Reviews Books

The book was received in record time, in excellent condition, and, was an excellent read.

This is a great book, giving a balanced pespective on the practice and surrounding aspects of Tai Chi. If you practice Tai Chi and have been looking at the books available, then you probably understand that style specific content isn't very useful for most of us. The differences in styles and instructors combined with the non-photogenic nature of Tai Chi make the photo sections all but useless. This book doesn't spend a lot of time trying to teach the specific movements, but how to feel when doing them. This is the best part of any Tai Chi book, and Horwitz's book has plenty of it. I have been practicing Wu style Tai Chi for 14 years, and am currently working on a College project on my studies.

BY FAR THE BEST BOOK YET ON TAI CHI CH'UAN AND TAOISM.

Truly insightful writing about the TRUE nature of TaiJi Quan. A review of the TaiJi classics, and in-depth discussion on Daoism. Truly a MUST-READ for those interested in the higher levels of TaiJi! :o)
...and besides, it's cheap...

this book is for you... it is full of great pictures and information... it is awesome

Digby Diehl has dug up enough ghastly art and story lines from the old E.C. vaults to chill even the most die-hard Crypt fans! This book captures the horror and fascination many of us experienced as kids, encountering our first Tales from the Crypt comic. This archive presents a rich visual history of the development of the horror genre in comics, its rise to horrific success, and the devastating blows it was dealt in the 1950s, as comics came under tighter censorship scutiny. It is worth having this book for the collection of cover art alone, but also worth noting is the section on its spinoff into the television series. Anyone who has ever seen the comics, or the shows, will undoubtedly enjoy poring over this collection into the wee hours of the night...

A mere comic book in 1950, today Tales From the Crypt and its Crypt Keeper are trademarks whose value exceeds their initial medium, much as Disney's Mickey Mouse surpasses the value of his cartoons. And if Mickey means amiable family entertainment, the Crypt Keeper signifies a particular kind of horror tale: one combining brevity, gore, black humor, and moral irony.

Tales From the Crypt is also a multimedia property. Digby Diehl touches most bases along its history, beginning with the origin of comics books, a marriage between newspaper comic strips and pulp fiction. In 1896, Richard F. Outcault created The Yellow Kid, a comedic strip of cartoons about ... a yellow kid (allowing its publisher to showcase a newly invented, bright yellow ink, a favorite practice of tabloid yellow journalists). Until the late 1920s all cartoon strips were comedic, hence, a comic strip.

In 1933, Max Gaines conceived of reprinting comic strips into pulp books, making him the Father of the Comic Book. In 1945, his partners at Action Comics bought him out and he founded Educational Comics, publishing titles such as Picture Stories From the Bible and Bouncy Bunny in the Friendly Forest. He died in a 1947 boating accident, saving a child's life while perhaps sacrificing his own.

Bill Gaines grew up hating and avoiding comics because they had represented Max, a critical and demanding father. Now Bill's mother insisted that he run EC. He did, changing EC from Educational to Entertaining Comics, and hiring Al Feldstein to draw an Archie clone, Going Steady With Peggy. But Bill soon dropped the idea of cloning successful trends, a standard publishing practice then (and now?), and created what he called his New Trend titles.

The history of EC's New Trend horror and crime comics (Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories) informs much of Diehl's book, but there is much else. We read of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, Bill's sci-fi comics tolerated out of love since they never achieved the success of their horror siblings; the GhouLunatics (Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, Old Witch); Harvey Kurtzman's distaste for horror, his meticulous attention to military detail in his beloved EC war comics (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), and his creation of, and defection from, MAD; EC's plagiarism of Ray Bradbury's "What The Dog Dragged In," leading to a long, congenial working relationship with Bradbury (but who later requested that his name not be put on covers, as he worried that being adapted by the comics hurt his authorial reputation); and the cloning of the New Trend, so that by 1953 about 150 competing horror titles were being published, today mostly forgotten.

Sections on each EC artist includes bios and samples of his unique style. Al Feldstein, who wrote and edited most of the New Trend, demanded that each artist have his own signature style. Bill Gaines encouraged it by instituting an "Artist Of The Issue" kudos page, a respect rarely accorded by other publishers.

