I Books

This book really challenges the reader to understand the relationship between teacher and student. Many barriers which hinder most educational relationships are pointed out, allowing us to see how best to go about teaching while avoiding the pit falls which prevent us from fully engaging with the student. Great book....please give it a read.

I've read quite of Krishnamurti's books and this one is the most unique. If you are an educator or a fan of Krishnamurti's teachings, you NEED this book. He points out the problems troubling modern education with such clarity you'll feel like Krishnamurti is putting your very own unarticulated feelings into thought.

You will definately leave this book a better, more intelligent person. But it now.

At first glance I thought this type of writing might be too heavily philosophical for my small mind to comprehend, but it engaged my interest by agreeing with me that our educational system is flawed and that children will benefit from being taught in small groups by people who love them. I homeschooled my two youngest children for nine years, and this book fits in well with my homeschooling philosophy.

Krishnamurti hoped to change the world for the better by helping parents and teachers become more effective. In chapter four, entitled Education and World Peace, he wrote:

"Peace is not achieved through any ideology, it does not depend on legislation; it comes only when we as individuals begin to understand our own psychological process. If we avoid the responsibility of acting individually and wait for some new system to establish peace, we shall merely become the slaves of that system." (p.68)

Some of the other chapters in the book are: Intellect, Authority and Intelligence; The School; Parents and Teachers; Sex and Marriage; and Art, Beauty, and Creation.

Krishnamurti encouraged us to take responsibility for the education of our children, rather than to leave this task to the public education system.

"Government control of education is a calamity. There is no hope of peace and order in the world as long as education is the handmaid of the State or of organized religion. . . . Education throughout the world has failed, it has produced mounting destruction and misery. Governments are training the young to be the efficient soldiers and technicians they need; regimentation and prejudice are being cultivated and enforced." (pp.75-76)

I totally agree that governments should not control education although I've never objected to the idea of parents educating their children in the religion of their choice. However I see Krishnamurti's point in wanting to free the minds of the people from organized religions. He idealized a state of 'creative intelligence' for the people of the future, something that is impossible when people are pressured to accept limited ideologies.

"If those who are young have the spirit of inquiry, if they are constantly searching out the truth of all things, political or religious, personal and environmental, then youth will have great significance and there is hope for a better world." (p.40)

Sadly, it seems the world hasn't been listening. This book was first published in 1953, and since then, society has disintegrated. The strength of the typical family unit has eroded, schools now focus on teaching to the test, and children turn away from the ways of wisdom and toward mind-numbing video game systems as well as other distractions. Perhaps it is time for parents to reconsider Krishnamurti's educational philosophy.

Interestingly, and totally against the Westernized concept of education, Krishnamurti taught that children should not be pushed to succeed. He wrote:

"As long as we want our children to be powerful, to have bigger and better positions, to become more and more successful, there is no love in our hearts; for the worship of success encourages conflict and misery." (p.102)

I enjoyed reading the book, and am fascinated by Krishnamurti's depth of understanding, the originality of his ideas, and the concern he showed in writing so passionately about the education of children. Naturally I wanted to know more about him and soon found several sites on the internet with information about his life and writings.

Krishnamurti was born in India in 1895 and died in Ojai, California in 1986. He was discovered as a teenager in India by C.W. Leadbeater, a leader of the Theosophical Society, and was trained by Leadbeater and Annie Besant who believed Krishnamurti was the promised incarnation of a world spiritual teacher. However in 1929 Krishnamurti denied this idea and dissolved The Order of the Star of the East, an organization set up to promote this claim of his greatness. Though she was not pleased with his decision, he remained a close friend of Besant until her death in 1933. He spent his life traveling and teaching about his philosophy, which is that "truth is a pathless land." In other words, that people can come to truth only on their own, and not through any teaching, organized religion, government, philosophy, psychological technique, dogma, ritual, priest, guru, or creed.

