Paul Theroux Books

This item is spectacular in every way. This book comes in a leather case that, by itself is truly amazing. As expensive as this item is, it is really worth every penny.

DOWNSIDE
This item is huge and weighs almost 40 pounds so Amazon charges like $12 in shipping costs. Thankfully, I was able to purchase this from a 3rd party seller on Amazon and saved quite a bit of money when I added up the item cost and shipping (the 3rd party seller only wanted $3.99 for shipping)!! It came real fast in perfect condition. I am thrilled with this purchase.

Well worth the discounted price offered by Amazon. For anyone/everyone who is a fan of Playboy Magazine, and not just for the articles, I recommend this book highly (if one can afford it)! The women are spectacular, and the photography is the best in the business. The protective leather suitcase is a really nice touch, and the quality of the paper is also excellent. (It weighs a lot, though). Again, well worth the $$!

I frequently ask this question: Who had the most fun in the twentieth century? The answer I've maintained for some time is: Mick Jagger. (Keith would be second, but I disqualify him because I don't think he remembers much.) Hugh Hefner would be the next in line. What a career. What a legacy. Some people might maintain that his legacy is vacuous and that his career is insipid. I disagree, and immediately sense either jealousy or ignorance. Hefner has done wonderful things for women (as well as us men, obviously), women's rights, and countless other charities and causes, First Amedment and beyond. His decades of frolicking with babes only a fraction of his age is a well-deserved reward for his numerous efforts on various fronts, and thereby advancing the notions of freedom and enlightenment. Hefner is straight out of an Ayn Rand novel, a bold visionary who believes life is to be lived for ample doses of work and pleasure, and whose self-indulgence has as a byproduct vast benefit for his fellow man. (True, I do think his epic life-story would have a fabulous ending if he now married a woman close to his age, and made a proclamation of some sort advancing romantic ideals, to work in conjunction with his previous accomplishments relating to sexual idealism.)

I mention the man who is the publisher of this book because I thought of him and his decades of accomplishment as I flipped through each and every page of this vast tome. Imagine, the first picture is of no one other than Marilyn Monroe! But my personal favorite was about a year later: Bettie Page! I was also struck by the photo of Dorothy Stratten. There are lots of stories here, lots of history. Indeed, most of the shots are very appealing, and actually much sexier than I had remembered. (True, the recent shots of girls who have shaved themselves are, in my opinion, grotesque.) Although my favorites are somewhere between 1965 and 1978, each decade has its appeal. These pictures really jump out at you, the printing quality is first-rate, and the vast volume of beautiful female imagery is probably unmatched by any other book anywhere. It took me almost two hours to flip through these pages.

The briefcase: I was curious if it was real "leather." No, it is not. Is it kind of cheesey? Yes, very. The dilemma posed by the briefcase is that you have to find a place to stash the darned thing. You can't really place it on a bookshelf. Really, I wish they had built a slip-case for the book instead of this vinyl, goofy briefcase. However, the briefcase is kind of useful because the book is so heavy that it otherwise would be cumbersome to move about. But the thin vinyl reminds me of an old cassette tape case, and I suspect that before long the vinyl will crack or get holes punctured in it. The book itself, however, in contrast, is very solid with a nice cloth binding. I do wish it had a nice ribbon book mark, because there was one babe in particular in 1978 who really deserved a rigorous marking! (I guess I'll just have to flip through this thing again soon and re-locate her.)

All told, this book is perhaps the best single summary of an incredible publishing legacy. Thank you, Mr. Hefner, for all you've done to enrich our lives the last sixty years. While many of us primarily read Playboy during our "fraternity years," the lessons taught in this magazine about living the good life, and being a gentleman, have endured long after that.

For awhile the price was dropping by about $10 a day, as if they were trying to find the price people were willing to pay -- for a couple of days it listed as low as $170, and then it suddenly jumped back up to $315 (and now I'm regretting that I didn't grab that price while I could). If nobody buys it at the current price maybe it'll start dropping again. It's worth a try...