EC's five horror and crime titles all folded in 1954, due to public outcry against comic book sex and violence. Psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham of the New York Department Of Hospitals and Harlem's Lafargue Clinic led the fight. Powerful enemies against EC included gossip columnist Walter Winchell, waging a vendetta against EC business manager Lyle Stuart (whose book had revealed the "seamier side of Winchell's private life"); Senator Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn) of the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency and a presidential hopeful; and EC's competitors, particularly Archie Comics's John Goldwater and DC's Jack Liebowitz. As President and Veep of the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA), Goldwater and Liebowitz prohibited the words "horror, terror, crime, and weird" for a comic book to earn the CMAA's new seal of approval, required by distributors. EC's strength was its horror and crime titles, unlike its competitors. Ironically, Bill Gaines had called the meeting at which the CMAA was formed.

Wertham recruited support from "women's groups and religious organizations," vilifying horror and crime comics for their "detailed descriptions of all kinds of felonies, torture, sadism, attempted rape, flagellation" and portraying women "in a smutty, unwholesome way, with emphasis on half-bare and exaggerated sex characteristics." He decried all horror and crime comics, but EC had the most to lose. Ironically, EC was rare among publishers in diluting its horror with humor. The GhouLunatics' wry commentaries distanced readers from the suffering characters.

One rare political hero was New York Governor Thomas Dewey, who vetoed "numerous bills outlawing horror comics." But though attempts at state censorship failed, bad press, public pressure, and boycotts discouraged distributors and retailers from carrying EC. Bill Gaines summarized, "Magazines that do not get onto the newsstand do not sell."

Gaines requested permission to testify before Kefauver. In his statement (reprinted by Diehl) Gaines says, "I do not believe that anything that has ever been written can make a child hostile, over-aggressive, or delinquent." Here he was disingenuous, or at least contradictory. Gaines believed in comics' power to influence youth, periodically publishing what he called preachies (tales condemning racism, anti-Semitism, drugs, etc.), usually in Shock SuspenStories. And if art can influence for good, it follows that it can influence for ill.

The question should not have been: are violent comics potentially harmful? Tobacco, marijuana, airplanes, cars, guns -- and yes, art and ideas -- are all potentially harmful. To users, to third parties, to children. The proper question is: Do we chose to live and raise children in a society that assumes the risks of liberty, or do we wish a society cocooned, safe, and inoffensive, hypersensitive to the sensibilities of all?

Although Diehl makes no connection, Wertham began his campaign in 1948 and Bradbury began Fahrenheit 451 in 1950. One wonders what influence the psychiatrist had on the author. For the society in Fahrenheit 451 is a democracy, one in which whatever book offends any group is banned, until none are left. Unlike 1984's obvious state totalitarian target, Fahrenheit 451 reveals that people can discard their freedom by choice.

Yet as EC so often demonstrated in its pages, you can't keep the dead down. The Crypt Keeper lived on. In fanzines, in Russ Cochran's hardcover reprints (published in black & white so as to display the artists' meticulous ink lines), in the Amicus films, in the HBO series (Diehl includes a 93-episode guide covering the first seven seasons), in the more recent films, in the Tales From the Cryptkeeper cartoon. All covered, if only a page. There are a few errors (remarkably, Boris Karloff is referred to as William Henry Platt). Thankfully, there's an index, albeit incomplete. No reference to Karloff under any name.

Not covered are the Amicus film novelizations by Jack Oleck. Although pictured in the collectibles section, there's no information on its making. I miss it because it was both my introduction to Tales From the Crypt (being underage for the Amicus film) and my first "adult" book. To boomers, Tales From the Crypt is a comic book. To Xers, an HBO series. To those born in between, the Crypt Keeper is Ralph Richardson, seen on the back of Oleck's novelization.

Diehl's book reprints four "classic" stories and all 105 EC horror and crime covers (nine per page). Extensively researched, generously illustrated. If you have a serious interest in Tales From the Crypt, you'll want this book.

While I was never a big fan of the HBO cable series - I always felt it was more a star vehicle than a scare vehicle - I did always enjoy the comics it was based on, and with this, the offical history of EC and all their creations, you too will become a fan all over again. This book comes fully equipped and packed with features. It spotlights the history of EC and beyond, background profiles on artists, writers and producers, as well a comprehensive listings of episodes from the HBO series, plus four reprinted classics from the original run (LOWER BERTH/THE THING FROM THE GRAVE/HORROR WE? HOW'S BAYOU? and THE OCTOBER GAME - adapted from a story by Ray Bradbury... who has an interesting history with EC), plus a cover gallery running the gambit of all the EC horror series. This is a must for any fan of the series or collector of comics in general. Very fun, very nice package and very well done. My only complaint is that on occasion the material can read a bit light, but it never bores you... and you learn a thing or two, like: Just who owns all the original art work from MAD #1? To find out - buy and and read inside.

