O Books

How sweet the sound that saved this wreched human race. O'Connor writes of God's love and redemption of humanity. She uses exaggeration to make her point. Her characters are so very silly, obtuse, bigoted, loathsome they become cartoons, yet there is a deep integrity to their shallowness. She's not making fun of them, but giving them the justice of a pitiless description. Indeed they do not seem judged, but naked -- the fruits of their stupid, misguided ideas and actions on display. And these children of God do shocking things to others and themselves. And yet . . ..

And yet God allows them to live and learn, or not learn if that is their inclination. He gives them this freedom. He loves them. How can this be? How?

I love O'Connor for her art, her convictions, her courage, and her love. She is so very true and honest.

In addition to her novels and a thorough selection of short stories, there is a chronology of her life and a selection of her letters which are rewarding reading. The book itself is a wonderful object. The pages are of fine paper. The binding is such that you can lay it open on a table without breaking its back, and the pages will not move unless a breeze or you do so.

Now that I've read everything by O'Connor (including works that were part of her thesis for her degree in writing) I am still amazed and inspired by her work. I'm not from the south or Catholic and I was not alive during the eras of which she wrote, but her writing transcends region and time. My favorites remain A Good Man is Hard to Find, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and Revelation, but I love all her stories, although I find the novels a bit more challenging - I think short story was her finest form. Her ability to mix desperation and violence with comedy is amazing, and often when I read her I think: "I shouldn't be laughing at that." I often wonder what additional work she would have produced if she had not died so young. Highly recommended.

I am thoroughly enjoying this authoritative collection of O'Connor's writings. The writing speaks for itself as truly great and unique. This particular book is very classy and well put together; an excellent choice for someone with a significant interest in O'Connor.

The complaints about the poor organization of the collection can be overcome by simply reading it from front to back. Surely it is that good.

My foray into the works of Flannery O'Connor, a southern, gothic author of darkly humorous novels and short stories came via a recommendation in Harold Bloom's, "What to Read and Why." As it turned ot, I had read one of her short stories, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," in a collection somewhere and had been surprised and shocked, by the turn of events and ending of the story, so much so, that I remembered it instantly, even though it has to have been thirty years since I read it. I enjoyed everything, short stories, novellas, and even her letters. She writes about southern Christ-haunted people, most backward, all damned, but many redeemed. Bloom says that according to her, we are all damned but one should put that aside and simply enjoy her beautiful, grotesque, and wonderful comedic stories. Her protagonist is often a woman, forced to take on a role and duties she didn't sign up for but resignedly and with no illusions playing and discharging both out of a sense of morality or necessity; those women are usually the most superior beings in her stories.

Many of her insights stick with me months afterwards. For example, O'Connor says in one of her letters, "...Hazel's integrity lies in his not being able to do so. Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen." That brought tears to my eyes -- perhaps because it is so beautifully put.

Oh yes! I adore her, and so do my mum and dad. They talk about her all of the time, and so I grew up with the prose ringing in my ears. I am so pleased to be reading her now.

I enjoyed this book, although to be honest I felt as if Louisa and Clara were going to be teaming up as nurses, which was not the case. So I felt as if this book deceived me in a way. But I can overlook that.

I am a huge Alcott fan and have been since I read Little Women. So I was very eager to find this book. It was very interesting to see how the author used Alcott and the made up cousin Susan. Hardcore Alcott fans may not be amused with some parts in the story because of some of the things Alcott says. But overall it made me think about Alcott more and why she was so driven.

I also don't understand why everyone in the book loves John so much. He was an OK character but to get so much love??? It's was very strange for me to understand. In addition, Susan acts more like a modern woman than a Victorian. But I tried not to dwell on these aspects and I enjoyed the overall book.

This book although fiction talks lot about Alcott and Barton's life during the civil war. I am a huge Clara Barton fan and a nurse so I was drawn to this book (it was given to me as an early christmas gift). It only took me 5 days to read (in between the rest of my busy life). I found myself think about the charcters all the time. I definetly recommend this book.

This was an interesting novel and kept me entertained throughout. I have to admit not being a fan of Alcott, I may have read Little Women when I was younger, but I don't recall it. That will be to be on my TBR list for the future.

The story is told in the first person by Alcott's fictional cousin, Susan Gray. She recounts their childhood, family and famous residents of Concord. As adults, the Civil War begins and Mary and Louisa volunteer as nurses in a Washington DC hospital, where they meet the famous nurse and activist Clara Barton, and the mysterious patient John Sulie, who Louisa is strongly attracted to. Do be warned, this was not a pretty war, nor was the aftermath on the wounded soldiers. The author doesn't pull any punches here. The story then shifts to the aftermath of the Civil War, and Clara Barton's mission to account for all the missing and dead soldiers, which the government would prefer to remain unaccounted for. The book finishes with the remainder of Louisa's life in Condord until her death.

While Susan is a fictional cousin, it was a good way to bring the reader closer to Alcott's inner circle and know her better. Some parts of the story play a little loose with known history, which are acknowledged in the author's notes at the end of the book. All in all an entertaining read, but as I previously noted, I'm not a huge fan of Alcott. Good read, but not one I'm likely to take off the shelf and read again every few years.