This is a piece of history. I was around when the first playboy was issued. So that means a long time.This comes in a black briefcase with combination locks and a raised playboy bunny. Just the case alone is stunning.The book inside contains all the centerfolds unfolded in real size.The cover and binding are first rate. The pages inside are printed on top notch paper. This is well worth the money. This book and case weigh 37.5 pounds. Once you see it you will realize you have a true collectors item if that is what you are into. I debated on whether I should spend the money on it and took a chance, because I have three other playboy books,now I am glad I did, because you will not see any other kind of book bound like this and in a case like this, let alone for the money. It is unique among any type of book.

It is not something you buy just for the pictures, you could have saved all the single issues and have them all, but of course they would be folded and in this book they are not. It is something that you buy for the volume, binding and case itself. A piece of history, that usually would never be produced in any other book. Think of it a large page from every issue of this magazine. I doubt that any other magazine of any kind will ever do what Playboy has done. This is a show stopper as a book.

I stopped reading Playboy because I considered the girls to be too one dimensional and the pictures to be to contrived. They don't seem real. I like my women to look like women, not fake breasts, shaved pubic hair and airbrushed plastic dolls. But I did buy this book because of the quality, besides a lot of the centerfolds in the earlier issues looked more like real women before Hef got old and silly.

(My review is on Thoreau's Cape Cod rather than this specific edition).

While some literary critics seem to slight this work by Thoreau, saying that it is not as "powerful" as his other works, etc., I personally find this one very enjoyable. Sure, it does not have as much "philosophizing" as other books by him, but it is full of humor and very fun to read. The part where he describes the old man spitting into the hearth is particularly hilarious. The part about him sleeping in a lighthouse is also very funny. It lets us experience the more jovial side of Thoreau. This is probably one of the easiest to read among Thoreau's books.

Published posthumously, this volume is surprisingly consistent and complete (unlike "The Maine Woods" which is chopped into three different parts), it gives one the feel of walking along the entire cape, although the materials are quarried from several different trips. One only wish Thoreau had lived longer and had seen the West, imagine him taking a trip in the Sierra! Oh, well, meanwhile, we still have this one to enjoy.

This hardcover edition from Peninsula Press is unquestionably the best available edition of Thoreau's Cape Cod, for these reasons:

1) While all other editions are based on Thoreau's journal entries from only his first three visits to the Cape, this edition includes an epilogue compiling Thoreau's notes from his fourth and final visit, in which he traveled south to Chatham and Monomoy.

2) This is the only edition to translate the many, many Greek and Latin phrases Thoreau includes throughout the work, and it is also the only edition to provide illustrations, maps, and sidenotes in-text.

3) This is the only indexed edition ever created.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of both Cape literature and Thoreau in general.

Thoreau visited Cape Cod in 1849, 1850, and 1853. These trips formed the basis for a series of essays, several of which Thoreau published in magazines. After Thoreau's death, the essays were gathered together and published as "Cape Cod" in 1865.

Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is different in tone in theme from his earlier books. The tone is leisurely and light. Instead of solitude or the wild woods, the picture that remains with me from this book is that of a long walk, or, as Thoreau puts it, a "ramble" through the sand and dunes of Cape Cod. The book is picturesque, full of humor and wry observation. Thoreau unforgettably describes the ocean, in its storms, vicissitudes, and moments of peace, the fish and the fishermen, the sands, birds, plants and lighthouses of Cape Cod, and the people. I have visited portions of the Masachusetts coast, but I have never been to Cape Cod. Thoreau took me there in his book.

The book is arranged into ten chapters. It opens with a description of the shipwreck of the St John on a rock off the Cape. Thoreau then describes a ride by coach across the Cape. But the heart of the book lies in the following chapters in which Thoreau with a companion walks the 30 mile beach from Nauset Harbor to Provincetown with many stops and diversions along the way. I felt the salt air and saw the fishermen and the sandy beach as I walked with Thoreau.

