I Books

You can find this book in an updated version in Amazon with the same title. If you are seeing this review in November or December 2007, you might even get a great discount from Amazon while it is in presell--32% off the list price and then another 5% before it is in print! Although the price went to full price after Thanksgiving keep watching as it may go on special again. If you put the book in your shopping cart and the price goes down it will automatically be reflected!

The new edition is at the printer right now.


The new book has the same content, but it's got an updated cover and the inside is easier on the eye to make it a more comfortable read.


So, mosey on over and have a look. You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way Be sure to keep in touch with me and let me know how you like the book, how it's helped you, and what else you'd like me to write about. You're invited to check out my blog at AuntLaya dot blogspot dot com for more from me.

With love and blessing,
Aunt Laya

Author of the best loved self help book for young adults, "You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way"

I'm not done reading this book, but so far, I'm elated that I purchased it. The book is very simple to read and Aunt Laya provides many of her personal life stories which is always delightful. I would highly recommend this book to any teenager, and also adults as the book offers heartwarming inspirations. You have nothing to lose and alot to gain from reading this book. You cannot go wrong with purchasing this book..at all! She doesn't say anything harmful, uncomforting nor dangerous for the human spirit. The price is reasonable for such a book. I suggest reading this book before bed, or after a relaxing shower. Your mind should be very relaxed, if not, you may have to read something twice! Enjoy ;-)

Aunt Laya Saul is a wise, witty and wonderful person who genuinely cares about helping her readers become independent adults . . . who become that way by minimizing the mistakes they make.

Will young adults listen to anyone other than other young adults? In some cases, they will. The same advice that will be rejected from a parent (as part of young adult rebellion) may be very welcome coming from someone a little more emotionally removed. Aunt Laya Saul tries to play that role and does a solid job.

You will find bits and pieces of the Bible and the best self-help books in You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way. For that tiny minority of young adults who have figured out that they would like to learn by ways other than falling down, this book can save years of reading by distilling so many other sources into bite-sized pieces. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." That's the philosophy behind this book.

How about for young adults who need good advice but don't realize that someone else's experience can be a good teacher? The only hope there is for a young friend to recommend this book . . . or better yet, give it as a gift for a birthday or other non-threatening occasion.

The best way to introduce a young adult to this book who isn't looking for self-help is to read a story or a brief section to them aloud. I suggest starting with an intriguing part that isn't too personal . . . like the butterfly story on page one or Sam's Sandwiches on page 46. Then hand the book over and say something like, "There are a lot of other good stories in here too."

Then, in the secret recesses of the young adult bedroom, the delicate, but fascinating, material on sexual relations, making and keeping friends, suicide, drugs and alcohol abuse, and finding a soul mate can be explored in peace and quiet.

As I read the book, I tried to remember myself at around age 16 with the questions I had then. It never occurred to me to look for a book to get answers, but if it had, Aunt Laya Saul would have been an excellent source. And I would have avoided some major bumps in the road if I had learned these things through a book rather than by bumping my head on the road of life.

I commend the author for creating such a well-intentioned book that delivers on its premise . . . and I hope the book sells well for her.

The book's main limitation is that it doesn't have contemporary material that connects to the young adult world. If Ms. Saul ever redoes this book, I suggest that she co-author it with a young adult.

As I read the book, I kept comparing it to Life Strategies for Teens which was written by Jay McGraw (Dr. Phil's son) in 2000. No one knows how to talk to a young adult like another young adult.

Aunt Laya Saul's "You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way" is an inspirational and motivational book for young adults. As parents of teens undoubtedly know, adolescence is a tough time for everyone. Teenagers often feel uncomfortable as their hormones rage and their bodies change. They worry about their popularity and they feel pressured by the need to grow up too fast. In some cases, adolescents are frightened, depressed, lonely, and totally stressed out.

Laya, who has a master's degree in applied psychology, imparts words of wisdom that come from her professional expertise, personal experience, and from famous people whom she quotes liberally throughout the book. In easy-to-read language and with many pertinent and entertaining stories and anecdotes, Laya covers a lot of ground. She discusses such topics as developing a positive attitude, handling difficult challenges, establishing healthful and long-lasting relationships, and adjusting to the inevitable changes that life brings.

Laya doesn't shy away from the tough issues of suicide, sexuality, and drugs. She counsels teens to think hard before they give in to peer pressure and to choose their friends wisely. She lets teens know that it is not a sign of weakness to seek help from parents, teachers, and spiritual advisors. The world is a tough place and it is not easy to grow up these days. Laya's book can be a useful tool to ease the difficult journey from adolescence to adulthood.

When I was growing up, I can honestly say that I don't remember ever hearing about "self-help" books for teens. If they were out there, I simply never heard about them, and no one ever pointed me in their direction. Maybe if I had gotten my hands on a book as well-written as YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEARN EVERYTHING THE HARD WAY, I would have had a better guideline to base my choices on. Thankfully, this book is available now, and it's a resource that every teen and pre-teen should read. Aunt Laya Saul is never preachy, she doesn't tell you what's right and wrong, she never says you can't make mistakes. Actually, the author is very adamant about that fact that each young adult should make their own decisions, and that you can learn from your mistakes. But as she also points out, there is still something to be learned from the mistakes that have already been made by others. Just as you know that jumping off the Empire State Building would be a bad idea (as shown by those who have tried it), you can realize that doing certain things will only bring you harm by seeing the results they've already had in other people's lives.

