Lewis Carroll Books

I'm a fan of clever dimensional art and this book is one of the more impressive works I've seen. But I was most impressed with the fact that the rest of my family was impressed too. They loved these beautiful and ingenious creations that arise from one page after another.

This is a truly excellent version of Lewis Carroll's classic. The 7 two page spreads are gorgeous. The first spread contains Alice reading, the White Rabbit, and the tree that the White Rabbit is walking away from; its dimensions are 11 inches wide and tall, and 8 inches deep. The full text is contained in a mini-book embellishment with each spread. These mini-books are astonishing! They're very colorful with additional pop-ups. This is simply a stupendous book that I recommend highly! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-up Adaptation

This book is a wonderful adaptation of the famous tale.

It is art as much as a book, and like others I would recommend reading this book to younger readers (as oppossed to letting them handle it)

I have always loved pop up books since I was a child, and this one is one of the best.

the book is so beautifull, as a huge "alice" fan- its the top of my items!!! its like having something taken out from a museun in my house!i highly recomend

I purchased this book as the first pop-up book for my three-year old son and two-year old daughter. I knew it could be a risk, due to the fragile nature of pop-up books, however this one is truly a treat for my children, my wife, myself and everyone else who has seen it!

I'd recommend the book (for self-reading) to older children who know how the fragile the pop-ups can be, but if you read to your kids I recommend this to anyone. It's a classic story which inspires a child's imagination and has an excellent graphical presentation of the story which really captures my children's attention while they're read to.

I only gave this book four of five stars due to the small portions through-out most of the book which actually has the written text. These are also created with mini-pop-ups, but are not incorporated into the whole width and length of the book. Instead the main text of the book is grouped into small 3-4 inch wide pages with small text. Not something you want if you read to your children at bedtime with minimal lighting.

However, don't let this prevent you from buying the book! It is worth the price and has some of the most fantastic pop-ups I've ever seen!

You do not have to be a physics major to understand the nature of Einstein's theory of relativity. This book provides a natural progression of easily-understood examples that cover all the core concepts. It really gets your mind thinking about the nature of space and time. If you ever wanted to know more about physics and these previously elusive and seemingly convoluted areas of science, this is the book to get.

I had taken a course in modern physics in college and read several books on special relativity, but I never really got it until after I read this book. The thought experiments and progression of the book allow the reader to gain understanding conceptually and with virtually no mathematics. This book is so lucid and concise that you don't need to dwell on concepts that aren't clear (since they're all made clear in the text) and you're able to move on quickly. I believe this was the only 'laymans' guide to relativity that I actually finished.

My fondest wish is that someday Professor Epstein will write on quantum mechanics, since that may be the only way I'll ever understand it.

I have canvassed many books seeking to get an intuitive understanding of relativistic gravity and spacetime. No book anywhere does it better than this one! This book is without peer in providing a visualized understanding of the issues of relativity.

The one 3-star reviewer on this site failed to read the book carefully. Epstein shrewdly talks about "myths," that we all must have what he calls "myths" to understand anything. In other words, we are limited to our human cognitive abilities to understand and build models for any concept. So, he warns us that he is about to build on our "myth" about spacetime in that chapter. So right on! Epstein clearly gets it, but that particular reader did not.

Superb book. If you want to have a gut feel for relativity, grab this book.

This is an amazing book. The concepts make immediate sense as they are explained. Once the book is finished, you will have a thorough conceptual understanding of how and why relativity must work.

This book provides a basic look at the What of relativity... but is seriously flawed when explaining the Why. And this is very problematic in a book that is constantly claiming that it's "showing" you why a fact about relativity is true. Epstein keeps "proving" things but when you really look at it he hasn't proven anything at all and you don't really understand relativity any better. For example, he loves schematic diagrams, and showing how something is true because it looks a certain way in a diagram. But just drawing something in a diagram and saying, "See, that's the way time works because that's how the line looks on the diagram" proves nothing. Why does the diagram represent reality? And why must the diagram be drawn in exactly the way he did? And the "diagram proofs" are just a symptom of the bigger problem here: a lack of valid argument to back up conclusions, and an overall lack of rigor throughout the book, from the terms used to the methods utilized for demonstration. Read this book if you are new to relativity and want to get an initial grasp of what it's about and the kind of phenomena it entails. But don't make the mistake of being fooled into thinking you're really undertsanding relativity, because for the most part you're not.

