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I knew of the Delany sisters from a 60 minutes segment after the first book. In 1998, while starting through the divorce process that seemed so daunting after a quarter century of marriage, I found Sadie's book. I read and reread this book and was always helped with the grief and feelings of being overwhelmed by having to create a life on my own. I figured if Sadie could do it at 107, I could do it at 50. The thought of her having to learn to fix her own hair by herself at that age was such a specific challenge that helped me put my own challenges in perspective. As I read her progress through the grieving process, I made my own progress as well. As I look back on those times 10 yrs. later, I can see this book was one of the most valuable tools I used to not only survive, but to thrive and grow in so many ways.On My Own at 107: Reflections on Life Without Bessie

Sadie and Bessie Delany lived together for over 100 years before Bessie died at the age of 104 in the home that the two sisters shared. They were well-educated African-American women in an era when few blacks or women attended college. Sadie was a teacher and Bessie worked as a dentist. The sisters were devoted to each other and Bessie's death was a severe blow to her older sister.

The original story about the sisters is told in "Having Our Say". This book by Sadie chronicles her experiences in learning to live without her sister in the difficult first year after Bessie's death. Sadie's faith, common sense, love, and wisdom come shining through in this little book.

"On My Own at 107: Reflections on Life without Bessie" is by Sarah L. Delany with Amy Hill Hearth. Their text is accompanied by illustrations by Brian M. Kotzky. This book contains the reflections of 107-year old Sarah "Sadie" Delany after the death of her sister and lifetime companion Bessie at the age of 104.

A foreword by coauthor Hearth discusses the lives of these two extraordinary African-American women and the success of their book "Having Our Say," published in 1993 and adapted as a Broadway play. Bessie was a pioneering dentist, and Sadie a teacher; remaining unmarried, the two enjoyed a lifetime partnership that lasted over a century.

The main body of the text is divided into four parts, each with an introductory section by a 3rd person narrator. But the bulk of the text consists of Sadie's first-person reflections. Interspersed throughout the text are Kotzky's beautiful full color illustrations of the many flowers that longtime gardener Bessie loved: crocuses, tulips, rhododendrons, coral bells, etc.

This is a wonderful book about family, faith, growing old with grace, and surviving the death of one's life partner. Sadie's voice is wonderfully moving and sometimes funny. Ultimately the book celebrates the cycles of life.

This book is a touching tribute to Bessie Delany and a celebration of the enduring partnership she shared with her sister. Early in the book Sadie declares, "Why, I have been so blessed in my life!" Likewise are we readers blessed with this beautiful book. Recommended especially for those with an interest in women's studies, African-American studies, flower gardening, and issues related to the elderly.

Grief is pictured beautifully here as "Sadie" describes her first year after the death of her beloved sister with reference to the beautiful flowers Bessie always raised. The fall and winter of dormancy and renewal in her grief gradually gives way to the vibrancy of spring blooms and summer sun.

When Sadie sees the first spring flowers peeking through the snow, she realizes for the first time that she will grow through her grief. This is a stirring portryal of the experience we all face.

I read the first two books about these two remarkable sisters ("Having Our Say," and "The Delaney Sisters' Book of Everyday Wisdom") and they also deserve five stars each, absolutely. In fact, the best book, in terms of literary merit, is the first one, and I loved looking at the photos in the book of the whole family, going back a few generations.

But this book here really helped me in the first year of my husband's death. I read it at least once a week, usually more. I found strength in the fact that if Sadie could make it on her own after being practically attached at the hip for over 100 years to Bessie, and loving each other so much and so well, then I would somehow find the strength to go on too.

Sometimes I was so cried out, but I was still so sad and wanted to cry more, but the tears wouldn't come. The way the "as-told-to" author Hearth expressed Sadie's feelings always helped bring back those cathartic tears.

I read many books of comfort for the grieving widow, but for some reason, this little book near saved my life.

Great product- I received it quickly and was able to utilize it for a class I was taking.

On Solid Ground is a comprehensive guide for teachers who would like to implement a reading workshop in their classrooms. I found this book to be a very valuable resource. The book also includes an appendix full of reproducible sheets that support instruction and organization.

I just "happened" upon this book a few years ago, and since I first opened the cover, I have been amazed at how it "talks" to the reader. I was drowning in the beginning of my Reading Recovery year, and this book helped me to put teaching reading into not only a global perspectative but into plain language. Since that time, I have re-read this book every summer before I head back into the "regular classroom" in hopes that I will be renewed and refreshed when beginning with my new students. I have referred many teachers to this book and would recommend it as a MUST have in the Professional library of every teacher. NO you dont need to borrow a copy from someone. You need to buy one(and I didnt get paid to say that!) LOL You need to be able to mark it up and refer back to it all year long. My copy is now tattered and torn but what a wealth of information Ms Taberski has given me.

I am a first year teacher working in an elementary urban education classroom. I found this book to be a happy marriage between theory and practice. It is clear you are reading a book by a veteran teacher, not simply someone who theorizes about education. There are so many aspects to this book that I found useful. Taberski's chapter on assessing student needs and organization of classroom space were most helpful. Read this book and if you have a chance check out Sharon taberski at one of her workshops - she is an inspiration to us all. Be sure to check out the appendices at the end of the book - great reproducibles there!