The most vivid characterization in the book is in the chapter "The Wellfleet Oysterman", as Thoreau describes a grizzled, taciturn, and ancient native of Cape Cod and his family who offer him hospitality for the night. Another memorable chapter involves the description of the Highland Lighthouse, no longer standing, and its keeper. The stops with the Oysterman and the Lighthouse punctuate Thoreau's long walks through the day over the beach and his meditiations about and descriptions of what he finds there.

Thoreaus walk ended at Provincetown, on the northernmost portion of Cape Cod, with its wood walkway, shanty houses, and ever-present scenes of fishermen, boats, and drying fish. Thoreau offers what I found an affectionate portrait of these hardy fishermen and their families. Following a description of what he found at Provincetown, Thoreau offers a great deal of historical background on the exploration of the Cape, from the Pilgrims reaching back to earlier French, Icelandic, and English explorers.

Thoreau's "Cape Cod" is a worthy companion to his books describing his experiences inland, on Walden Pond and on the rivers and woods of New England and Maine. It is beautifuly written with unforgettable descriptive passages. It made me want to get up and go from my life in the city, and over 150 years after Thoreau wrote, wander and walk for myself along the dunes and sands of Cape Cod.

This book details the flora, fauna and people that Thoreau found in Cape Cod in the 1850s. Thoreau organizes the book around a single trip to Provincetown, although much of the material that he uses in the book came from various visits to the Cape, and to the ocean in general. He starts with a description of a shipwreck at Cohasset, then a stagecoach ride from Plymouth, then a walking trip with a companion along the outer shore to Provincetown. Along the way, he describes not only the plants and animals he encountered, but also the people who he met. The book finishes with a lengthy academic historical account of the discovery and mapping of the Cape.

I found this to be the most humorous of all Thoreau's work. The character sketches he provides in this book, sharpened with his trained eye for observation of natural phenomena, are legendary. The cultural description of the Cape and its environment is quite fascinating for those interested in the history of daily life in 19th century Massachusetts. As Thoreau describes the desolate, treeless desert that made up the far reaches of the Cape, one begins to comprehend what it meant for an economy to be based on wood and whale oil for fuels. Thoreau stresses how valued driftwood was for residents of the Cape, as one of their main sources of heating and cooking fuel. Doubtless, he would not recognize the Cape today with its lush new forests. Or its Wal-Marts--switching to an oil economy has brought mixed blessings for the Cape. For those who think Thoreau to be a humorless didactic philosopher, this book shows a very different aspect of Thoreau as a writer.

You will forget about the outside world when you read this; nothing but sand, wind, and water. Plus some natural history, local folklore, a few shipwreck tales. Typical Thoreau; he finds beauty, interest, detail in the wilderness. The desolate landscape will help to clear your mind. Highly recommended.

Fine, absorbing literary novel follows the exploits of expatriate American stuck in Singapore because he has neither the ability nor the luck to go anywhere else. The novel has a nice atmosphere which reminded me of Graham Greene, Saul Bellow and Gore Vidal, and effectively evoked the sleazy underbelly of Singapore that still exists in that now outwardly squeaky-clean, but sinister city-state. I read this book while living in S'pore and was surprised how many attitudes and actions of the eastern and western characters were reminded me of the Singapore of today. So I felt the book worked in two ways, as a great, entertaining read for anyone interested in just a plain good book, and also as a fine evocation of the eternal aspects of Singapore. Saint Jack was also filmed - the film version is interesting because it captured the old colonial look of S'pore before the current regime of Harry Lee Kuan Yew tore most of it down, replacing it with souless concrete tower blocks. Yet the sleazy atmosphere remains, and comes out at night especially. Theroux's Hong Kong novel, *Kowloon Tong,* captures perfectly that other Far Eastern city state at the time of the 1997 Handover (I was living in HK at the time) and is also recommended, both as a fine read and as a fine description of the place. For a good non-fiction account of Singapore, try Stan Sesser's *The Lands of Charm and Cruelty,* with a great essay on S'pore and "the fear that even the best educated Singaporeans feel towards their government."