I've read over 25 Krishamurti books, including all the "big ones" like Freedom from the Known, The First and Last Freedom, Total Freedom, Awakening of Intelligence, Flight of the Eagle, Krishmaurti's Notebook, etc., many of which I've read more than once. I've given all of them away to share K's message but kept four of them which I keep as references for focused daily reflection/meditation (as opposed to the meditation of all waking life). The four I've kept are Freedom from the Known, On God, On Right Livelihood, and Education and the Significance of Life (the last one of great relevance to me since I'm an educator). And so now I always recommend (and often give) the first three books on that list I just mentioned to anyone who wants to learn more about K's "teachings." "Freedom from the Known" is the single best, most concise and thorough summary of all K's teachings. "On God" should greatly help anyone who is searching for ultimate reality, Truth, God, Enlightenment, Nirvana, The Meaning of Life, or whatever one wants to call it. No summary will do it justice; you must read it for yourself. "On Right Livelihood" addresses the issue of our daily living, in work, leisure, and even to some degree home life and family relationship, becuase, as K emphasizes, they all should be an integrated whole, not fragmented parts of our lives. "Education and the Significance of Life" is also or relevance to anyone who has children or who teaches; it will transform the way you view childrearing and education. I would say that those four books would be all a person would need to transform one's life; to have a radical revolution in living.

The primary premise of the book is that nearly all of the education system (govt. based, religious based, private) fails the child. These systems educate children to be good at techniques or skills, but do not educate them to know themselves.

Without knowledge of oneself, children will grow to be conflicted between the reality of their true nature, and the constrictions of conforming to civil society or religious doctrine.

An educational system that truly sought to benefit the children would be staffed by adults who were continually studying themselves, and striving to deepen their own awareness, not just conformists seeking the safety of job, income and leisure. Only when open-minded, self-aware adults teach with true love can children learn to know themselves, and so lead dignified, effective lives.

We are far from this vision, but it is worth it for each of us to walk along this path.

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

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

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

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

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

Brava, Ms. Barker!

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

THE EYE IN THE DOOR (spoilers)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is what I thought Secrets of a former fat girl would be from
all the good reviews. This is a much better book in that the author
shares her story AND...unlike lisa delany's book tells you how she
did it. Bravo Kim!

It really doesn't. This book tells how much easier it can be once you set you mind to it. It's mostly willpower and sticking to a plan. This is as good as any of the others out there.

To the author of this book, I just want to say a big thank you for being so honest with us.

I bought into the low carb craze, starting with a popular food combining plan, then to Atkins. I know these plans work for some, but not for me. I started suffering from severe fatigue, chronic mood swings that were hard to control (this from being so darn tired all the time), never lost weight, but what was my breaking point was when I started having irregular heart beats, my arms would tingle and go numb, my hands would swell and icth (that, and being on bi-polar meds when I knew something else was wrong). Turns out I was reacting to Splenda. I thought I was having heart attacks! Scared me to death! Then I realized, how do you low carb if you can't use sugar subs, when the whole point of the diet is to be sugar free. Well, a light bulb went off and something clicked. We think low fat diets are bad because they emphasise replacing fat with sugars and chemically enhanced foods, so low carbers won't touch low fat stuff because of the hidden sugars and chemicals, yet they will eat low carb stuff with chemical sweeteners, this makes no sense!
At that point, now that I will never touch a artificial sweetener in my life, I needed to learn how to balance foods so I can eat real foods, including fat and sugar, to be healthy and lose weight, and this book did that for me. It makes so much sense. It is hard to learn portion control, to eat only when hungry and to stop when full, not stuffed, but everyday it gets easier and easier. I do make good choices over bad (whole grains over processed, fruit over desserts, etc, but now that I eat from all food groups, I get full with less food, something I never experienced with low carb.

Its nice to be free of the "diets". All the money spent on diet cookbooks and special ingredients never did anything for me, but taking the advice of this book has done a lot, and it cost me nothing more than the cover price. No specialty ingredients, no plan to follow or lists of foods I can eat or need to avoid, just good old fashioned common sense.

Thank you!!! I wish more people could read this book. Especially all those suffering from 1 diet to the next.
And by the way, since I have stopped doing low carb and eat like a real person, no more mood swings. Gone, all of them, and no more fatigue! I'm able to work out daily now and live my life, something that seemed so out of reach just 2 months ago.

I'm done with dieting for good!!!!!! I can't believe how I've overlooked this common sense approach. I can't beleive how I've been fooled. This book deserves to be right up there with the best of them. It's not gimicky and it's not starvation and it's not eating a million pounds of bacon. It's just good advice to be had. If everyone would stop and open their eyes like this book advises, there would be NO overweight people in America! Time to wake up, everyone! And, no, there is no simple plan in this book, it just tells you to eat what you want but don't gorge!!! That's the problem, we can't stop feeding our faces or having an immese fear of starvation, just like she says. I'm just so glad I found it. I'm serious. If you want to lose weight, like I did, read this book. If you're happy being fat, skip it cause her advice WON'T sit well if you're in denial!!!