Ten P's in a Pod is the story of a family of traveling evangelists. On one hand, I was very inspired by the family's commitment to prayer and Bible reading, and my children enjoyed the book as a read-aloud. On the other hand, I was disturbed by the "Christian brinksmanship" that was pervasive throughout the book. Mr. Pent deliberately and repeatedly put his family in situations--such as driving through a North Dakota blizzard with bald tires--where the family's basic well-being was dependent on God's active intervention.

This is an awesome book about a family seriously devoted to the heart of GOD! Today so much lip service is given about loving GOD and HIS WORD especially in our worship services all over the land. BUT then after 20 minutes or so of singing about loving GOD and HIS WORD, we then are consumed with other loves, the gods of technology, etc. that have worked their way into the thrones of so many areas of our lives. This book describes a family of ten who simply read GOD's WORD, the BIBLE, and they lived it, sang it, and truly breathe it. Don't read this book if you don't want to be convicted by the HOLY SPIRIT and challenged to change your life into a more simple pattern of pleasing the heart of GOD! So readers beware. WARNING: This book can cause serious health implications and spiritual awakenings unlike you've ever dreamed. GOD's WORD will not return void! Read it (The Holy Bible) and believe it, then miraculous things will occur weekly in your life. We know, because we are a family of eight that live by faith. This book though written in the mid-sixties, has eternal value for all walks of life. We have been seriously challenged by this book to increase our almost daily devotion time and Bible reading.
Grace and Peace,
The Lord Family - www.LordFamilyMinistry.com

Being a family that wants to honor God and obey His Word ourselves, it was neat to hear the adventures of the Arnold Pent family. They traveled all across North America, often wondering where they would sleep or where their next meal would come from or how they would pay for gas. But they trusted God and He always provided.

As a father, this book gave me a vision for teaching my family the Bible--hearing how much importance Mr. Pent placed on READING the Bible. Before breakfast, and after every meal--regardless of where they were or who they were staying with.

DON'T GET ME WRONG--This is not a boring, stiff, how-to kind of book that makes you feel guilty. It's just a FUN story about a family who was very different from your typical family. Almost every page made our whole family laugh.

We were given this wonderful book in 1980 and as a result our small children in a matter of weeks could quote chapters and entire books of the Bible without memorization. In the following years, our four kids would travel, sing and recite series of verses that my wife and I compiled on various Bible subjects. We told the Pent Story where ever we went. We even were blessed by several personal visits by David Pent to our home and got to eventually meet 5 of the 8 Pent children. Our children are grown now, but the scripture they learned is still with them effecting how they live their adult lives for the Saviour that died for them. If you want to step out of the mundane and into the extraordinary life of serving God... this book is the key to leaving a legacy that no one will ever forget.

It appears that Kirkus'bias against Gerald Stern has unfortunately led them to unprofessionally trash a bright new poet on the scene. Beckman's work is anything but trite-his words flow, his scenes are graphic, and his subject matter fresh and invigorating. This is a book to read & re-read, and to share with friends. L. David Howe

"Things are Happening" is a complex and thought invoking collection of poems by a new poet. His imagery is wonderful and he speaks from the heart of his experience with life and words. Well worth the time to read and reread.

Gerald Stern in his forward provides poetic geneology of these poems: Schuyler, Ashbery, O'Hara, "Grandfather Carlos", berrigan, Whitman, Spicer, Lorca, Hart Crane, Creeley, etc. Sounds good, eh? Yep. After reading the first poem, "Lament for the Death of Bullfighter", I flipped to the back and wasn't surprised to see in bio this poet has a deep visual streak. The phrases seem to be thoughtfully parceled out, arranged, pushed together with a minimal visual logic, stacked almost the way colors might be, edged together. There is no huge declaration, passion, or attempt to be outright witty. The passion or humor is mulled. The sometimes Creeley-like lines slowly collect their meaning, somewhat like cinematic phrases, and always showing care, making the line gossamer, and using the daily for material. Stern wasn't kidding when he says, "His identity is through affection. That is his print." At times the lines and narratives seem like they might float apart -- this seems the opposite of Lowell's granite. But unlike a lot of new poetry -- the narrative does not dissolve in confusion. Example: "Old Watermelon Hands told me/that I lack any real talent/for setting tables or having children,/that the knives were crooked/and the kids like their mother. His hands seemed to be healing,/white lines puching up/a strange map around them,/and the dog chased him through the house/showing off its leather tongue." Interesting, new, appealing. Teachers: This may be a dicey text for, say, intro poetry class as it seems simple but, I think, tone and style could be badly imitated.