THE GOLDEN KEY by George MacDonald is nothing short of fascinating. It is all at the same time a fairy tale and a unique mystery. The first time I read it, (and now I honestly cannot figure out why) I didn't care for it. But I kept hearing more and more wonderful things about it. So, I read it again, and it enveloped me. Recently, I read it for a third time. And loved it still more.

To describe the plot of this story would do it no justice. Reading this little story is much more like wrapping up in a warm, thick blanket on a cold and rainy night. It is filled with wonder, suspense, beauty, and innocence.

I can't wait to read it again.

I love fairy tales, and this story is a most excellent example of the genre. It follows two children on their journeys through Fairyland and their interactions with various fantastic people and creatures. I loved the pure innocence of the story and found it very captivating. The narration was also very excellent and energetic, making this story a very good listen.

While The Golden Key may not be my all-time favorite book, it certainly has a strong connection to the book that I treasure most of all (well, second to the Bible). You see, George MacDonald, author of The Golden Key, was in fact the mentor of Lewis Carroll, who wrote my favorite non-Biblical book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. That's a very powerful and indeed shocking connection if you ask me. But you can kind of see it if you look closely. I mean, the kids in the Golden Key grow both old and young. Alice in Wonderland grows big and small. Kinda similar there.

Yet, I did not know about the relationship between the two books until AFTER I had finished The Golden Key and decided to do some research on its origin. I simply read The Golden Key like I would any other book, and developed some commentary on the work as a whole that I would now like to communicate:

First, the book is very short. I finished it in two days. And because its so short, events move incredibly fast to make room for heavy amounts of whimsical feeling and fantastical description.

But again I have to go back to the Alice thing. I noticed how SO many sentences in the story turned the reader upside down and made him say, "huh?" It was as if the Fairy World did everything it could to stay all out of whack. Whether it was to make speech that could be heard without ears, or to make the oldest people in the world look like little kids, the topsy-turvy nature of everything couldn't help but instill an amazing sense of awe. Truly, The Golden Key opens eyes to such incredible abstract possibilities of the imagination, and perhaps even life itself.

The out of whack sense of awe, while wonderful in this book, developed into full maturity in the Alice books. While The Golden Key merely mentions things that make no sense, the Alice books actually attempt to explain the senselessness of senseless things.

I hope I will always have a special place in my heart for MacDonald's prototype of Alice in Wonderland. Oh, if we only knew how much the imagination behind The Golden Key has really changed the world. I think we would all be very surprised.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my 20-year-old daughter. It was one of her favorite books as a child and she frequently checked it out of our local library until it disappeared from the shelf there, never to be seen again. She was very excited when she saw that she had her own copy and she took the book back to college with her after Christmas break. Although I haven't actually read the book myself, I can tell you that my daughter thinks it is great!

This book is like a drink of the freshest, clearest water on the brightest, bluest spring day you can imagine. It was lovely every step of the way, somehow beautifully sad and wonderful at the same time. With the aid of the creatures of fairyland, mistreated Tangle and adventuresome Mossy go on an enchanting journey which takes them straight through to a wisdom and sense of wonderment that is somehow greater than that found in adulthood (or childhood). George MacDonald truly had an eye for the worlds of fairy, and an unsurpassed talent for expressing beauty in all things. The stories are not always meant to be understood, but deep in that inner place in one's heart, they make sense.

The Hunting of the Snark is a whacky piece of poetical silliness by Lewis Caroll. Complete nonsense, no-one knows what a Snark is, or why Snark hunters hunt it, or why anyone would want to become a Snark hunter to start with. Anyway, the poem is definitely amusing at times with some of the humour he slips in.

The Hunting of the Snark seems to be a very, very short imitation of The Canterbury Tales. The first chapter (titled a fit) introduces all of the occupations of all the different people going on a journey. However, instead of going on a general pilgrimage and telling tales along the way, their trip is very specific to hunting.

