Dry, boring and unrewarding
	Paul Auster's City of Glass is perhaps the worst read I've experienced.  The story moves at a pace that would make a snail envious; the murder mystery plot is as thin as air and hardly resolves itself; we spend way too many waking hours with the main character sulking around his apartment staring into a toilet bowl in which he has just defficated--I kid you not.  The best part of this novel is the end.  I read with fervor to get to the end in hopes that the author would have the talent to tie everything together and make this experience somewhat valid; however, I was utterly and discustingly dissapointed beyond my wildest dreams.  To all the reviewers and critics who claim this book is a metaphysical, existential tour de-force, I beg wholeheartedly with my very life to differ.  I believe the author had no such thoughts in mind, had no direction when writing this disgrace of a work and it saddens me to see such an unentertaining, dry-dry-dry piece of fiction with one or two not-so-clever plot devices, gather such literary praise.  Like a Rorschach image you can see life, love, death, a myriad of wonderful symbols, and if you would like to believe that the person who put that ink blot on the page intended you to see all of that depth, intepret and dwell in that depth--coming to conclusions and reflecting ultimately on your own life, well, then, good for you.  But in reality, the person that made that Rorschach for you is Auster, and he just ambigoulsy splatted some ink on the novel pages before you with no ryhme or reason and you All bought it...hook line and sinker. This novel is an exercise in an authors ability to take us nowhere, show us little on the way and still receive praise, despite an ending which is refelctive of the entire work, in that it plain and simply: sucks


No help at all
	This book did not teach me anything and was a waste of money. page 364:  Principles of Long term investing:  "Chapter 8 shows that among the S P 500 Index returns, large value stocks have a small edge over large growth stocks."  Now look at Chapter 8.  "Of the 10 largest corporations, only 2  (Exxon Mobile and Citigroup) are value stocks."  duuhhh.  Now I know what to do.  I have a choice of two stocks.  If you already know all there is to know about the stockmarket, buy this book and pat yourself on the back for being so smart. If you know little, it won't add to your knowledge at all


Posing for high school seniors
	I bought this book to try to learn some useful poses for my subjects, and given most other people's ratings, I decided to give it a try.  However, upon opening the book my first thought was, "these all look like high school yearbook photos", which is exacltly what they are.  It seems that that's primarily what type of photography the author does and his book is geared almost exclusively to that market.  His main concern, which he stresses throughout the book, is creating a "saleable picture", and he keeps emphasizing the importance of pleasing mom, since she's usually the one with final say over the pictures.  A better title for this book would have been, "How To Take High School Senior Pictures".

Even then, most of the pictures are not very good, both in their original execution and in their print quality for this book. In addition, the poses are unnatural and awkward looking, and the book is filled with typos and grammatical errors.

To be fair, the author does suggest some useful basics of things to do and things not to do when posing a subject, but there is really very little useful information here.

So, if you're interested in learning how to take pictures that look like a Sears portrait, this may be the book for you.  However, if you really want to learn some useful techniques for posing your subjects in a more natural or more artistic manner, I'd steer clear of this book


Gary - Lost Christianities
	Ehrman's work is not for a person of faith. It does not take faith into consideration. It is a wonderful research project based on limited documents available - most forged and falsified; and none which can be validated. I read it as an immediate follow-up to his work "Lost Scriptures" - Books that did not make it into the New Testament. I was warned by my minister who is also a Bible scholar and has two Ph.D.'s - and my minister was correct. In Lost Christianities, Ehrman seems to make an effort to discredit our current books of the New Testament by implying that many New Testament books may be false, forged, translated incorrectly, altered to serve a purpose, etc... Ehrman clearly attempts to form a relationship between the New Testament books to those falsified books that did not get into the New Testament. Ehrman's Lost Christianities starts out strong, but ends weak to the point of losing and disinteresting the reader. If for nothing else, it is an attempt to test your faith, but in the end your faith will be strenghtened - if you have faith. The book leads one to believe that the author is as much a Bible critic as he claims to be a scholar. He does present all sides of the New Testament story and it is interesting how the New Testament was formed. However, the lack of confirmed and validated documents will lead one to begin to question if Ehrman is accurate or merely sensationalizing much like the media does. To save you the time and money, simply let your faith answer any questions you may have on the validity of the New Testament and how came to be. Ehrman and other Bible critics (ie., The DeVinci Code) seem to be profiting by creating questions about the truth and validity of the New Testament story. Save your money and give it to your church instead.
Gary


Incredibly boring
	I'm a Conan Doyle fan and found The Alienist to be a pretty good read, so I made the unfortunate mistake of buying this book in softcover without taking a gander inside. Carr seems to think he can ride his reputation for 316 pages without putting much thought into whether anyone along for the trip will get some enjoyment out of it. The dialogue is flat, the plot uncompelling and Carr relies on the near-endless use of exclamation points to inject some excitement!!! into this tale, which left me skipping pages at a time as it neared its conclusion because I couldn't bear to read the mangled sentences. This book has no climax -- just, thankfully, an ending. Spend your money on something worth reading.


Good satire, awful presentation
	I had read all about FSM before picking up this book and bought it as more of a conversation piece.

Well, suffice to say this will never get any space with my other books as it is very poorly put together.

Flimsy cover, flimsy pages, it's put together about as well as a children's coloring book.

I too was fooled by the default picture, I thought it was a nice hard cover with a bookmark ribbon like other "religious" texts.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hey Amazon, change the default picture to the one which shows the book as is, a flimsy cover with a picture of a hard cover on it


S is for Slow Read
	Normally, I find it hard to put a Sue Grafton book down once I get started. Not the case with "S". I did not enjoy the plot about Violet and her abusive husand.  The main character Violet was too much of a stereotype - boobs, red hair, just a boozing slut over all.  I didn't get the whole thing about her brother and why he disliked her. The ending wasn't clear either. I did like the development of the relationships with the young girls exposing jealousy and how it ruined relationships over several decades. Most of the characters just weren't that interesting overall.

I missed her interactions with Rosie the restaurant owner and her neighbor, the handsome 80 year old baker Henry. Usually, there is an interesting man in the picture too - not here.
I would vote pass on this one.


outdated - thy name is the Crying of Lot 49
	So, being a fan of all forms of literature, more specifically challenging[faulkner], pretentious[d.h. lawrence] and original[kafka] works, I was surprised at how long it took me to get around to reading what's considered Pynchon's most imporant work.

Important 40 years ago, perhaps, but the test of time has totally obliterated the supposed wit in this one.  Oh man, the radio station is KCUF, boy, that's incredibly clever, I bet it's, like, something spelled backwards.  I fully understand what Pynchon was trying to accomplish with this work, to skewer extreme right wing nut jobs, among other things, all while giving us a story with no particular plot, no moral, no message.  I can understand it, but it doesn't mean it's worth my time, I didn't even finish it.  I read about half and then just dropped it to the floor.

I've read in numerous reviews of Haruki Murakami's work that he's a latter day, Japanese, Pynchon.  I don't agree, Murakami's ability to create a surreal dream-like atmosphere is amazing, Pynchon is a hack


Not Worthy to Bear the Name THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY
	This smugly-edited series has become a dreary example of careerist nepotism and features mainly short stories with linebreaks and jokey poems that are not funny.

Some choice awful lines:

Denise Duhamel: "Don't give into your cravings, you need to stay lean / So you can lift up your skirt as you prance and twirl..."

Kim Addonizio: "Better dead then fed. / He who laughs will not last. / Sticks and stones will break you,"

Thomas Lux: "that the eyes be gouged out / and replaced by hot coals / in the head, _the blockhead_,/ of each countrymen or woman who, / upon reaching their majority, / has yet to read MOBY DICK..."

Most of the poems herein, besides Franz Wright and Paul Violi among a scattered few, would have been better off as just titles than full poems. The big name poets featured have generally written better poems, the younger poets all seem to have some connection to the New School. It's incredibly disappointing: THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2006 could have been so much more. Instead, *it's* a joke


Presumed Innocent
	I thought this book was going to be a great Legal Thriller, but little did I know that it would turn out to be the worst book I have ever read. I expected a lot more out of Scott Turow, who wrote "One L", which I loved, but this book was plan boring. The begining started out slow and it never picked up from there! The worst Legal Thriller, ever


How did this book get published?
	From about the second page of this book, I was shaking my head in disbelief that anyone would publish it. The characters and their relationships are so poorly developed you are left with a blur of images lacking connection to one another. Add to that the stereotypical characters (the men are all violent and lusting either for girls or boys, the women are all "large-assed" or fat with the exception of Ella).  And the gratuitous sentence or two at the end of each section about various characters' sexual proclivities was so completely dumb, not to mention kind of repulsive (I like a good sex scene as much as the next person, but Tuck's descriptions are completely banal).
Oh wait, there's more. The Spanish is ATROCIOUS. It's hard to believe that Tuck had a translator for this book. It's pretty clear that whoever copy edited it neither reads nor writes nor speaks Spanish. Half the names are grammatically incorrect. Many of the words are just plain wrong ("vita" means life in Italian, not Spanish, for starters). I felt embarrased for the author. Does she know that her book is full of errors?
The one word that comes to mind when thinking about this book is: SHALLOW. I sincerely hope that readers don't mistake this book for historical fiction. The author clearly knows little about Paraguay and its people and history, and clearly doesn't care, from her superficial treatment of it.


meandering and plotless
	i was disappointed after this book was suggested to me. nothing ever happens. there are a lot of long winded descriptions and background and very little story


OMG!  This is so bad...
	I've read most of the books written by Greg Iles. I liked them all except Dead Sleep, which by the way was much better than this one!

Anyway, despite Dead Sleep, if I see a book by this author I haven't read yet I'd grab them right away without further thinking because I enjoyed the rest of his work very much.

