the farmers. Drought has blighted the harvest for four years and the Go-Jodai has tightened the screws on the farmers, who "hire" Ogami to attend a meeting between the two sides (because if anything happens to Chosuke, the leader of the farmers, Lone Wolf will bring word back to the farmers). Go-Jodai has his own agenda for implementing fundamental agricultural reform. Meanwhile, his headstrong daughter seeks revenge on the ronin who has insulted her. But then the rains bring a sudden flood that changes absolutely everything. This is a memorable story of surprising depth, showing that Koike and Kojima are absolute masters of their craft.

(58) "A Poem for the Grave" has Ogami Itto seeking help in finding the secret of the Yagyu letter. This turns into another assassination job, which results in an encounter with another honorable soul who seeks to turn Lone Wolf from the Assassin's Road. The question is whether things might be different this time because of Ogami Itto's separation from Diagoro.

I am in awe of Koike and Kojima maintain this level of excellence through a story that is not even halfway over by this point in the telling of the tale. I continue to savor one story each night at bedtime so that I can think about how it fits into the big picture and the ebb and flow of the story. An absolute masterpiece, not just as a comic book, but as an epic narrative.

The reprints end here.......2001-12-17

Back in the late 80's and early 90 I owned a comic book store. This was one of the items I looked forward to every month. The writing was incredible and the artwork supurb. Out of dozens of issues I can only think a one or two that weren't worth my time.

When I first saw these book at the local comic store I ignored them. After all I had all of the issues and didn't need to spend money on smaller reprints even if they were in the origional format. However with the middle of this issue we have stories that were never published in America before.

It didn't hurt that one of the best stories (and the last) story of the full sized comic was here "Mazohoshi Maeesho" For people who don't know the series that story will say it all. The intro story also paints a path for those unfamilar with the series.

It would frankly be a waste of verbage to describe each story. The quality level is as always so high and the stories so interesting that there is little more to say.

If you never read this series start with #1 and enjoy. If you like me didn't buy it because they were reprints then go wild.

The epic continues..........2001-08-22

I happen to be quite a fan of big, sprawling epics, no matter what the medium may be. "Lone Wolf And Cub" is certainly turning out be quite an interesting one indeed. Continuing the plot from the previous volume, samurai-for-hire Ogami has been seperated from his son Daigoro during a brutal attack by his former masters, the Yagyu. As we begin this book, Ogami is on the search for Daigoro, but on his way he will run afoul of assassins and lone samurai. This volume lays out some great stories, as well as new developments in the series that will keep me reading indefinitely. For those unfamiliar with the series, it's best to start back at the first volume. For me (entrenched in the series already), this is another piece in Ogami's search for vengeance and another piece in the big puzzle of Lone Wolf And Cub.

Book Description

Barry concentrates on the popular topic of home repair.

Customer Reviews:

TOO SHORT!.......2007-05-25

This is typical Barry. Free flowing narrative, always funny, always consistent, never crosses the line by too much, a book you wouldn't be ashamed to have your mother catch you with...

My only complaint - it's too short! 96 pages?!!! If you're going to sell a book of that length, you had better give it to us at a reduced price. Please!

This is a funny book, but I can't fully recommend it because of the length. Instead I'd say by Money Secrets. Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?

A DIY book that will have you rolling in laughter which is far better than home improvement.......2006-01-19

In 15 hilarious chapters Dave Barry takes on the DIY topics of Tools, Wood, Electricity, Plumbing, Walls, Heating and Cooling, Insulation and Weatherproofing, Masonry, Easy Projects, Impossible Projects, Household Pests, The Lawn and Garden, Car Repair, Home Redecoration, and Building Your Own House.

He defines a tool as "an object that enables you to take advantage of the laws of physics and mechanics in such a way that you can seriously injure yourself."

Barry has the following to say about wood. "Wood has been the preferred building material for thousands of years, because it is one of the few materials that will rot as well as burn."

On electricity, Barry defines alternating current as "electricity [that] goes in one direction for a while, then goes the other direction. This prevents harmful buildup in the wires."

Mr. Barry says the first step in fixing a broken pipe is to "go down to the dankest corner of the basement and locate the valve that turns off all the water in the house. This will be the valve that is covered with slime and a spiderweb containing a spider and the festering bodies of dead insects."

According to Barry, walls "keep the roof from falling down and damaging your television set."

Barry on solar energy: "The easiest way to heat your house with solar energy is to move it to Central America, which is located directly under the sun."

Barry on Masonry: "Any kind of building material that can fall on you and kill you."

Barry on cockroaches: "The only surefire way to get rid of roaches is to remove all the liquor from your house. Roaches can mate only when drunk. Can you blame them? Would you mate with a roach if you were sober?"

Finally, a DIY book for people who don't know anything about the subject and don't want to learn. You can read this book and it's totally frivolous Index without learning anything about home repairs. You will have a good laugh and never be tempted to do any home projects. So relax and enjoy the outlandish humor of Dave Barry safe in the knowledge that this book has no socially redeeming value.

This is golden!.......2005-09-30

I remember getting he original version of this book in the 80's, with the fanged screw on the cover. This book screamed 'read me', and this is for a woman yet! I found it quite funny. The play on words, and the hilarious depiction of tools was just precious. It's a book with a certain amount of toilet humor, but not overly done, and is still one of the finest humor books for its uniqueness. It also hits a nerve for many homeowners - anyone who has done home repairs themselves can instantly identify with it, and with a good laugh. This will always be one of my favourite books. It's great to read when you're having a bad day, a really bored day, and need laughs for whatever reason.

From the archives, before Dave really found his stride........2005-06-26

This book is funny, don't get me wrong. But it's from VERY early in Dave Barry's career, (copyright 1983) and while subtlety has never been Dave's hallmark, (even his later work generally has the subtlety of a trainwreck) this book has significantly less of it than his later and better work, hard as that is to believe. It's similar in style to "Homes and Other Black Holes" and "Dave Barry's Guide to Life", if not quite as funny. But it can't hold a candle to any of his later works, such as "Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up", "Dave Barry Turns 40", and "The Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need".

"Build Your Own House, On Second Thought, Don't".......2001-02-24

Yes, the title of my review (and the the title of the last chapter in the book) pretty much sums up this book. The Time-Life series on home repair has absolutely nothing on this book.

Dave Barry is easily one of the top humor writers in the world, and this hilarious book surely shows why. In this book, he explains how to avoid the pitfalls of everyday home-maintenance tasks. His helpful tips, such as flushing a lit cherry bomb to clear up those tougher toilet clogs, are outright hysterical, and somewhat useful in the most extreme situations.

Jerry O'Brien, once again, is the perfect compliment to Barry's book with his remarkably funny illustrations. The illustrations in the chapter on Walls are beyond hilarious.

On the whole, this book is tremendous. Dave Barry makes the most difficult task seem easy, mainly because it is physically impossible to perform them, but it still makes for great reading. This book is a can't miss, and sure to make you laugh.

Average customer rating:
THE TAMING OF THE SCREW

Manufacturer: RODALE PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GYC1H0

Average customer rating:
The Taming of the Screw. Several Million homeowner's problems
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Rodale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V8VREE

Average customer rating:
Turn Screw - Taming Screw
James
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 031215013X

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books