The Baker actually attempts to tell a story, but the Bellman (who leads the group) says there's no time for storytelling. They have to catch the Snark before nightfall.

Along with the Bellman and Baker, a Banker, a Bonnet-maker, a Butcher, a Boots, a Billiard-maker, a Barrister, a Broker, and a Beaver tag along to hunt for the Snark. The Beaver is afraid of getting cut by the Butcher, so he puts on a dagger-proof coat and talks to the Banker about buying an insurance policy.

The Beaver is involved in a hilarious scene with the Butcher later, when the two attempt to compute sums. But perhaps the funniest scene of the entire book is in the Barrister's dream when the Snark declares sentence on a pig, only to find out the pig has been dead long before the trial even began.

I'd highly recommend this short poem for Carroll fans, even though it's not big enough to contain but a small portion of what's to be found in the Alice books.

I have read a great deal of nonsense in the past, but this was by far the best nonsense that I have ever read. There is no point, no meaning, no sense, and no boringness. It is a delightful poem (which is well written and very fun to read aloud) about a crew on a ship hunting a snark. The crew includes a captain who only rings a bell, a beaver, a cook who only cooks beavers (the beaver and the cook did not get along well), a man afraid that the snark would turn into a boojum and make him disappear, etc. As you can tell, this makes for an insanely silly poem. The subtitle is rather fitting, as my sides were definitely hurting from laughter when I was done. Well done Mr. Carroll.

Overall grade: A+

Nonsense poems can easily miss the mark
Yet, this masterpiece has that spark.

"How do you kill a _____?", you ask
To find the answer was the hunters' task.

"What was their fate?", you wonder
Did they ever catch their elusive plunder?

A paragon of haunting Carollian lore
Be in no doubt that you'll finish wanting more.

This poem is just great!

First, this one of the most delightful pieces of writing that ever appeared in (more or less) English. It succeeds as a sustained exercise in illogic. I am sure that only a mathematical logician like Dodgson could possibly have pulled it off - only someone with such deep understanding of reason could master unreason so completely.

Second, Martin Gardner's commentary adds depth and background to the reading. Gardner explains terms that are now obsolete, but also adds his own analysis and a rich history of the Snark phenomenon. It should be no surprise that Gardner is still best known as the long-time editor of Scientific American's column on Mathematical Games, a mathematician himself.

I can't add much to the scholarship or praise that already surrounds this incredible poem. I would like to point out, however, that most non-native English speakers are unfamiliar with this poem. Many of them have only ever seen the serious side of the English language, and have never seen English at play. I consider this short work to be the ideal introduction to the very best of English-language nonsense.

//wiredweird

A small in size book, being about 5 x 6. It is printed on glossy paper with many photographs. It is an exceptional buy for the amount of money tendered. If you read anything by Mr. Carroll you have to have this book too. Mr. Carroll's work is a must for anyone writing anything. The simple truth is his writing means nothing as far as plot, but his style is brilliant.

Is there anyone out there that knows what the name of the writing style used by Mr. Carroll. For instance his characters are telling a story to someone small Mr. Carroll aims his text at a small animal. The small animal answers back in small type. When someone is running and talking, there are long drawn out sentences.

I hardly ever buy nonfiction but seeing this at Borders I knew I had to have it. Lewis Carrol is one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, surpassing even Tolstoy,Dostoevsky,and Dickens. I have a complete collection of all of his works and enjoy them all(except for the math puzzles, math has never been my strongest point.) If you are a fan of Lewis Carroll then this is the book for you. Gorgous illustrations and photographs, an interesting and informative text, this is a wonderful little book to own. It is also informative if you are interested in Victorian England such as Iam (probably due to my Lewis Carroll fixation) There are also examples of Lewis Carrolls photography and pictures of the Liddle children. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the world of Alice and who is obsessed with Mr. Dodgson's books.

This book provides a well written description of the conditions and environment that led to the writing of the Alice books. The reader is immersed in Victorian culture both verbally and visually. The profusely illustrated book is a joy to read and informative as well. It fills the niche between biography and textual analysis.