Beckman. A poet once, a poet always. From the formative years in Madison to the blessed years of Hampshire and the ensuing acclaim of the mature work, Beckman has always been a force to reckon with. Now, with the publication of this volume, Beckman's work is reaching out to the world, which will now find out what many have known for a long time: the man is a poet. No longer does he xerox his poems and bind them in unique ways; no, now the machinery of publishing has taken Beckman and presented him: stunning, unique, essential. Beckman. Now. Always.

A heady treatise on altered states of being and how free will plays a role in our time space continuum. I highly recommend this book.

Bergson's works are always inspirational and the remarkable thing is that he doesn't assume anything he always explains what is needed (almost always) unlike the standard treatises on philosophy by other philosophers. It is never that much of an effort to read Bergson and as such it makes his works far more accessible than usual for a philosopher, probably one of the reasons he was all the rage in the early 20th Century, people can actually understand what he was talking about. What is the reason for this ? I think much of it has to do with his unwillingness to separate his insights into distinct pieces as is the norm in philosophy. His essays tend to flow along nicely without being stuck in difficult terminology which must be remembered as you progress, anything such as the word duration which has a special significance in Bergson work becomes part of the flow of the essay rather than being in any way special it is always reinforced through the dialogue. Another interesting aspect is his lack of references to others, possibly a result of the French way of Education which encourages self reliance and expression as much as possible.

In this work, one of his earliest (1887), Bergson introduces his concept of duration which is less of a concept than a real lived sense that is happening in your life right at this moment. But first he introduces the reader to the intensities of psychic states such as beauty, grace, joy, sorrow, pain etc and how a misinterpretation of real lived experience gives rise to a way of philosophy which separates real duration as it is experienced into space-like time, this is also evident in feelings which are modified through the space-like construction of experience. Although this first chapter fails to convince once you proceed onto the construction of the idea of duration you feel on much safer ground, one feels Bergson has seriously studied this phenomenon, not of course just in thought or conceptualisation but, in his own lived experience present at every moment. He goes on to explain the falseness of the spacialisation of time which inevitably leads to the paradoxes of Zeno in ancient days and determinism with its lack of human freedom. He overcomes the usual arguments of determinism by simply just not defining freedom or its prior conditions since this would once again introduce determinism and spacialise duration.

Bergson's work is simply highly insightful of the human condition far more than any dry attempt at it through the usual approaches such as Descarte's or Kant's. He literally lives his work using his own experience to enliven it, I mean literally enliven it, Bergson's work is living in a sense. It is less an argument than a movement through your own feelings and intuitions which then allow you to understand what he is saying, it isn't difficult concepts you can't wrap yourself round. It does occasionally suffer from a lack of clarity wich is an advantage other philosophers have over him but a careful reading will help.

Superb as always.

Bergson, all the rage in the early 1900's, has now been rediscovered,thanks in part to the work of Deleuze et al. Time and Free Will is a great exemplar of Bergson's work and his idea of the duree and the spatialization of time. Bergson presents to the reader an energetic flux which is the precondition of our more vulgar concept of time. With this flux, the past is pulled along by the future and presented to consciousness in the present as a heterogeneous conglomeration, inseperable and uncategorizable. It is this work which inspired the stream of consciousness novelists, especially Proust. But the most remarkable element of Time and Free Will is its demand on the reader to live the duree, to return to the duree and forget oneself in it. The goal is freedom and authenticity and this can only be achieved when letting oneself go, flying like a bird, and despatializing time. This book does not only open the door to phenomenology, but it also contributes in a significant way to french existentialist thought.