Patricia O'Brien caught my attention as I began to read her book and my mind heard echoes of Little Women in its prose. Her voice is her own, but often approximates Alcott's tone and approach, probably intentionally. It was easy to recall scenes from a book that ranks in my top five all time favorites as I read Glory Cloak. O'Brien neatly slips allusions to Alcott's most well-known work into her own story - and does it in a way that isn't intrusive and doesn't smack you over the head with reminders. She just let's you be gently aware that you and she share a love.
The history is good, slightly fictionalized, but that's ok - we all go into the story aware that it is NOT a text book. The characters are truly engaging and quite three dimentional. I felt as though I got to know the person inside Alcott and I liked doing it through Cousin Susan as a vehicle, even while I got to know Susan in her own right. The story flows smoothly, enriched by detail that gives a nice sense of place without becoming cloyng about transendentalists (the sense of seeing intimate glimpses of famous writers like Hawthorne, Thoreau and Emerson was fun. Like being a bit of a voyeaur).

Let me say this - I'm a voracious reader, but often guilty of skimming through slow parts or speed reading to get flavor and not waste my time with the drudge of some books. This one - well, I began it one afternoon, read for about an hour - reading each word, sometimes rereading passages I enjoyed - then got called away. Next day, I locked myself up and read until the very last page. Then I wished I could stay a while longer.[...]

This is a book about Louisa May Alcott and her fictional cousin Susan, both of whom happen to interact with Clara Barton. It is not a story of the friendship between Alcott and Barton; indeed, Susan is closer to each of them than they are to each other. Still, it is a good story, well told, about friendship among women; it could stand on that truthful blurb alone, IMO. The book also gives good insight into the lives of women in the mid-19th century and provides never-to-be-forgotten glimpses into Civil War medical care.

It may be my own pet peeve (I once had a fight with a poet who wrote about cows being made into bacon) but historical accuracy is a little loose. I don't mind the imagined cousin to move the plot along but, IIRC, Lincoln did not die the night he was assassinated; he died several days later at a residence across the street from Ford's theater. This jars the storytelling at a crucial point in the background narrative.

The Bookschlepper

Very well written, thought out. He covers alot of area and does it very well. Everyone should be open minded and read this book slowly.

'The Gospel According to Moses: What my Jewish Friends Taught me About Jesus' is a unique and thoughtful auto-biographical journal of Athol Dickson's ongoing studies at a Reform Jewish temple's Chever Torah (Torah Group). The beauty of Dickson's study and reflection is not that he always reaches the most correct conclusion, sometimes I don't think that he does, but that his underlying attitude about recognizing and defining questions is exemplary. The author's attitude here is suggestive of that of Origen, the great early Christian thinker and student of the Torah (what Christians call the Pentateuch or 'Books of Moses') and the Tenach (what Christians call the Old Testament). More to be feared than a question without an easy answer is indifference to the question, or a smug delusion that all answers are well in hand. Dickson says, "God may answer my questions with silence because the answer is silence. In other words, sometimes my questions themselves are answer enough. . . When the Lord offers no clear answer to my questions, it may mean I will learn greater truths by continuing to ask the questions. Sometimes questions may have many possible answers, so God declines to point to a 'correct' one. The most common examples of this phenomenon are bound up in the many paradoxes of the Scriptures. . ."

Bumbling humans that we are, Christians and Jews too often misunderstand and misrepresent each other's views. Dickson tries to avoid the oversimplifications involved in these superficial dismissals, but without surrendering his essential Christian understanding. Many commentators on the Torah are cited; on the Christian side these include the New Testament writers, Augustine, and Kierkegaard, for example. But most of the expositors cited are the Talmudic rabbis (who, of course, were Pharisees, that group of Torah students whom Christians are typically anxious to simplistically vilify wholesale). Dickson says- "As has happened so often in my time with Chever Torah, the floor of my study is littered with fallen stereotypes." (p135)
". . . again it seems that Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity are far closer than I once thought. Christianity says if I love Jesus I will obey his teaching. Judaism says if I wish to follow I will be led along the road. In both cases, faith by the grace of God leads to obedience to God. . . I am free to choose the road I wish to follow and then I am led along it, either downward by my foolish pride or upward by the grace of God." (p142)

I read this book at the same time I was reading Philip Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew." Both books are excellent and both speak to some of the weaknesses of the other. The one aspect of Dickson's study that I thought came up short was his arguments regarding the Trinity. It's a challenging subject and I have seen others approach it as Dickson has, citing Torah references to the God who is One with occasional language of plurality, but, of itself, it is a difficult argument. I believe our best understanding of the Trinity must include the insights of Augustine and Anselm. Any weaknesses aside, Dickson has written an excellent book about how one's attitudes, including cognition of one's own ignorance, are of central importance, whether attempting to resolve the mysteries and paradoxes of the Torah or the mysteries and paradoxes of the luminous Jewish rabbi, Jesus.

This was a great read. Highly recommended.