Joel Birenbaum, president of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America

I mention the 'train book' aspect because this book is just the size to tuck into a handbag. As one who loves Lewis Carroll's works, and has studied Victorian England in depth, I found this work to be a surprisingly rich, delightful treatment of Lewis Carroll's life and work.

It is not an in-depth study of all aspects of his life, and, somehow, I found it most refreshing that, unlike some books which are, there were no diversions into Freudian speculation or treatments of bizarre theories about Dodgson's ways. Instead, the reader is treated to a fairly thorough survey of biographical information and essentials of Lewis Carroll's writings.

The illustrations are exceptionally extensive, including many photographs (of or by Carroll), varied illustrations from editions of "Alice," and, as far as textual illustrations are concerned, excerpts from Dodgson's private correspondence and diaries. One comes to the end of the book with a sense of having covered an amazingly large scope. For example, other authors have mentioned (without showing) the supposedly notorious nude photographs of children which Dodgson prepared. This book not only includes the pictures (which tend to the cherubic, with no flavour of the erotic), but places them into the Victorian cultural perspective with taste and dignity.

The author's style is superb - with a blend of beautiful language, concise but thorough treatment of the material, and impressive dignity. There is none of the excesses common in many books on Lewis Carroll, where rash speculation and prurient "let's pander to the 21st century love for 'dirt'" ruin the essentials of the story. Lewis Carroll is presented in all his brilliance, humour, and eccentricity. The classic works, with all of their fancy, wit, and wonder, are not ruined by excessive analysis or so filled with 'dark' speculation that one forgets what every child can see: they are delightful diversions.

Pair this book with an annotated edition of Lewis Carroll's works, and you will have the perfect gift for anyone who has ever loved "Alice" and her creator. And creator indeed Carroll was, for, as this book shows well, the Alice of fiction was hardly a model of Alice Liddell. The author speaks in some detail of the relationship of the "real" Alice and Charles Dodgson, with no tired attempts to confuse them with the book's contents. As well, the references to other Victorian literature and art places Carroll's work, and the friendship with the Liddell family, in an enlightening perspective for the contomporary reader.

Witty, insightful, and extensively detailed for a pocket book, I would highly recommend this work for anyone who already loves Lewis Carroll or would like a further acquaintance.

This tidy, colorful book presents an evenly balanced look at the life and times of Lewis Carroll. The reproductions of rare photos are outstanding, and are cause enough to buy the book on it's own. The text aviods the loathesome practice of trying to find deep symbolism and imagery in Carroll's works, but rather focuses on them with a pleasant reverence.

This is my personal favorite book from my childhood. Every night between the ages of two and seven, I coerced my father into reading this to me. Every night. My poor dad, but it really is a fantastic book. I still read it whenever I need something to smile about.

The illustrations are just as amazing as the words.

Word of warning, don't read this in animated tones to very small children. I accidentally made two year old twin girls start crying inconsolably at "And as in oofish thought he stood, a Jabberwok with EYES OF FLAME!" I hope I didn't traumatize them.

Graeme Base has lent a thrilling vision to Lewis Carroll's poem, illustrating the complete poem with seven dioramas -- lush, layered cutouts that are an interesting departure from pop-ups and lift-the-flap books.

It is not the only possible imagery, but it is very entertaining, well engineered and, in my opinion, faithful to the spirit of the text's author.

This is my 2 year old's favorite book. We have read it so many time that he almost has the whole poem memorized!! The illustrations are wonderful for adults and children. I find new things in the pages almost every night. I highly reccomend it.

I LOVE this poem by Lewis Carroll. It is extremely well written and inspires the imagination to soar to new heights. I am a big fan of illustrator Graeme Base. His bright and colorful creatures makes this Lewis Carroll classic a MUST for anyone.

Thanks for the amazing service. I greatly appreciate the prompt delivery.

db

As everyone knows the story, the five stars I rated it are for Ralph Steadman's drawings. I've always loved the original illustrations, so it was with some trepidation that I got this book. But I love Mr. Steadman's other work, so I held out hope that this was just as good. And they are - they go great with the story - and manage to be both whimsical and creepy at the same time. I love it. the only thing that I don't like about the book is that it isn't longer - unlike a lot of versions of Alice in Wonderland this one does NOT also include Through the Looking Glass. But it's still great.