After teaching for 22 years as a special ed. teacher, I read Sharon's book. It changed how I teach forever. Using Sharon's ideas, I decreased the amount of talking I do, increased the amount of reading my students do and saw tremendous change in even my most disabled students. One 4th grade student made 4 years growth in the first six months after I began to use Sharon's strategies and returned to her regular class. All students made significant improvements. I highly recommend her book and her ideas to every teacher of young children. You won't be sorry.

This is a great book. By creating a 2D world Dewdney expands our 3D vision.

In reading this book I was reminded of not only Abbott's Flatland (which was the original inspiration) I was also reminded of Charles Hinton's Fourth Dimension and Choas Coincidence and All That Math Jazz.

In each work, the writers effectively used 2D analogies to give us an idea of what 4D space might be like.

What Dewdney did however was to build detail into what has always been a simple model and thereby give greater detail to the potentialities of our vision.

While others have said that this book would be great for mathematicians I would offer that this book is great for anyone seeking to expand their horizons.

As Henry David Thoreau wrote in concluding his Walden: "There is more light to day than dawn. The sun is but a morningstar!"

Read this book and others like it and bask in the light of that morningstar!

One of the greatest books of all-time. I don't want to over-sell it, so judge for yourselves. (heh) Seriously, this is probably the most complete fictional universe ever created. It reads like a dream and when it first came out (and I was a kid) I often wondered whether the events in the book had REALLY happened. It is that well constructed.

Before it originally went out of print I bought two extra copies so that I'd never be without it, I honestly suggest you read it, and if you like it at all - do the same. It will never leave your mind, and you'll be happy about that.

I found this in the ECSU library, and had a wonderful time perusing it when I was supposed to be doing classwork. The only thing disappointing is that it's fiction. Other then that, it's a rather realistic portrayal of some startling events. Putting aside that the computer project come to life thing is pretty obvious, the rest of this stuff is just too original to pass up. Reading the account of two foreign cultures trying to communicate through a computer program, and having the participant on their side being rather of a mystic bent, makes for some very interesting stuff, as simple as kid's adventure, and as inspiring.

I encourage others to pick this book up. It's great for an inquisitive high schooler (as I was) or an adult.

Dewdney does an excellent job of pulling the reader into the story- one feels as if they are sitting there right next to the screen, waiting for the next contact.

Difficult to put down, and difficult to go back to reality afterwards.

When I was in high-school I had a very intelligent and immensely helpful English teacher, who taught me much of what writing skill I possess today. He came in highly excited one morning, to share with us about a new book he'd come across. Evidently, they had, through a computer, discovered an entirely new reality, that was two-dimensional! And this was an actual event, cutting edge stuff.

Well, a few days later, he came in, quite chagrined, to tell us that, as he read further through the book, he realized it was a work of fiction. But his description had been interesting enough to motivate me to read the book.

The Planiverse's reality is that real, and supported by that much scientific and mathematical principle- Dewdney has done his research, to bring us one of the most delightful what-ifs I've found. Imagine reality just like ours, but take out the third dimension. Everything is well supported, every area of life covered, and the drawings immensely helpful. You truly begin to feel for all the characters in the book. But it's not just an exercise in mathematical possibility. It is a rich story, telling of spiritual journey and insight, as Yendred travels to find his answers. And I still remember the ending as grippingly and eerily numinous, as we realize how closely the Planiverse and our Universe are connected, and how limited we are in comparison to the Eternal.

This was given to me as a gift and am not sure I would've bought it on my own. But I listened to the entire unabridged Audio CD set and it was fine. I think about 70% of the material I already knew; there were a few new bits of information and insight that I gained. If nothing else it gives you a sense of how accurate the Patton movie starring George C. Scott is. One way in which the Patton movie may NOT be accurate is that Axelrod's book states that the slapping incident(s) in Sicily were NOT the reason that Patton was not given responsibility for, or direct involvement in, Operation Overlord. Apparently the decision to put Bradley in charge was made before the slapping incident occured.

This would be a good book or tape/CD to give to a young man or woman in their teens who wishes to begin to learn about this particular great American military man and the times in which he lived.

General George Patton was a great, aggressive leader who had no fear of death. He could lead people where they thought they could not go. He was devout believer in Christ, a fatalist, and really believed himself a reincarnation of a past general. He loved war like Napoleon loved it, and when in one, always was attacking.

I knew little about him before I read the book, and now I feel I have an understanding of his character. He was a man full of contradictions as the book will explain - things you wouldn't expect - like his inner self-doubt and depression, and his outer utter-confidence.

Although they had minor differences of opinion, the conservativeness of Eisenhower and the aggressiveness of Patton with their similar beliefs and background made them a great team during the war.

Patton was a natural leader, and the book reveals his character with all his idiosyncrasies. I would recommend the book to anyone who has general interest into Patton or WWII.

I generally thought that this book was not particularly well written, I spotted a typo in the first of the book that could have been corrected with some editing. The writing was certainly not complex: more like a middle school text. However, I found the facts of Patton's life extrodinary.

This concise but authoritative biography of General George S. Patton, Jr. is the perfect text for the person who desires a penetrating biography of this legendary General without the length of some of the more complete biographies out there.