The book reads smoothly, uses comfortable language, and flows in a logical way. Dickson employs several mini-stories throughout the book to introduce and illustrate the subject matter of that chapter.

Dickson touches an area of Christianity which is desperately needed. We embrace so much of our faith without having any knowledge of its roots or foundation in Judaism. Christianity and Judaism are not synonymous. They have significant differences, and Dickson does not ignore these differences, or try to homogenize the two faiths. But they ARE similar, and Dickson does a great job of showing just how so many of the themes in Christianity overlap with those of Judaism, even if that doesn't appear to be the case at first glance. Most of Dickson's focus is not on the minutiae differences of Christianity and Judaism, but is on the larger elements of our faiths, including the differences in how we approach our faith, and how we answer the hard-to-answer questions.

Allow me to share my favorite aspect of the book. Dickson discusses, in detail, the difference in the way Christians and Jews deal with difficult questions about our faith. I grew up in the church, Dickson is correct in characterizing the way most Christians answer those questions: we often try to make them seem less difficult than they really are, and look to some pre-fabricated answer found in our "ways to answer those questions" manual. Many questions are off-limits as quasi-heretical, meaning that we often never quite satisfactorily examine the things in our faith we struggle with. By Contrast, according to Dickson, no question is off-limits for Jews, and they embrace difficulties and questions concerning their faith. I believe more Christians should react like the latter. We should be willing to ask questions--the answers in our manual may be correct, but we should be willing to go and see.

One of the things that make this book so good is its ability to make you think-it encourages you to examine what you believe. You will find yourself pondering the things you read throughout the day. I cannot agree with everything that Dickson asserts in the book, and there are some areas in which I felt he could have elaborated and discussed more thoroughly. But the book DID make me think, and it did have an effect on what I think about a couple of issues. If you read this book, and consider the things discussed in it, there is a fair chance that your view on an issue or two will be tweaked in some way too.

The book is great. The book is easy to read, and enjoyable. While I still don't necessarily agree with everything Dickson says, those things are rather minute and mostly insignificant. People interested in the subject matter should definitely read the book. I am confident that you'll enjoy the book, and that you'll be glad you bought it.

This was neat. But in saying that, it was by no means at all, a light read. Athol Dickson made you think. A great writer of fiction, he writes great stories, with a message. But when he wrote, "The Gospel According to Moses," he is to be taken very seriously. Upon joining a Chever Torah group, his faith was challenged. And his faith was ultimately strengthened. He wasn't afraid to address difficult questions.

When I read this, Dickson wasn't afraid to to discuss what a Christian believes, opposed to what a Jew might think. And he wasn't afraid to apply Torah and Bible scripture. He takes examples in The Bible like Moses and Abraham, and events in their lives. He begins by stating, "Life's most important moments are often disguised as the commonplace." In this case, in the situation that Athol Dickson knowingly put himself into, that is most certainly true. Did he expect to be challenged? Possibly. He wasn't afraid to expose the differences. Or was he? Where does Jesus fit in this? You'll know soon enough.

So, if you want a few of the topics that Dickson addresses in a nut shell, I'll give a few. In the opening chapter, Dickson talks about dealing with doubts. He'll talk about why God lets us suffer. He'll discuss finding connections between obedience and grace. And in the final chapter, he'll ask a real tough one: Are Jews going to Hell? He discusses a lot of other stuff as well. The topics are 13 chapters total. I would dare to say, give this a try. If you have tough questions, then maybe this has the answer. Will it give you satisfying results? Only you can answer that.

Is this possibly a "Jesus Freak Among the Jews" account? Quite possibly, and a little more. It was awesome.

Based on insights gained from his experience as a Christian guest in a Reform Judaism Bible study, Dickson offers his thoughts about God, scripture, and interfaith misunderstandings--such as the relationship of faith to obedience, grace to works. 'The Gospel According to Moses,' one of the most refreshing books I've read in a while, has caused me to study the Jewishness of the Christian faith, which in turn has brought new depths of understanding of and awe for God and the Bible--and more questions to contemplate and explore.

This book is GREAT! It was all I expected and better. I laughed out loud alot, and the pictures, although in black and white, are hysterical! A great touch is the pictures of Conan and Andy's reactions. This book is a great buy!

What are you waiting for? Go buy it!

If They Mated is one of my favorite skits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, so I just had to buy this book. I am glad I did, it is one of the funniest books I've ever read. Even if you never saw the show before, or this skit, I highly recommend getting this book, I guaranty you'll laugh! I would have rated it a 5 but the pictures in the book are grayscale, color would have been much better, but it is still a great book.

The book is funny with hilarious pictures and commentaary. In my opinion Conan O'Brien is the best show between the hours of 12:30 AM and 1:30 AM on nbc.

Conan O'Brien is one of the funniest men alieve and this book proves that!This book evolved from a sketch on the show(one of the best, other than Pimpbot 5000). He and the Late Night Writers are amazing,they come up with so many diffrent sketches that its not even funny. If you have ever wondered what celebrities babies looked like this book is a must have.
HAIL CONAN!

heart,
ivy the barbarian

Ive always loved Conans humor. He is the king of couch humor. A classic comedian. In this book he showcases my favorite, and I think everyone elses too, jokes that he does. IF THEY MATED. Very funny book. Purchase this now.

