Books about Craftsmanship from Amazon.com

Based on a two-week course in woodworking fundamentals offered at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Camden, Maine, this book takes a traditional approach to teaching, with the idea that learning basic skills is essential to craftsmanship. In the process, the book covers all the bases, from working with hand tools to cutting dovetails. Over 250 color photos and drawings and two complete projects — a bench and a small cabinet — are included..
Price: $8.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

On a farmlike compound near New Hope, Pennsylvania, George Nakashima, his family, and fellow wood-workers create exquisite furniture from richly grained, rare timber. Tables, desks, chairs, and cabinets from this simple workshop grace the homes and mansions and executive boardrooms of people
who prize such excellence. In this lavishly illustrated volume, George Nakashima allows us in intimate look at his artistry, his philosophy, his life. It is the portrait of an artisan who strives to find the ideal use for each plank in order to "create an object of utility to man and, if nature
smiles, an object of lasting beauty."

The author's search for the meaning of life took him as a young man to Paris, Tokyo, and Pondicherry, India. In India, he found the inner peace for which he had been searching and began to find ways to work with timber. He writes movingly about the grandeur of ancient trees and stunning figured
woods and explains how he selects and prepares his materials. Above all, he impresses us with his devotion to discovering the inherent beauty of wood so that noble trees might have a second life as furniture. The Soul of a Tree looks at the world through the eyes of an artist and evokes the joy of
living in harmony with nature..
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. . . an important book for our time, for teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers
- Ann Lieberman, Senior Scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Stop everything youre doing and take the time to really read this. Not once. Not even twice, but over and over. Make your colleagues read it . . . every legislator and policymaker ought to too, so they can see when and where their favorite, best-designed, top-down mandates may actually hinder this kind of culture of high standards. But, of course, what in the end makes it such a good read is in the details, those precious and well-told stories of what the real stuff looks like.
- Deborah Meier, Coprincipal, Mission Hill School, Boston

Ron Berger is one of the most remarkable teachers in America today. He sets incredibly high standards in his classes and his students measure up to those standards. Yet Ron Bergers authentic standards bear little resemblance to what passes for standards in todays test-obsessed America. For a reminder of what education can and should be, read this passionate book - and give it to every policymaker whom you know.
- Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education

. . . passionate stories from an inspiring, ever imaginative teacher whose demands on his students are high and those on himself even higher. He writes of teaching as "an ethic . . . a way of thinking . . . that is built carefully by hand," a craft that defies "scaling up" in mechanistic ways and that requires powerful, autonomous work close to the students.
- Theodore R. Sizer, Founder, Coalition of Essential Schools

Drawing from his own remarkable experience as a veteran classroom teacher (still in the classroom), Ron Berger gives us a vision of educational reform that transcends standards, curriculum, and instructional strategies. He argues for a paradigm shift - a schoolwide embrace of an "ethic of excellence." A master carpenter as well as a gifted teacher, Berger is guided by a craftsmans passion for quality, describing whats possible when teachers, students, and parents commit to nothing less than the best. But Bergers not just idealistic, hes realistic - he tells exactly how this can be done, from the blackboard to the blacktop to the school boardroom.

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Price: $16.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Farmhouse Ales defines the results of years of evolution, refinement, of simple rustic ales in modern and historical terms, while guiding today's brewers toward credible--and enjoyable--reproductions of these old world classics .
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Explores the world of Lambics, Flanders red and Flanders brown beers as well as the many new American beers produced in the similar style..
Price: $1.91 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $8.20 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There's a new breed of spiritual seeker emerging in the world, says author and teacher Gloria Karpinski in Barefoot on Holy Ground. "I call them disciples--awake, aware, committed, and global in their worldview," she writes. Nonetheless, no matter how spiritually sophisticated we fancy ourselves, we are still works in progress, which is why Karpinski compiled this contemporary guide to spiritual growth. Drawing from numerous traditions, she offers a vast holy ground for the new breed of disciples to walk upon. The book's organization can seem disjointed, as when it jumps from "Opening the Heart Chakra" to "Breaking the Should Syndrome" in the same chapter. Yet Holy Ground is certainly comprehensive, with chapters covering spiritual topics such as love, will, faith, and creativity. In every chapter, Karpinski offers minilectures and numerous exercises. When she delves into "shadow work," Karpinski provides a solid Jungian discussion about facing one's dark side, then slips into her seminar voice, listing 21 signs for "Recognizing the Shadow," including "You need to ridicule anything" and "You have a well-defined list of pet peeves." Fortunately, these shifts in narrative are only mildly distracting, and and the blend of theory and application ultimately serves the reader well. --Gail Hudson.
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