As others have already posted, this is an easy-to-read biography that makes a great introduction to Patton's life, and for many readers this is complete enough to stop here. Alexrod does a great job of capturing the essence of Patton's life and philosophy in such a brief biography.

The book starts out strong with the introduction by General Wesley K. Clark, and I can't help but agree with his sentiment that Patton was a winner, a morale- and team-builder who adapted quickly and sought to master every challenge and that we need leaders like Patton today.

Axelrod has written an excellent concise biography of General Patton. I recommend it to anyone who wants a quick overview of his life and desires an introduction to this great general. I also recommend it to those that have read more exhaustive biographies on General Patton as I have. Sure, I was familiar with what was written because I have read the longer texts on his life, but I enjoyed this quick read about one of my favorite generals. If you like Patton or want to know more about him, this is a great little book.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author, speaker
Hard-Won Wisdom From The School of Hard Knocks, Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, and The Lock On Joint Locking series

In my humble opinion, this title is one of the best biographies I've read in a long time. While the book contains only about 180 pages, the account is thorough and does not get bogged down in a dry summary of war strategy and tactics that afflicts other books.

Axelrod is able to describe in appropriate detail many aspects of Patton's life:

1. His early childhood in California, time at Virginia Military Institute, and ultimately graduating from West Point.
2. Involvement in the expedition against Pancho Villa and World War 1.
3. Rise to fame in World War 2.
4. Relationship with Eisenhower, Bradley, Montgomery, and other WW2 officers.
5. Relationship with enlisted men (including the 2 slapping incidents).
6. Tempestuous marriage to his wife Beatrice and his supposed reputation as a ladies' man.
7. The automobile wreck that led to his untimely death.

The part I enjoyed reading the most was probably the author's description of this highly effective general and most complex individual's personality. On the one hand, there is no doubt that while Patton played a significant role in WW2, many people disliked him. However, no one can argue with his point that Russia should have been dealt with much more firmly at the conclusion of WW2. Events from the 1940s - 1980s proved him to be correct.

A highly recommended read. Read and enjoy learning about one of our nation's greatest generals.

Penguin is a book that contains photographs by Frans Lanting and text and commentary by Christine Eckstrom. Lanting is one of the world's best known nature photographers and a number of his photographs are instantly recognizable. The book contains exquisite photographs of the many varieties of penguins in both Antarctica and lower South America. There are large penguins, small penguins, beautiful penguins, ugly penguins (or at least penguins that only a mother could love), and chicks of quite a few species. Some of the photographs are portraits, others show action. Many of the photographs contained in this book are already rather familiar and popular, especially the cover photo of a mother and father penguin with a small penguin chick. We see in these photographs why Lanting is a master nature photographer and why so many of his photographs are featured in magazines such as National Geographic.

Everyone will enjoy this coffee table book. Nature lovers will enjoy the majesty of these great birds. Photographers will find inspiration. Certainly after viewing the photographs in this book one may want to travel to the remoter areas of the world to see these creatures, but for those of us who would find the trip to be too cold and cost prohibitive, this book will serve us just fine.

Known for his exquisite images and extraordinary fortitude, Frans Lanting will travel to the ends of the Earth, weather the most extreme conditions and still persist in making the most beautiful and creative photographs of his subject imaginable. Over the course of a decade, he traveled to the Falklands, South Georgia, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica, and the Southern Ocean, where his subject was penguins. In "Penguin", Lanting exhibits his photographs from these expeditions, in which he aspires to evoke the personalities of the individual birds and convey some sense of the experiences that their lives entail. "Penguin" features photographs of a wide variety of penguin species, from the diminutive to the imposing: Emperor, King, Gentoo, Galápagos, Rockhopper, Macaroni, Magellanic, Adélie, and Chinstrap, representing all four main clans of penguin species. The book is organized into three large sections: Coming to Land, Going to Sea, and Living on Ice, which each consist of an preface by Lanting introducing us to the featured penguins and explaining a little about their lives, followed by many color photographs of penguins doing what the sections' title implies. There are also several smaller sections containing an introduction, an essay about photographing the penguins, and an image index. Most of the images in this book are at least full page. Many span two pages. Some images are accompanied by captions, but more detailed captions are found, alongside thumbnails of the images, in the image index. This is a little awkward, but it does allow images to be printed full page without having to leave room for captions. The reproduction quality of the photographs in "Penguin" is not on the level of fine art books, but it is very good for a book in this price range. Recommended for penguin lovers and Frans Lanting fans.

No, neither have I but you'll find them in Frans Lanting's beautiful paperback of penguin photos, along with the emperor, gentoo, king, magellanic, chinstrap, adelie and rockhopper, all in dazzling color. As he says in the books short introduction it is not a natural history of these amazing birds but a personal photographic interpretation shot over a ten-year period. The birds are shown in all weather conditions, as huge groups, ten or so and as individuals in very detailed close-ups. Naturally the close-ups of parents with chicks are the most appealing photos in the book.

Many of the photos have captions and rather strangely there are twenty-four pages at the back of the book with thumbnails of all the photos and detailed captions, I would have thought it better to use these pages for more photos and have a caption (where needed) on each page. Apart from this I think it is a lovely book of penguin photographs and excellent value too.