So, when I bought Sleep No More I was prepared to stay up all night because I was certain it would be thrilling. WRONG!

The whole Mallory/Eve/Cole/etc thing is just not believable at all even though I set my memory and imagination open as the author suggests.
I still laugh when I think of the explanation of how Mallory gets into another person (she has to have sex and have a mindblowing orgasm). I should give Greg Iles some credit for this idea, a stupid one, but creative nonetheless.

As for the characters, I was so appalled by the paranormal plot that I couldn't care less about any of them. I read The Quiet Game and liked it, but the appearance of Penn Cage was just so blah because he's like a cameo in this book and didn't have a character development nor adds anything to this book.

In conclusion, I would not recommend this, especially to those who liked other books by Greg Iles.
Nevertheless, I'm going to continue to purchase other books by him because I enjoyed his other works very much and strongly believe he is one of the best fiction writers.


Not convincing
	This book tries to convince non-Christian skeptics but seems to spend too much time justifying orthodox perceptions and concepts of prayer and liturgy, without addressing fundamental objections


Not great
	This book is poorly written.  Although it is one of the most update-to-date versions out ther, it seems muddled and repetitive.  I was surprised at the number of grammatical mistakes and errors.  Clearly little time was spent editing this book.  I'm not sure how it got to be a New York Times Bestseller, outside of the fact that it is related to Harry Potter.  I'd advise going with a different biography


does too much and too little
	by focusing primarily on the history of the swimsuit Pollard's book does not address the larger issue of modesty in public dress as effectively as he might. And while the history of fashion sheds light on fashion, (i.e. swimsuits have observably become skimpier over a century) Pollard can offer no explanation except the caving in of Christian virtue. This is basically saying Christians have lost a culture war without explaining why.

While the initial exposition on what the parameters of Christian modesty mean Pollard provides no application for what a suitable example of Christian modesty would be. Furthermore, when push comes to shove he refers to the Westminster Larger Catechism for application rather than sticking to the biblical principles he espoused. Some of his cases are self-defeating. On one hand he notes that garments in biblical periods could be sleeveless and then states that the inexorable decline of swimwear in the west into sluttiness really began when sleeveless swimwear appeared in the mid-19th century.  Props for giving the topic serious consideration but as an exegetical study it is still wanting.

On the other hand, it's cheap so if you're not persuaded the research has been effective it won't cost you much


Prosaic....
	Personally I found this book to be little more than a GRE verbal refresher course.  Sure, it is objective and balanced but so impassionate that such a contentious issue seems like nothing.  I think you can strip away emotion from a social problem so much that it creates the question of, well, then, does this really matter?  In my opinion I feel this is what the author has done.  I was really disappointed in this book


the chicken soup for the writing-it-down souls
	This book may be as well called "the chicken soup for the writing-it-down souls".  The author illustrates her points by telling many uplifting stories.  However, if you are a self-help reader like me who is used to David Allen's "Getting Things Done", you may find that storytelling is distracting and not as convincing as it can


Just Another Book In This Genre
	The book claims to help you:

1. Say goodbye to aching joints, sagging skin and fatigue
2. Improve the quality and function of the genetic material in your cells
3. Ramp up your body's self-repair functions
4. Increase your stamina, endurance and sex drive
5. Dramatically improve your resistance to disease, including cancers
6. Have more youthful, radiant skin

You don't need to be a cynic to be able to tell that the claims are all inflated. Sure, you'll see some improvement if you have been leading a very unhealthy lifestyle, but for those of us who are already exercising regularly and eating a relatively healthy diet, some of the tips on progressing further to "genetic repair" will sound a bit too good to be true.

In fact, most of the advice and recommendations given in the book are not very different from that found in many other books on nutrition and supplement. The authors just gave all the info a "DNA twist". I stopped reading the book a few chapters from the end when it begins to talk about hormonal supplementation and some glowing testimonial on the author's services. All "natural"? No side effects? How long have the subjects been followed up and how long have physicians really practised hormonal therapy on otherwise healthy individuals? The results may be real, but how safe is it for the rest of subject's life?

Sounds like another one of those practice-promoting books in this genre. Disappointing


Use caution in laying all your hopes on yet another "cure."
	My almost-6 year old daughter was diagnosed with autism at age 2 and we took a multi-pronged approach, including things like supplements, a GFCF diet, and OT/PT/speech. After a year on the GFCF diet and many specialized supplements and no change in behaviors, we went back to a normal diet with standard vitamin supplements and continued her behavioral therapies.

Our close friends' daughter, now age 4 and also diagnosed with autism, took a similar approach, but even more strict, following the DAN protocol as well as the recommendations of this book, including chelation, a dizzying array of supplements, GFCF diet, OT/PT/Speech, ABA, etc.

While our child has made tremenous advances, or friends' child has not, beyond minor advances related to her age--at 4, she is still non-verbal, far from potty trained, exhibits many repetitive behaviors, and needs constant verbal and visual cues for the simplest tasks.

The point I am trying to make is that every child is different and no one, NO ONE has shown that one course of therapy cures or even convincingly improves a significant percentage of children with autism. Autism, as most of you likely know well, is a catch-all term. Our friends' daughter no doubt has a very different kind of pathology than ours. I have yet to really see a book or study address that fact first and foremost before offering a course of action, rather than immediately launching into predictions of one "cure" for a broad range of issues.

While I do think some of what the author recommends can be helpful (and it really may offer a tremendous help for some children with autism), some of the therapies (like chelation) can be very dangerous--in fact, I have yet to see one of the many families who tried chelation therapy see *any* improvement in their child's symptoms. I have seen more success with GFCF diets (for a small percentage of children), but the greatest success seems to come with comprehensive behavioral therapy.

I certainly understand where families are coming from--I have been there myself, but treating your child like a guinea pig and attempting to "cure" them with multiple substances that have had very little study/peer review in a desperate frenzy of worry is both dangerous to their bodies and destructive to their emotions. As with anything, balance is your approach will serve you and your child well.


very very disappointing
	don't buy this book, no substance only good for sale


Wow...
	.... you can get all three of these wacky books in one neat volume! Doesn't this hurt the bottom line at Hagee Ministries? What, has the pool of his mesmerized followers begun to dry up? It reminds me of when the band, KISS (aka Kings In Satan's Service) re-packaged their first three albums as "The Originals." At least in that case you had an extra track of "Rock and Roll All Nite", assuming you already had the album "Dressed To Kill." On the other hand, maybe Hagee Ministries was using the KISS model, assuming that it wouldn't hurt to have his drivel repeated in one handy, compact volume of fear


Steinbeck's Bait-and-Switch: A Good Writer Fails to Act
	I'm perhaps the only Steinbeck lover not to have yet read "Grapes of Wrath" or "East of Eden."  Instead I have focused on "Of Mice and Men" and his lesser known works, such as "To a God Unknown" and, my personal favorite, "Pastures of Heaven."  I've been enamored with his ability to vividly craft characters in particular.

When I began reading "In Dubious Battle," it appeared the most engaging of all Steinbeck's work.  Telling the story of American Communist party workers Jim and Mac, it begins with the story of hardscrabble Jim initiating himself into Mac's radical cell.  There is a great (and misleading) sense of intrigue - Mac and Jim travel by boxcar, work secretly through letters, go from secret contact to contact and finally arrive among disgruntled orchard workers.  Early on, the pace is fast, exciting, and engaging.

Suddenly, Steinbeck simply fails to deliver, leaving the reader wondering when he's going to pick up the pace again.  After Jim and Mac slowly initiate a worker's strike, I expected the sense of excitement to continue.  It simply never does.

Summary of "In Dubious Battle" - Workers get mad.  Workers get tired.  Workers get mad.  Workers get tired.  Workers get mad.  Workers get tired.

The rest of the book mostly concerns Jim and Mac talking - and talking - and talking - and talking.  And while their philosophical chats are mildly interesting at first, they simply repeat themselves for the rest of the book.  Most of the action takes place in the dark or far away from the narration, and most of the story simply concerns the strikers bickering over petty nonsense...

...and eating.  Steinbeck must have been peckish while writing this story, because at least a good 25% of the story concerns finding, eating, and (worst of all) TALKING about food.  There is plenty of action that Steinbeck could have shown during the story, but for some reason he prefers to focus on Jim and Mac endlessly walking from tent to tent in their encampment, discussing whatever comes to mind.

Steinbeck's sense of intrigue and social injustice is worth reading the first few chapters.  But I advise any reader of "In Dubious Battle" to take this course - after the strike is initiated, simply set the book down.  You won't miss anything.  Nothing of great import happens, and only a very few memorable characters ever surface, and they are lost among the sea of forgettable faces.

I suppose now I'll give "Grapes of Wrath" a go.  Perhaps if it isn't one of his "greats," it isn't worth reading


not an economic history of money
	This is the sort of book you get when an author writes on a subject with which he has only a passing familiarity, and lacks the confidence that the subject matter is inherently interesting enough to hold the reader's attention.  The result is a book that is ultimately unsatisfying.

One symptom of the problems described above is that large portions are devoted to subjects other than money.  For example, the author uses the first three pages after the introduction to describe Aztec ritual sacrifice in literally gory detail before proceeding on to the use of cocao beans as commodity money.  I think that's meant to be what they used to call in show business a "grabber," but for the reader expecting to learn about money, it's a distraction. Another problem is that the author's grasp of modern economics is shaky at best, and especially in the latter part of the book, he'll make a point and then repeat himself, much as an undergraduate trying to extend the length of a term paper that's run a few pages short.

And yet, there's also some interesting and oddly convincing tidbits of information here. The author states that L. Frank Baum's 1900 book "The Wizard of Oz" is really a parable about the need for a bimetallic dollar based on both gold and silver.  But even as it strikes you that this is an interesting bit of trivia, you realize that it's only a bit of trivia and has little larger significance.