The book is laid out in four main categories, with many sub-categories in each one. They are:

Attitude, which includes Believe In Yourself, Everybody Has Something, Trust Your Intuition, Defining Boundaries, Don't Panic, The One Percent Adjustment, What Do You Expect?, It's Your Choice, and Accountability.

Challenges, which includes Failure-Missing The Mark, Handling Regret, Trusting The Hard Times, Pain And Suffering, Alcohol And Drug Abuse: Self-Medication, Sexual Abuse, Suicide, and You Are Never Alone.

You And The World, which includes Reflections On Relationships, Family, Friendship, Communication, Gossip, Be Nice, Feedback, and What You Really Need To Know About Sex.

Gaining Altitude, which includes Because You Are Noble And You Can, Forgiveness, Lend A Hand, You've Got To Stand For Something, Live Your Dreams, Changes, and The Gift of Time.

There is also an introductory letter from the author, a final word, a section on recommended reads and a bibliography, acknowledgments, how to contact the author, and an author biography.

This is a great book that you can give to the teen or pre-teen in your life. Or if you're a young adult looking for a handbook to get through the tough times of adolescence, pick up a copy of YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEARN EVERYTHING THE HARD WAY. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

David Homsher's book made me want to explore the AEF's battlegrounds around Chateau-Thierry. He has created a very tidy scrapbook of personal accounts and period photographs that provide snapshots of the doughboy's world. His organization is geographically shrewd: he begins at the Paris airport, and identifies AEF and Great War landmarks as a traveler would encounter them along the route to Chateau-Thierry. Through an eclectic treasure of first-hand accounts, you see the towns and fields as the doughboys and leathernecks did in 1918. The progession of accounts builds a sense of impending drama, recreating the essence of the unfolding crisis of the Chateau-Thierry fighting. The book culminates in a highly detailed description of a small but significant engagement between the 7th Machine Gun Battalion and the German attackers in and around Chateau-Thierry. For serious historians of the AEF, Mr Homsher's guidebook neatly complements the crusty but important military histories of the these battles. To get the most from Mr Homsher's book, plop down in a French cafe the evening before you visit the battlefield and let the wine & words bring you back to 1918.

Subtitled: Chateau Thierry--Then & Now

It is unfortunate that many of us fail to remember the efforts put forward by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in bring the Great War of Civilization, better known as World War I, to a close.

Without much doubt, France and Britain were on their last legs. Germany had what proved to be better tactics and a slightly stronger will to see the conflict thru to the end.

It wasn't until General John "Blackjack" Pershing and the men of the AEF landed in France in 1918, and finally made their way to the front, that the conflict slowly began to swing in the allies favor.

Chateau Thierry was what could be considered the linchpin of the Germ salient that was moving inexorably toward Paris and the ultimate capitulation of the French Army.

Davis Homsher has produced a welcome addition into the current library of non-fiction accounts of what took place in and around Chateau Thierry and how the AEF was able to move into the line. With fresh troops and fresh momentum, the allies pushed the German lines back to not only the spring front lines of 1918, but ultimately handed them such a thorough thrashing as to make the cessation of hostilities a reality.

This book is replete with maps, photographs and personal account from the men that were there. American Battlefields of WWI Chateau Thierry--Then & Now is what I hope is the first volume in what should be many and a necessary addition to any Great War Library.

Armchair Interviews says: This book will prove to be a wondrous testament to the men and woman that saved the world from the first German aggression of the past century.

This is a book about fighting men, infantry men whose world was often limited to the view from a hole in the ground, told in their own words.
This is the story, told by those who were there, of the men of the American Expeditionary Force of 1917-1918.
It is the clear and engrossing story of the first battle in America's first European War. It is also an illustration in prose and pictures of life as it was then; a world that is long gone both for the French and the "Sammies".
The "then and now" photos are useful and interesting, as are the town and street maps. Altogether, this a book that will be very useful in exploring the battlefield of Chateau Thierry. It will tell present-day Americans very clearly what Grandfather did in France nearly 100 years ago.

Christina Holstein, author and battlefield guide.

Reviewed by Joe Graham for Reader Views (8/06)

David Homsher has created a guide book for the American battlefields of World War I around the village of Chateau-Thierry. The book is a remarkable accomplishment and it operates on several levels.

First, if the reader is interesting in actually visiting the battlefield sites, Homsher gives the reader detailed instructions on how to reach each location up to how to find the location, where to park, and what precautions to take and what to do once the reader is on the site. And his directions start with the arrival at Charles De Gaulle airport and how to get out of the airport and onto the correct road.

Secondly, if the reader is an armchair traveler, they can enjoy the written text along with a wonderful collection of photographs of the area with pictures of the same buildings or locations before and after the war. The photographic collection also contains many pictures of the German and Allied forces, French refugees and other pictures taken during the war. Homsher also includes maps so the reader can accurately pinpoint the locations of the area in France.