"Penguins" by Frans Lanting is one of the most beautiful nature books I have ever seen. In it he details the lives of various species of penguins through his brilliant photographs and a modicum of text. Make no mistake; this is a book of pictures: it does have a small amount of informative text, but the main attraction is the incredible color photographs. The photos are arranged artfully, but my one nitpick would be the captioning: each photo has a very abbreviated caption (though not always on the same page,) but to find out more detail about a given picture, you must flip to the back of the book and cross-reference the photo in the image index, a feature that I found annoying.

Overall this book is great, and I appreciated that Lanting did not devote the book to the more commonly known King and Emperor penguins, but also detailed the lives of other less well known species like the Rockhopper, Gentoo, and Macaroni penguins. For those interested, Lanting includes a section on penguin and Antarctic conservation in the back of the book. This is a great and visually stunning book, and I recommend it without reservation.

This book is top-notch and amazing, just like anything else you would expect from Frans Lanting. You can just imagine the hardwork the man goes into just get these photos you see, not to mention the ones you don't see. This book made me feel a connection to penguins I didn't have before. You look at the book and you can see how similar these animals really are to people, their behaviors and family and emotions are so human-like, it is scary and quite emotional sometimes. Amazing book.

Enthralling, entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking, "The Symposium" is one of Plato's classics. A group of men gathered at a dinner party in ancient Greece discuss the topic of love. Each man offers his view or definition of love, and the results are all different, engaging, and full of symbolism. Although it is a short book, one must not read it once and put it away; it ought to be be read again and again just to compare to what is "picked up on" each time. One thing always puzzles me: I will never know why Plato included the doctor (his name escapes me at the moment) have a bout of hiccups during someone's speech. I have never come up with a satisfactory answer - nor has any one I know, either. Nevertheless, this is an excellent read that I highly recommend for anyone - student and nonstudent. Enjoy!

The Symposium of Plato is a profoundly thought-provoking, entertaining and inspiring piece of philosophical writing. It is very short, yet infinitely more substantial than many longer works.

We are in Athens, 416 B.C.E. The scene is a banquet at the house of Agathon, who had the day before celebrated the victory of his tragedy. By the end of the party, seven men - and one absent but central woman - will have presented their views on the nature and meaning of Eros, or love.

There is no difficulty in keeping the characters distinct in our minds. Plato has great fun contrasting the opinions - and verbal styles - of tragic poet, comic poet, politician, physician and the rest, allowing absurdities and profundities to mingle freely. Socrates is very appealing, saint-like, yet utterly down-to-earth, playing his usual role of a 'philosopher' - one who 'knows only that he does not know' - always in passionate search of the truth, but catching only revelatory glimpses of its perfection.

Phaedrus gives the first speech, praising lovers' (especially homosexual) passion and loyalty, which makes them perform mighty and heroic deeds. Pausanias differentiates between virtuous, or spiritual love, and common, or bodily love. Virtuous love between men should not be primarily about sex, but about improvement and education of the soul. Eryximachus, the doctor, makes a mostly irrelevant (and boring) speech, claiming nature's contrasting elements illustrate the need to balance the healthy and unhealthy aspects of love. Aristophanes then delivers a brilliantly memorable speech, hilarious and poignant by turns, telling of how humans were once two-in-one, back to back, with two heads, four arms and four legs, with three combinations of sexes, male/male, male/female, and female/female. Their strength and speed made them threaten the gods, so Zeus cut them in half, leaving them to search forever for their other halves, and through love attempt to regain their original oneness. Agathon then gives an over-the-top, ecstatic speech, praising love as the youngest, most graceful of the gods, saying he brought order to heaven itself, 'empties men of disaffection and fills them with affection', etc, climaxing with the suggestion we all follow in love's footsteps, 'sweetly singing in his honour'.

It is then Socrates' turn. He performs for all conversations that took place between himself when much younger and Diotima, a 'wise' woman from Mantineia, to whom he had gone for instruction in the highest truths of love. In sum, the lesson is that love is the desire for the everlasting possession of the good and beautiful, which brings happiness. We crave immortality, in order to be happy eternally. We love our offspring, artistic works, laws and institutions, because they are all attempts to achieve an immortal name. These, Diotima claims, are the 'lesser' mysteries of love.

The 'greater' proceed from the 'lesser' in ascending steps. From one beautiful body the lover creates 'fair notions', then he sees all bodies are similar and equally worthy of love. From bodies he proceeds to the beauty of the virtuous mind, then the beauties of institutions and laws, climbing from there to the beauty of the sciences, until, after much growth in wisdom, he reaches the vision of all creation as beautiful. The final step is to rise to the contemplation of unchanging, eternal, absolute beauty itself. To spend your life in union with perfect beauty allows you to bring forth 'real' things, not 'images' and 'be immortal, if mortal man may'.

A drunken Alcibiades bursts in at this point, and gives a rambling, often funny, speech about his love for Socrates and how he - a very beautiful man - was spurned sexually by him. He describes Socrates' near-supernatural control of himself, totally above the effects of pain and pleasure. The book ends with a description of Socrates' companions all falling asleep as dawn breaks (after all-night drinking) and his going about his usual day.