This book stands as the best introduction to one of the best comic strips ever produced. Not only is it packed with hard to find "Krazy Kat" strips, but it also includes a biography of the artist, George Herriman. Some consider Herriman the first African-American mainstream cartoonist. His colleagues didn't know his ethnicity (and Herriman didn't tell them) so some called him "the Greek". He felt he had to hide some of his features from the public. For example, he kept his very curly hair closely cut and hidden under a hat. Not only that, his birth certificate shows his parent's ethnicity as "colored". The prejudices of the time likely would not have allowed an African-American the mainstream status and freedom allowed to George Herriman. So through "Krazy Kat" we get a glimpse of what early 20th century American culture may have missed out on due to its racial myopia. For "Krazy Kat" stands as an absolute masterpiece of its genre.

Herriman found some modicum of fame in his lifetime. William Randolph Hearst (the newspaper magnate) loved Herriman's work and rewarded him with a lifetime contract (according to the biography in the book, Hearst once read a "Krazy Kat" Sunday page and immediately demanded a raise for the artist). Herriman's success didn't come quickly, however. His first big break came in 1897 with the sale of a sketch to the Los Angeles Herald. Around 1901 he landed his first job as a "Staff Cartoonist" (a person who literally reported to the office every day and rattled off strip after strip; very different from today's cartoonists). Between 1901 and 1916 Herriman penned numerous strips (the book includes samples of many of these strips - many in color), including: "Musical Mose" (this strip's overt racial humor would not fly today), "Professor Otto and His Auto", "Acrobatic Archie", "Two Jolly Jackies", "Major Ozone's Fresh Air Crusade", "Home Sweet Home", "Baron Mooch", "Mary's Home From College", "Gooseberry Sprig" (considered to be a direct forerunner to "Krazy Kat"), "Alexander the Cat", "Daniel and Pansy", and finally, in 1910, "The Dingbat Family" (which changed its name briefly to "The Family Upstairs"; it was Herriman's first hit). It was in a "Dingbat Family" strip in 1910 that a mouse first "beaned" a "Kat" with a projectile (in the "running boards" of the strip). Eventually the Kat and mouse sideshow surpassed the main strip's popularity, and "Krazy Kat" debuted as a daily in October 1913 (the famous Sunday pages began in 1916). Herriman kept experimenting with other strips through 1923 when he finally placed his focus squarely on "Krazy Kat".

From roughly 1913 to 1944 (when Herriman passed away leaving a week's worth of unfinished Krazy Kat's on his drawing table) "Krazy Kat" developed from a "Kat" and mouse game (filled with puns, misunderstandings, and musings on the imperfections of language) into a complex love triangle between Krazy (the "Kat"), Ignatz (the mouse) and Offisa Pupp (the dog). Ignatz's entire being revolves around "beaning" the "Kat" with a brick, and Krazy interprets this as an act of love (unbeknownst to Ignatz). Offisa Pupp loves Krazy (in a fatherly sort of way) and his obsession revolves around catching Ignatz in the act and jailing him. Three obsessions collide in an almost jazz-style derivation of themes. Herriman developed this theme brilliantly over 30 years of strips. But overall it defies analysis: the strip can only speak for itself.

Sadly, though "Krazy Kat" counted such dignatiries as e.e. cummings, George Gershwin, Gilbert Seldes, James Joyce, and other literati, as fans, its popularity waned dramatically throughout the 1930s (as it became more surreal, esoteric and unabashedly uncommercial). It was kept in print by Hearst himself. The book does not cover the frustration of Hearst editors at the inclusion of the strip in their papers. They rebelled against it in some cases. Many simply tried to remove it from circulation only to find Hearst himself yelling "keep it in!" So we have, of all people, the controversial William Randolph Hearst to thank for the continuation of "Krazy Kat". By the end of its run "Krazy Kat" only appeared in some 30 papers.

The main focus of this book lies in its numerous incredible strips. The book includes daily strips (most dating from 1938 to 1944) and Sunday pages (dating from 1916 to 1944 with some in color; it also includes both the first and last Sunday pages). If one reason exists to purchase this book, here it is. The strips retain their amazing character even after decades of aging. And the artwork remains astounding. Not only that, the book includes samples of hand colored drawings of Herriman's, and photos of Herriman and his family. All in all, this book opens the door on one of the comic strip medium's most celebrated strips. Those that get hooked should continue thier obsessions (in the true spirit of Krazy, Ignatz, and Offisa Pupp) with the Fantagraphics' series of Sunday pages, and the Pacific Comics club's reprints of daily strips. Someday every Krazy Kat strip Herriman drew will finally appear in printed form. We can hope, at least.

This is a wonderful book for Krazy Katz fans to own. It is large, colorful and very informative on one of Americas great cartoonists. The delivery through Amazon was fast and effortless. The book, a treasure to own. Worth the lower price through Amazon.