Theroux is a well-traveled, workmanlike writer with a fondness for the raffish and louche, apt to find in it a premature redemption in order to wind things up in a snappy Yank fashion. To his credit younger and shallower readers think he has a Bad Attitude, which is one of the names under which Moral Seriousness goes these days.

Saint Jack's original may be found throughout the formerly Far East, on many a bar-stool and in many an AA meeting. The hero of this novel is undistinguished by wealth or fame and is instead of the so-called Greatest Generation, who served in WWII.

Writers of the immediate postwar like Bellow celebrated the American "logistical tail", which was extensive and included any number of typists; Tommy Wilhelm in Seize the Day, for example, flew a desk.

This may have been for the writer a labor-saving device. Having the character serve in a rifle platoon would mean the writer would have to deal with the large issue of how the combat affected the hero.

As the reader, you should realize that Saint Jack is a creature of the 1970s and a Singapore that is, as the guy below me in the postings here says, no more. He dates in other words from an era when a middle-aged and undistinguished guy could carry a message, the twilight of the Common Man as opposed to the trooping masses, destined, if they know what's good for them, only for approved lifestyles, dragging the kids to Disneyland, or Camp Snoopy in Sha Tin, their hopes for a better world downsized permanently.

Thanks to the guy below me for the suggestion of Theroux's novel Kowloon Tong. I shall definitely give it a read.

One great benefit from reading Saint Jack was a number of jokes, wheezers and gaspers popular twenty years ago in the saloon bar of the Peninsula or Raffle's after the women had left the room, to conspire.

I loved this book - it captures a spirit that has gone far away in the sterile atmosphere that surrounds that tiny island. Read this book!

Below his somewhat crusty exterior, Jack Flowers cares - sometimes deeply - about the "flotsam and jetsam" he bumps up against - on the streets, in the bar, in his brothel. He really won't show it ... nor, perhaps, will he even admit it to himself ... but he does. And he has "all the time in the world" to do so, in his own backhanded way.

Paul Theroux cut some of his teeth on this early novel, and it holds up remarkably well on second reading. Somewhat acerbic, sometimes touching, "Saint Jack" is a true pleasure.

Sure, lots of authors have done their take on the expat lifestyle, but few have done it better than Mr. Theroux has in St. Jack. This is a smart, deceptively simple take on the 'allure' of life abroad. A great book, even if you've traveled no farther than your mailbox; though, for those who have, the desriptions of people living abroad not so much because they want to---but because they're afraid to go home--- are right on the mark.

This book chronicles the adventures of Thoreau as he encounters wilderness in the guise of backwoods Maine. The book covers 3 separate expeditions that Thoreau made in 1846, 1853 and 1857. On each trip, Thoreau was accompanied by one or more companions, as well as an Indian guide.

Of all of Thoreau's books, this one sticks most closely to nature and travel writing, with little explicit philosophizing. Although Thoreau was accustomed to taking long walks off the beaten track in Massachusetts, it was in Maine where he first encountered genuine wilderness. He found the wild surroundings quite inspiring, and far from being overwhelmed by them, he seemed to want even more. In this book, he presents detailed accounts of the flora and fauna that observed on his Maine journeys. In addition to his observations of the natural world, Thoreau also describes many of the people and tiny communities that he found on his trips through Maine. While he follows his custom of never naming his traveling companions or providing personal information about them, he seems to feel no similar compunction about the privacy of his Indian guides, and describes them and their behavior in detail as if they were suitable subjects of his travel studies rather than co-travelers. One aspect that makes this book timeless is the fact that so much of the natural world that Thoreau describes has remained unchanged in the 150 years since his journeys.

Most people are familiar with Thoreau through his Walden. Few know perhaps that he didn't stay put in Concord but journeyed to the Maine Woods and elsewhere, and that these travels were formative of his philosophy and ideas. Thoreau believed the Maine wilderness north of Bangor was every bit as wild as the west and other far flung corners of the continent in the 1850s, and here he shows us an incredible panorama of beauty and wonder. You will gain insight into how Native Americans hunted Moose in the mid-19th Century and why Thoreau, a vegetarian, disdained the killing of animals for meat. One of the most sriking passages is his description of the sound of a huge tree falling in the forest in the distance at night.

In Ktaadn, Thoreau defines the essence of wilderness:

"Nature was here something savage and awful, though beautiful. I looked with awe at the ground I trod on, to see what the Powers had made there, the form and fashion and material of their work. This was that Earth of which we have heard, made out of Chaos and Old Night. Here was no man's garden, but the unhandselled globe. It was not lawn, nor pasture, nor mead, nor woodland, nor lea, nor arable, nor wast-land. It was the fresh and natural surface of the planet Earth as it was made forever and ever."

You do not need to read The Maine Woods on a wooded island in Maine (as I did) to be captivated and transported by it to a higher and greater sense of wilderness than you may ever have imagined.

In 1848, 1853,and 1857, Henry David Thoreau travelled to the wilderness -- forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains in the northwest part of Maine. He wrote three lengthy essays describing each of his journeys, and they were gathered together, as Thoreau had wished, and published after his death, together with an appendix, as "The Maine Woods." It is a moving book, a classic work of American literature, and the founder of a genre of descriptive travel writing.

Readers coming to "The Maine Woods" after "Walden" or "A Walk on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" may be in for a surprise. These earlier books do include extensive descriptions of nature and of plants and animals, but their focus is much more internalized and philosophical. Both books are full of discussions of themes that have little direct connection with nature. They show Thoreau as a Transcendentalist, an American philosopher akin to Emerson and others.

"The Maine Woods", in contrast, shows Thoreau as much more of a naturalist interested in describing the wilderness in great detail for its own sake. I think the book articulates a philosophical temperament akin to Thoreau's earlier books, but it is for the most part implicit rather than stated at length.

The three essays describe Thoreau's journeys at widely separated times to Mount Ktaadn, the Chesuncook River, and the Allegash and East Branch Rivers, journeys that overlapped to some degree. Thoreau travelled with a companion and with Indian guides. He gives the reader pictures of what was still largely a pristine wilderness even though it was, at that early time, already being subject to logging, the growth of towns, and despoilation. We see Thoreau and his companions travelling in canoes or batteaus on the interconnected rivers and lakes of northwest Maine, carrying and portaging their vessels around falls, camping in the woods, observing the vegetation and animals, getting lost, finding shelter from the rain, visiting lumber camps and the hardy residents of the woods, gathering berries, hunting, and much else. The narrative is filled with detail of Thoreau's experiences and thoughts.

I found the most moving part of the book was Thoreau's description of his climb up Mount Ktaadn in the first essay. We see this journey in detail, described with ancient Greek and American Indian symbolism. It concludes with a long peroration of the value of wilderness -- of land not controlled or under the disposition of people. Thoreau observes that "the country is virtually unmapped and unexplored, and there still waves the virgin forest of the New World." The "Chesuncook" essay includes a vivid description of the stalking and killing of a moose and Thoreau's resultant sense of discomfort. It closes with a call for the creation of national preserves for wilderness. The final essay describes a broad spectrum of adventures and places on a day-to-day basis. There are many passages that describe Thoreau's Indian guide, Joe Polis. Although Thoreau was deeply fascinated with the Indian heritage of Maine, some of his treatment of Polis will sound stereotyped to modern readers.

Thoreau's book was the first in a long line of American works devoted to nature. But I was reminded most of the Beat writers in some of their moments, of Jack Kerouac, (a native of Lowell, Massachusetts) in "The Dharma Bums" describing rucksacking and the climbing of a mountain and of the poetry of Gary Snyder.

This book is about the need to leave the beaten path and follow one's star. There are some fine websites in which the interested reader can get more information about the places Thoreau visited. [...]

Robin Friedman

A few days before Christmas nine-year-old Marcel and his family are driving to their new house--an old farm deep in the snowy woods, then get lost. Luckily they find an old hotel which at first seemed to be closed. Marcel is fascinated by their quaint but kindly host, Pappy, who promises to provide them with directions to their destination the next day.

But the man mysteriously disappears, leaving them only an unsigned, unaddressed Christmas card, which has no words--just a curious sketch of the woods. Marcel gradually realizes that this card is a kind of map to their new home, yet it is much more than that. It is a Magic card, which changes to reflect conditions of the real world outside--of time, light and location.

Still Marcel experiences alternating fear and peace in the days preceding the Christian holiday, as a result of the card's shifting hints. The family of four is confused by the mysterious fire glowing in the old cabin; did they just stumble upon a meeting and inadvertantly drive the people away? Secular and sacred connotations combine to make a fascinating, enjoy-in-one-sitting read. Will Marcel ever see his beloved Pappy again--just who and what is he anyway? A literary chiaroscuro where the Light combats the Darkness and a young boy tries to choose the right path and make the best "trade."

Many years ago on a trip to England I found the Penguin / Puffin version of A Christmas Card in a bookstore and bought it for my children, who were living in Denmark and visiting their grandparents in Maine every other summer. They don't seem to remember the story, but I read it to classes every year at Christmas as a high school English teacher in Denmark and my students loved it as much as I did after they got over the fact that Teacher was reading to them, just like in grade school.

It was my introduction to the wonderful world of Paul Theroux. I've since read many (but not all) of his books. I didn't enjoy the more recent novels, but I particularly loved A Kingdom By The Sea, as I, too, have enjoyed walking in England.

This is a magical story - about magic and imagination and light and life, which is what Theroux always writes about. Get a copy for your children or grandchildren, but be sure to read it out loud to them, one chapter a day, to spread out the suspense!

Theroux has always been an unflinching narrator on human nature. With a novel like Mosquito Coast he gave you a look at the mind of a genius and his estrangement to materialism. With The Family Arsenal, Theroux gives you a look at the close knit troubles of family life in the slums of London, and the frightening results of sudden violence that can arrupt at any moment. A haunting portrait of a society on the downward trend towards hell on earth.

Without question, Paul Theroux has been among our most astute observers of human nature writing in the English language. In "The Family Arsenal", a terse, compelling look at crime in London's slums, Paul Theroux takes an unflinching, often brutal, look at the interplay between adverse poverty and crime. Furthermore he adds to this compelling mixture an intriguing look at IRA terrorism being waged on the streets of London. All of this is told through vivid, well-crafted prose. Fans of Paul Theroux's work will not be disappointed with his latest fictional excursion into an abyss of contemporary Western society.

This is actually a compilation of three previously-published novels, set in sub-Saharan Africa. To the best of my knowledge, all three are out of print, so the publisher has done the reader a service by re-printing all three in this volume.

Each of the novels in this volume has certain merits, and all three are worth your time. As a whole, they serve to encapsulate the experience of being a foreigner in Africa, in the 1970s. By foreigner I don't just mean Caucasian; the stories are told from diverse points of view. My personal favorite is the one about a group of women running a boarding school in upcountry Uganda, but anyone who either likes the writings of Paul Theroux or has an interest in Africa, would find that all three stories are worth his while.

I am very glad I found this paperback at the library and took a chance on it. The first novel, Fong and the Indians, concerns a hapless petty merchant in East Africa. It is delighfully politically incorrect while maintaining a sympathetic opinion of the underlying humanity of all the characters. The third, Jungle Lovers, could have been written by a heavy drinker attracted to African women, because, well, the protagonist has these characteristics. It is also well-paced and mixes politics, plot, and character quite well. I am currently reading the "second" placed novel and it is also delightfully juicy and descriptive. Overall, these books made me want to read more novels set in Africa, by Africans as well as visitors.

Calvin Mullet is a young man from Hudson, Massachusetts. Divorced, he is paying alimony. It is Christmas in Malawi. It doesn't feel like Christmas. Calvin's former wife was small souled. In marriage he felt lonely. Calvin's insurance office is near the British Council Library. He is traveling north and Major Beaglehole is a companion. Beaglehole is not ashamed of having killed his CO. For killing his commanding officer he got life. He was released after serving six years. He was awarded his full pension because the matter had been a crime of passion. Calvin collects his pay at Barclay's Bank.

Major Beaglehole wears his regimental puttees while riding his motorbike. The puttees keep the mud off of him. In Malawi to say someone is a colorful character is the highest of praise. People say that about Major Beaglehole. He speaks Urdu. Calvin is writing a book, THE UNINSURED. He is pleased to ride the beautiful old Matchless motorbike of the major. Calvin's insurance firm, Homemakers' Mutual, shows more profit than Malawi does, even with a bumper crop of peanuts. Calvin Mullet and Mira Nirenda marry.

Marais is reported, (falsely as it turns out), dead, since he has been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Bailey, another European, and Beaglehole give Calvin and Mira wedding presents. Calvin stops comparing Malawi to Massachusetts. In some ways Malawi wins since there is no Mafia in Malawi. Calvin doesn't want to fill out the form for Mira to enter the Miss Malawi contest, he feels there is no culture in it. The couple is close. They are the jungle lovers of the title. At the contest Calvin thinks he is watching a minstrel show in reverse.

Jack Mavity arranges for Calvin to meet his mate, Mr. Harry. Mira wants Calvin to give her a baby. This gives the marriage a new dimension. Calvin tells Bailey they are moving out of the hotel. The room rent given to them as a wedding present has expired. Bailey encourages them to stay since no one else seems to want the equivalent of the bridal suite at the establishment. Bailey states that there is a war going on. Just as Calvin tries to close down the insurance agency he is given notice that it is being nationalized. He trains the new clerk, Mwase, who gained the position by passing his O Levels. Marais and Calvin meet. Marais wants to be insured. The beneficiary of Marais's policy is Calvin's unborn baby. Marais is killed in the civil war. Bailey delivers the baby, a boy.

"Oct. 22nd, 1837. 'What are you doing now?' he asked, 'Do you keep a journal?'-- So I make my first entry today." Thus begins Thoreau's Journal, made up of more then two million words and covering about twenty-five years of his life. No other work of Thoreau's better exhibits his discipline as a writer and his devotion to the natural world. In the Journal can be found the fragmented foundations of masterpieces such as Walden, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, and Cape Cod. But what is perhaps more interesting to a reader of Thoreau's Journal are his thoughts and insights on topics such as friendship, love, religion, nature, bravery, heroism, war, slavery, the art of writing, and, most important to Thoreau, the art of living. Anyone with any interest in Thoreau will find his Journal to be an invaluable aid in understanding and following the life of one of America's most profound prose writers

This book is about Patagonia, the southern part of South America. Windswept, cool, rainy or dry, depending on one's location, Patagonia is the uttermost realm of the Earth. This book, out of many, is the best I have ever seen on the area.

The writers, Paul Theroux, and the late Bruce Chatwin, are both very well acquainted with the region, Each writer has a differing style, and each writer's commentary therefore varies. Yet, both harmoniously intertwine into a fascinating mesh. In addition to each capturing the essence of the land and the harsh climate in his own way, both writers present fascinating vignettes on Patagonian history, culture, and people.

You will learn about the origin of Patagonia's name, its role in Shakespeare's plays, its history of sheltering Welsh nationalism, its ground sloth fossils, Butch Cassidy staying in hiding there, its glaciers and fiords, etc., etc., etc.

All of this is superbly complimented by Fred Hirschmann's stunning color photography. In four-color format, these photographs form the most excellent composite for a book since Eliot Porter's masterpiece on the lost Glen Canyon. Again and again, I return to these photos for their inspiration and beauty.

Most of us will never visit Patagonia and taste the local calafate berry. But if we can't, this book is the next best thing. I prize this book very much and recommend it to the hilt.