Steadman does an amazing job, and this version is worth it for those images alone.

The book was delivered as promised and in good condition. My friend loved the book. Thanks.

What a classic! Everyone knows the story of Alice in Wonderland, made even more popular by Disney years ago. All I knew of Alice was the Disney cartoon and the artwork of Tenniel and Rackham. What I didn't know was the brilliant writing style of Lewis Carroll, the author who created Alice and her Wonderland.

Carroll is one of the most clever writers I have read. I kept thinking to myself as I read this book, "how the hell did he come up with this?" The dialogue is pure genius. I loved every minute of the Mad Hatter and his tea party.

The story is very short and without much of a plot, but that is what can be expected of a dream. It's sort of just a walk down the rabbit hole and through wonderland. But in that walk, we meet fascinating creatures; creatures and objects present in the real world, but with a fantastical twist.

What I loved more than anything was the book itself. I got a beautiful edition of this book through Dreamhaven, published by Firefly. It was a $30 on sale for $7.95. It's hardcover, clothbound, with thick, high quality paper and illustrations that I've never seen before for Alice.

The illustrations are done by Ralph Steadman. His work looked familiar and I found out that he is the artist from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I didn't know what to think of the images at first, but I liked them by the end. They are definitely geared towards a more adult audience, but then again, I forget what it's like to be a kid. He adds a certain edge to the characters. The characters become menacing and bizarre. He gives a great introduction in the book and explains why he drew each one of the images the way he did.

What a great heavy keepsake book / toy. The text and pictures that correspond with each puzzle page is fabulous. Each page comes with its own clear plastic sleeve to keep the pieces securely in when not in use. The individual pieces are color coded in case of a mix up. My daughter is 4, so we do this together, as it is a bit advanced for her age. A great deal- 7 puzzles, a story , hardback, for $12.00. wow

I can never be bothered with Jigsaws and if I buy one its either for the picture on the box or in this case because its a great piece of Aliciana.
You can actually get your own photos done now as Jigsaws and I have one from a picture I took of the Alice Display cabinets at Walton Hall which I then framed.
Charity shops are usually full of Jigsaws but never this one as its the kind of thing you'd need extra copies of.
Probably easier to do than some of these with 2000 pieces

A perennial favorite from generation to generation returns in a delightful set of 7 jigsaw puzzles housed in attractive and practical book form. Youngsters and adults will derive additional hours of pleasure from Lewis Carroll's enchanting stories as they piece together episodes from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass."

Each puzzle is paired with corresponding texts from these beloved tales. Thus, we rediscover Alice looking longingly down the rabbit hole, participating in the Dodo's race, chatting with the Cheshire-Cat, listening to the Mock Turtle's tale of woe, watching the trial of the Knave of Hearts, even meeting the hilarious White Knight.

Forty-eight piece puzzles seems an appropriate choice as they challenge younger solvers and entertain older children. Perhaps best of all is the discovery that we can put Humpty Dumpty together again!

I gave this book to my niece for Christmas and it was a hugehit, both with her and with my sister. This was no surprise to me asI had to really guilt myself into giving it away instead of keeping ithere in our house.... good thing it's readily available, at least forthe time being. Next purchase I make... I'm throwing this inmy basket too. :)

The selections of prose complement the puzzlescenes beautifully and give kids a nice overview of both the Alice andThrough the Looking Glass books. The puzzles themselves did notsuccumb to either "Eat Me" or "Drink Me"(i.e. they're not too big, and not too small, but just right). Eachpiece is color-coded on the back so you don't mix up the differentscenes - a very nice touch. Also included are mylar protector sleevesso the puzzles will presumably stay put after being worked andreworked - another nice touch. Overall, the book is extremely wellmade and something that deserves to be handed down throughgenerations.

This is the only book of its kind I've found, besides...Bravo to the publishers! Please make more!

I gave this book to my niece for Christmas and it was a huge hit, both with her and with my sister. This was no surprise to me as I had to really guilt myself into giving it away instead of keeping it here in our house.... good thing it's readily available, at least for the time being. Next purchase I make from Amazon I'm throwing this in my basket too. :)

The selections of prose complement the puzzle scenes beautifully and give kids a nice overview of both the Alice and Through the Looking Glass books. The puzzles themselves did not succumb to either "Eat Me" or "Drink Me" (i.e. they're not too big, and not too small, but just right). Each piece is color-coded on the back so you don't mix up the different scenes - a very nice touch. Also included are mylar protector sleeves so the puzzles will presumably stay put after being worked and reworked - another nice touch. Overall, the book is extremely well made and something that deserves to be handed down through generations.

This is the only book of its kind I've found, besides the Escher puzzle book which I haven't yet seen except on Amazon. Bravo to the publishers! Please make more!

DeLoss McGraw has been one of my favorite artists for years. I love what he did for "Alice". I saw the display of his preliminary sketches for "Throught the Looking-Glass" at Arundel Books in Los Angeles two years ago. It was a marvelous treat, and portends yet another feast for the eyes and mind.

Now I understand the timeless appeal of Lewis Carroll's classic
"Alice in Wonderland". Of course the story is magic to readers of all ages but for me what is especially magical are the illustrations. Deloss McGraw has turned "Alice" and the world of illustration on its head. Now I understand why this book has just received the New York Society of Illustrators 2001 Gold Medal for Original Art.

Do you remember the first time you saw a painting by Marc Chagall? His fantastic creatures wearing hats and trousers, people kissing while floating in mid air, layers of events happening at once, and conversations between animals and flowers? If Chagall was alive and asked to illustrate Alice's Adventures, it may have looked very similar to this.

Only this is better.

Simple and yet very rich illustrations bounce you from page to page. They are vibrant but not overwhelming, you are curious about where the images will take you next, it makes you hungry for more. And you get more! There is a printed illustration on almost every other page of the book! There seem to be as many small images, lending themselves as nuances to Carroll's text, as there are full-page illustrations. In a word, it's fantastic.

I disagree with the editorial review of the School Library Journal. While I see this book as sophisticated, I also see very young children relating to the artwork. The dream is at times spooky and frustrating like the real world can be, just as at other moments it can be a playful party. Although Alice in Wonderland may not have been originally intended for child as young as three or four years old to read, they will be enticed into trying. A child as young as four will relate to this Alice, she is a small girl with flowing hair and dresses in an easy style. Deloss McGraw has illustrated a modern and truly dreamlike interpretation of Carroll's classic. Finally we have a total departure from the formal British and more grown up Alice that John Tenniel portrayed all those years ago and has been an influence upon artists attempting it since.

Albeit a short, but important side note: the size 14 - 16 font is very readable for both old and young eyes, and comes in very handy for those readers-out-loud at late bedtimes in a dimly lit room.

Of all the illustrated versions there are of this classic story, this will be the version your child would first pick up from the shelf.

Lewis Carroll is a great author for kids and he represents a completely new phase in children's literature. Children are children and they only have grown-up age in front of them as a limited world and a perspective, the latter of which they may change when they are grown up by remembering what childhood was for them and the tales they entertained when they were children in order to tell them to a new generation of children. Lewis Carroll leads Alice into a world where everyday objects and animals, but also strange objects and animals, mix. Everything is right and wrong at the same time. Too small or too big. Everything speaks and tells stories or sings songs that remind Alice of songs she knows but that come out strange and distorted. This whole world of wonderland is a suddenly animated pack of cards in a doll's house and doll's garden. But at the same time Lewis Carroll invests the fears and the fantasms of the child into this world. We then can have and see a father figure and a mother figure that loom high in this world and represent a completely aborted sense of justice. Alice, the child, becomes the one who puts things together and back to straightness by just dreaming this disrupted world awake. She only nostalgically remembers the fascination that was hers and the strangeness that was that world's. Waking up brings her back to normality and clears this wonderland of the menaces it contained. Lewis Carroll is a genius when he thus depicts a world of fear and frustration and shows how this world can become marvellous in real life because it is the antipodes of everyday regular society.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This book has blown my mind...incrediable....the most colorful illustrations ever...and it's a book for all ages

I found Mr. Lewis's approach to exploring multiracial issues down-to-earth and mindful of historical context, and this sets his book apart from some of the other works addressing the same subject matter. I used an entire pack of Post-Its marking pages containing uncommon insights and/or useful information. Thanks for a great read! -Louie Gong, MAVIN Foundation

This book covers the shared experiences, both historical and psychological, of multiracial individuals.