If you're looking for a economic history of money, you should look elsewhere.  If you're interested in the cultural and sociological impact of money, this may be more to your liking, though I think it still falls short.


old-fashioned elitist boredom
	This is a fairly helpful book for those born before the '70s-- a time when "a yarn" wasn't an archaic term. Does it give some helpful hints?  Sure, there's the obvious ones like show don't tell and all characters have free will. But fiction has changed a lot since Henry James (thankfully), and this book might be better left unread. Plus, I don't buy the "only people who aren't well-read don't like it" argument. I've read nearly all the books mentioned and I still wish I never bought this book


Sluggish, Uneventful, Corny and Borrrrring
	I usually read Stephen King for his interesting ideas and imagery and expect his books to read fast and well. I've read three previous King books that have had the occasional long passages with overstated depictions of horror, doom, and grotesquery in order to immerse his readers into the tone of his story.  This one takes the cake because what is meant to read as terror and horror is really ridiculous and unimaginative. And this is exactly what "Insomnia" is. This isn't a spoiler, just the author's note: at the end of the book we read Sep. 10, 1990- Nov 10, 1993- three years in which King took to write this book.  Three years which were evidently wasted.

The other King books I've read were engrossing for their characterizations and character identification.  "Insomnia's" Ralph Roberts is certainly a character the reader could identify with.  He is strong, kind, has traditional gentlemanly views on aiding women in distress and regards them as beautiful and respectable. His counterpart Lois Chasse doesn't come across as identifiable. Instead she serves as a  secondary character who has no real flair or identity other than being in love with Ralph. King doesn't usually do that with his secondary characters.  Other characters with much smaller roles in this book come across as real and identifiable, like Ed and Helen Deepenau, the three bald doctors, and Ralph's numerous confidantes.

Then there's the whole abortion mess. This central political issue crumbles midway thru and seems to serve no purpose at all in the story. Though King does provide an interesting and seemingly objective commentary on the issue via Detective Leydecker (albeit with a tranparently pro-choice slant), it serves no relevance to the theme of the story but just hangs there on display used for no more than a story device.

I gave the book two stars because I am an inspiring writer and reading this provided me with some of the devices that are important to utilize as part of a writer's arsenal. The devices were obvious and all thru the reading I asked myself, 'How is King going to get through this?' His weapon of choice was most often Ralph Robert's narration (via third person) that analyzed the events of the story and interpreted its meaning and significance. It seemed whenever King was in trouble in the story, he would use Ralph as his solution and let him think it out and guide it for him. This is a useful tool for a beginning writer, but King used it as a crutch to tell a story that had no pulse from the beginning.

One last thing, the villians just don't work. They are not frightening, they are not demonic, they are not vicious or malign. Three little bald doctors with scalpels and scissors? Their defining characteristics are being small and bald- does that really frighten anyone? The real villian among them dances around and jump ropes to reveal his evil madness. Then there's the Crimson King, the evil supernatural mastermind we read about from page 100 who finally enters the story on page 550 as a Catfish in one of the most terrible, anti-climactic scenes ever rendered.  I rest my case.


Harlequin Presents...Nicholas Sparks
	While easy enough to read, if the exact same pages were enclosed in a Harlequin Romance cover, I wouldn't know the difference.

I'm extremely surprised this is a "best seller". Maybe I should take up writing because I can't possibly be worse than this.

Ok, it's a good enough story but wow, it's predictible and boring. I read it completely in 2 days, and I'm a reader that savors pages so it takes me a while. I wasn't intrigued, I wasn't on the edge of my seat, and didn't shed a tear


Not worth the money
	Bought this book hoping for a comprehensive resource of information on hiring a nanny.  Boy were we disappointed.  As was mentioned in another post - the book is nothing more than a glorified outline, and half of the book is copies of the forms that are on the disk, which forms by the way are in .pdf form and are not even fillable.


Too many metaphors, not enough info.
	I found this book to be full of silly metaphors (as if that's the only way we could relate to  Dr. Twerski).  It just didn't get me the information I needed.  Perhaps others would find it motivational


Dick management: Yes.  Idiot puritanism: No, thanks.
	This books seems interesting until you learn (within a few pages) that the author forbids masturbation at any time and basically sees sex as a crude animal instinct.

If you're a big Bill Bennett fan you might enjoy this, but for those inerested in developing a little more restraint while still participating to some small degree in modernity, look elsewhere.  BTW, Mr. O'Reilly, the world is NOT a more brutish place than ever before.  Sad, to say, it's almost certainly less so.


No original material, as far as I can tell.
	I agree with a previous reviewer who found fault with the way the story was told.  There is no excitement in describing the stages.  They are just wrapped up all of a sudden.

To me, it did not seem like the author did many interviews of his own.  It seems like he just watched the Tour de France and retold what he saw on the broadcast.  His supposed "back-stories" which should be really interesting, all seem like a recap of the mini segments during the Tour broadcast that let you know more about the participants.

There is just nothing that reaches out and grabs you, and makes you want to keep reading.  I finally quit it after the poor description of the day in the Pyrenees.  That is one of the most exciting stages of the race, and the narrative was so wooden


lacking in details and intimancies
	i'll be the first to admit that i'm biased based on my expectations from shaara's father's great book, the killer angels.  it is not fair to compare the two, but because reading the father's book lead me to buy this one, i thought i should mention it.  this book does not contain nearly the details and intimancies of the father's book.  it is not surprising since this one covers a much longer time frame than the battle of gettysburg, so shaara has less pages to devote to each person and battle.  but the result is a less satisfying book.  it skims rather than digs deep


The Definition of Trash
	Trash sells and this is the definition of trash. Unfortunately many readers see this as history instead of fiction. Shaara who may have had a ghost writer obviously never visited a manuscipt library to do research. Readers should stick to reading the history of these events done by people who know how to research and how to write


If only I could have back the hours I spent reading this book...
	I have read all of the Scarpetta novels through The Last Precinct, and I have never wanted hours of my life back as I did when I finished The Last Precinct.
  Cornwell tried to go in a new direction with her writing, and it failed. If Kay Scarpetta was a fortune teller, this book may have been alright...
  What I mean by that is, in at least 2-3 separate occassions in this book, Kay says "I had a feeling I knew exactly what [so in so was going to say/do to me..."
  Really Kay? Out of absolutely nowhere, you just believe that the unusual way Marino has been acting is due to the fact that you are going to be prosecuted by a special grand jury for homicide even though NOTHING led up to your supposed "revelation." You are truly impressive.
  Reading this book makes me want to steer clear of Blowfly and Trace, but then again, maybe Cornwell read some reviews and saw that she had to shape up.
  This book really ticked me off and I wouldn't recommend it to an enemy


My complaint...
	I don't own this book nor have I read it, but if that first sentence is any indication of the quality of writing, I won't ever.  It is not a sentence.  One would think you would save your non-sentences for someplace else in a book, not start off with one, giving your readers the impression that you are all hat and no cattle before you even make your points


Lets correlate joblessness with everything
	This book is full of excuses and manipulated data that ignores the ultimate moral responsibility of a society.  We can correlate joblessness with the number of innercity households that contain black ink pens if we want to.  While Wilson presents an argument in an attempt to educate, his words are slanted in such a way that we are left feeling "sorry for them"


Dull, Trite, and Disjointed
	I am an avid reader and have never once submitted a book review.  However, after reading Botox Diaries, I felt compelled to write and warn you all that this book is dull, trite, and disjointed.  I love my "chick-lit" books, but Botox Diaries is a disgrace to this genre.  The plot is weak and unrealistic (even in light of the suspended disbelief one normally affords "lite   fun" books).  The plot is also disjointed, perhaps because two authors co-wrote this book.  The characters are shallow and excruciatingly dull.  Botox Diaries is absolutely the worst book I have ever read.
-- December 2005 Update:  My friend insisted on reading this book (ugh...despite my warnings!). Even though she was stuck in the airport for eight hours, she still couldn't bear to finish the book, because she found it so dull. She actually left it, half-read, at the airport


I'd like to give it ZERO stars.
	Of all the textbooks I've had, from elementary school through graduate school, this is easily the worst one I've ever had, for any course.

First of all, the authors so redundantly use the word "whilst" and the phrase "rules of the game" that it really gets on your nerves. My classmates all agree with me on this point.

Second, speaking of getting on your nerves, half of what these authors say is, "...as we talked about in the previous chapter" or "as we'll talk about in the next chapter". There is so much redundant language in this book that it really could be condensed to about 25% of its size, and hell, it probably could simply be a chapter in the text for some other course.

Third, the authors should win a Pulitzer prize for flowery language. They seem more interested in impressing me than educating me. Their sentences are far too long. They don't know the meaning of clear and concise, and I think they should all go back to English Composition 101. They'd be great politicians, because never have I heard anyone say so much and yet say so little....over and over and over again.
The book is a like an inflated academic paper...and it's BORING. If ever a topic begged for a case-study approach, it's this one, and this book is not the answer. Save your money, and beg your instructor not to use this text.


not the best
	to me .this book was definately NOT one of the best in the series.I admire the Kristina,but this book was slow and dull.It was practiacally all about the politics of sweden.very dull


Not the best
	I'm not a fan of mysteries to begin with.  However, my public library has a limited selection of audio books, so I take what I can get.  I am a voracious reader, and I listen to audios to get more "reading" in, as you can listen and do other things.  I much prefer the Lillian Jackson Braun "cat" books, at least there is some humor, and I like the "mystery" part of these books better than Deaver's.  Sorry to all the Deaver fan's out there...I HAVE enjoyed a few of his books, but I get tired of the "same ole-same ole"


Not very well reasoned...patently unoriginal
	Like most critics of Objectivism, Mr. Walker focuses his criticism on Ayn Rand's frailties and idiosyncrasies rather than the principles of the philosophy she founded.  My disappointment in his book was immediate and I have to say it's as unoriginal a piece of writing as any other critic I've read.  His cynicism drips from almost every sentence and his contempt for all things Objectivism is obvious to anyone who takes ideas seriously.  I cannot recommend this book even to those interested in contrasting views of her approach to philosophy; this book was written for those of like mind to the author...whatever mind they can be said to have.