Throughout the Symposium, Plato makes it clear that sexual relations are not the best thing at all for 'lovers'; they who wish for the highest happiness must seek to grow in virtue and wisdom and become increasingly detached from earthly pleasures. This is the origin of the phrase 'Platonic love'. Women were not considered their intellectual and spiritual equals in Athens at the time, so men of sophistication had to look to each other for emotional sustenance.

What then, we may ask, can the Symposium offer human beings today who are not interested in purely mystical/intellectual living and prefer the sexual and emotional satisfactions found in personal relationships?

A great deal, I believe. In his introduction Benjamin Jowett states that Plato 'is conscious that the highest and noblest things in the world are not easily severed from the sensual desires, or may even be regarded as a spiritual form of them'. In other words, earthly pleasures and transcendent ones are inextricable. Plato used words such as 'good' and 'virtue' to describe freeing oneself from the world of the senses, by using our reason to choose correctly who - or what - to attach to as we move through life. If we choose correctly, be it friends, sexual or lifetime partners, we strengthen our sense of inner freedom, until finally we experience it at the deepest, mystical level - the profound shift in consciousness that Plato was pointing to as the highest good - which in and of itself is morally and values-neutral.

The genius of Plato is that he communicates the total commitment required to attain perfect freedom, and the moral obligation of all human beings to strive for the happiness it alone can deliver.

Plato's "Symposium" will always be read because there will always be people who question the nature of Love. Agathon's dinner party is the scene of a conversation between a small group of men, who go around the table offering their views on Love. What does Love mean to us to-day? Reading over the responses of the dinner-guests and their host, we find the same range of answers in Ancient Greece that we are likely to find now.

Phaedrus and Pausanias are utilitarians and materialists. Phaedrus looks at love between people and a proto-Burkean love for government and state. Pausanias complicates the argument, saying that there are two different kinds of love, one which is common and one which is heavenly - yet still oriented towards the real and the tangible. Eryximachus is a proto-Swedenborg, trying to reconcile or harmonize the two kinds of love.

The jewels of Plato's "Symposium" are Aristophanes and Socrates. Aristophanes gives us the profoundly moving depiction of Love as a fundamental human need, a desire for completion. For a writer of comedy, whose aim as an art form is forgiveness and acceptance, Aristophanes's explanation is no surprise, though its depth is amazing. While women are generally discounted throughout the "Symposium," not only does Socrates, as we might expect, completely astound his audience (both inside the book and out) with his progressively logical and ascendant view of Love, but he also does it through the voice of a woman, Diotima. When we realize that Socrates is a character in this fiction, and that his words originate in a woman, the egalitarianism and wisdom of Plato the author truly shines forth, like the absolute beauty he claims as the ultimate goal of Love.

Was Plato a feminist? I don't know. I do know that the "Symposium" is a tremendous book. I picked it up and did not stop reading it until I was finished. The style of the Penguin translation is smooth, with a lighthearted tone that can make you forget that you are reading philosophy. Plato's comedic masterpiece in the "Symposium" is the character of Alcibiades, who provides the work a fitting end. Get the "Symposium" and read it now. You cannot help but Love it...in a Platonic sort of way.

Perhaps the most "literary" of all Plato's works, "Symposium" is the story of a dinner party gathering of great (and a few not so great) minds, whom engage in a discussion in praise of eros, or passionate love. It is considered literary because it is highly metaphorical, it's characters are drawn well and in some cases unforgettably, and it succeeds on many levels. It is not uncommon for Socrates to elevate the subject of discussion in any given dialogue to that of our earthly existence, and how we should go about it. Perhaps shocking to readers unfamiliar with the Greeks is the prevalence of homosexual love, particularly with young boys. But, if nothing else, this is an insight into ancient culture. And the absolutely magnificent speeches given by Aristophanes and Socrates remain profound and beautiful to modern readers, regardless of whether or not the other speeches are unpalatable to some. Also, Alcibiades, drunken, hilarious rant is not to be missed. Read in a single sitting, this work is almost sublime.

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Plato's "Symposium" is the story of Agathon's dinner party where conversation takes place with a small group of men, who recline, eat and drink around a table offering their views on Love. This story is an amazing account of how intelligent and yet so different a culture the men from ancient Greece were compared to our society today. Each speaker has this most amazing ability to tell two stories at the very same time, an creative artistic movement of what love 'is' in each and every story. applying and , metaphorically. intertwining a cultural, mythological story of the gods, giving far deeper meaning. In addition to this, the love relationships and sexual nature of these men also permeate an entire cultural feel to the story, enveloping a radical differentiation from our de-mystified and de-enchanted world back into a once existing world of substantial meaning and profundity.

Phaedrus, speaks first and relates how love is the greatest good, the beautiful, is shameful of ugly things and how only lovers are willing to die for one another.

The second speaker, Pausanias, applies two types of love, one Aphrodite, a common base love working at random with men's feelings, for money, for loving physical bodies, boys, men and women. The other type of love, from a much younger goddess, being a higher type, the heavenly, who only loves other men and boy love, but this is not physical body love but from affection of the mind of virtue and wisdom..

Aristophanes has the hiccups, so it is Eryximachus, a doctor, who speaks third, applying the idea of love as a double love; "for bodily health and disease are by common consent different things and unlike, and what is unlike desires and loves things unlike." p.82 The god of art was said to implant love as a healing art, all such love guided by this god. "It is quite illogical to say that a harmony is at variance with itself or is made up of notes still at variance." "So love as a whole has great and mighty power, or in a word, omnipotence ."