Aged 80, already ill, Henri Bergson (1859-1941) went downstairs to the street (in his slippers and a sleep skirt) to underwrite a Nazi-registration-form, that he was one of the so called unworthy living creatures, a Jew, having no rights, being discharged, honourless, defenseless, unprotected. When in the "Etat Francais" also a Jew statute had been announced, the French government had offered an exception treatment to Bergson, that famous citizen of Jewish birth. However professor Bergson refused receiving such a gift from such hand. 1920, on the occasion of the establishment of the United Nations, Henri Bergson had been a first president of the commission for mental co-operation (when times were to be called still worthy to human beings). 1927 he had received the Nobelprize of literature regarding to his main-publication "Creative Evolution". At the end of his life the public ethic level had been fallen down immeasurably deep. Commissions for "mental co-operation" (1920) evidently had disappeared and instead had been replaced by tanks, execution committees, gasification camps and other genocide methods. The esteem of an human being you cannot measure exactly via empiric sciences (i.e. Nazi biological race sciences). An anthropology of such a bedeviled horizon of course fails his subject. The risk of every empiric, specialized science (i.e. psychology, social and political sciences) is to underestimate human beings via shortened views, operating with the handicap of false subtle ideologies, conceptions, definitions - and the practice to analyze only a small section of time. To seize the "life melody" of a human being, it is not sufficient to emerge ridiculously only one or two notes. The entire "SPAN", if possible from the birth to the end of a biography, - only such a span (the complete melody, not a single note) is able to illuminate the secret of a human personality to a sympathizing viewer. Only via this method you can discover the dynamics, movements, changing spirals, the will to carry through, the persistent believe at the own worth of a person - even if the social associates have lost such a horizon long time ago. Bergson's father had been a music teacher and a composer - considering this fact, the idea of talking metaphorically about "single notes" and a complete "life-melody" touches the heart. The upcoming of the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud surely inspired Bergson - and though there are some mad, too punctual views in this Vienna theories: this specialized science delivered a plenty of hypotheses better than the usual biological ones. Otherwise Bergson inspired a lot of novelists: Marcel Proust or James Joyce, Sartre (his writings about Flaubert) or Nikos Kazantzakis' movie "Alexis Sorbas" (featuring Anthony Quinn as the pure embodiment of "elan vital"). Erik H. Erikson with his innovative book "Identity and life cycle" also is one of the innumerable researchers, who developed knowledge into this advanced direction: the concept of duration, of showing a complete life-melody. A quotation out of a lecture held 1911 by Bergson at the university of Oxford: "Via philosophy we can get accustomed, never to isolate the present from the past. Via philosophy all things gain a depth of field, something like a fourth dimension, which permits to associate the earlier perceptions with the present." In the title of Bergson's book "Creative Evolution" the nature of this unusual human is as crystallizing as in that delivered gesture, underwriting the Nazi-registration-form, just as the inhumanity of German occupiers required. Surely none of them understood the nonchalant irony of this doing (in the spirit of a mind, which never loses a sort of a "BIRDS VIEW"). I like to compare this scene with a fragment of Emile Cioran, another French author; he wrote: "Did you see, how the birds, at first hunting in the roads, suddenly did ascend high above the roofs: to regard Paris in a distance?" This is a remarkable metaphor: visually strong - alike the "LIFE-MELODY", giving a hint to the long time memory of ears ...

David M. Lubin's "Titanic" offers valuable and interesting insights into James Cameron's 1997 Academy Award-winning film by the same title. Lubin, a professor of art at Wake Forest University, brilliantly positions the film within its artistic, historic and cultural context, relating it to art (Frederic Church's "The Icebergs" and "Heart of the Andes," George Caleb Bingham, Jacques-Louis David, among others), literature (Crane, London, Twain, Whitman, et al.), music (Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld," Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde," etc.), theatre (the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, etc.), and even to still photography (Lewis Hines' "Young Russian Jewess at Ellis Island," Alfred Stieglitz's "The Steerage"). Lubin also connects "Titanic" to numerous other films, especially "It Happened One Night" and "A Night to Remember," and filmmakers, including Hitchcock, Welles, Ford and Kubrick. Lubin says "Titanic" is "not by any means an intellectual film," yet his book seems to belie this statement. How could a film that poses "questions about society's divide between rich and poor, the nature of love, the meaning of sacrifice, and modernity's faith in...technological prowess and mastery over nature" be anything but an intellectual film?

For a movie that was almost universally loathed by "high-brow" critics, "Titanic" gets a very lovingly detailed and in-depth analysis courtesy of Mr. Lubin. His analysis is interesting and well-researched without going too overboard or reaching too far for metaphors and artsy-fartsy obscure parallels, as some BFI contributing authors have.