This is what all popular art forms should be. A social commentary as love poem. And poem this is. There is very little that someone can write about the Krazy experience without treading in the same terran as this wonderful book. This is were your Krazy love afair begins. And unlike Ignatz you don't show your love with a brick.

This is a wonderful introduction to George Herriman's great comic strip Krazy Kat that ran for several decades in the early twentieth century. This introduction provides biographical background to Herriman's art, a survey of some of his influences, and a very healthy dose of Krazy Kat panels, both color and black & white. It also discusses the way that Krazy Kat became a cultural phenomenon, easily one of the most highly regarded comics of the century, and permeating many other arts as well.

The Krazy Kat strip is utterly insane, surreal stuff. Here is the premise: Krazy Kat (who is usually female but is sometimes apparently male) is in love with Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz loathes Krazy, and to prove it konstantly kreases that kat's krown with a brick. Incredibly, Krazy sees this as proof of Ignatz's affection, and falls even more deeply in love (many panels show hearts rising from Krazy's heart when she is hit by one of Ignatz's bricks). Officer Pup, the town constable, is in love with Krazy and frequently throws Ignatz into jail for hitting Krazy, which causes Krazy to pine for her would-be lover. This is merely the barest sketch of this weird and wild world. The town of Concocino is populated by a host of equally outrageous characters, though the focus continually comes back to the three principals.

Though even the most recent of these strips are over sixty years old, Krazy Kat has stood up magnificently over the years. Part of the reason surely lies with Herriman's enormous gifts as an illustrator. The Sunday strips in particular are things of great beauty, with the frames arcing around the page in spectacular designs of considerable innovation and complexity. The content of the comics reflects a genuine wit and substantial intelligence, while the bizarre love triangle possesses endless possibilities for both humor and pathos. This truly is one of the most unique comics in the history of the medium, and even those who do not usually respond to the genre are apt to find this enormously entertaining.

When I noticed that many of my favourite cartoonists have said that Herriman's 'Krazy Kat' is the greatest comic strip ever, I decided I should check it out. It didn't take long before I agreed with them.

George Herriman is one of those rare individuals who genuinely deserves to be called a genius. That's a word that gets thrown around a little too casually perhaps, but in Herriman's case it is almost an understatement.

He was a brilliantly inventive artist, but his writing is what really sets him apart. A lot of the dialogue is written phonetically in bizarre dialects, a tricky thing to do, but he uses it to great effect.

Whereas space restrictions force cartoonists today to avoid using more words than is necessary, Herriman would often use a lot more, and much of the pleasure of reading 'Krazy Kat' comes from the sheer virtuosity with which Herriman uses language.

That a comic strip could be as funny, as intellectually stimulating, and as beautiful to look at as 'Krazy Kat' seems to me to be some kind of miracle. This book is a great introduction to Herriman and his work. There's a generous helping of 'Krazy Kat' strips, as well as some of Herriman's other work. Anyone who loves comics should have it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Here are contemporary teachers talking clearly about things that are often shrouded in needless mystery and myth. Yet the truly mystical aspects of these arts becomes even more convincing when discussed concretely, and the practical aspects are clarified. Though not intended as a training manual, the book offers a great deal of profound and useful guidance and inspiration. If you're a devotee of any of these arts or qi gong, the book is really fun and helpful. I read it in two days and look forward to rereading it. It's definitely worthwhile. I hope for a second volume with other teachers.

I just received this book and have really found it interesting. I really like that it features so many different folks. Some of them are famous some not but they all have something to offer and their differences help make the book accessible to more people.

It isn't how to, but most how to martial arts books are useful only as an occasional reference piece. This books is more vital because it's more fun to read and because the various opinions presented challenged me to rethink what I've been taught or what I'd been thinking.

Additionally the book is pretty entertaining which sadly cannot be said of all Martial Arts books.

In summation it's much more T'ai Chi magazine than Inside Kung-Fu and that's a really, really good thing.

Then this is an excellent book to start with. In this collection of 12 interviews and one essay, there are numerous departures for fruitful musings on the martial arts in general and on those typically classified as "internal" in particular. While some of these teachers try to shy away from the use (and abuse) of the term "qi", they all fundamentally agree that there is no real distinction between "internal" and "external" arts. Beyond that, though, the opinions expressed by the 13 teachers gathered in this volume can be extremely divergent.

The volumes opens up with a real bang, in this reviewer's opinion. Tim Cartmell certainly has strong opinions. Whether you agree with him or not (and some of the teachers represented in the text appear not to), his essay is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the stale discussions of the historicity and lineage of mythical figures like Zhang San Feng. [Yes, yes, there was at least one historical figure with this name, but the use of this figure in martial arts is purely mythical.]

Likewise, if there are any died in the wool Bruce Lee fans left out there, then James Wing Woo's depiction of him as a "horrible martial artist" may raise your hackles.

All of the interviews in this book gave me something to think about. If you enjoy hearing about the lives and opinions of life-long martial artists, then this is an excellent book. If you want a little stimulation to help jumpstart thinking and introspection on your own practice, then this book may well work. It will fill a worthy slot in my bookshelf.

