Q Books

I liked this book because it was very interesting and informative. This book was a good read, and it taught me alot of things I didn't know before. It also got me interested in American Govt. even more. I recommend this book to every American Government student.

I re-read this book whenever I am faced with change, whether I'm trying to sell or implement change in an organization, or dealing with changes in my own life. It reminds me that "change" doesn't change, it is how we deal with it that needs to change. Being human, sometimes I forget some of the simple principles in this book, and it is amazing what a difference it makes when I am reminded of them and begin to follow the process once again!

Witches of New York is an clever and engaging sketch of psychics, astrologers, and fortune-tellers operating within Victorian New York City, written from the perspective of a popular American humorist. Noting that the "Witches of New York exert an influence too powerful and too wide-spread to be treated with such light regard as has been too long manifested in the community they have swindled for so many years," the author set out to patronize a representative sample of fortune-tellers, and to expose to public scrutiny, in a series of written narratives, the quality of witchcraft which could be bought for a dollar.

The outcome is at once a delightfully entertaining read, and fascinating primary text for the historian of the 19th century occult movement. Doesticks relates many of his encounters in terms of an ill-conceived search for a wife with supernatural powers, but it is fortune-tellers themselves who lend the text its greatest humor value. We meet the mysterious "Gipsy Girl" of No. 207 Third Ave., who delivers her prognostications in a rum-induced slur. Madam Morrow's women-only policy obliges the author to appear in drag, a ruse sufficient to award Doesticks with a glimpse of his future wife. Whereas most female fortune-tellers offer a love charm to their customers, the scientifically-minded Dr. Wilson, by contrast, predicts that Doesticks will poison his future wife, and then offers his own services for the job.

It would be an injustice, however, to present Witches of New York as merely a humorous text, as it contains detailed accounts of sessions with astrologers, mediums, palmists, and other fortune-tellers, with rich description of their methods and devices employed, and the social context of their practices. Often, these are the stories of New York's underclass, of impoverished women who, in many cases, are earning a living in one of the least disreputable ways available to them. Indeed, the most important historical contribution of the text is that it situates fortune-telling within the wider social context of New York's underground economy. Doesticks argues, as best he can in lieu of a possible libel suit, that fortune-tellers are frequently former prostitutes, and/or in the business of recruiting prostitutes, and that their establishments are frequently fronts for brothels, abortionists, and their ilk. Though viewed through the lens of an unsympathetic humorist whose end is to expose and to entertain, Witches of New York retains tremendous importance as a window into an interesting and poorly-documented Victorian subculture.

i t was very good. I like how it had the page on each player's favorites and such. It had a little too much information. I also liked the statistics on the end of the year. The first part with the coparisons of the WNBA andNBA.

I have tried almost all the recipes in this cookbook and they are uniformely good, even the non traditional recipes such as Chinese/Cajun Jambalaya and Chinese Paella are excellent. The recipes seem to have been carefully taste tested and the ingredient amounts are right on target, unlike many other cookbooks i've tried. My only quible with the book is that the recipes often vary from the ingrediants used on the television show, although the taste results speak for themselves, a great cook book Martin. No, this isn't Martins Mom!

I remember enjoying this as 8-year-old in the sixties, and recently tracked down a used copy for my daughter, a first-grader. It tells a the story of pampered Greenwich Village cat (one of the book's pleasures for grown-ups is in its evocation of certain kind of mid-century bourgeois bohemian life) who uses his remarkable intelligence to find himself a playmate. The plot is a bit too unlikely -- Elephi rescues and befriends a snowed-in sports car -- to completely work, but my daughter was willing to suspend disbelief because the style and illustrations are so poised and beguiling. The books is especially to suited cat lovers as well as to only children (as it emphasizes Elephi's longing for the company of peers). A classic that should be back in print!

I was skeptical about this subject, but boy, was I wrong. The perm truly is dangerous and turned these subjects into the sexiest beasts this homeboy has ever laid eyes upon. Forget about exercise class, glute implants, ED drugs, etc. Get a perm baby! And watch the ladies/fellas melt in your radical glow!

This translation is not a "translation" like the normal term of the word. In that, to "translate" Pantanjali to an English "reading book" would be about impossible. This particular version is a book written by an Englishman who was adept in Pantanjali, and went about to convey as perfectly as possible, what Pantanjali would have been if originally done in English. Buy it, and never leave home without it!

VERY clear book! A MUST read if you, or a friend, or relative suffers from this terrible affliction.
Not a compilation of "common" advice and self-help "quackery" but a very in-depth analysis of the symptoms and solutions to this more than ever haunting problem.
This book will teach you how to immediately recognize the problem and how to offer or seek help.
In a format that is extremely easy to read. Small, concise chapters written in a way that is very direct and does not require much "energy" to assimilate.

I was loaned this book by a friend. He told me just to "trust him" and read it. I was hesitant and wasn't sure if I would like this book, but now you can "trust me". If you have any interest at all in Ireland, culture, sociology, or that particular time period you will love this insightful memoir. This book will stay with you, and after only a dozen pages you will be hooked and unable to put it down.