This book afforded me a fascinating 12th look at a film I've already seen 11 times, and I feel enriched for having read it. It is scholarly without being boorishly so, and resists the chance to take gratuitous potshots at the flimsiest part of the film -- the dialogue. Lubin rightfully defends writer/director James Cameron's film even at its weakest points, probably because to single out the flimsy and shallow dialogue is to overlook the mastery that went into every other single detail of getting this epic film made. Visually, it is so rich in detail and craft that to malign it for "teen-speak" dialogue is just to be petty. But make no mistake --- Lubin is not playing the cheerleader for the sake of doing so. He is carefully examining the film for its comments on class distinctions, its parallels to art and opera, its classic story structure, and how the timing of the making and release of the film is nearly as significant as the timing of the actual sinking from the perspective of changing cultural and social mores. Or something like that -- Lubin phrases it so much better than I ever could.

To those who would chastise Cameron for the dialogue, let's see how well YOU do writing dialogue while simultaneously juggling the 40 thousand details, large and small, of a project this massive!

Lubin acknowledges the film's flaws but also pays due heed to the elements that work well, and the film is full of them.

Just read the damn book, folks.

Any movie as large (in every respect) as James Cameron's TITANIC, deserves to be understood, not only in the contemporary consumer context in which it was created, but also through the complex philosophical, cultural, and artistic history which served as its genesis. David Lubin's splendid, captivating, and handsomely packaged little book is a rare jewel for any reader interested in popular culture as subject for serious analysis. We come to understand Cameron's film, although cloaked in melodrama and crude dialogue, as a fully realized "synaesthesia," striving (not entirely unsuccessfully) to consume and re-imagine everything that came before it. Lubin, without a hint of pedantry, goes a long way towards revealing the mysterious zeitgeist at the heart of a global blockbuster. This is a marvelous book, and it deserves to be read.

You think you understood this simple (if expensive) movie? Think again. David Lubin demonstrates why Titanic can really be seen as an allegory--about race and class, humanity and technology, and much more--with amazing depth and sophistication. He's an academic but he writes like a journalist, and you'll be amazed at all the fascinating tidbits he comes up with. Plus the book is beautifully produced with dozens of photos from the film to illustrate (literally) the points he's making. Just a great read.

A few years ago, I wrote a series of blog posts about my favorite love songs. I planned to follow it up with a companion piece about my least favorite ones, but quickly abandoned the project because there was no way I could ever narrow down the list sufficiently. There were just too many horrible love songs out there - or so I thought. Tom Reynolds apparently had the opposite problem. In the introduction to this book, he says he asked his friends for suggestions for the creepiest love songs of all time, but everybody he asked named the same song. I won't spoil the surprise, but it's probably one of the first songs you thought of upon reading the title. And he's right, it is creepy. So are most of his other nominees, many of which I'd never heard of until now. Which was a good thing!

One reason why this book works as well as it does is that, while the title had me expecting really bad love songs - and there are some - Reynolds also chooses some he freely admits to liking, but which are nevertheless creepy. As with his last volume, on depressing songs, his commentary never fails to be hilarious no matter how awful the subject at hand is. And sometimes it is pretty awful.

One minor shortcoming is that Reynolds' selection of songs to bash is a bit less convincing than it was with the depressing songs book. In my opinion, he chose a few too many teen pop hits from the past five years or so which nobody over the age of 18 is very likely to be familiar with. His analysis of them is just as funny as it is with the better-known ones, but there's something especially entertaining about seeing so-bad-they're-good classics like "Afternoon Delight" and "I've Never Been to Me" ripped to shreds. It just isn't the same with a song I don't know. His explanations as to why a song is creepy aren't always convincing either. (Jennifer Lopez' "Jenny from the Block" is probably the most narcissistic song ever written, but that doesn't make it creepy.) Finally, I can't resist pointing out that Reynolds missed one very easy target: his assessment of "To Know Him is to Love Him" - written by the indisputably creepy Phil Spector - makes a good case against the song, but fails to mention that the innocent-sounding paean to unrequited puppy love was inspired by the inscription on Spector's father's grave. How much creepier could you get?

But for all that, it's an engaging and very, very funny read. Anybody who actually listens to lyrics, and has been exasperated with friends who don't, will love it.