Aristophanes, the comic writer, gives a moving account of Love as a absolute human need, a desire for completion to the point of each person once shaped differently being cut in half, taking our current shape, in need of the other to complete the whole of what we once were. "For first there were three sexes, not two as at present, male and female, but also a third having both together," and they were violent, strong and forceful and would even attack the gods. So Zeus and the other gods held a meeting and decided to cut them in halves and make them weaker. From then on, they were sexually drawn to one another, both heterosexual and homosexual, reasons all due to the way of the cutting of the halves.Lesbianism and boy to man love is freely spoken of and justified according to this story of the gods. His moving speech on the beauty and virtue of love however, is according to Socrates, true only in the sense of romanticism and fictional idolatrous admiration of what love should be. For Socrates found such a romantic explanation of love as untrue to what love really is and what love contains, as it does not contain all the beauty and good.

The fourth speaker, Agathon gives a moving speech on the beauty and virtue of love however, it is according to Socrates, true only in the sense of romanticism and fictional idolatrous admiration of what love should be. "For all the gods are happy . . and love is the happiest of them all being the most beautiful and best . . the youngest of gods." In his speech, love is every good, virtuosos and beautiful thing.

The last speaker, Socrates, found such a romantic explanation of love to be untrue, for what desires good, virtue and wisdom is only something that does not contain such, something lacking, and therefore lacking it desires such things. Love only desires what it lacks. Love is neither beautiful nor ugly. "To have right opinion without being able to give reason is neither to understand nor is it ignorance. Right opinion is no doubt something between knowledge and ignorance."

It is so interesting how common and free sexuality and homosexuality were, how each man present commented on the beauty of the young men in their glory of youth. Alcibiades, jealous of Agathon, also a young beautiful male, makes a moving speech how Socrates refused his love and how other like young men, also were moved with his amazing wisdom and prose.

While women are generally discounted, and the bonding of affection in male love was considered a higher love by Pausanias, Socrates explanation of love, by far the most profound, was one he received from a woman named Diotima. Here, as another reviewer has stated, shows Plato's the egalitarianism and wisdom, like that of the beauty and ultimate goal of Love.

Later a group of men crash the party and the drinking really gets started. Some leave, while Socrates stays all night, never loosing integrity from his drinking and leaves with all his integrity.

I love everything about this novel! This is one of the most powerful teen novels I've read so far. It has all the ingredients for a great read: real characters, strong emotions, incredible imagery, and all the conflict one could ever want. Highly Recommended (and I look forward to reading more novels by Ms. Erskine)!

Kathryn Erskine respects her readers. She tackles subjects that others seem to avoid like the plague. She does it with wit and grace through Matt, the sarcastic and cynical main character of QUAKING.

Matt (not Mattie, and certainly not Matilda) has once again been dumped into the hands of distant relatives of distant relatives. And this time, she has to make it work because there's nowhere else left for her to go.

But these peace-loving Quaker people will have to understand that she doesn't have any feelings, so she does not intend give in to their silent pleas for love and affection. It's just not worth it to let her guard down only to have everything taken away again.

And she doesn't intend to take their advice and stand against bullies, either. Don't they even have the common sense to run and hide at the first sign of trouble? This tactic has always served her well in the past.

Or has it? Maybe it is time to stand, especially if she wants to stay in one place for once.


This book was my favorite of 2007 Young Adult Novels.

Off to Turn Another Page....

This review was cross posted at The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents ([...])

By Professional Reviewer, Julie M. Prince
(www.juliemprince.com)

Fourteen-year-old Matt (Matilda) is a Goth, but that partially a pose to keep the world away. She uses her look, and her humor - a knife-like sarcasm - to avoid connection and taking action. But she finds at her new home, the parents, in particular the father Sam, are devout Quakers and activists engaged in the anti-Iraq war movement. As she moves closer to Sam, those same beliefs lead to her harassment at school by a big mouth bully and a pro-war civic teacher. As the title suggests, after years of an almost dormant emotional life, Matt begins "quaking" and moving toward action. The ending -- which echoes that of Crutcher's Whale Talk --is tragic, and thus befitting of a book about the Iraq war. Like my own novel Nailed Quaking also explores kids who decide not to fit in and thus turn high school into a trip through the badlands.

If you are mad at the war in Iraq you will like this book. If you wonder how it feels to be a foster kid tossed from house to house, you will love this book. If you've had a really crazy fanatical teacher like the main character Matt does, you will totally relate. Really great read.

Beckie Weinheimer, author CONVERTING KATE, Viking Books 2007.

When I saw "Quaking" reviewed on the TeensReadToo web site, I mentioned it to my best friend who is a Quaker. She said she'd read it and found it very moving, and encouraged me to read it too. I'm certainly glad I did.

What she failed to tell me is that it's a kid's book--and I love to read kid's books. Actually, Amazon has it listed in the 9-12 age range, but since the protagonist is fourteen, it should be listed as Young Adult (YA). Personally, I think it's one of those books that's a cross-over, written to appeal to adults as well as kids ... like so many YA books are.