This is a really fascinating read which presents the views of various contemporary practitioners and teachers of the Chinese neijia (internal schools). Each chapter provides valuable insight into the true nature of these unique arts and gives you plenty of food for thought.
If you practice an internal form of Chinese martial arts, you need this book-

Nei Jia Quan: International Martial Arts is collectively written by thirteen knowledgeable teachers of Tai Ji Quan, Xing Yi Quan, and Ba Gua Zhang and is ably edited by Jess O'Brien. Nei Jia Quan informs the reader of the many varying perspectives of the philosophy, history, training methods, and fighting technique that make each of these fighting styles unique and individually inspiring. As an informed and informative introduction and in-depth analysis of each of the martial arts practices of China, Nei Jia Quan is a very highly recommended read for all students of the martial arts, as well as those with an interest in Chinese history and general culture.

I've read quite a few of Jim's works over the years, and he has never failed to impress me. This book should be required reading for any project manager!

My initial pre-read perception of this book was that it was going to be just another perspective of agile methods. I was wrong. Coplien and Harrison have dissected development teams to identify the key criteria leading to successful efforts and high-performing teams. Beyond process, this book identifies the organizational structures required to make the processes work.

From an organizational perspective, roles and responsibilities within your development teams are a primary success criteria for your agile (or any other process) adoption. This book presents how and why key roles within your teams work and why teams without these key roles don't work. The way they have presented the material provides for a quick cross-reference when you are looking for solutions to help your teams.

Beyond the organization patterns themselves, I believe some of the richest material in this book is presented in the last few chapters as they present the history and importance of organizational structures, roles and responsibilities in applying process - "Process emerges from structure, and structure emerges from values". There is great value in this book beyond most software development process books.

As project managers, most of us who've been in the field working for a while come to realize that successful project teams are more the result of "good" ongoing social engineering of one sort or another rather than just dumping an almost randomly selected group of people together, coming up with an MS Project Plan and saying "do this" (the Death Star approach, all to common in large traditional process-driven IT shops). After this has happened to you, painfully, you begin to come to the realization that perhaps there's more to project management than the mechanistic "people are interchangeable resources" PMBOK-style approach.

If it hasn't already, it begins to dawn on you that the "soft" side of project management (client relationship building, communication within the team and between teams, team dynamics and team morale, motivation, empowerment, commitment, a human-style of project management) are as important or even more important than the technical work and the technical skills required. Most of us have run across teams with prima-donna's who think they're the cat's whiskers, be they project managers or technical personnel, who have the personal graces of a warthog and who are incredibly destructive to team morale and team performance. They continue to exist, sadly, and because they often deliver, albeit at the expense of everyone who works for them or with them, they continue to survive in "Death Star" style IT shops where delivery is all important and the style of successful delivery means nothing or is short-sightedly disregarded. OK, so that's my rant.

Now for the book. We've all seen successful projects and successful teams (or at least, I hope we all have). Some teams gell and perform way above the norm. What this book does is distil over 100 successfully applied organizational patterns of one sort or another from real projects in real software development groups. These patterns are broken down into logical groups (Project Management Patterns, Piecemeal Growth Patterns, Organizational Style Patterns & People and Code Patterns) which are dissected and explained, with examples provided. What the authors have done is to identify and describe key organizational patterns which are used by successful teams - not processes, but organizational structures of various types that are needed to make processes work successfully. A large amount of practical experience has gone into the content - over ten years of research experience from the authors alone.

I've read a lot of books on Agile, but this is the first I've come across that sets out organizational patterns - and does it so effectively that you'll wonder why all the stuff in here never occurred to you before. As you read through the book, you'll see patterns that will make sense, the kind of "ah-ha, that's what the problem is and this is how I can dom something about it" sense. You'll find this book useful in that the contents can be taken and applied right away. It's easy to pick what is most useful for your team, what can be applied immediately and what would be nice later on, once some of the basics are in place. The content is practical in that you can easily identify what your problems are and what pattern would help fix it, why the pattern is intended to fix it, and there's good advice on how to introduce new patterns.

With over 100 patterns, there are a lot, but they're set out concisely, a page or two to each pattern. There's no fluff, it's well-written, there's no appreciable bias, there's a lot of material, including some good coverage of the importance of effective organizational structures in applying process. As we all know, all the process in the world will not a great project team make. The book's structure is coherent and well-organized, the patterns described can be used individually or as groups and the authors give you some pretty good ideas as to what's immediately useful.

And the pictures all the way through the book are great! A nice humorous touch that helps make the point each time. Overall, I'd recommend this book very highly as a resource to anyone managing a project / team, whether Agile or not. There's a wealth of practical advice in here that any project manager could take and use, although the orientation is towards Agile Projects. An added bonus - unlike many technical books, this one won't date quickly - organizational patterns that work don't change much over the years, unlike programming languages. From a practical point of view, I've applied some of these patterns to teams I work with and the results have been positive - I've also shared the book with co-workers and they've all found it both illuminating and useful.