With the huge success of Reynold's first dissection of modern music's bad lyrics I HATE MYSELF AND WANT TO DIE: THE 52 MOST DEPRESSING SONGS YOU'VE EVER HEARD there was bound to be an encore and this fascinating read doesn't disappoint. In Touch Me, I'm Sick Reynolds tackles those songs about love, but not the mutually consenting romantic love, no these songs are about obsessive stalking, sleeping with kids, sleeping with parents, pleasuring yourself, jilted lovers, bad break ups as well as basically anything else that you'd be serving serious jail time or even get the chair if the lyrics were real.

The amazing thing is many of these songs are highly popular and requested to be played and set the mood at inappropriate places like wedding receptions and graduations. Which means those who request these songs for these occasions are either sick in the head or have never actually listened to the lyrics and do not know what they are actually about.

Most of these songs spent time in the top ten of the UK or US charts (Reynolds tells you at the start of the dissection of each song) and there's also a few you may not have heard of. Even with the ones you've never heard of Reynolds gives a detailed account of what the song is about then tells the reader why it is creepy. For those of us who were not around in the 70's or earlier when some of these songs were hits you'll also learn interesting facts such as I never knew Michael Jackson's Ben was being sung to an injured human flesh eating rat.

Tom Reynolds certainly is a very funny writer, you'll be laughing out loud at many an observation such as on Paula Cole (p145 if you've got this with you) "She doesn't just have issues, she has lifetime subscriptions". On You're Beautiful by James Blunt (p69) being one of the most requested songs at weddings "makes absolutely no sense because it's about a guy who's too stoned to approach a girl he saw for a few seconds on a subway platform and so he just repeats over and over again how beautiful she is but won't ever see her again" On you're body is a Wonderland by John Mayer "he reassures her that he'll never let her head hit the bed without my hand behind it. I'm completely at a loss as to what this means other than the girl is a pillow chasing nut who likes to ram her skull into the headboard" (p92). These are just three examples of the gems of dissection you'll find in here. His dissection of the life of Kevin Federline is also a must read.

The whole book is actually a must read for any fan of music especially the lyrics. Artists who appear inside include Air Supply, Kylie Minogue, The Offspring, The Beatles (and Reynolds recount of a chat room conversation with a Lennon fan nut who blames every bad Beatles thing on Paul is hilarious), The Police, Pearl Jam, Jennifer Lopez, George Michael, Divinyls, Fergie, Christina Aguilera, Sarah McLaughlan, Alanis Morissette, Sinead O'Connor, Eminem, Jewel, Radiohead, Melissa Etheridge and Motley Crue.

Can't wait for the next dissecting music book by Reynolds, if it's even half as good as the first two I won't be disappointed.

This is a very funny book. Even if the songs are obscure, the stories can stand up on their own. It will stimulate debate among boomers about woeful contributions over the years. Sorry.... But hands down winner has to be "Havin' My Baby". I dare you to deny it!!

Hillarious, snarky jabs at 52 creepy songs. This includes the weird, the annoying and the icky. People familiar with popular music (from the 1970s forward) will appreciate it the most. There's a certian vindication in discovering a song you've long considered stupid/eerie/scary has made the cut. Includes some obscure but too-weird-to-ignore numbers too.

I was looking for a good read on tropical medicine but also lightweight and easy to pack and carry around. There really were not much options out there that I could find. This one and the oxford handbook on tropical medicine fit what I was looking for. Both were good, but the Lecture Notes I found slightly more useful, easier to find information and a bit more clinical detail. Very wide range of topics listed both by presenting syndrome and by each etiology separately.

This small-to-medium sized text is perfect for folks who need a quick and pertinent Tropical Medicine reference. I have found that it nicely complements the Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine (OHTM). OHTM is smaller, yet touches on a broader array of disease. Lecture Notes on Tropical Medicine gives more depth, with emphasis on diseases unique to the tropics. Both are excellent and highly recommended.

This book is very useful in my practice as a general practitioner and Travel Medicine Specialist. It gives brief but concise up to date information about Tropical Diseases. I still use other refernces in addition for up to date information about diagnosis and treatment, but find this book as a good quick 'first stop'. The photographs, though interesting, are few and not particularly relevant for my practice in New Zealand.It is the course textbook for the Travel Medicine paper through Otago University.Good value for money.