July 1999.

That summer was blistering hot and full of anticipation. Waiting for my beautiful son to arrive into our arms from Korea.

I had just finished up working full time in a children's Day Treatment program. I wanted the summer to "nest"...

to prepare for my son's arrival.

I spent the past two years of my social work career, day after day, listening to the stories of children.

Suffering.

And when permitted the children would allow me to enter their world and join them on their healing journey.

This work provided the daily miracles that can so easily be missed in any other setting.

Kids laugh, they pull pranks, they love to open gifts, they are still just kids in spite of the worst that humanity can toss at them.

Not even three weeks out from this counseling job, I picked up Angela's Ashes.

I don't know why... I just did.

In Frank McCourt's book, I found comfort. I found that optimism grows like a lotus flower out of the mud. I found the voice of an angel in the poverty stricken dirty streets of Limerick. I found the voices of all those kids who spilled their secrets behind my closed office door... lightening their load while I tried my best to make their world better... one kid at a time.

Frank McCourt is a ruddy angel with an acerbic wit and a gift for seeing things as they truly are.

I love ruddy angels.

This is a book that needs to be on everyone's to read list.

Yes, it is that good.

McCourt's child protagonist and his over-riding optimism, his natural-born inclination to make the best of things, makes an otherwise grim tale not only bearable but uplifting and heroic. Despite the daily, brutal grind of poverty, this child still manages to experience, wallow in, simple joys. Due to McCourt's honest voice, I felt every one of this kid's untidy, conflicted emotions. I LOVED this kid.

But after reading some of the criticism here, I think some people forget that this is first and foremost a MEMOIR. Memoirs are subjective by nature. So if McCourt's personal experience shows prejudice toward the Catholic Church, or if he seems to present a "stereotype" of the drunken, morose, Irish----that's HIS viewpoint----naturally. If you want a more balanced view don't read memoirs! Read academia! (It's like reading an autobiography of a politician and complaining that it's too political).

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. The naysayers included. It's not a pretty story, but it IS heroic.

Definitely one of the best written books I have ever read. The stunning simplicity and humor he used to depict the heart-wrenching account of his childhood is just truly brilliant. This book would have you crying and laughing. I love it and would highly recommend it. I think its a masterpiece and a MUST read!

The basic problem with it is that while McCourt's life of poverty in Ireland is interesting and there are a couple of dozen well written passages and anecdotes, the work is atrociously edited. All the more galling for the lack of good editing is that this was McCourt's first book- he needed the help. The book is about 450 pages long and the 1st 300 pages deal with his first 6 or so years of growing up. We get the same images of infant death, Irish blarney, drunken dad, suffering mom, stalwart Frankie, and colorful Eriniana. The problem is that early childhood is necessarily the least interesting part of a life because a) the percentage of real memories per year is very low and b) the remembered is rarely cogitated upon enough to produce any coherent thesis of its import or meaning to a life.

At describing these things McCourt is excellent. The scene of him and his brother getting bananas from a vendor in Brooklyn and his mom thinking he stole them is excellent, BUT such only works its charms once. After about 50 pages we get the idea already: McCourt's early life was bleak- it's as if he wants us to really, really know he suffered. The opening page or so at first read seems to poke fun at the Irish habit of bemoaning their woes, but it quickly becomes apparent that McCourt intended no irony in its felicitous prose. He truly wants the reader to know the Irish suffering is on par with that of Jews, blacks, and American Indians. By going on for 300 pages with this the reader starts to turn off about a third of the way though, then skimming between the Godotvian feeling anecdotes of misery.

Things only pick up when Frank reaches his teens- he gets various employment, has a falling out with his mom and her lover, rues his dad's departure, loses his virginity to a consumptive girl who dies, then heads off for America. There are many moving images and wonderfully non-stereotyped characters. The scenes with his tubercular lover are priceless, yet their whole affair is accorded a mere couple of pages vis-à-vis the dozens allotted the repetitious sufferings. A good editor would have told McCourt he had an intriguing 1st draft, but told him to cut the early years down to 100 pages, and double the teen tales to 300 pages. That 400 page edition of AA would have deserved all the acclaim the canonical edition has, while also being over 10% leaner.

This is the main reason why the film version of the book is actually better than the written version. That said, it's far from a great film, but it more judiciously accords the interesting portions of McCourt's life, with about ½ the film on the early years, and the rest on the teen years. As a writer I've often said that the poor practices of editors, publishers, and critics have had a disproportionately deleterious effect on contemporary literature. A bad editor either does not realize a gem that falls in their lap, passes on it, or butchers it, or they get a diamond in the rough, like AA, but have not the sense nor insight to demand the necessary revisions. Toni Morrison has made a career out of having her ill-edited novels published. Yes, she's gotten acclaim, but once dead her trip to the canon will be fruitless because the poor editing of her work will become ok to speak of. But, McCourt was not Morrison- he was a first time author- his editor should have done a better job.