The thing I liked about this book was that it wasn't just about losing weight, it had lots of social commentary--my favorite being the whole "it's genetics" routine. The author really hits upon some major hot spots within the book and takes on cooperations who help make us all "fat".

Sure, the program is relatitevly easy and does seem to work--oddly enough, who would think that eating less could contribute to weight loss? But the real reason to read this book is the comments on the weight loss industry. I have to totally agree and say that the diet industry doesn't want any of us any thinner. If they did, wouldn't a few of their diets work?

All in all, this is a good book not only because the program can actually help people to lose weight, but because it might even open a few eyes and ears. Just thinking about all the things that conspire to make us eat more and more makes me sick. Therefore, I am very glad I read this book.

This is a must for anyone who intends to be successful! This book was a super easy read taking me about 3hrs to read. Great story and message!

This book made me rethink my goals in terms of seeking yes answers. Now my goal is 15 NO's a week, there will be yes's along the way.

Great book, informative, encouraging, motivational and easy read!
Not just for retailers, applies to everyone- principles to apply to life in general.

This is a great tool to increase or develop your sales ability. It is an easy read, story format, I gained significant insight and inspiration.

I like how the message was presented in a story outline and not a stale step by step program. Therefore, the only criticism is the over use of the exclamation point, but otherwise worth reading and pondering.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have I Got A Guy For You: What Really Happens When Mom Fixed You Up is a anthology of 27 stories of woman and their mothers who set them up on blind dates.

It's hard to give a summary since this is a anthology. So let's see some of my favorites involved Hindu Matrimonials, "Cousins", the Perfect Son In Law, and a live-action game of Dungeons and Dragons. For the most part this was a good natured look at blind dating. It was funny!

Most of these matches end up in mismatches. But I found myself hoping that something good would come from these blind dates and in a few cases something did! Most of these mothers had their daughters best intentions in mind so it made the stories more lighthearted and loving.

It seemed like a large group of friends got together to contribute to this and a good number of them happened to be Jewish and live in New York, nothing wrong with that but it was definitely a theme throughout.

Reading these all in a row could get a little bit repetitive but at the same time anthologies are nice because you can set them down and pick them back up without losing your place. This is one of the many reasons I love anthologies. I read several stories a day for maybe 3 or 4 days.

I love love love anthologies. The idea of look at one subject (be it vague or specific) from multiple angles introduces you to many new and exciting ways of looking at a subject. And also getting to sample a bunch of different authors at the same time! I still need to go back to this one and look up some of the authors other works. (There are great bios in the back) I love that anthologies have the potential to lead you to your new favorite author.

While most moms mean well, they don't always get it right, as this book cleverly demonstrates. Fun read. Take it to the pool with you this summer. Enjoyable, heartfelt and well written collection.

I found all of the stories fun and entertaining but the Kawatra story is worth the cover price all by itself. The tales are nicely crafted and shared with pleasant perspective so this isn't like reading a nasty rampage. This was a great idea and I hope to see a male equivalent come along soon.

I found this collection of stories very enjoyable. Each author found comedy in situations which were not really humourous at the time they were were going through it, yet the way that they presented them was simply hilarious. I can't remember the last time when I laughed so much while reading. Like most of the other reviewers, I liked the one about the mom who set up her daughter on the Indian website and the one where the mom wrote incessantly to Gelman. Delightful!

The story, "Shaadhi Abhi Naahi," which when translated from Hindi means, "No wedding yet," is written in beautifully precise language It is also very funny while introducing potentially sinister material. This story is about an Indian American mother's attempt to marry off her daughter. The other stories in the book continue with this theme with other ethnic groups like Korean Americans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

You won't regret reading this book!!

--George Stancliffe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When life give you lemons - make lemonade. Now how many times have you heard that cliche when your way looks rough? But, even when you add plenty of sugar, it can still zing your taste buds, and make your lips pucker. Well, have you ever seen a purple sweet potato? They are from the same family as the orange shaded variety, except the flesh is a lavender hue. Sounds kinda exotic, doesn't it? And, the purple tuber is sweeter than the regular one. So now when your way looks rough, say to yourself - When life gives you an ordinary sweet potato, add a little food coloring and make purple sweet potato pie.