Finally, Homsher has included first hand accounts from the participants in the war. The accounts range from descriptions of field hospitals and battle formations to diaries of the combatants. This material lifts the book above just the casual guidebook. Reading first hand accounts of an event brings an immediacy to the reader that can not be achieved any other way.

A good example is this quote from Pvt. Leo J. Bailey, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, who wrote in his diary:
"Eighteen hours of marching hip to hip with a seventy-two pound pack, dry
throated in a cloud of dust, had wearied them. Most men lay in full equipment on the cobbles and slept, but some scroungers with keener nose smelled brandy."

This book should appeal to a wide range of readers. Scholars and teachers will appreciate the first person accounts that give a more complete picture of the action than is typically given in the dry accounts of battles that relate who attacked who, and with what results.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the battles of World War I. The book is in a coffee table book format that the reader can pick up and refer to easily. This is a wonderful book because Homsher gives you an actual guidebook to the area, then pictures and maps of the area both before and after the war and then finally the first hand accounts that bring the action of the war to life through the words of the participants.

I want to express my feelings about this book. It has been many years since I read a book so compelling. I took it from the mailbox a little after noon yesterday and save for the time I took to eat dinner, read straight through till 12:30 am, then finished it the next day.
I don't anticipate that I will ever travel to France, but David Homsher's book makes it seem that I have been there already. It has been really an emotional experience - running the gamut from humor, to sorrow to anger and to bursting with pride at the actions of the American troops there. The many descriptions put forth by various people "in their own words" results in a more thorough understanding than could ever be given by just a straight narrative from any single author. I also found so many little "nuggets" of information in Homsher's book that I was unaware of before. By the time I finished the book, I felt that I not only had a thorough picture in my mind of exactly what took place, but that I understood it well enough to explain it to others in detail. I congratulate David on doing such a fine job and highly recommend his book. As a former schoolteacher, I wish it could be a part of the education of every American so that they could truly appreciate what was done by this country in World War I.

Artifacts is well written. The setting is interesting and vividly described. The main characters are quirky and multi-dimensional and represent the kind of people that I would like to know. The author apparently knows about the field of archaeology and knows how to weave this knowledge into a good mystery. Based on this book, I bought the second in the series and enjoyed it, too.

A rivoting mystery about a strong female lead character with a problem: money. The story keeps you turning pages and leaves you satisfied while avoiding caricatures. Yes, Faye is a loner, but what detective worth his or her salt isn't? She's a scofflaw with morals, and her supporting cast is finely and sympathetically drawn.

Evans weaves in a multi-generational plantation history of Faye's home, Joyeuse Isle (cleverly named from a Debussy composition), perched on the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast of Florida.

Satisifying to feminists, history buffs, those with an interest in archeology and meteorology, and just plain old mystery lovers.

The author's background as a scientist, musician, and mom help her create a believable and well developed world full of characters to care about. Fans of Sue Grafton, PD James, and Sara Paretsky will enjoy this book.

I can hardly wait to read Relics, Faye's next adventure.

Artifacts is one of those books that isn't written, it is crafted. It is Evans' first book and it is packed with descriptive detail, multiple plot lines, and interesting characters with lots of back story. This book is a page-turner as the reader gets sucked into Faye Longchamp's struggle to save her historic home, solve the murders of two co-workers, solve the mystery of the disappearing skeleton and... but I don't want to ruin it for you.

Faye is a fascinating character. She has a background in archaeology and knows that the illegal artifact hunting she is doing to generate cash and keep her historic home in the family is wrong, but she is desperate. She is without family and doesn't have much of a support group or a safety net, but she has a goal and she is determined. Evans has given us so much detail about Faye and her situation that the reader has a great deal of empathy for her and her plight. As events unfold, Faye has to make some hard decisions. Evans clearly plotted this book carefully and keeps Faye's choices true to her character - she doesn't take the easy way out and leads the reader down paths that are sometimes unexpected but feel right.

This book is a delight to read. It is a wonderful blend of the past and present and, along the way, you learn a little bit about archaeology, flint-knapping, historic homes, slavery, and the illegal trade in artifacts. This is the kind of book you recommend to everyone you know - and anxiously await the author's next book.

Favorite character? That is a hard one. Joe, Liz, and Magda are all friends of Faye, are great characters, and are all given great moments in which to shine. I think it has to be a three-way tie. Did I guess it? Yes - but that didn't detract from the book one bit. Will I read another? Just as soon as it comes out!

[...]

Archaeology student Faye Longchamp is struggling to keep her ancestrail home of Joyeuse on Florida's northern gulf coast by illegally digging up artifacts on federal lands and selling them on the black market. However, one day she unearths a human skull and it doesn't look like it's been in the ground for a couple hundred years, more like only three or four decades, so it's not fresh, but not an artifact either, and judging by the head wound, this woman met a violent end. She decides to try and find out who the dead woman was on her own, as she can hardly go to the police and confess that she'd found the skull by illegally pot-hunting.

Then the next day two students on a legitimate dig she'd been working on wind up missing, then their bodies are found in shallow graves and she has to wonder if their deaths are tied in with her own dead person. And, of course, there is a very bad guy out there who wants to keep this all quiet, so Faye is in a spot of trouble.

ARTIFACTS won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in Mystery and it is easy to see why. This is a story that will keep any mystery buff glued to his chair till the reading is finished. A darned good debut, one you won't be able to put down, that what this book is.

As an archeology-phile, I was predisposed to like this first mystery by Mary Anna Evans. But there is so much more there than just archeology and mystery. Her characters are decidedly physical and real, the disparate elements of her plot, with the helping hand of Fate, dovetail perfectly to keep you reading until all the loose ends have been woven into place.

Faye Longchamp is a tough, smart, gutsy heroine who still savors her few chances to be feminine. Joe Wolf Mantooth, the simple-hearted Indian who shares her home, is a complex, realistic hero. It takes all the wit and strength that either of them has to get through what life throws in their way.

When the book opens, Faye has discovered the remains of a murdered woman while doing some illegal "pothunting" on Federal lands. She can't rest knowing the woman is alone and unavenged, but how can she report her discovery without sending herself to jail? By researching the "case" on her own, until she thinks she has the solution.

But almost immediately, two students working on a legitimate excavation with Faye are shot to death and buried in shallow graves. Does it have anything to do with Faye's find? While she works to make enough money selling black market artifacts to keep up the property taxes on her ancestral home, Joyeuse, she is dogged by the spectre of a man who has killed before, by the large-scale artifact thieves operating just a short distance from her, and by the outside world which has only suspicion for people who live without need of society or technology.

"Artifacts" is a smashing story, blending excerpts from the journal of several generations of former owners of Joyeuse with the contemporary occurrences which Evans weaves into a perfect, but never simple, tapestry of a story.

I like this book, certainly what I have read of it. I'm now digging around near page 75, and it struck me that for the first time I really "get it" - In particular, this was about the use of the Legendre transform. The authors start with a very gentle introduction of it, and then, while things become more abstract, the text never jumps too far and never leaves the reader too much in puzzling. It's ought to be studied though, and it's not "easy".

This book is a "must have" for those wanting to study topics in functional analysis.

Ok, not everyone needs to (or wants to) know calculus of variations. But if you are among the ones who, this is a great book to get started with (assuming you are in grad school and have a decent handle on calculus and some basis in dealing with differential equations). The text is clear and concise, and the financial investment is minimal. A good buy!

As a physicist I want to find a book to refresh my memory on theoretical mechanics. I came across this one, and after reading its first 4 chapters in continuation, I kow I don't need any other book. What a treat! Written by a past master, the book costs you next to nothing; yet as it's written by sure hand, it hasn't slightest pretention, just plain and insightful, natural and smoth flow, leads you almost effortlessly fowward. Even though I learned the subject before, I don't know of or even imagine a better exposition. Wow, I started to love Russian mathematicians.

This is a classic text and I would recommend it to graduate students and mathematicians who need a review of the subject. Great for us physicists as well.

As a teacher for boys and girls in juvenile reform centers, Mr. Preston has brought to print what more than 60 percent of my kids have suffered. This book is great for high school students and all teachers should take the time to read it and place it in their school libraries.
"Sometimes good people do bad things. A t some point , and to different degrees, we all succumb to our environment" (Frederick Preston)

This is an excellent first novel from Mr. Preston. He tells the story of January Calhoun and how circumstances in life can cause an intelligent young man to make the wrong decisions for his life. I enjoyed the characters and how we were able to see how they became the people they are. This is a good book for high schoolers to read. For adults it lets us know how important parents can be in guiding their children. My book club SILK (Sisters Increasing Literary Knowledge) really enjoyed this book and are looking forward to a movie based on it and a hopefully a sequel later.

When I finished this book, I felt like I just left the movie theatre. It was very exciting to read and it keep me wanting more and more. Great piece of work and hope hear more from James Preston.

My book club, "Spirit III", based out of Atlanta, Ga really enjoyed reading this novel. The antisipation of January's next move allowed the book to be an easy read. Once you get started, it's hard to put down. The author is very intelligent and has a keen sense of writing. We had the pleasure of having Frederick J.Preston, at one of our meetings. The are so many young men in the world that are striving to do the right thing, but sometimes this is a hard task for them without proper guidance. Mr. Preston, "broke it down"... Do AS I SAY NOT AS I DO. Read the novel and you'll understand just what point the author is making. I'd also recommend this novel to "rising" 9th grade young men.

this book has a LOT of messages for people of all races, ages, and backgrounds...I urge everyone to pick up this book and read it, more than once...!

If you haven't read Regeneration, you are making a big mistake if you read The Eye in the Door before Regeneration. Regeneration sets the stage for The Eye in the Door and provides much background information that you need to appreciate this book.

Those who liked the first book in the Regeneration trilogy, Regeneration, will absolutely adore The Eye in the Door. The characters from Regeneration return, and you have a chance to find out the consequences of the treatments they received from Dr. William Rivers in Regeneration. Pat Barker builds on the tensions, damage, doubts, and despair of mid-World War I to show how much more desperate matters were for the British by the spring of 1918.

In developing these themes, Pat Barker does a masterful job of explaining how a soldier has to operate both by emotion and by objective distance in order to function. From there, she helps us use the crucible of war to see how that duality is important to everyday functioning for all people.

As the title indicates, the book builds on a central metaphor of everyone being under observation as doubts build about Britain's ability to win the war. Those on the margins are most under pressure and at greatest risk.

I thought that the portrayal of Lieutenant Billy Prior was brilliant. He comes across as the kind of complex, interesting character that can help us learn a lot about Ms. Barker's messages for us. The eye metaphor is nicely developed in the context of Billy's life.

Brava, Ms. Barker!

THE EYE IN THE DOOR is the second installment in Pat Barker's marvelous Regeneration trilogy. In this volume the principle characters of Dr. Rivers and Prior have left Criaglockhart War Hospital and are now living in London. Although Dr. Rivers has taken a new position treating shell-shock soldiers who have returned from the front in France, he continues to keep in touch and treat his former patients from Criaglockhart, especially Prior. Amidst the bombing and blackouts of wartime London, Prior continues to suffer from war neurosis as he embarks on solving a mystery that involves his childhood friends and acquaintances. He is confronted by England's societal fixation with fear and scapegoating of those who are believed to deter from the war effort (mainly war deserters and homosexuals). Individuals are often forced to hide their true attributes from society during this time of societal finger pointing and blaming. As in the previous volume of this trilogy, the characters of Prior and Dr. Rivers are well developed and nuanced. I continually enjoy reading about their trials and tribulations, and look forward to reading the third and final volume in this trilogy.

THE EYE IN THE DOOR (spoilers)

Ms Barker's epigraph, a quote from Stevenson, sets the tone: "It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man. I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both."

I am hampered in critiquing the trilogy, since I've read only the first two works, REGENERATION and THE EYE IN THE DOOR. The first of these concentrates on the relation between the enlightened, humane Dr Rivers and the war hero/war protester Siegfried Sassoon, who has been labeled a war neurotic ("shell-shocked") in order to avoid confronting his rational case against the war. Both Rivers and Sassoon are historical characters who the author effectively fictionalizes (their dialogues, etc).

The second novel focuses on the relation between Rivers and Billy Prior, a relatively minor character in the first. The book is set on a wider stage than REGENERATION, which was confined to the (real) mental hospital of Craiglockhart in Scotland. Here we are in London, during the crisis produced by the initial success of the Germans' spring offensive in 1918. As happens during defeats, the search is on for scapegoats seen as undermining the war effort, groups like pacifists and ... who are seen as destroying the nation's "moral fiber." Ludicrously, the leading anti-... crusader, lays the blame on the Germans, who are said to have sent homosexual agents over before the war to corrupt English youth.

Billy Prior, on medical leave from the front, works for a counter-intelligence agency, but his loyalties are divided, since his earliest friends are pacifists and "conchies" (conscientious objectors). The result of these divided loyalties is a split consciousness, where the fugue state ("Hyde") takes over at times, doing things that the "daytime" Billy is not aware of, but whose consequences nevertheless he must face. It is this split consciousness that Rivers must deal with-and on one occasion, he deals directly with "Hyde," who speaks of Billy in the third person.

At the crisis of the novel, Billy's alter ego betrays his closest friend, something that the daytime Billy at first denies doing, but which he finally comes to suspect he has actually done. Rivers treats the psychological phenomenon by making Billy see that it is basically Oedipal, that he actually wished to kill his father, who had, in Billy's sight and hearing, beat and abused his mother. One manifestation of this hatred is "Hyde's": punching the agent provocateur Spragge, who looks like Billy's father. To complicate the issue, his father is a socialist/pacifist, a fact which may contribute to Billy's ambivalent attitude to his pacifist friends, one of whom he helps, as he betrays the other.

Sassoon make another appearance here, having gone back to France (partly at Rivers' suggestion), and once again been wounded (by friendly fire). But Sassoon's appearance doesn't seem to contribute to the plot of this novel, tho it may have a role to play in the trilogy as a whole. (Maybe his divided consciousness is relevant, since he was very effective at killing Germans, but at home becomes a "dove") Another seemingly extraneous thread is Manning, one of Billy's sex partners.

But basically a rich novel, recalling a key point in Western history. In many ways, WWI was more traumatic than WWII, since it occurred after almost a century or relative peace in Europe. And, as Barker makes clear, WWI was harder on soldiers than was WWII.

Trivia: Why were French troops show on the covers of the paper editions of the first two novels? They play no role in the novels themselves (tho they played the major role on the Western Front).

People existing against a war background-normal people doing normal things whilst shouldering the burden of their experiences, their fears and societies norms and expectations.

A lovely book that always has the lightest of touches in the darkest of moments. Nothing is simple and nothing is complicated, but everything is ambiguous and dwarfed by "the front" and what is expected.