This book has to be The Grand Unifying Theory of Software with respect to managing the people and processes involved in software production.

To anyone who has worked in the software industry, this book is clearly the product of an enormous amount of practical experience in both management of people and projects as well as the development of software.

Coplien and Harrison have written a book which both the project manager and software engineer will understand and will immediately be able to apply to their respective work environments: This is because the book cunningly captures essential organisational concepts using a framework that is familiar to software engineers. Thus, the concepts will be by recognised by staff trained in business as well as those trained in software and systems.

I strongly feel that the material covered in this book can achieve a common communication basis between managers and engineers, and can help business developers understand the nature of their people and organisation.

If I could insist that all people in software read this book I would; but without the policing power, I can only highly recommend this book to those involved in all facets of software.

OK, I have to admit, this is the first book review I've ever written on Amazon and having read a lot of good books I should probably get off my a** and write more :-)

As a former developer and now a software development manager, I have come to realise that the "soft side" or sociology of software projects (communication with clients, communication with teammates, project management, team dynamics, cultural issues, morale, division of work, remote collaboration, etc) is considerably more complicated than the programming work itself.

Over time, you start to see patterns emerge such as "start a large project with a small experienced group and gradually phase people into a project as time goes on". This book does by far the best job of cataloguing and explaining dozens of these patterns related to (1) software project management (2) structuring, building and nurturing software project teams and (3) organization and division of development tasks to maximize the effectiveness of the team as a whole.

Highly recommended to anyone involved with software development at both the management level and in the trenches. Have fun!

This book is filled with loads of laugh-out-loud scenes. O'Brien is especially good at setting up a scene and then delivering a hilarious punchline. Even when the reader can predict how the joke will play out, O'Brien teases the story out in such a way to make the humor even funnier. Each chapter is episodic and stands on its own, but there's a wonderful arc to the entire book. The allusions to Irish history, literature, and folklore add to the writing, and O'Brien really captures the style of writers like Tomas O'Crohan and Peig Sayers. There also are some clever allusions to Wm Butler Yeats and John Millington Syne. I found the satire to be a good-natured, tongue-in-cheek humor that revolves around hyperbole and even surrealism. I find it curious that some fans of Gaelic literature, especially those who admire the real "poor mouth" writers, would be offended by the book. I like the writing of O'Crohan, Sayers, and others, and O'Brien's satire actually seems to complement and enhance the humor in their books, rather than cynically criticize their tomes. O'Brien's real target seems to be more focused on the misty-eyed romanticism of readers of Gaelic writing.

The bleak atmosphere and the beautiful, flowing prose in "The Poor Mouth" are completely at odds, which is what makes this novel so hilarious. O'Coonassa has no idea what's happening to him much of the time, but he dutifully records it as best he can, with amazingly comical results.

The concept here is much like a Buster Keaton film, in that the protagonist is presumably ignorant, but he keeps a sharp eye on events, and he's basically good-hearted (except when he has to resort to stealing a pig or a chicken or some silverware, just to stay alive).

Have you ever had a laughing fit while reading on a bus? It was almost enough to have me committed.Although not personally aware of any Irish in my blood, the way this erupted in me makes it a strong chance.

It has never been better explained why so many Irish ended up in America and elsewhere abroad. A true story!

Lighten up guys. This is satire. Flan O'Brien is satirising those - like Yeats - who mythologised a Celtic and Gaelic past that never existed. The spirit is like Paddy Kananagh - but it's satire rather than gritty realism. Understand?

This book is an inside joke, and a classic at that. It is a grand send up of professional Irish (both at home and abroad). As example, consider a book written in Gaelic making sport of the Gaelic movement by means of a Gaelic festival. ( In ourland of the professional ethnic festival, this might serve as an effective antidote to "Irish" nights and "Scots weekends.") If you are inclined to romanticize villages of the old sod dominated by pigs, mud, rain and potatos, avoid this work. If you want a great classic of the jaundiced eye school of literature, read this book. By the way, some of the fun lies in the many parodies of Irish literary works in the assorted chapters; knowledge of the genre helps.

Excellent guide on connecting with the audience. My presentations are generally information driven (Medical field) and there is very little room to change and create a connection with the audience, or so I thought. After reading this book (a very quick, entertaining and easy read) I presented a topic that was rather dry; I had more peoplle come up to me with positive remarks and feedback then I ever had. I highly recommend this book.

This book was a great help - read most of it one day, and used the techniques the very next weekend. A great book!

An excellent introduction to public presentation. Clear, pithy, few wasted words -- it models what it preaches. Unlike many of its competitors on the presentation shelf, S.O.S. doesn't ramble on and on, like a speaker who just can't shut up. Instead, it gets in, gets out, and leaves the reader a better presenter.

The downside of this book is that it has no visuals, no pictures, no fancy color printing inside, and it is printed in expensively; no bells & whistles - just meat & potatos.

Recently, wanting to move my presentation skills to the next level, I spent $1,500 on books & audio. Without a doubt THIS BOOK IS THE BEST resource for advanced presenters. Of all the trainings in my career I've had in presentaiton, negotiation, media & crisis communication, I recommend this as 'the golden little book' to connect with an audience.