I have used every edition of this book since the first one came out as a single author edition by Dr Dion Bell. The book has only improved as the years went on. This book is not encyclopedic but has the information most needed when dealing with diseases of the tropics and developing world. Even if you have a larger more encyclopedic text you should have this one. This book is ideal for the physician or other practitioner going to the tropics for the first time and who may not have the time for more exhaustive study. Of all the medical texts I have used over the year this is one of the best!

J'ai ete ebloui par la lecture de l'Eloge des femmes mures, mqis le recueil d'essais de Vizinczey m'a emerveille davantage. J'y ai trouve une definition de la litterature des plus judicieuses. "Il y a fondamentalement deux sortes de litterature. L'une vous aide a comprendre, l'autre vous aide a oublier; la premiere vous aide a devenir une personne et un citoyen libre, l'autre aide les gens a vous manipuler. L'une s'apparente a l'astronomie, l'autre a l'astrologie." Quelqu'un l'avait-il jamais mieux exprimé? La critique brillante et sauvage de nos coqueluches litteraires m'a fait bien rire. L'auteur sait evoquer la joie unique que l'on ressent a la lecture d'un bon livre. C'est difficile de croire aue l'auteur est etranger. Je n'avais pas lu Stendhal depuis le lycee et l'essai de Vizinczey m'a fait realise combien j'avais manqué! J'ai recommence la lecture de le Rouge et le Noir et c'est bien plus drole que cela ne l'etait a 16 ans.

Vizinczey's passionate essays remind us of why we read literature. His articulate enthusiasm for great writers will inspire and invigorate you- and it will also surely make you seek out the best in literature (which, of course, includes Vizinczey's own two novels)

Vizinczey shares his views on a variety of topics from the works of fellow writers to ills of society, to rules for living for young writers. His essays and books(In Praise of older Women, An Innocent Millionaire) have always captivated me because of his riveting views and open criticism of human shortcomings. A refreshing quality is his strong commitments in an increasingly non-committal society where everything is slowly turning grey, and where most questions are responded to with the phrase: "It depends..." His style is powerful with masterfully wowen sentences that hold the readers attention from the first word to the last letter. The essay "A Writers Ten Commandments" is definetely a keeper. It offers rules of living to budding writers that can be applied in a much broader sense to life in general. If you want to read a good book, be entertained, amused,learn a little and mostly make some sense from this rapidly moving and changing "human scene" of ours, than Truth and Lies... is a must read.

We hear nowadays numerous comments on the fate of reading in our schools and universities. The ubiquity of digital technology, the lack of silence, concentration, and solitude, and the substitution of books by videos and compact disks are considered by some critics as the main reasons for the gradual decline in the habit of reading.

In addition, the various programs of study often fail to awaken in the students a genuine and lasting interest in serious texts. Notwithstanding the claims of some academics, it is not the pedantic literary scholarship that makes them turn to the great novels. They come to appreciate masterpieces thanks to the repeated invitations delivered to them in lively lectures and absorbing essays. Students need enthusiastic and intelligent teachers and writers who are able to show that novels, plays and poems are sources of inspiration and wisdom and, above all, contain answers to their most disquieting questions.

Stephen Vizinczey is one of these writers. His Truth and Lies in Literature is not only a collection of beautifully written essays and incisive reviews but also a strong contender for the best introduction to literature that I have ever read. I would recommend this book to all my students. I am convinced that it would stimulate many of them to become passionate readers, ones who would "grab" (Vizinczey's verb) any classic that they could lay their hands on.

Leslie Pennington

"The marriage -- if you will -- between television and the wedding ceremony has been a long and happy union," the press material for this book begins. Published in June 1999 by HarperCollins' fairly prolific TVBooks imprint, this fun guide holds its biggest value in its black-and-white photos -- there are a lot of them. Most of them are full-page shots. The book is arranged by decade and delves into the more-political motivations for some of the TV weddings it highlights: ratings gimmick, narrative device, show revival, new plot direction, etc. An airdate is given for each wedding, as well as a thorough "back story."

After reading this book, I was reminded how happy I am to be one the countless thousands whose parents let them watch more TV than was good for them.

TV Weddings is a hilarious look back at the tv weddings of the past few decades; I really enjoyed it. I have given the book to many of my popular culture obsessed family & friends. It's a great gift & a great read.

This book reviews the many weddings that have occured between main characters on all of your favorite TV shows. The author does an excellent job of recreating the episodes and the fun of the TV weddings. It's a great look back at some TV classics, bringing up a ton of memories (I had forgotten how funny 99's wedding headdress was!).