The body and scope of work done by Objectivist scholars who've never met Ayn Rand now ellipses her work - both fiction and non-fiction - and the work of her original core of thinkers.  To characterize the movement as a cult may have had some validity in the years prior to her death, but only in the most remote sense of the word.  Right now the ranks of Objectivism are swelling with intelligent people who differ in background AND in opinion.  Mr. Walker's principle mistake is looking at Objectivism as something that was born exclusively from the mind of Ayn Rand...something Miss Rand herself would disagree with.  Objectivism is the logical continuation of a line of thought that views mankind as a reasoning animal...a line that extends back through history and begins (explicitly) with Aristotle.  Those (like Mr. Walker) who dismiss it on the basis of Miss Rand's personality and the culture of people that grew around her in her lifetime are truly missing an opportunity to enlighten themselves.

There is no doubt Ayn Rand is a polarizing figure; my advice to those inclined to read Mr. Walker's book is to read Miss Rand's books as well.  Particularly her non-fiction.  I'm not a real big fan of her novels or fiction in general - it was Rand's non-fiction works that first inspired me to study her philosophy - so my first suggestion would be "Philosophy: Who Needs It."  I enjoyed her novels, but I enjoyed her non-fiction more


Flowery, predictable drivel
	I would normally not read Barbara Taylor Bradford but my boyfriends' Mom gave it to me as part of a present, so I said what the heck, I'll try it.

Just as disappointing as I'd expected. Light, uninteresting, and with no real plot or ending. As for the historical pages, read Catherine Cookson instead.

I may go back and listen to A Woman of Substance only because other reviewers seemed to have enjoyed it.

But this sequel was too into clothes and the finer things, and full of too-successful, too-beautiful men and women. Not believable.


Weak Cases
	Hi,
I have used this book among others to get accepted to McKinsey (and with success) and I think this book gave me less then others.
The advantages are the more or less detailed frameworks chapter and the real-life interviews chapter, but the cases themselves are rather superficial and sometimes even obviously ridiculous(like for example the case in which a Star-Trek like omnipotent people transporter has been invented, and the book claims that it wouldn't replace cars because it costs 100,000$. Come on, they would buy one for every block).
I think there are much better resources than this.

Good luck with your interviews


Interesting but lacking....
	Timothy Garton Ash's book the file was very provocative and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the personal experience of one man who happened to be in East Berlin before unification and then was able to see his file  afterwards.  However, i am a bit disillusioned.  The story interests me but  Garton Ash really doesn't say anything!  I am disappointed that he so  poignantly and blatantly pokes at communism and a totalitarian state.  And  yet he does not back it up.  The book is good under the premise of  democracy good, communism bad.  It feels like he is just pooling for  support.  And nobody knew the wall was going to  quot;fall quot; when it  did.  I know of many professors who were writing books critiquing communism  who had to throw out their text because of the abrupt fall of communism.  I'm wondering if this book is just a way to cash in an unexpected event.  I  am dissappointed.  Maybe i just don't know enough of Garton Ash but if this  is the case, i should not have to feel the need to know his history before  reading the book.  The book had some good points and kept me entertained  but on the whole didn't do anything for me.  Peace


The protection of the Remnant
	Petra of all places. Supernatural protection, persecution, on ad naseum. The one drug on, and on, and on,  and on ......
Same tired story, persecution by Carpathia a lame attempt at evil incarnate and his lackies. Sorry..

I think the series denegrates Christianity rather then exalting it.   I've read all 12 and found it morose and condemning. The opposite of how I view Christianity is.


The Rest of the Story
	This is a very famous and a very influential book. This was not the first time I checked the book out of the library but I now know much more about antidepressants and the related issues than I did when I first became familiar with Kramer's book. What I found on my quick survey of the book this time amazed me. This is not a book supported by research. It is a book of stories. The stories, one after the other, are about Kramer's patients (Kramer is a psychiatrist) and how taking Prozac dramatically transformed lives overnight. Consider these four examples.
1. Sam: "Sam not only recovered from his depression, he declared himself better than well. He felt unencumbered, more vitally alive, less pessimistic. Now he could complete projects in one draft, whereas before he sketched and sketched again. His memory was more reliable, his concentration keener. His memory was more reliable, his concentration keener. Every aspect of his work went more smoothly. He appeared more poised, more thoughtful, less distracted. He was able to speak at professional gatherings without notes.(Page x.)
2. Sally: After four months on Prozac, she looked brighter, calmer, self-assured, in control of herself. The most important effect of the medication, Sally felt was that it cleared her head...After ten months...she negotiated a small promotion and pay raise at a time when the bank was cutting back staff...More remarkable was the change to her private life. She started going to dances...(Page 147.)
3. William M: The patient's low self-esteem, which had been present since his earliest childhood, began to disappear...On medication William M. experienced a sense of self-worth superior to any he had felt before. (Page 203.)
4. Ms. B: For the first time in her memory she felt perfectly relaxed and happy sitting at home reading books or listening to music and felt less of the free-floating anxiety that was previously quelled by going out...Off Prozac, Ms. B. bar-hopped in search of men. Prozac moderated her sense of aloneness and allowed her to enjoy a variety of social settings.
Dozens of other examples could be cited. The point is, this is essentially the book. It is a book which convinces the reader of the almost magic power of Prozac by sharing stories like these. What is disturbing is that I now know the truth. Research investigations have found that the power of antidepressants has increased dramatically. They are now more effective because our belief in the power of a pill to cure social shyness, anxiety, depression, and a bad temper has increased dramatically. We have come to believe, as Kramer puts it, "biology is destiny" (page xiv). No where does Kramer explain that the longest of the clinical trial used to get approval of Prozac to market was only 8 weeks long. No where does he share that a tranquilizer was given to study subjects and the other tricks used to make the effectiveness of the drug appear greater than it really is. The dangers of long-term use (diabetes, Parkinson's disease, permanent muscle jerking, etc.) are never discussed. (Of course, these problems were still unknown when Kramer wrote.) See Timothy Scott's wonderful, and unlike Kramer's book, carefully documented book America Fooled: The Truth About Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, and How We've Been Fooled to find the dangers as well as what does bring good mental health. Yes, this book has been influential. Thus, Kramer bears some of the responsibilty for the myth surrounding antidepressants. (They do not work as well as exercise even--numerous studies.) It's funny how, as our knowledge grows, a great book beomes a harmful book, but it is just that.


Nothing good to say about the 10th good thing....
	I work in a school library and as a cat lover am always seeking out the cat books.  This one caught my eye and I was expecting something wonderful.  I found the story to be hopeless and defeating.  How sad the only comfort the father has to offer is composting tips and the last memory the child has to hold is that of a decomposing cat.  I'm no censor, but two thumbs way down.  Also, if you are looking for something wonderful for pet loss, try Cynthia Rylant's, Cat Heaven


Weak Link in a Great Series
	I read A is for Alphabet years ago and did not get pulled into the series.  Years later I read S is for Silence and was hooked. I started to read the series--backwards at first and then jumped to the beginning.  I have really enjoyed the books and felt a connection to the heroine (and forgiven Ms. Grafton for making her weigh 118 lbs on her 5'6" frame).  However, I agree with the other readers who feel like this is not Grafton at her best.  You just can't believe that Kinsey would put herself in these ridiculous positions---belting a police officer to endear herself to a woman she is investigating, remaining in an incredibly (and unbelievable) dangerous situation, to name a few.  The dialogue is weak,the sexual situations seem gratutitous, and there is a fair amount of stereotyping of hispanics.  But even with these issues, I did finish the book.  Grafton at her low point is still a good read


lacking lots of info
	the first few chapters have built the anticipation for a good strategy to learn , HOWEVER, there were no formulas, nothing to learn.
book talks about theories about market timing with no proof.
i wouldent take it seriously as i though


fairytaleaficcionado
	interesting, well documented, with marvelous illustrations.Definitely a good buy for adults who still dream  of fairy tales characters. It is a pity that the collection does not include stories from "One thousand and one nights". Otherwise it will be perfect and complete.


vague and dull
	It certainly sounded exciting.  Unfortunately, it's mostly a bunch of long winded articles on vague ideas that you've already thought of a hundred times.  That's not to say that the ideas aren't important.  I was simply expecting something a bit more focused by an author willing to take some risks.  On the bright side, the book won't become dated for quite some time.


Typical characters, fast plot
	Flynn offers up a fast-paced, if unbelievable story.  Unfortunately, character development is paper thin and clearly portrays Flynn's political preferences.  Characters, like Rapp, with a military background are guided by clearly defined ethical principles, have all the answers and are always showing those good-for-nothing politicians how the "real world" works.  Meanwhile, Flynn's politicians (the majority of whom are Democrats) seem only concerned with public opinion and the next election.  While there are grains of truth in his characters, Flynn consistently goes for the cheap, partisan stereotype.  I was looking for a well-developed political/military thriller.  I'm still looking.


not so good
	i felt as if this book was way below my reading leve


Microserfs 2.0?!?
	I'm really a great fan of Douglas Coupland, which is perhaps much of the reason I found this book so disappointing. I hate the fact that it has been dubbed the new Microserfs, since it totally lacks the insight, wit and 'funny because its true' apsects of the original. About the only thing it has in common with  Microserfs is the fact that its set in the same industry.

jPod is set in a landscape of unreality, with no apparent reason than to make a series of whacky adventures for eccentric, and for the most part unlikeable, characters. It certainly doesnt reflect the IT industry of today, and the members of the jPod really only seem to represent those aspects of this community which give programmers a bad reputation, as essentially dysfunctional (autistic) as they are. There doesnt even seem to be any real focus for this story. I felt like I was mostly reading about a heap of stuff that 'happened'.