Kathryn Erskine's debut novel tells the story of Matt (and DON'T call her Matilda!) who is an abused fourteen-year-old shunted from one foster home to another. Matt dresses Goth and memorizes the floor, hiding from the trauma of her past, spurning all offers of kindness and care. What a culture shock for her to end up in the home of Quakers Sam and Jessica Fox!

The story builds in intensity as Matt begins to care about her foster parents and becomes involved with the Quaker peace testimony. Feelings about the war in the Middle East run high in her school and her town, with the school bully ("the Rat") and a teacher ("Mr. Warhead") leading the charge against local pacifists.

Matt tries to hide her fear of the Rat and his gang, but as the town begins to erupt with violent attacks against houses of worship, she knows it's only a matter of time until the Quaker Meeting House and her foster father are victims. Eventually, in an explosive ending, Matt finds her voice and the strength to face her fear and stand up for her own convictions.

The author challenges herself by telling the story in Matt's own voice and does a masterful job of bringing the strong, loving girl out of her protective shell. She uses icons of a happy childhood to expose cracks in Matt's armor. The mesmerizing rhythm of Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" find the first chink: <<"And then I remember how dangerous it is to go to that place. The place you think is safe. Because it is not.">>

Jessica's homemade soup dissolves the last of Matt's defenses: <<"I love this soup. I want to hide in this soup, among its carrots and potatoes and celery and chicken and warm breath ... I want to fall asleep in this soup, wrapping myself in its wide noodles and using a soft lima bean for a pillow.">>

That last passage is like magic to me; a marvelous image that may be my favorite in the entire book!

I particularly enjoyed this book because I learned more about my friend's church. "Quaking" reveals a lot about Quakers and their testimonies, but first and foremost, it's a brilliant YA novel about a young girl who opens her heart to unconditional love. I recommend this beautifully written story for the whole family.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2008

I have found most "self improvement" golf books to be difficult to grasp without great photographic portrayal of the techniques being taught. Video would make them all that much better. This book, however, deals with easy to grasp concepts and exercises that are practical and efficient. What a great thought process the super fluid concept is! This is just the book needed for those who need to take a break from the physical grind of improving their golf game and get into the mental end of the spectrum.

A PGA master professional told me that my greatest problem was rhythm and tempo. He introduced me to a few aspects of "quantum golf" and I suddenly hit my 3-iron longer than I previously hit my driver.

Back in Europe I still focused on my rhythm and tempo but after several months the length of my shots decreased and I went back to classical golf.

Only after reading the book "quantum golf" I saw that I was missing one essential part of quantum golf - the Q-position. I went back to quantum golf and my results are amazing: my length and precision off the tee improved a lot.

A fascinating novella, where a Mr. Smith learns about himself as he explores golf with a mystical teacher in the middle of Iowa. Great reading for tennis players or golfers who want to learn a "superfluid" swing, but also for the golf/tennis metaphors that apply to life. Delightful

I'd heard of transcendental meditation since the mid-70's and always found it fascinating. I never paid the exorbitant fee they wanted to learn it, but understood enough of the fundamentals that I could apply it to some things in my life.

This was the first book about golf that actually used those principles. I had been in the Navy for quite a while and had the opportunity to play golf at many fine courses around the world.

I bought this book one early summer while my handicap was hovering around 17 and went on leave. I read the book, practiced the way the teacher asked in the book, and went back to my duties after my thirty day leave. Within a month, I had my handicap down to 12 (quite an accomplishment for a self-taught duffer like myself.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that aspires to achieve "Zen" in their golf game.

I'm a pretty good golfer, and I knew that my game was plateauing. I was stuck at about 79-83, and I knew that spending time beating balls at the driving range was getting me no where. I bought this book based on the reviews I saw here, and I have to admit I am SHOCKED. The book is that good. It's a story, that reveals the secrets of golf within it, primarily teaching you better rhythm, and how to "dance with the club", I feel the difference already, and I have owned the book for only 3 days. Its a great read, and very helpful, I would recommend to all level of players.

I just finished the Poldark Saga (all 12 books) and can't recommend them enough!! I was able to secure 10 of the 12 from our local library system but had to buy the other two due to unavailability, and they are well worth their purchase price. I'm a lover of Brit lit and this series takes you to the Cornish coast and proceeds to envelop you into the lives of an engaging family and their friends and foes. Great descriptions of the coast and the weather, both of which figure greatly into the story lines, and the characters are indeed people you would enjoy knowing.

The quest for the 12 books was well worth the effort. Go forth and enjoy!!

These books have no equal in historical fiction. I have read them several times and am starting over again. The writing and character development are the best I've ever read. Start at the beginning and end with #12 - Bella Poldark - which was written a year or two before the author passed away. This series could provide a book group with material for an entire year!

I have recently been introduced to this series and started reading books which were originals from the 40's. It is a wonderful series and I have now read 10 of the novels and wish it would never end. Great piece of history and family. It is so nice to be able to read "new" books, even though I enjoyed the yellowed pages of the old ones I have. Don't miss it! Also have the BBC Video set which is in black in white, but interesting, none-the-less.

In 1783, Ross Poldark, the title character to the opening volume (published in 1945) of the magnificent Poldark series, the great undertaking of Cornish writer Winston Graham's ninety-three-year life, is first introduced to us as a young man in his early twenties, a de-commissioned infantry officer, recently returned from the brutality of the War of Rebellion in Colonial America. Given up for dead and in fact wounded almost to the point of death, Poldark returns to his native Cornwall, a scarred, limping figure, still spirited but aged and hardened by the horrors of war. Grimly, the adventurous risk-taker Poldark discovers his father, the local squire and something of a lothario, is dead, his fiancée, Elizabeth, believing Ross killed in combat, is now engaged to wed Ross' cousin, Francis, and that an ambitious family of rising commercial entrepreneurs, the Warleggans, are in the process of trying to persuade Ross's uncle to sell them the mines that would have been Ross's has his father's will been penned without the apparent tragedy of his son's death foremost in his mind. The story spreads like the branches of a massive tree and before the conclusion of this, volume one, we come to meet the sort of characters that will never be forgotten, and find ourselves witness to scenes and situations that stir the imagination.

What separates the dozen Poldark novels from so many other historical works is firstly the intricate, good-natured, involving plotline Graham sustained throughout the sixty years he was writing about these characters, but above that, there is within each Poldark work a sense that one is entering a past time, not merely reading of it. Life as Graham writes in any of these books is a near three-dimensional voyage two hundred years backward, and he leaves few stones unturned. When one reads these novels one learns about the mining industry of the era, the banking industry, social customs, warfare, and contemporary attitudes on an encyclopedic range of subjects. One witnesses the rise of Methodism, and grasps its role as an outlet to quell ill-will among the English lower classes, as nothing did among the violent-minded masses of 1780's France. Graham tells us what people in those times wore, ate, drank, what they would have felt, witnessed, heard, smelled, thought, and feared. He takes a modern person into what might very well be described as a psychological/sociological time machine. These books boil with the gamut of human emotion and passion, from hate to lust, to love, to desire for all manner of possessions.

Ross Poldark and the eleven other novels that follow it are storytelling at its old-fashioned greatest, and this book launches what I truly feel is the greatest historical saga in the English language.

This is the first Poldark novel introducing Ross Poldark, Cornwall mining owner/farmer/squire and his extended family.

I especially enjoyed listening to the audiotapes narrated by
Tony Britton; his chararcters' accents are humorous and entertaining. I love the Poldark series and after I read or
listen to all the novels I'd like to see the videos.

Wonderful stories and characters, highly enjoyable. Hard to
put down.

Shadows on the sea was a great book to read. It is about a girl named Jill Winters who goes up to her grandmother's cottage in Winterhaven, Maine. She soon finds out that her mother has to pass through the dangerous waters of the atlantic to visit her brother. The Atlantic is filled with dangerous "u-boats" or german submarines. Jill also finds out that in the town of Winterhaven there a germans hiding adn waiting to attack. Will she save the town of Winterhaven or not?

Shadows on the sea was a great World War II book to read. It gives you the real life of an actual person who lived in the world at that time. It was very suspenpensful with all the action. It gives you a taste of what it felt like in the war. In my perspective I would have been terrified if I was Jill. Hopefully there is a sequal to this book. Another book similar to this is Private Peacful.I would recommend this book to anyone!!!!!!

My 11-yr-old daughter, 5th grade advanced reader, was assigned to do a report on an Historical Fiction book regarding its symbolism. I gave my daughter this book and she enjoyed it very much and is doing her report on it. I was worried that it would not have much symbolism in it but I read it myself and found that it is chocked full of symbolism. She only had to come up with 8 symbols, but there are many, many more in this book. I'm very happy about that.

This book changed the way i think now of all life i am so happy i decided to read this book from my school library. Its packed with action the beginning is sort of boring but keep reading it gets so much better.

decpite the fact im a boy and this is about a girl i boght it at my school fair.and i truly loved it.im a history geek and this was very accurate to what civailains went through.i do know that this would 99.9 of the time this would not happen.although the gerry's did send sabouters (who were cought.)overall this is a very good book and a nice way to show school kids what civalians went through during the war.

Shadows on the Sea takes place in Maine during World War II, and it is the year of 1942.
This is an intriguing book about a girl named Jill Winters. Her dad, Drew Winters, is a famous singer. When her Uncle Cliff gets sick, her mother needs to go see him and Jill's father arranges for Jill to go by herself, by train, to Maine, to see her Nana. Ever since Jill's mother went to see her Uncle Cliff, Jill has been listening to the radio to hear if a German U-boat torpedoed the ship her mother went on.
On the train, Jill meets a rich girl named Wendy and she and Jill become friends. From there the story begins. The two remain friends for a time then Jill meets a boy called Quarry and he introduces the girls to a group called the Crystals. You have to be voted in to the Crystals and Jill was voted in because her father was famous. Wendy wasn't and, so, Jill and Wendy's friendship broke up. Jill and Quarry remained friends though. Then Jill found Sarge, her Nana's cat eating a pigeon, she found a flask attached to the pigeons leg, and in it was a piece of paper with "sonnabend IV" written on it. Jill told Quarry about it. This is the mystery part; from there you will start staying up at night to read. This book is good for people that are interested in World War II and are ages 9 and up. I really enjoyed this book; it is historical fiction. If you are not a fan of reading, this book will get you reading. If you are looking for books to read, Joan Hiatt Harlow is the author of this book and many more great books.