The writing is always simple, but the ideas, concepts and dilemmas dealt with are complex and impossible to resolve. Class and duty are themes; the most interesting theme in my opinion is that of being a pacifist, a father figure to your men and a violent war hero simultaneously. (By the nature of things, war heroes are violent.)

My one regret is that I have only just realised that this book is part of a trilogy and that I have read it out of sequence... although on the positive side it means I have two more books to explore. I would strongly recommend this book; I have just gone and bought one of Sassoon's books as a direct result of it awakening school hood poems by him and Wilfred Owens.

After reading "Regeneration", the second novel of the trilogy "Eye in the Door" expands in terms of characterization and plot complexity. Whereas Regeneration is superb in its exploration of the consciousness of Siegfreid Sassoon and his psychiatrist, Dr. River; Eye in the Door expands the character of Billy Prior to become one of the most psychologically well developed and complex characters in English fiction.

Billy Prior , a bisexual, has both male and female lovers in this novel. These relationships are embedded in the homophobic atmosphere of war torn London. Prior, suffering from "shell shock" struggles with his identify of war hero and pacifism. He struggles with childhood trauma in a society where repressesions are let lose in a war charged atmospher.

The book is beautifully written. Whereas Regeneration explores Sassoon's struggles to brng meaning into a meaningless situation, Eye in the Door explores more of the societal struggles with the war and individual reactions to the pressures of a war time society.

I loved this book and would give it 10 stars if I could.

This book is an excellent introduction to the world of classical physics for NON-PHYSICISTS. While some physicists will no doubt find it accessible, there is considerable reduction of physical concepts in order to get to the heart of the ideas underlying the formalism. Also, the material goes beyond what most physicists (non-theoreticians) will find practical.

He focuses largely on a geometric presentation, in the language of differential geometry, symplectic geometry, differential forms, Riemannian manifolds and includes a large amount of algebraic necessities. This is not a cookbook for learning how to solve classical mechanics, nor is it a math book per se, but it is a wonderful collection of introductions to a vast amount of useful mathematical formalism that permeates the physical literature. I would strongly recommend it to someone needing a thorough supplementary mechanics text, one that relies on very little physical insight and focuses on the geometric and algebraic structures underlying them.

The chapters are very well self-contained for the most part so you can skip to topics you find more appealing without feeling lost. Also, his presentation style is very clever, in case you're a fan of quick thinking and novel presentations (who isn't?).

The prerequisites are familiarity with somewhat advanced calculus and "mathematical maturity". Basic knowledge of group theory would also make it an easier read.

Extremely stimulating, uses Galileo to motivate Newton's laws instead of postulating them. Treatment of Bertrand's theorem is beautiful, but contains one error (took me 2 years before I realized where..). However, I know of only one physicist who successully worked out all the missing steps and taught from this book. I know mathematicians who have cursed it. I used/use it for inspiration. The treatment of Liouville's integrability theorem, I found too abstract, found the old version in Whittaker's Analytical Dynamics to be clearer (Arnol'd might laugh sarcastically at this claim!)--for an interesting variation, but more from the standpoint of continuous groups, see the treatment in ch. 16 of my Classical Mechanics (Cambridge, 1997). In my text I do not restrict the discussion of integrability/nonintegrability to Hamiltonian systems but include driven dissipative systems as well. Another strength of Arnol'd: his discussion of caustics, useful for the study of galaxy formation (as I later learned while doing work in cosmology). Also, I learned from Arnol'd that Poisson brackets are not restricted to canonical systems (see also my ch. 15). I guess that every researcher in nonlinear dynamics should study Arnol'd's books, he's the 'alte Hasse' in the field.

The book is full of little enjoyable details (jewels). Arnold is one of the few mathematicians which approaches problems with a very geometric point of view. In his interview with S.H. Lui he mentions how algebraic picture has dominated the research in mathematics and how he has tried to counter that. One can see the trace of his ingenuity all over this book. What some may call as handwaving in math circles is indeed called as physical (or geometric) intuition in physics community and is being actively encouraged.

The chapters on oscillations (chap. 5) and perturbation theory (chap. 10) are very instructive. For example, parametric resonance is discussed concisely in chapter 5 which you won't be able to find it anywhere else. where can you learn about "Arnold's tongues" better than in Arnold's book?

There are so many appendices at the end of the book. They are often very specialized and I don't recommend you to read them on your first read.

In conclusion, I recommend this book to any physics graduate student. In fact, I hope one day it will be used as a text book for courses in classical mechanics.

I have to admit that I haven't thoroughly read through this text. But judging from the first 10 pages, there is a lot of mathematical handwaving. In contrast, foundations of mechanics (hereafter FOM) is far superior in that it provides all the necessary background beyond calculus and linear algebra to the reader, and is logically consistent so far in my reading. I want to mention that there are certainly complete and excellent texts out there on functional analysis, differential geometry, and topology, but many texts include way more stuff than you would want to know. In particular, it is my humble opinion that once you get to a certain point of knowledgeability of a subject like algebraic topology, you have enough of a taste for it that to learn more of the subject would only help if you were to go into research. Therefore a book like FOM provides a concise and practical treatment of those various advanced mathematics topics.

Best book on CM (based most on symplectic formulation). Extremely clear if one has enough patience to follow exactly the author's way and to work out the proposed stimulating problems. Contains an original way of introducing differential forms, integration of differential forms and homology/De Rahm's thm.: you fully get in the subject in few pages ! The first part does not make use of symplectic formalism but is also quite original and stimulating. The level is last yr. undergr. 1st yr. graduate. Very useful if used with E. ott (Chaos in Dynamical Systems) for studying nonlinear dynamics.

The calendar has a page of stickers with major milestones and is made to be personalized for your child. It also comes with a height cart for the wall. The beginning of the calendar has space for a photo and a page for a family tree (to grandparents).

This is a wonderful first year calendar. I looked at several calendars and this was by far the best. It is so adorable, and will work for a boy or girl. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a first year calendar.

I had a great calendar for my son's first year but couldn't find one when my daughter was born this spring. I looked everywhere. Then I found this one. The images tell the entire story of "Guess How Much I Love You" and the colors are lovely. It's so pretty that I've hung it in Simone's nursery so I can access it daily. My only wish was that there were pockets on each page for little keepsakes. My son's calendar had that and it was great for tucking in things like "first baseball tickets" and the like until the one day make it into a scrapbook (maybe!) I would certainly buy this product again.

I love this idea and have used it for both of my children during their first year. It is so much easier than a baby book or journal and it creates a simple way to record the little but important things every day both as a reference for the next child and as a cherished treasure to look back upon when they're older. We like this one because of the stickers and classic theme, but wish it had a place to put photos of the child during each month.

I really wanted to keep track of my babies milestones. As the new Mom of an infant there is so little time. Every night before I go to bed I can write down the days milestones. It is amazing looking back over the last few weeks how much he has grown.

Mr. Braun, the new gym teacher, has the biggest muscles anyone has ever seen. After another freak accident with the DITS, Jake Sherman switches bodies with Mr. Braun. Jake has switched with his geeky science teacher before, but this time he actually likes who he switched bodies with. Jake really wants to stay Mr. Braun forever. But there's a problem. Those huge muscles are causing him to be a real idiot.

This is one of the best HELP! I'm Trapped books, but not the best. There were more funny parts than not funny parts. What was strange about this book was that Jake used his gym teacher powers to be really mean--especially to his friends. I guess Jake thought that he would be Mr. Braun forever and could do whatever he wanted. Anyway, this is a great book if you're looking for a short and funny read. I read it an hour.

I like how Mr. Braun stuck up for Jake when he tricked Barry Dunn and his friends. Jake's friend's Josh and Andy got in there and were as loyal as friends get to the very end. I think this book is excellent! At first I thought it was a true story! You did a great job Todd Strasser! ...

It's the bomb! I like this book because the gym teacher is always sticking up for Jake and tells Jake to stick up for Billy Dunn. The book is funny in how they switch bodies. I like the explosion; it was how they switched bodies. It is really neat. Justin Kelley, Grade 4.

I love reading children's books. I love the most to read books with original plots that are unthinkable, yet innocent.

This book qualifies. The story line is so outrageoous, there is no way you will be able to guess what will happen next. And Todd Strasser is VERY FUNNY.

You won't regret reading this book!!

--George Stancliffe

Very Good! Very funny! I think the way Todd Strasser made it so reasonable for kids is great. He made it so funny and easy to understand, that it is reasonable for anyone. I think this book is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. This book is about a 12 year old boy, Jake, who has 2 best friends, Josh and Andy, who like to fool around and get in trouble. But when Jake switches bodies with his new big muscular gym teacher, it can get worse and it can get funny. The best part was when the gym teacher's girlfriend went out with Jake instead of Bruno(the gym teacher)! I really enjoyed this book and so will you.

A lot of the approbation or criticism of a book like this has to do with the accuracy of the translation, which is something I'm not an expert in. What I can say about it is that this translation reads like a novel. It leaves you with the impression that Herodotus is telling you a story, rather than the impression that you are reading a bit of ancient Greek literature translated by some stodgy classicist.

The story itself is excellent. Basically, it's the story of the rise of the Persian Empire, culminating in the war with the Greeks. It covers things like the battles Marathon, and Thermopylae. But it's much more than that. Herodotus surveys the geography and cultures of the people who existed during that time. Much of what he recounts is hearsay and mythology, which I imagine can be frustrating for the historian but is actually very entertaining and fascinating for the general reader. There are also numerous short stories interspersed with the larger narrative, especially in the earlier chapters.

This is a fantastic book, which I think even people who normally wouldn't read classics would enjoy. In fact, I think this books is most comparable to a book like "The Lord of the Rings". If you enjoyed that, and you like history too, then you'll probably like this book.

Having had a couple years of Greek in college (just enough to be dangerous) I have to say Grene's translation looks to me the most literal and readable at the same time. The old Rawlinson translation is stylish but not as close to the Greek as Grene. de Selincourt's Penguin classics effort loses style points compared to Rawlinson, and yet manages to perhaps be even a bit further from the Greek. Waterfield's Oxford classics just reads as flat and featureless as the Wall Street Journal's finance pages, and yet isn't very close to the Greek either! Grene alone seems to open a contemporary English speaker's ears to hear how Herodotus would sound if you were actually a Greek speaker of the 5th century BC (and isn't that exactly what we want our translators to do for us?). I like his point that with the Homeric overtones, Herodotus should sound just a bit "odd" a little archaic, yet lively. I think Grene hit the mark right on the head, and of course Herodotus himself is a gas. Totally entertaining, and highly recommended.

On a side note, does anyone know how to pronounce Mr. Grene's name? I realize he's Irish, but it's an unusal name and I've never heard it pronounced...

I have always thought of Herodotus as boring, full of digressions and hot air. He is, however, the First Historian, and therefore needs to be digested by any educated person. I first tried the Rawlinson translation,The Histories (Everyman's Library (Paper)) managed to struggle through it, but found it turgid and indeed boring. I then looked at Walter Blanco's translation in the Norton Critical Edition.Herodotus: The Histories : New Translation, Selections, Backgrounds, Commentaries (Norton Critical Editions) Blanco's version is easier to read than Rawlinson's, but is full of modern American casualisms which seemed incongruous. Blanco's version is also incomplete, and if I were going to read Herodotus, I wanted to read his entire story, just not selections. Some of Blanco's omissions are significant, including most of Book IX, which contains most of the incidents that link the history of Herodotus to that of Thucydides.The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

I then read David Grene's translation. I still found the early sections on the history of Egypt and Persia and all the digressions about the Scythians and Libyans tedious, but Grene's language is easy to follow and appropriate to the subject, and as I continued reading the narrative began to flow and became quite enjoyable. (I haven't read the MacaulayThe Histories (Barnes & Noble Classics) or SelincourtThe Histories (Penguin Classics) translations.)

R.G. Collingwood in "The Idea of History" The Idea of History: With Lectures 1926-1928rates Herodotus, with all his faults, as superior to Thucydides. This surprised me, as I had always heard Thucydides held up as the paradigm of what a true historian should be. But Collingwood has a point. With all his digressions, myths, and tall tales, Herodotus does his best to evaluate his sources and then tries to tell us as best he can what actually happened, without taking sides and without pointing morals. Thucydides wants to teach and has a definite moral point of view, which no doubt influenced his selection and presentation of the facts.

Herodotus should be read and digested by every educated person, and David Grene's translation makes that easier to do.

David Grene's translation of Herodotus' "The History" is a good version of the Greek historian's magnum opus.

The Introduction provides context for the translation to come. It is useful and functional, although Knox' introductions to The Iliad and The Odyssey (Fagles' translations) strike me as better at putting the work in its place. Nonetheless, the Introduction is serviceable. Grene notes of Herodotus' work that" "There are two worlds of meaning that are constantly in Herodotus' head. The one is that of human calculation, reason, cleverness, passion, happiness. There, one knows what is happening and, more or less, who is the agent of cause. The other is the will of Gods, or fate, or the intervention of daimons."

In the History itself, Herodotus ranges widely geographically, and considers many different countries. With these, he discusses in detail such varied matters as hygiene, sex, culture, animals, religion, geographical features, and so on. He appears to have tried to ascertain as best as he could what the actuality was and what hearsay or rumor was. One of the more interesting examples of this is his effort to understand the role of Helen in the Trojan War (2, 120). Here, he doubts the veracity of Homer's rendering of the causes of the war. He believes that Helen never did go to Troy, because Priam would not have been willing to risk his empire over one woman. At other places, he clearly states the different versions of some incident and then renders his own best judgment as to what he thought the reality was. In short, he did not simply retell tales that he heard. When he is not sure what actually happened, he says so (e.g., 1, 49; 1, 75).

In the end, Herodotus has done a great service for many generations, by putting down, as best he could, his understanding of the history of the various actors of his time and before. The reader will find it difficult to keep all the people and countries straight. The volume features a useful set of maps, providing a sense of the different countries mentioned, as well as the travels of armies on conquests.

The book moves ahead in a majestic trajectory to ultimately describe the Persian-Greek War, with Xerxes leading his great force into Greece. Herodotus provides detail on many aspects of this conflict, which the Greeks eventually won, after battles at Thermopylae, Salamis, and Platea.

For an early effort at history, Herodotus' work is important to be aware of. And Grene's translation makes the work accessible to readers today.

The translation, as I see it, makes this classic contemporary but also brings one--perhaps--into ancient minds that are like ours but also unlike ours. Nothing will ever be perfect here until educated people in this culture become scholars of Greek again, like that'll ever happen.

Kudos to Sally from Florida down below who is reading such Classics to fill in the gaps in her education. Sally, you are scarcely alone and I can cite endless examples of recent conscientious graduates from decent-to-great schools who feel the same way. Curiously, while we have been emphasizing education in the cultures of other "peoples," we've simultaneously been ignoring or actively dismantling the history and traditions of this culture. I'm stunned that anyone can complain about Euro-centrism and related bug-a-boos when few college graduates know anything at all about Euro-American history or culture!