I applied the ideas now 3 times to big presentations and each time with "knock-out" success & unsolicited feedback from the audience afterwards. Practice makes perfect !

In addition to the positives mentioned in the other reviews, I have to highlight a great chapter on the often misused PowerPoint ("PowerPoint Doesn't Bore Audiences, Lousy Speakers Do") By emphasizing the importance of a good presentation and clear, simple and direct PowerPoint slides, Wiskup shows how to get the most from this tool without getting bogged down by the its technicalities. As a former training director I've seen lots of bad PowerPoint and this book provides a simple antidote.

If you want to understand programming the Flash Communication Server and it's capabilities this is a good place to start.

Although I'm using Flash Media Server 2, this book is still highly relevant as not much has changed. The core objects and language is the same so I would not hesitate to recommend it for anyone looking to use FMS.

This book is all about the design of applications using Macromedia's Flash Communication Server MX. FCS MX enables the building of media-rich web applications by taking care of the basic tasks required in the networking of the applications. Thus, you can focus on the application itself rather than worrying about low-level communication details.

Since this book is concerned with situations where multiple Flash applications will be executing on the same server simultaneously, there is going to be considerable effort involved in coordinating events, which is addressed by this book. You should already have FCS installed and running on your server and you should also have Flash MX available on the client. The following is description of the book by chapter:

Chapter 1, Introducing the Flash Communication Server - Acts as an introduction to FCS and an overview of the whole book.

Chapter 2, Communication Components - How the FlashCom communication components encapsulate commonly needed features such as chat, video recording and playback, bandwidth control,and user configuration. These components implement many basic building blocks for your application.

Chapter 3, Managing Connections - This chapter covers connections in more depth past the SimpleConnect component, including how to write custom code to handle various changes in the connection status as well as different errors.

Chapter 4, Applications, Instances, and Server-Side ActionScript - This chapter describes how to write Server-Side ActionScript and work with the objects that control application instances and the Flash movies that connect to them.

Chapter 5, Managing Streams - Offers a somewhat oversimplified but complete example that shows the basic steps in publishing one live stream and subscribing to a second.

Chapter 6, Camera and Microphone - This chapter explains how to use both the Microphone and Camera classes to record live streams. These classes are at the heart of most communication applications involving multimedia.

Chapter 7, Media Preparation and Delivery - This chapter covers many details for compressing and streaming audio and video.

Chapter 8, Shared Objects - This chapter starts an entirely new subject - shared objects, which provide a mechanism for the transmission of data between client and server.

Chapter 9, Remote Methods - This chapter also shows how to broadcast method calls to every movie and application instance connected to a shared object or stream, or send them to and from individual movies using RMI.

Chapter 10, Server Management API - Discusses the Server Management API and its applications, including monitoring a FlashCom Server, gathering statistics on application instances, and managing the log streams.

Chapter 11, Flash Remoting - Demonstrates how Flash Remoting can be used to add data connectivity to FlashCom applications. Flash Remoting can access web services, server-side scripts, CGI applications, XML files, or the local filesystem with the help of an application server such as ColdFusion.

Chapter 12, ColdFusion MX and FlashCom - Teaches some specifics involved in using Flash Remoting with ColdFusion MX and FlashCom. There are some practical working examples shown that demonstrate how you can leverage the benefits of Flash Remoting in conjunction with FlashCom.

Chapter 13, Building Communication Components - This is the first step in building complete applications, and is demonstrated through an extensive example.

Chapter 14, Understanding the Macromedia Component Framework - How to modify an existing component and how to create a new one. Also discusses server-side framework code and its core features and data structures.

Chapter 15, Application Design Patterns and Best Practices - Describes some of the best practices available to application developers. This chapter provides some useful design options, patterns, and best practices that will help you build better applications.

Chapter 16, Building Scalable Applications - Deals with building multi-instance and multiserver applications that don't bog down as the number of client connections increases.

Chapter 17, Network Performance, Latency, Concurrency - Traditional network design issues affect FCS also.

Chapter 18, Securing Applications - Specifically this chapter examines the three A's of security - Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting.

Excellent book, stuffed of examples very well explained, easy to read and to understand, essential for who desires initiate or even though to profound itself studies on FlashCom.
Obligator reference in projects involving FlashCom, either for fast consultations and advanced tasks.
Excellent approach of subjects as Design patterns and security, yonder a perfect demonstration about audio, video and much more.

If you're a developer looking into real-time server communication using Adobe Flash, this book is a must-have. It guides you thru various levels of application development in an easy to understand format, and provides well documented pieces of code to assist you in the learning process of putting together your project:

Topics covered include:

- learning about components and how to use them
- establishing and managing client connections
- publishing live and recorded streams
- local communication with clients
- remote communication with outside applications

The book also shows how to build and integrate your own custom components, and how to scale your application using the components that you've created. Other highlights include information on how to use shared objects and server management API, as well as ways to improve both design and performance.