"I Almost Missed...My Life" begins with what I'm going to call an ordinary beginning. You see, the author experienced some trials in her life, which are really no different from what a lot of women in the 21st century have had to face. At the age of thirty-one, she had two children, who had different fathers, and she wanted to divorce her third husband. What did she do in this familiar scenario? She took the knowledge that she had (an orange sweet potato), and combined it with the teachings of Anthony Robbins, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the Dalai Lama and more (the food coloring), to result in a life filled with fun, excitement, passion, love and success (the exotic purple sweet potato pie).

Debra Russell jots down her recipe with 52 ingredients, which can be added to your dish of life. After stirring, there's a "Give It A Go" assignment, to help bring out the flavor. She also encourages the reader to start journaling for increased success, and to start your own recipe. I recommend "I Almost Missed...My Life: How to Breakthrough To the Life You Really Want" to those who want to color the ordinariness of their lives into something new - well maybe not exotic, but definitely in a different pigment.

"I Almost Missed My Life" contains 52 short (2 page) chapters that can best be described as instructional, self-help guidance on things you can do to change your life into the E Ticket life you would like to have. The E Ticket reference is used in the book and accurately represents the author's purpose with the book. Several years ago if you went to Disney World you would purchase a packet of tickets that contained A, B, C, D, and E tickets. The most popular, most exciting rides were E Ticket rides. My memories as a child include a trip to Disney World where we purchased one of these books of tickets. One thing I recall is that the A and B ticket rides were ones that I was not interested in and only rode them because I had a ticket that was no good for anything else. Many people seem to live their lives that way - life has dealt them a book of A and B tickets and so that is the limit of what they can ride. The purpose of the book is to change your life from an A or B Ticket ride to an E Ticket journey.

Each week you can take one of the chapters and focus on it for that week. Chapters include encouragement and direction on such things as "Practice Outcome Thinking", "Trust and Follow your Knowing", "Treasure and Nurture Your Friends", "Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously", "Listen", "Let Go of Regrets", "Be the Change You Want To See", and "Be Grateful". This is an excellent and recommended book for people seeking an organized plan for changing their life.

Problems in reaching success in your professional or personal life? Would you like to see what was wrong in your life and see all clearly in perspective? So, read this book and find your answers. To reach our objectives, we need first to identify, and then break our self-imposed internal barriers. The author makes the reader to explore common attitudes and wrong assumptions that continuously prevent people in reaching their goals. Russell opens doors, and in a simple way, empowers the reader. This book is a beautiful trip breaking barriers, that goes from procrastination and struggle to a successful life in all aspects. Highly recommended, and a good gift for a friend.
Jorge O. Corti MD, MPH

This woman is a living example of going from zero to a hundred on the success scale.

I liked how she is succinct and humorous - Russell specifically lays out what anyone can do to accomplish more and get more satisfaction out of life.

If some habitual thinking holds you back, you will be well-served to enjoy I Almost Missed My Life.

Debra Russell shares her life story, tips, and motivations on how to live a better life in her self-help book, I ALMOST MISSED MY LIFE, DON'T MISS YOURS: 52 SECRETS TO MORE SUCCESS, FUN & FULFILLMENT. Russell shares how she went from being a three timed divorced single mom and welfare recipient to a happy, successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker.

Russell shares 52 of her secrets, one for every week in a year, with the reader. Many of the suggestions are common sense knowledge, but it is reiterated in a way that makes it seem fresh and new. Some of the suggestions that I found most helpful were, keeping a journal, being optimistic, and surrounding yourself with positive people.

I ALMOST MISSED MY LIFE, DON'T MISS YOURS: 52 SECRETS TO MORE SUCCESS, FUN & FULFILLMENT is an inspirational story of one woman's determination to find happiness and to share her findings with others. The "secrets" offered are generic enough to work for everyone, but the author adds a special "Give It A Go" section at the end of each tip to help the reader make it their own. In addition to Russell's suggestions, the book is enhanced with several motivational quotes and statements. This book is a wonderful self-help for people who know that they need a change in their lives, but just need a little extra guidance.

Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers