Reviews Books

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Superb as always.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leslie Pennington

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

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

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

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

aight y'alls i aint playin' when i be sayin this book is the bomb. shoo, i'se be cookin' ups a storms ups in my kitchens with thems resepees. thems fired mens are crispy like my chinkens.
i'se didn't realizes that them shows on tv was so funny and mades me feel good and i'se cried me some tears, yo.
anyways, goods readin' and keep writin' these guides.

before i read tvtherapy i was just a poor sap cluelessly watching television. this book is such a great guide for someone like me who knows nothin' about the healing qualities of television.
i've discovered the joys of picking the right shows to set my different moods.
thank you bev and jason for enriching my life.before i read tvtherapy i was just a poor sap cluelessly watching television. this book is such a great guide for someone like me who knows nothin' about the healing qualities of television.
i've discovered the joys of picking the right shows to set my different moods.
thank you bev and jason for enriching my life.

Sparkling with slick prose, and some downright funny quotes from a variety of TV shows, TV Therapy picks out perceptive aspects from your favorite TV shows that will have you watching them again with fresh eyes. With the food and drink recipies, you'll have culinary company that adds more dimension to the experience, whether it's burritos for dinner, or cocktails and party platters with friends.

This is the third book that I own from the Cinematherapy series, and it's wonderful. Like most people in New England, I'll be spending more time indoors as the weather gets colder and the book is packed with reviews of just about every TV show neatly arranged by type, in addition to some very creative recipes for the novice and seasoned chef alike.

There are some very funny TV quotes peppered in here and there and i can't forget to mention the drink recipes that will take care of the winter blues.

This book is a must for any TV buff.

I have been using The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication as a review and reference book. It has seen me through Spanish language exams, travel to Spanish-speaking countries, business meetings where I had to speak Spanish, and even social situations. I read Spanish language newspapers and magazines and even some history and literature and watch Mexican telenovelas with a high level of comprehension.

I've been seeking a good follow-up review text and at last I found it: The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication. This amazing book is taking me through verb forms in all the tenses. The explanations are crystal clear and there are loads of exercises for practice. I love the Building Sentences section in each chapter because from the simple conjugated verb I learn how to build sentences by adding the verb + infinitive construction, or create sentences with double object pronouns; I learn how to express probability, how to focus on a certain element in the sentence, etc. I can say all the things I've wanted to say about "if something happens" or "if something were to happen" or "if something had happened" (possible conditions or contrary-to-fact conditions).

I like the presentation of Spanish grammar contrasted with English grammar. I'm a native English speaker but never really thought about English grammar until I used The Ultimate books. I find this very helpful, and I'm learning a lot about English, too!

Spanish has a lot of tenses and a lot of irregular verbs. The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is helping me to learn and practice them in context. I really like that the book allows me to go out of order which means if I need more practice on the present subjunctive (which I do!), I can jump right to Chapter 11. This book makes learning Spanish so logical and even enjoyable.

I think the Language Boxes are great because I'm learning interesting facts about Spanish. I didn't know that about 4,000 Spanish words, such as ojalá, el café, el alcohol, and hasta, were borrowed from Arabic. I am also learning many words that Spanish borrows from English to describe computer terms, such as crashear, linkear, and cliquear.

The Ultimate SPANISH VERB Review and Practice is the gold standard of language teaching books.

This book is better than most at explaining the complex rules of Spanish, but also some of the interesting background behind the rules. Not for beginners, but definitely a great book for year 2 Spanish learners.

I want to be the first to review this extraordinary book as I am already a happy (and frequent) user of The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice: Mastering Spanish Grammar for Confident Communication, a book by the same authors Gordon and Stillman that made it possible for me to learn Spanish to speak, read and write for business. I reviewed that book 12-26-99, "Spanish Learning Made Easy". I am now using The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice: Mastering Verbs and Sentence Building for Confident Communication to further my study of Spanish. I find the book particularly helpful for many reasons. First, the comprehensive number of verbs and the organization of verb lists in structural and semantic groupings provides an easy way to expand my vocabulary and a good reference tool. Second, the grammar explanations of verbs and tenses are extremely clear. Third, each of the 15 chapters presents one or more tenses or type of verb, followed by a section called Building Sentences in which the verbs and tenses studied are expanded into meaningful sentences. Fourth, the book has loads of exercises of all types, and much useful current vocabulary, such as computer and technology verbs. Fifth, I like the language boxes that give interesting information about the Spanish language. Sixth, because the chapters can be used in any order, I can personalize my Spanish language education and focus on key areas for me in a quick and efficient manner. Seventh, the book is so well-organized and user-friendly that I can work through a tense or irregular verb on a short flight. This smart and unique book was written for advanced beginning through advanced learners of Spanish, and I have already recommended it to friends and business associates who are at different levels. The authors' method really works for me as I am confidently and successfully using Spanish in my professional and personal lives.

I began reading this book and doing the exercises after a very basic beginner's class which sparked my interest in learning the language more thoroughly. While I would say this book can be a stretch for beginning students of Spanish, it's perfect for intermediate and advanced learners. I read this book two years ago and once I had completed it, I took a placement exam for the University of Costa Rica's "Spanish for foreigners" class. I was able to qualify for the advanced level! Since then I have purchased more than sixty books which cover all aspects of the Spanish language. This book is, by far, the one I consider most useful and still use as a review. The explanations of the grammar are straightforward and easy to understand (even the dreaded subjunctive!) There are plenty of very useful exercises with an answer-key in the back of the book. Chapters often build on previous information and is best to work through this book sequentially. I can't say enough good things about this book!

If you want a comprehensive book for the NCETM, this is it..expensive
but worth it, It is strictly a Q AND A but every question you can think
of is listed here..I got this for the muscle section and went over the
other body systems as well and feel prepared for the exam,,

This volume was extremely interesting. It contains information that every massage therapist should know. Some of the NCBTMB test questions were straight from this book. I found it extremely helpful in my passing the test the first time.

This guide was an excellent resource in getting me to understand and remember various diseases a massage therapist needs to be aware of. I passed the NCBTMB exam yesterday with HIGH in each category and these guides helped A LOT in preparation!

If you can answer the questions from this book with confidence, you can pass almost any clinical part of massage therapy exam. On the other hand, simply by knowing the clinical pathology, you may not be able to pass either the NY State Board or the National Certificate exam.

I don't think you need to understand every single detail in this book in order to pass either the NY State Board or the National one. (See my other comments on selecting study material if you are interested).

The knowledge provided from this book is far more than as a licensed massage therapist require to know. It's good to know more. But don't be scared if you do not do well on those questions in this book. From my limited experience, I think the exam authorities want to prepare us (massage therapists and body workers) to provide SAFE and effective massage therapy to the public. We are not trained to be a MD. Please don't blame yourself if you are not so good as the nervous system, for example. But you have no excuse for not knowing soft tissue. Massage therapists should be the expert of soft tissue.

Grasp a solid knowledge on muscle insertion and origin, action and related diseases. You will do well! Good luck

This is a must have for the A and P section of the test. I used this and passed with 4 high markings out of 6 as a result. I also bought the other guide like this. The other guide went over assesment and application.

951 questions and answers!! This book was essential to my passing the NCBTMB the first time. I learned a great deal from this book and well as from Volumes 2 and 3. I was surprised at the number of test questions about Traditional Chinese Medicine. This book provides a great deal of information on that topic.

This was a great book to use in preparation for the NCBTMB exam, even though some of the questions were a little TOO esoteric (5 questions on hyoid muscles? Come on! How often does one massage the THROAT? And the bulbospongious and levator ani? Yeah, right! I massage those every time - NOT!) Even so, it helped me focus on what was for me the most difficult and challenging part of the exam and to find the "holes" in my knowledge. Questions arent' mixed up, but are in order, so it's possible to review a system, take the questions, correct, then review again. HIGHLY recommended!

I only ordered volume 1 of this set of 3. I felt that this area is where I needed to review the most. The book is a little less than 1000 questions and answers. I felt that it was extremely helpful and I would recommend it to anyone taking this exam. I passed on the high end of 4 out of the 6 sections of the exam! I wasn't sure at first about purchasing because of the amount but I took a chance and now feel that it was well worth it.

Absolutely incredible book for lay people and chiropractors and anyone interested in the upper cervical spine. Case studies noted are awesome! Thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in this particular area of the spine...bit of chiropractic and medical terminology to overcome if you are a layperson reading it, but a stimulating book all the same.

This book would have to be the most comprehensive gathering of literature concerning Upper Cervical Specific Chiropractic (UCSC), ever. You may need to know everything that has spawned in the literature since Dr BJ Palmer's controversial assertion that the upper cervical spine is the only place chiropractors will find a subluxation. You may just want to casually look up a paper written on the upper cervical spine's influence on health. The book is designed for either type of study. In fact, the beauty of this book is that you don't have to read it so much as refer to it. And for the busy clinician, that's all we can realistically expect.

UCSC is a specialty within chiropractic. As Dr Dan Murphy, DC states in the introduction, for a third of chiropractic's century as a profession "the predominant practice of chiropractic involved primarily the upper cervical spine". Yet, as the Australian experience reflects, it is very few in this country indeed that refrain from directing forces to areas other than C1.

This book is incredible . Everything I have encountered in my own endeavour to seek out anything scientific supporting what BJ was zealously advocating all those years ago, without any apparent evidence, is here. Any low-level writing, such as that of general digest publications, is tolerated well because the reader can look at references instantly to find out how to mentally categorise each opinion. This is a unique format; you don't have to sift through a reference list at the end to see if it was written in this decade, or if your scientific nemesis wrote it! Older papers are listed first, and editorial comment is distinctly defined from abstracts and text. What an enormous gap it fills on my bookshelf.

The only thing this book has not done is to explain the extremely limited uptake of UCSC amongst chiropractors in - and outside of - the USA; which, in turn explains the aching lack of research into large populations undergoing upper cervical chiropractic care, and it's impact on public health.

Yet, does it not make far more sense to discover the intricacies of the articulations of the skull base before any other region is attempted? If you answered yes, this book is for you. If "no", you still need to own it as a complete "chirocentric" literature review of the topic.

Dr. Erickson's work is exemplary! I am a psychological researcher and have found his book invaluable. His editorial comments are very well written. The future of Chiropractic Orthospinology is in good hands - literally.

Dr. Eriksen's book is a significant contribution to the profession. Don't be misled by the title--this book is a must read for all chiropractors--not just upper cervical specialists. It provides the "intellectual ammunition" to respond to those who claim there is no scientific evidence to support subluxation.