Its not all bad, and there were more than a few humorous moments, and interesting plot twists. Coupland's highly approachable and fast moving writing style hasn't changed. Its really just the subject matter and whatever its trying to communicate that seems to have fallen in a heap, in this book. I normally devour all of his books within a day or two, and want to read them again soon after, but it was a real struggle just to get through this one to the end


If you like Scarpetta - -
	Then you'll probably like this story.

My wife and I read books together and I'd sworn off Cornwell after Hornet's Nest (which on TV Cornwell admitted was some warmed over college material - and it showed horribly).  The Scarpetta character (in some books) is unbelievably emotionally ultra-hyper (going from confident to terrified every time Marino knocks on the door).

In this book she was mercifully level headed almost ALL the time!  What a relief.  And there was a real story.  I'm not really a fan of her work over the last 10 years but there's almost enough lab details here to satisfy.  Sure wish she (Scarpetta) would learn to delegate - imagine the top lab expert for her state and she has to go to every crime scene and move bodies herself!

Anyway don't start here with the Scarpetta series - but if you already like the character, this one is a B+.  Compared to other crime novels in general, it's still a C- in my estimation


Worst in Ages
	This book is atrocious.  It is THE worst book I have read in the last decade.  A 10 year old could have done better. The plot gets more ridiculous as the book progresses, the characters act unbelievably and it is amazing that someone can actually get paid to write such garbage.  The only plus was that I got it out of the library and didn't pay for it


I just don't understand
	Why are there so many insanely positive reviews for this book?  Honestly, what has this author contributed to the world with this book?  Was it the characters?  No, they've all been used and reused and used some more in practically every other work of fiction in the last fifty years (i.e. cocky and handsome FBI agent, beautiful but dangerous killer with a past, take-no-sh#t FBI boss, etc.).  Was it the deep insight into the characters themselves?  A laugh out loud, "No!".  There was nothing coming close to character development.  Was there some new and clever writing style?  Unless you count having two page chapters revolutionary (I call it a way to have a two hundred page novella turned into a four hundred page novel).  How about the plot?  Was that something worth my time?  Not unless you haven't ever watched suspence movie in your life.

So honestly, what the hell makes this book worth anyone's time?  All I can find in this book are two dimensional characters, needless sub-plots, ludicris dialogue, and empty promises (we're lied to about the main character's fate in the beginning and we're lied to about this being a thriller in the vein of Hitchcock).

As a person who has turned to the world of novels to escape Hollywood's onslaught of needless, pointless, and time wasting strategy of churning out movie after movie of pure garbage I can trully say that this is the type of book that will doom us all into a market of hurried and horribly bad novels to take our hard earned money.

This man does not deserve our money and certainly does not deserve to write anything other than an apology letter to the world for dumbing us down into thinking that this type of writing is anything other than trash


I'm throwing this book out
	My friend's and I will pass books back and forth to each other to read if they are good. My friend was going to throw this one out instead of passing it along, but since I have a dog, I thought it would be interesting, but it wasn't, so I had the honor of throwing it out myself.

Typically, I would donate the book or give it to charity, but I don't think anyone would enjoy it. It's just this author's drivel. It doesn't focus on the president's and their pets at all like the title suggests.

I could see where another author could have created a really fun book about presidents and their dogs.


Unbiblical and bad writing make for one star
	This book is so flawed in every which way, it is hard to know where to begin. First of all, we are living in the end times, and when Jesus comes, that's all she wrote, folks. There's no seven years, no Christians being zapped up, etc. This is our Second Chance on Earth. No tribulation. This book takes figurative visions and tries to apply it literally, and does it poorly. Reading this book made me think that if this was true, then what's the point of trying to be a Christian. Why not just live your life the way you want to, and then when people zap out of thin air, change your life. It's ridiculous and sends the wrong message. Plus, the writing is for second graders with no redeeming characteristics to it. But I really don't think the author's care at this point (seeing how many millions they've made printing lies). My recommendation is to read the bible instead of this series; then you'll get truth and the bible is probably shorter (and much better writing). Man, not even Kirk Cameron could save this train wreck.


It's exciting, it will sell, but it's just not happening
	#65279;Millennials Rising is the latest book in the generational series by the authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, focusing this time on the generation born after X.

For those not already familiar with the authors' theory, Strauss and Howe are two authors who began writing about generations in 1991. They wrote the book Generations, which introduced a theory that generations fall into four re-cycling types, and each type comes of age during a different kind of era, or "turning". The Silent Generation is of the "adaptive" type, for instance, passive, gentle, and in tune with their emotions, and came of age during the Golden Age of postwar America. The Baby Boomers, remembered for their "Awakening" in the 1960s, are of the "idealist" type, concerned with God and spirituality and impassioned about what they believe in, but inclined to change during life (from hippie to the current "Just say no" control freak). Generation X, which they named the Thirteenth Generation, is of the "reactive" type, being alienated, street-smart and materialistic, without a feeling of need to be "loyal" to anything, coming of age during the 1980s and 1990s. They then first identified everyone born since 1982 as the "Millennial Generation", and predicted back in 1991 that it would be grow up to be optimistic, hard-working and clean-cut, just like the G.I. Generation that fought World War II, going back to the "civic" type generation before the Silent Generation. In 1993 they published the book Thirteenth Gen, which specialized in Generation X and why they are the way they are. In their third book, The Fourth Turning, they went back to the whole theory and writing about all the generations. They also changed the archetype names from adaptive, idealist, reactive and civic to Artist, Prophet, Nomad and Hero. Strauss and Howe wrote in this book about an upcoming era of epic battle and mass destruction, much like the one in which the G.I. Generation came of age. They then predicted the Millennial Generation would form the role of Heroes during the coming crisis, and they would lower teen pregnancy rates, stop using drugs, serve the United States, in uniform even, and desist with using profanity.

So then in 2000 they put out this book, Millennials Rising. In this one the authors try to explain the Millennial Generation (my generation). Millennials Rising attempts to identify who we, the most ethnically diverse generation in American history as they note, are. In Millennials Rising they write about this generation's Boomer parents and their influence on the Millennial Generation, as well as the kind of world in which this generation is growing up (which S H think of as hundreds of television channels, SUV lifestyles, rappers who swear, and people who smack each other on TV). The book states that Millennials want to work together in teams, believe the people in authority know more about right and wrong than they do, are enthusiastic about learning and going to school, are loved and protected by their parents, achieve great things in school and will achieve great things in the future, and lest we forget, always want to exude that "positive peer pressure" on their fellow Millennials.

The obviously leads to the question, then, is the generation really optimistic, hard-working and clean-cut just as they say? Consider this: Only 28% of high school seniors say that the work they get assigned at school is "meaningful", only 21% describe their courses as "interesting" and still barely over a third, 39%, believe that what they do in school will have any relation to their success later in life. The generation was supposed to be enthusiastic about learning. The Millennial Generation also rapidly increased drug use, especially pot, from the level at which Generation X was using them in its teens, as even the authors themselves note.

S H portray the world of edgy entertainment, such as television shows, movies and music, as a Zoroastrian battle. In popular music, for instance, artists are described by extremes that either represent the alleged Millennial values or go actively against them -- on one side, artists like Eminem, Limp Bizkit and Marilyn Manson, on the other, boy bands and Britney Spears and her imitators, along with such second-tier bands as the S Club 7. They do not deal with the Millennial interest in bands that lie somewhere in between the two. For instance, Blink-182 is just about the biggest band around now, and yet Millennials Rising does not mention Blink-182 and the many young fans who make the band a success. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut is the authors' idea of where popular culture is today. Millennials Rising heralds boy bands as what music will increasingly be like as the current decade unfolds, and blasts the "edgy" bands as groups that will be washed away, but could the authors have predicted bands like Good Charlotte or artists like Avril Lavigne?

This leads to the bigger question of whether the book and the theory will be able to predict anything. S H write about "rebelling by being better" during the present decade. Apparently, their idea of rebellion is not listening to Limp Bizkit, blasting censorship, or doing illegal drugs, but wearing preppy clothes, waiting until marriage to have sex, and trusting their government. According to them, we should expect to see Millennials petitioning for policies that will punish their own peers. S H write that we will accept the draft and join the military in great numbers when the crisis presents us with a war, and even do National Service. Frankly, can anyone imagine any more than 20% of today's high school students doing their duty and risking their life in war in the name of America? Also, our generation has done nothing to make a commitment to following Bush as leader during the Iraq War, while S H predict Millennials serving their president. How suited to a Hero generation is that? The G.I. Generation followed FDR so blindly they had to print his campaign materials in Braille. When it comes to rallying around their president and leading the direction of the nation during a crisis, Millennials have surely disappointed those who expected them to do just as the authors said we would. This, of course, does not have to be a bad thing, but it does make you wonder about the limitations of the predictive abilities of the theory.

Some parts of it make for very interesting reading, but all the talk about how they are to be the "next great" generation gets to you sometimes. S H seem to believe you can never think too big about those Millennials. Millennials Rising presents an image of youth that is set to amaze you and will attract readers, but sometimes what the book describes just isn't happening


Get the whole picture elsewhere
	It certainly is no surprise with the development of technology and expansion of capitalism that knowledge-based workers are the future in American Society. It seems to me that Drucker spent too much time attempting to criticize Marx, which was a complete failure. Drucker didn't even fully analyze Globalization in its entirety.

The only credit that should be given to this book is his analyzation of the American worker. Nonetheless, he offers a limited viewpoint on all aspects of society. Look elsewhere if you want to get a better understanding of where our world is headed and what state we are in. Drucker neglects the whole and simply accepts what backs his own perspective


Convoluted and totally confusing....
	Mr. O'Nan should have taken a refresher course in basic writing.  His skipping and skimming and throwing to and fro people, events, etc., is downright frustrating and confuses the project.  Unlike superior literary treatments (see Walter Lord's TITANIC), this book leave you with more questions than anything else and the urge to take a long, hot shower.


Trivial, Tiresome  and Tedious
	This fourth installment of Becky's trying tribulations is the worst. The qualty has plummeted from passable fun to total embarrassment. I don't understand how Kinsella's editor didn't draw the line (and the red pencil) at the litany of shopping expeditions. And her endless, excrutitating 'inner' reflections. Becky's exploits aren't amusing anymore. Her purchases on her honeymoon aren't wacky. They're bewildering. For a shopaholic with supposedly good taste, Becky buys the ugliest sounding things on her travels and then flogs them all on Ebay once home in England. And oh yes, then she discovers a long lost sister. That situation is about as believable as three designer wedding dresses and two weddings from the previous book. And then Bex and her sister wind up on a rock rescued by Tarquin in his personal helicopter. I am not making this up. It's all there in the book. And none of it is even remotely entertaining. And now God help us, Becky is pregnant. AARRGGGH!


Sociology, more of the same
	This is a revolutionary book. It introduces the stage metaphor into sociology; all of social interaction is a performance on a stage. It's questionable how novel this metaphor is, but this is certianly its first explicit statement. The language used to present the ideas of the author is, like most sociological writing, unecessarily complicated. There are some problems with clarity and structure; the book just doesnt have a holistic feel for me. No sociological background is presupposed, there is extensive quoting from other sociological sources, many footnotes, and various other ways to enter sociological literature throught the book. So if you are interested in reading sociology, this is probably a good place to start (again, the language is unecessicarily thick and this may be it's bane as an introduction).

However, the book is misguided. The idea of viewing social interaction as a performance on a stage is unecessary. The authors motives for saying this will make my position clearer.

(The following is a charicature of the author's argument). There is certianly a large amount of social behavior which is directed towards other people (the audience) in order for the audience to build an impression of the actor. Well, if it can happen here we can draw a parallel with other situations, infact all situations and therfore all of social interaction is like a performance on a stage, "All the world is not, of course, a stage, but the crucial ways in which it isnt are hard to specify" (p 72). The performances can either be with individuals, or groups of people, and they can be performing conciously or unconciously. (end of charicature)

There are other arguments, obviously, and the statement "we can draw a parallel with other situations" is most of the content of the book, which i dont like to gloss over with a sentence. But the real question here is, is the view worthwhile? My answer: No. Social interaction is a complex phenomena that cant possibly be summed up with a signle metaphor. Yes, some social interaction is like a performance, where indivudals are intentionally making impressions on one another. Yes, some social behavior can arise from unconcious beliefs. However, most social interaction is exactly the way we see it, conciously controlled, meaningful, purposeful interaction with individuals; it is not some kind of performance with the purpose of creating a "reality".

I hope my view of the book is clear so that the biases on the final part of my review can be sorted out: the book is a waste of time. Where the author is right, the statement is little more than common sense. Where the author goes outside of common sense, he's wrong, sometimes plainly so. This book is part of the tradition in sociology of thinking that society pulls the wool over each individuals eyes, that reality is a social construct with no purpose other than social control (here the wool is the performance, and the control has to do with impressions ... but this quickly degenerates into an obscure mess of assertions). There is no real empirical support given for most of the claims. Where "evidence" is given, the evididence is so heavily intepreted that it fails to correspond to facts in the world but rather to facts about the views of the reporter. Where there is no correspondence to the world there is no truth. Various sources of sociology are cited, but this is more like intellectual bullying. Saying that some author, which also didnt have any empirical support for his claims, agrees with you is just to bully your reader into acepting your claims. The claims in the book have no practical application in the world, but only serve to intepret situations differently, and in personal opinion, less correctly. Nothing said here will lead to better predictions about social behavior or a better understanding of psychology. In short, this isnt a scientific study at all.

My final qualm with the book deserves its own paragraph, the use of language. The best example is the definitions given at the end of the introduction "A performance may be defined as all of the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants" (15). This is a curios definition. Me breathing while i work is a performance, it changes the percentages of O2 and CO2 in the atmosphere near my co-workers. Me staring into space is a performance, other people see me stare into space and are therefore influenced. Infact, me simply existing is a performance, since my existance causes a gravitational effect on the other participants, as well as influencing them to create beliefs about me existing. Its as if Goffman created a definition for performance which included all possible actions taken by any person, and then wrote a book about how all possible actions taken by any person fall under the category of performance. He didnt. He used a word that we associate with controlled behavior (performance) and defined it in a way no one is used to. Then he used alot of word play to show that behavior has no substance, its all for the purpose of maintaining social reality. I hope this very limited example shows the terrible use of language that is endemic to Goffman and sociology more generally.

So an ode to sociology is in order ... actually no it isnt. Why wont this subject go away? This book is an integral part of sociology, and it espouses the methods and style of sociological researchers and writers by being an archetypical work within the tradition. The methods are questionable; the style is obscure. Like it or hate it, sociology is a part of modern thought. Read the book to be an educated person and keep in mind its intellectual failings


A truely biased Bio. an epic waste of time and money.
	I was at first rather impressed by the epic size of the book thinking it must contain something new about the comedian. Well, I was wrong. It was long, tedious and nasty. Granted, Chaplin was not perfect, but the author's preoccupation with his imperfections borders on sickening. A better title for this book would be 'Trash, what I think of Charlie'. Joyce Milton would do well writing for tabloids..


P L E A S E . . . buy something else
	Many reviewers on this site read TLGPE in the 70's, when we were young and impressionable. (I happened to be 13 when I read it.) If one could be sued for intellectual forgery, Lindsey would certainly be found at fault.

Most of us, thankfully, have gotten past our fears that plagued our teenage years. After all, when we read TLGPE, we were young. We were searching and seeking. We didn't have all of the facts. There were wolves who knew this, and they preyed upon us. Many people who were older, yet still intellectually undeveloped, read this book and were moved to 'believing'.

For most of us, our minds matured. We began to see the vast chinks in Lindsey's pompous Christian armor. We began to realize that fear is a weapon brandished by madmen, by people who use a subtle, gentle cloth of manipulation to control others.

This is beyond dangerous. It is beyond extreme, as most of us have now found out.

I love a good horror novel. I love a good 'true crime' thriller. But the fact that people read Lindsey's books and take them at face value is, perhaps, one of the scariest notions I have ever imagined.

That, dear reader, is beyond horrific . . . and far more terrifying than anything you'll find in the bible or any of Lindeys 'books'. The only thing scarier is that Mr. Lindsey is still receiving royalties from an outdated, silly, contradictory and completely barbaric book penned over thirty years ago. Please don't be the next sucker. Please don't add this one to your cart.


Completely Incomprehensible
	I am a bright student and have a GPA of 3.86. This book is completely useless for class. I reread the chapters and it simply does not make sense.  I found the internet to contain more useful information.  This book should not be used in any Introduction to Philosophy classes. It is much too complex. If you are attending classes at WIU, I would skip the purchase of this book and rely on the internet for your assignments


The title for this book is highly inaccurate
	This should be retitled "The Leftist, Israel-Hating, Politically Correct Revisionist Guide to the Middle East."       That would be far more accurate.     For a textbook, the author freelances just a tad bit too much, a lot of what is in here is presented as fact but is mostly opinion in disguise.    The author fails in presenting a clear and unbiased view of the Middle East and instead allows his personal politics to get in the way.

    My professor dumped this book as the course textbook 1/4 of the way through the semester due to the never-ending left-leaning political commentary.    This is no serious review of the Middle East, just a socialist-based fantasy on how THINGS SHOULD BE.   The author himself proclaims that accuracy isn't always important, its the idea that matters.

      This book is a joke, I looked for something serious, unbiased to aid me in learning more about the Middle East but this book doesn't present anything new and its political leanings are just to the left of Stalin.

     If you want to learn what an extreme left liberal thinks of the Middle East, buy this book, otherwise stick to encyclopedias and hopefully, less biased college textbooks.


No match for a great city.
	If you're going to write about the city that is Paris, you'd better be up to the task.  Gopnik may have the writing and observation skills that would have served this assignment well, but this collection of essays generally falls flat.  For someone who resided in the City of Light for 5 whole years, Gopnik gives us a surprisingly myopic picture constrained by his own self-absorption.  Those who are interested in Paris and its natives will be sorely disappointed in the smug chronicles of a New Yorker who regards himself and his son to be the most interesting elements of this city.  I have zero interest in My-Toddler-Does-Paris stories and Gopnik's relentless insertion of his look-how-cute-my-kid-is accounts should have been saved for a family re-union instead of wasting precious space that could have been used for more interesting topics.

For a better book on Paris cuisine and culture, check out the collection of Gourmet essays from the last 60 years titled 'Remembrance of Things Paris'.  It provides a wider variety of perspectives and a more expansive and interesting view of Paris -- and it's blessedly free of all that baby's-scrapbook stuff.