This book is about what every multiracial person knows. This book is also teaches the reader the things every teacher, parent and partner of a multiracial person needs to know.

This was a wonderful and lively work touching on a very timely topic in the ever shifting demographic make up of our country. Elliott provides fresh views in a personable way that helped me with discussions with my own children in accepting those that may come from bi-racial families. Wonderfully eye opening and very touching. It's a great read!

I found this to be a very illuminating read. Elliott Lewis looks at multiple facets of the lives of mixed-race persons in America, and the book will be an eye-opener especially for readers who have little exposure to the subject. This is no dry sociology text: the style is lively and loaded with anecdotes and interviews that bring the topic to life. Lewis' observations on the formation of racial identities in children - and the unique challenges for multiracial kids who find themselves forced to "choose" - are of particular interest. This is a timely subject and Lewis is an engaging writer - definitely give this one a try!

Elliott Lewis travels the country, but mostly the West Coast, and talks to biracial people about their experiences and activism. He gets the point across that mixed-race people are seen by different people differently in different settings. He also does a great job in showing how they want to be recognized in their wholeness.
Mr. Lewis has a unique positionality. Like Lisa Bonet's and Lenny Kravitz's daughter, he is mixed on both sides. His status as a second-generation biracial person is fascinating and fresh.
The late legal scholar Trina Grillo, who was also biracial and wrote on biracial persons, once stated, "It used to be that biracial issues never came up, now you can't turn on the TV without hearing about it." I was worried that this book would just rehash what other books have already stated. I was pleased to be proven incorrect. This had interesting topical chapters. I think both experts and novices can enjoy this book.
Near the end of the book, the author admits the text's most serious flaw: it almost entirely covers black-white mixed people like himself. He gives all this focus on black-white individuals, yet lists numbers that prove there are more white-Latino, white-Asian, and white-Native people than there are white-blacks. I think people from these groups will be gravely disappointed. This book shamelessly falls into "the black-white paradigm" that Latino and Asian-American scholars have lamented.
When he does mention others besides Eurafricans, he focuses on Eurasians. However, the most common interracial couple in the United States is made up of one Latino spouse and one white spouse. The children of couples like Ricky and Lucy make up the majority of mixed folks, yet they are virtually ignored. Lewis never mentions Bill Richardson, Christina Aguilera, Raquel Welch, Benjamin Bratt and numerous other Anglo-Latins. Latinos are now the most numerous group of color in the US, yet they get no attention here. Further, those mixed-race people who are fully of color, like Tiger Woods, get ignored just like they did in Rachel Moran's interracial text. The black and white colors on the front of the book signify the black-white focus here. "Fade" does not just refer to diminishing colors, but also a hairstyle popular among African-American men in the late 1980s.
While the author quotes many male biracial writers, most of his interviewees are female. My Spidey sense tells me that biracial issues may be more salient to women than men. This book seems to hint at that during its discussion on exoticization.
Mr. Lewis mentions that there are more biracials on the West Coast than in the East. Again, I think this can be explained by the heavy white-brown and white-yellow mixing over there compared to the rare black-white mixing east of the Mississippi River.
In a similar fashion that Spike Lee often creates characters in the arts like himself, Mr. Lewis paid especial attention to biracial people working in the media and from Washington State.
I think the author may have fudged a fact in the book. He says that the late NAACP head Walter White was only 1/64th Black. However, Wikipedia says Walter White had 5 great-grandparents and 17 white ones; that's about a quarter Black.
The author has a photo of himself on the back cover. This is similar to the photos in Maria Root's multiracial books. I guess visuality is important in this area. Whatever the cause, one gets to see that Mr. Lewis is incredibly cute.
This book would be good for people of all ages. It has good quotes for students writing papers in college or high school.