Seemed like he was in a hurry...
	The book isn't good at all. I'm sorry. I loved I am Legend and seeing the list of books this guy has written which had been developed into classic horror movies (Hell House included) I was really excited to read this. I have heard many complaints about the book from calling it "soft porn" to "sick soft porn" and then even being offended by the sacrilege present in the tale. Sacrilege in a book called...Hell House is probably something you need to come to terms with before picking it up. Attacking the author because of the content is really something that is not necessary. I doubt these were Mathis' "sexual fantasies" in the book but more likely his idea of melding something pleasurable together with something terrifying. It is an effective way to convey horror to a reader. Similar to enacting horrible violence on children, or worse, babies in cinema (try watching the Hills Have Eyes without being on the edge of your seat while the villains in the movie dangle the fate of an infant in your face). Mathis should not be condemned for content.

Here is what he did right. He took the idea of a haunted house and brought it into the world of science. Much like I am Legend used science to define its vampires, Hell House uses science to define hauntings and it is very well researched and believable within the framework of the story.

The bad parts may be more numerous. His characterization is horrid. There are four characters really and their personalities do not define them. You will remember Barrett by his limp, Fishcer by his fear, Florence by her religious beliefs, and Edith...well because there is no one else. They are paper thin and have no real motivations. The pacing seems poor too. A lot of moments are left on revelations in the point of view characters mind which that character has not fully processed because the chapter ends before they can relay it and all of its profound meaning to you, the reader. As a matter of fact the revelations themselves, when all is said and done, are really pretty dull. There is also a habit characters have, when going into great lengths of exposition that goes on for pages, to cup their hands around a coffee cup. It seems too much like a commercial for me! Anyway, the book hardly slows down for characterization or details and we get very few vivid descriptions in the book. Sometimes I wanted to know what things looked like, I wanted imagery not just exposition for pages. What was it about the atmosphere that, say Fischer found so scary? We needed the scenes to be better developed. By the end I was so tired of lines like:

"God do you know what this means?"
"What?"
"I can't tell you now but it's freakin' awesome!"

That exchange is not in the book but you will find many similar moments throughout. Just tell us already! The fear should come through our attachment to the characters not the mystery of the house because the mystery of the house is kind of weak. This book is not worth it, unfortunately. I hate to say it because I Am Legend is really good (though it did suffer from some of the same things I pointed out above, though on a smaller level). It's the classic "show don't tell" advice


Avoid the book and movie
	No thrills and a pointless plot marr what could have been a pretty decent story.

The whole thing is based on who wants to kill Darby and why. And that is where it falls apart. The FBI or CIA could have easily investigated faster and easier then she could, and what is the point of trying to kill her?

To bury what is already out in the open? The FBI, CIA and White House all had a copy. What are they trying to silence? Nothing at all. Perhaps if it were just for revenge the plot might not have collapsed on itself


Rehashed, Recycled. Nothing new here.
	This book is more of the same rehashed, recycled, repurposed content from the authors. Much of this material is available in any basic marketing text. In fact, this book reads strikingly similar to just about any training manual on the basics of branding. If you've worked at any of the big agencies: McCann, JWT, Y R, you learn the contents of this book on your first day in about a hour. All the cases cited in this book are stale and extremely weak. The "editorial reviews" listed above are shill quotes from clients who are cited as "cases" in the book.
Remember this before you buy: the author, and the firm for whom he works, use this book as nothing more than a lead-generation tool--it's called "thought leadership", a nebulous term used by company to propagate its own way of thinking. Save your money. Don't become a victim of Prophet's propoganda. Buy something with substance like Jean Noel Kapferer.


Garbled and Overrated
	"A Dirty Job" was my first Christopher Moore novel, and will probably be my last.  I was captivated by the story line as I read the dust jacket, but found that the writing was not nearly as interesting.  I thought the author spent way too many pages with humdrum matters of no real interest, and very little addressing the actual theme of the book.  Although wanting to relate sympathetically to the book's hero, I just wasn't drawn in enough to care about him.  The action began in the final quarter of the book, and you had better suspend reality before reading it.  I actually couldn't wait for the book to end so I could move on to something more interesting


Where's the editor?
	The word Atlas is misleading as there is alot of text accompanying the various maps. Some pages are nothing but text. I expect an Atlas to use maps to explain more rather than words. The maps that are in the book are good, but numerous sections do not have one.

The book is split into sections/topics written by individual persons. However, in many sections the text ends in mid-sentence, as if several pages were forgotten about in each section or as if there was some arbitrary cutoff on the # of words per section.

of this approx 200 page book, sentence cutoffs appear on these pages. Each page also represents the end of a section.

p.37,55,63,82,89,96,115,141,149,163, and 175

clearly, not just a simple oversight.

Also, the table of contents is inadequate, as it primarily denotes the major sections - which is by ocean, but not the individual topics.

I give this 2 stars (Rather than 1) as the idea is good, and the content that is in the book - looks good. Execution is another story. Frankly, I would be a embarassed by the editing and quality control oversights


Liberal Bias?  Complete Nonsense...
	Wow..What lies.  I NEVER hear any kind of news channel favor the left...NEVER.  The media, especially FOX News, has a right wing bias..its 100% FACT, proven beyond any reasonable doubt.  The republican right wing NUT JOB Wackos INVENTED the concept of a liberal bias in the media for political advantage, and its simply not true.

Republicans are the worst thing that could ever happen to this country, all they know how to do is lie, cheat, steal, and profit off of the suffering of others.  Oh yeah, and these religious wing nuts are delusional bigots who think some guy waved a magic wand and invented the universe.  Give me a break.

This book is 100% lies.  I actually burned the book after I read it...(Notice the lack of credible sources).

Good job republicans...Continue to make up news...the people are catching on!


Description is misleading
	The Amazon description says Vol. 1-3, boxed set, hardcover.  That is all true.  What they don't tell you is that there are actually six volumes.  The box in which it comes is clearly marked, "Volumes 1-3 (of six)."  That would have been a much better description for Amazon to have used.  If you have volumes 4-6 and you are looking to complete the set, this book is for you.  If you are looking for the complete set, look elsewhere


See the WONDERFUL (very different) 1937 movie instead ...
	Sadly, this thrilling sea-yarn from 1897 is nearly unreadable today.  Between the seafaring jargon - which must have delighted boys of yore - and the unfathomable dialects, it can take ages to puzzle out a page.  Some of the anecdotes related by the good seamen of the schooner "We're Here," which has picked up over-privileged Harvey Cheyne when he was washed overboard from a luxury liner, I could not grasp the point or moral of.  My husband has read all the Patrick O'Brian series, so I asked him to puzzle out a representative story, that of Counahan the Navigator, and after spending 15 minutes reading me a few pages aloud and filling me in on the few terms he understood, he said, "Honey, I see what you mean."   One can get the general gist, but it's best to read through fast, then go back and see if any of it makes any more sense.

	For example, when educated Harvey says, "Why can't we always fish from the boat instead of from the dories?" his pal Dan answers, "Allus can, till we begin to dress daown.  Efter thet, the heads and offals, 'u'd scare the fish to Fundy.  Boat-fishin' ain't reckoned progressive, though, unless ye know as much as dad knows.  Guess we'll run aout aour trawl to-night.  Harder on the back, this, than frum the dory, ain't it?"

	I got my B.A. in English, and I would rather tackle Joyce's "Ulysses" than an unannotated version of this book.

	So why did I bother?  A few days ago, a friend showed us the DVD of the 1937 movie, starring Spencer Tracy and Lionel Barrymore, on his big screen home theater, and it was thrilling and very moving.  The movie is quite different from the book, though, but it may give some incentive to check out for oneself how Kipling crafted the story, as it did for me.  But dear teachers, PLEASE, do not subject students to this particular title unless you are going to spend the semester on it and are willing to turn them off classic literature forever!  (Let them read "Cannery Row" instead!)


Disappointing Story
	I would not personally recommend this book to horror/thriller fans.  I would definitely not recommend this book for anyone under 18!  If you like soap operas, you may enjoy this book a lot.  If you are searching for the secrets of Rose Red or a good ghost story, this is not your book.

I read the story before the author was made known.  I thought it might be Stephen King or Tabitha King.  The writing style was far below Stephen King's style and it was very erotic, which I suspected Tabitha King to be the author.  However, the accounts of Ellen were obviously written by a man, as the erotic episodes were definitely not from the viewpoint of a woman.  So, it was no surprise when the author was neither Stephen nor Tabitha, but a male author I have never heard of.

The book reveals almost nothing new about Rose Red and it's secrets.  I would dare say that 90% of the diary goes on and on about Ellen and John's wealth and extremely dysfunctional marriage.  On and on about John's extramarital affairs, Ellen's withholding of sexual favors, more affairs, more withholding of favors, more affairs, more favors withheld.  The story is a vicious circle regarding this.  It's almost like she gets burned, but yet continues to play with fire.  Very frustrating and almost boring, as you read the same scenarios redundantly.  By the third time, you know exactly what he's doing and how she will retaliate.  Silly.

I mentioned above that the Diary of Ellem Rimbauer revealed no new secrets of the house.  In fact, as the diary progresses, it skips four occurrences (it made mention of the four, like "by the way, four disappearances happened since last time I wrote, but I won't tell you about them").  And this I found obnoxious - ***SPOILER ALERT***  Ellen waits some three or so years for a  from a master uber-psychic.  Three long years.  But after the , nothing is revealed!   The book is riddled with episodes like this.  Some big secret is coming.  When it finally is revealed, it's no secret at all.  It's something dumb, like "yes, there are spirits in the house".  What spirits?  Why?  Who?  Nothing is ever satisfactorily explained.

I would have given it one star, however it seemed to have a single quality.  At the start of the diary, Ellen was an ordinary 19 year old to John.  Soon, she is corrupted by John, wealth, maybe corrupted by her African best friend (jury is still out), and hatred.  She prays to God, but also to "her other god" (the dark one).  At first, you suppose she is playing with fire.  Right on.  She gets consumed by darkness, revenge, and hatred and falls into self destruction.

Overall, I personally thought it read like fan fiction.  I would bet the author whipped up this short story just for giggles, but somehow it got published.  I was disappointed, hoping for a good ghost story.  But I ended up reading a soft-porn, soap opera style plot.

Hope I don't offend those who loved the book :


Creates more questions than it answers
	The book's appearance and story line are both lighthearted and gentle with the underlying message that acceptance is the highest of all virtues. This approach will probably work for a typical 5 year old child in a Lesbian led household - especially a girl child. If the child is a boy and/or approachng 8 or 9 years old, the hard questions start coming and this book pretends these questions will never be asked.
Doesn't everyone have a father, somewhere? Who is my father? What is he like? Where is he? Does he know about me? Does he care about me? Why don't I know? Why don't you know, Mommy?
Mommy, when you grew up you lived with your Daddy, why don't I?
When I grow up, should I live with a man or a woman? Why? How/when will I know? Does it matter? Is our family really a complete family if my father is unknown?
I want to be a father some day. How do I learn what good fathers do?
I love my friends and my dog;Does that make us a family?

Think about it.


Simplistic At Best
	If you want a VERY simple will or a VERY simple living will or power of attorney for health care, this program will work for you. However, it offers only a very narrow range of options for personalizing the generic forms included in the package. I disliked this program so much that I threw the whole package in the trash.


P.O.S.
	Tipler says many times "as I have proved".  Huh? What the f is he talking about?  There is no proof in this stinking pile of filth.  He's got an abundance of physics in the back of the book-I'd like to hear from a physicist if any of that crap makes any sense, but I don't think it should matter.  I am intelligent enough to understand basic physics concepts, and Tipler just doesn't make any sense.  His writing is so bad that anyone who reads this entire thing will have wasted a colossal ammount of time.  The more books you read, the sooner you know when to stop reading, put the book down, and read a work of fiction instead, which can play with such ideas without boring you to death


Not one of his best
	I enjoy the Hillerman Navajo mysteries because the characters are well developed. Not so in this book. I found the first half really boring and hard to get through. The characters were not people you could care about, an important issue for me


lots of fill...little thrill
	As a piece of entertainment, this book falls flat. Way flat.  There is a story here, but mundane sub-plots (including the love story) are thrown in in an attempt to fill the pages to make it a book.  I found myself skipping pages - lots of them - to get to the point.  Overall, very disappointing.


Lengthy tedious thriller
	Amazingly tedious for a thriller.  Reacher is a good character, believable in his expertise, but a bit cold blooded in his use of violence. The book takes too long to tell everything (and I mean everything) - it seems every minute of the week long plot is chronicled as is every thought Reacher has (many repeated over and over). I hope Child fixed these flaws in later books.


Dark Watch:A Dud
	As I read this book it was easy to tell that it was not written by Mr. Cussler, the story was slow and the plot was transparent.

This book just didn't have the "zing" of the older Cussler stories.

If you are just laying around with nothing else to do it will give you something to read


Does D.S. know any other law schools besides, Harvard and Yale...I am so tired of her books...this is it.
	Does D.S. know any other law schools besides, Harvard and Yale for her characters to have attended. I am so tired of her books...this is it for me.  Its the usual suspects for her...rich and white....quite boring.  I used to love her and would read anything from her, but those days are over.....Maybe she should retire


Negligent
	The very first thing you read in this book is a mistake.  The Prologue begins with a photo of German POWs at the end of WWI.  The photo caption states that the German Army at the end of WWI was "unbroken" and implies that Germany capitulated because of a loss of will on the part of its political leadership.  This is doubly misleading.  The German Army was soundly defeated on Western Front in 1918 and then began to disintegrate.  In 1918, Germany was essentially a military dictatorship run by Ludendorff and Hindenberg.  The political leaders who lost will were the German High Command.  Defeat on the battlefield and despair on the part of senior commanders hardly meets the description of an unbroken army.  Keegan is essentially repeating the pernicious "stab in the back" myth used by the German military and right wing propagandists to undermine the Weimar republic.  Its astonishing to see this published decades later by someone who is supposed to be an expert on such matters.
This type of error recurs throughout this book.  My favorite relatively minor error is Keegan moving the Ploesti oilfields, a major strategic resource, from Romania to Hungary.  See prior reader reviews for documentation of a number of factual errors of varying magnitude.  Just as important and in some cases even more important are Keegan's failures to discuss crucial aspects of WWII.  He makes little effort, for example, to discuss the origins of the war.  Indeed, his paragraphs on this topic suggest that he finds it too confusing to discuss.  Leaving aside his shirking of his obligation to discuss this crucial topic, there are excellent overviews of 20s and 30s that are good guides to this admittedly formidable topic.  Instead of an effort to discuss the origins of the war, we get a superficial and somewhat misleading discussion of how industrialization transformed military technology and organization.  Instead of a discussion of the sad history of the Weimar Republic, crucial for understanding the ascent of the Nazis, we get another misleading discussion of the Freikorps phenomenon.  Among other significant omissions are his failure to grapple with the possible strategic significance of the Allied bombing campaign against Germany, a issue analyzed insightfully by Richard Overy in 2 of his excellent books.  Keegan's discussion of the Holocaust in both inadequate and implicitly misleading.  Partly because he doesn't discuss the origins of the war and the role played by Nazi ideology in starting the war he fails to show that in crucial respects the Holocaust was the point of German aggression.  The Nazis went to war not just to overturn the Versailles settlement or even to conquer Eastern Europe, but to impose their bizarre notions of racial conflict on the rest of Europe.  Without this background, its impossible to understand the outbreak and the specific nature of WWII.  Among other things, Nazi racism prevented them from rationally exploiting the resources of the western Soviet Union, a factor in their eventual defeat.  As pointed out by other reviewers, Keegan devotes a disproportionate amount of the book to activities of the Western allies when the Eastern front was really the crucial theatre.
To be fair to Keegan, writing a concise 1 volume book like this is very difficult.  The best 1 volume work on WWII is Gerhard Weinberg's book, which is about 1000 pages of text in a fairly small font.  Some of the individual sections of this book are quite good and Keegan has a nice, sometimes actually elegant, writing style.  None of these positive features, however, can overcome his neglect of basic features of WWII and the lack of attention to basic facts.  This is not just error, this is actual negligence.


Acupressure Techniques: A Self Help Guide
	This book is almost useless for helping someone understand how to use acupressure to alleviate physical symptoms. As a licensed massage therapist who already knows quite a bit about acupressure, I am always willing to learn  more about any kind of bodywork. I had hoped to be able to pass on some ideas to my clients for self help but this book was definitely not it. The book gives some accupoints for specific problems, some of these are "golden points" able to stand alone in use, but others are not. The book gives no order to use these in and furthermore does not specify if all or any of the points are to be used together in sequence, or not. Also,it does't tell where the points are EXACTLY. There are really too many flaws to go into here. Acupressure is very complex, this book tries to simplify it to the point that it looks like some goofy folklore advocating some bad mojo


This software is unusable on mac's and unix systems.
	I bought this software hoping that it would help me to find required mathematical formulas faster. At home on my powermac (OSX.1, OS9.2) I only see messed up windows. Furthermore, the formulas are unreadable, using an archaic font. Trying to save the day, I went to my linux machine at work reading  quot;Your operating system, Linux 2.2.19-7.0.1, is not supported by this software. It appears that the software is only suitable for some SUN and SGI machines. It only appears to run properly on a windows machine. From an editor, who I remember, is one of the few persons finding errors in Knuth's TeX system, I expected much better


A quick read and a quicker write
	The number of books written in our society is huge and getting huger. Everyone recognizes that far more books are being written and published than can be read. Why are people so anxious to be authors in such a market? One reason, apparently embraced by the Goldstones, is that it is so EASY to write a book! All you have to do is write down some reminiscences of your experiences. They don't have to be particularly interesting experiences. You don't have to do any research into your subject. If you describe what all the people you encounter are wearing, if you go into details of how you found a babysitter for each trip you took, if you quote verbatim phone calls from relatives and shop keepers (even if they are not interesting or witty), and if you describe the hotel rooms you stayed in, you can finish the book in a couple of weekends! And readers can finish the book in a couple of hours with little harm done.

The book does accurately represent the travails of beginning book collectors, and I recognized some of my own experiences in the stories the authors tell. However, the book does not take the effort to educate readers so that they can skip over common early errors, nor does it attempt to answer many of the questions that the authors themselves raised when they first began collecting. What determines the price of old books? Why are first editions important? Why should Tarzan books cost more than great works of literature? These are good questions that anyone might think of when getting into book collecting, and you will find the questions but not the answers here.

The book is written in a breezy style that is easy to get through, and if you have two hours at an airport to kill, you could do worse than to read it. But by the time you arrive at your destination, you will have likely forgotten most of what you just read, because so much of it is ephemeral details of the authors' own lives, transportation problems, and experiences. If you are really interested in book collecting, it would be wise to read one of the many books that describe what one should look for, how prices are determined, different styles of book collecting, and so on. Fragments of this knowledge are transmitted in this book, but they will leave you with more questions than answers.

To be sure, not every book about book collecting needs to be a font of wisdom. But the entertainment value of the authors' experiences was weak, and did not make up for the absence of useful content


Oh puhleeze
	What exactly is it that Ms Wearstler does? This book is filled with "glam" pictures of recycled design ideas by Billy Haines,Dorothy Draper and Billy Baldwin,mostly of the "Hollywood Regency" style. Ms Wearstler,whose home it is, appears in the photos dressed to the nines and seems to want us to think that she dreamed up this nifty new look.
Take a look at the new Billy Haines book and the just released book on Dorothy Draper and you'll see real designers at work AND whose work and style this really is.