Essays Books

Dispatches from The Sandbox describes what our troops are experiencing
on many levels while attempting to secure Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a civilian and U.S. citizen I have always supported our military
and the men who are doing all the work. Their dispatches are
fascinating funny and informative.

I am better informed about what they are experiencing.

Who are these Marines and Soldiers whose courage and tenacity is so glorified and politicized by those who never served ?

Editor David Stanford brings us the daily stories of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in their own blunt words. An Gary Trudeau-inspired addition to his 11-year old Doonesbury.com website, Trudeau and Stanford invited the warriors overseas to write back so the folks back on the homefront could stay informed about the war. They weren't looking for strategy and tactics, but rather the daily routine - ranging from boring to mundane to kinetic - that the troops experienced.

And write they did, as "mil-blogging" increased in popularity, the writing skills of a few of the blogging Marines and Soldiers brought the wars back home in a visceral fashion that often leaves the reader with damp eyes. No slick writing here, but rather just the honest words of your son and daughters and husbands at war.

1st Sgt Troy Steward, New York Guard, writes of his time in Afghanistan as part of an Embedded Training Team (ETT) with an Afghan National Army Unit. Sgt Roy Batty, stationed in Baghdad, writes of the boredom associated with living on a FOB and then later segues into problems with an Iraqi Police unit that shot and killed an old man. "They are our buddies," he writes,"our comrades in arms with whom we are supposed to bring Jeffersonian democracy and security to this wonderful country..." . 1st Lt Stefan laments the death of a fellow officer, 2nd Lt Scott Lundell, with whom he attended OCS. "Rest in peace,"Stefan grieves on his keyboard,"...a brother in arms who is loved and missede. The debt will not go unpaid..."

Stanford has sifted through the hundreds of articles posted on the more popular milblogs such as bouhammer.com, sackiniraq.blogspot.com. and traversa.typepad.com, and posted a few of the best. "The Sandbox" has articles from men and women, officers and enlisted men, and warriors, chaplains, and corpsmen. These are unforgiving wars where the combat zones start at the border, and Stanford lets those doing the fighting talk about how it affects them. In an environment where the media is criticised for playing politics by wanting to show photos of coffins being returned to the United States, one can instead read SPC J.R. Salzman's (jrsalzman.com.weblog) blunt description of having his arm blown off "...the tast of blood in my mouth, realizing that the bottom half of my arm was missing with nothing left but a couple of fingers and part of my hand hanging off by some skin and tendons and realizing how much pain I was in."

The value of "The Sandbox" is that it lets the reader forget the petty politics of the last few years and instead get to know something about the Marines and Soldiers who are doing the fighting and dying. Republicans - Democrats are unimportant when one reads 1st Sgt Stewards reports from Afghanistan, or SPC's Salzman writing about how "the last time I saw my wedding ring was when it was being snipped off with a pair of bolt cutters at a hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad." Thank you, Gentlemen, for what you are doing, and thank you for sharing it with us; "The Sandbox" should be read by every American.

This book is a compilation of e-mails from men and women
in the army, navy and marines stationed in the middle East
war zones. It gives a true picture of what is going on
over there and how it affects our military personnel; how they
feel and what they think. I bought it to give to the people that
I know who think that George Bush was right to go into Iraq
and that the war is just fine. I hope that it will help them to
change their minds about the war and vote for peace on Nov. 8.

The reports from individual soldiers, Matines and Seals in Afghanistan and Iraq are invaluable.

You do NOT have to be a Doonesbury fan to like and appreciate this book.
You do NOT have to be a history or military buff to understand and appreciate all of what is written in this book.

You will NEVER forget these men and women, their voices, their tears, their laughter, their anguish, their fears, and most importantly their most honorable sacrifices.

DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!

I stumbled upon this book in a small restaurant in Southern California. I'm not much of a cook. I bought this book because of the wonderful stories included with the recipes. It made me want to move to the country!

I stumbled upon Dori Sanders one day, picking up a copy of Clover on a whim. What I discovered was an authentic southern voice. Dori Sanders Country Cooking is yet another treat. The receipes are all simple and useplain and simple everyday items. While they may require a bit more time, the effort is well worth the extra time. Tipsy Chicken, a peacan pie to die for, a pick of biscuit receipes, gravy and biscuits...many of these receipes bring back summer dinners at my grandmother's home in Buda, Texas(dinner was at the noon hour for farm folk). Intertwinned amongst all these culinary treasures, is a running narrative of everyday life on a farm. I may never indulge in pig lips, but I well remember the nonstop activity on the days my grandfather slaughtered a cow and we all pitched in to help, and ate foods from that cow, things I might have never tasted living in a suburb of Dallas. Dori Sanders is a treasure, a cleareyed look back, seldom sentimental and full of grace. Like a wonderful dinner, she makes you wish she had written more.

I saw Ms. Sanders "plugging" her book on Food TV and was captured immediately. She seemed to be the kind of person you would love to have as a neighbor. After checking out the book, I'm ordering her other two. The recipes I have tried are wonderful. They bring back treasured memories of favorite aunts and their country cooking of my childhood. Her background narration for the recipes is an added bonus. Don't miss this opportunity.

Not only can I give Dori Sanders' books a positive review, but a review on Dori herself. I recently met her at her peach farmstand in Filbert, South Carolina. She greets you as if you are an old friend in her warm and friendly manner. She speaks eloquently, her words flowing like a butterfly floating on a breeze. I'm sure she has never met a stranger. One word describes her best: Genuine. She is proud of her past, her life and her accomplishments in a humble sort of way. She is a real treasure and it was an honor to meet her. Nancy

I first saw Ms. Sanders on Cooking Live on the Food Network. I was amazed at her Easy Peach Cobbler recipe, so I looked it up online and tried it out. I really didn't think peach cobbler could be so easy to make until I tried her recipe, and to tell you the truth, I'm not a baked fruit fan and I never really even liked peach cobbler since all I've ever had was cafeteria and buffet cobbler. It was my first attempt at making cobbler, and it came out just right. The recipe was nearly fool proof and insanely easy to make.

I gave myself a sample of my first homemade cobbler and all I can say is this- I never liked peach cobbler until I made Dori's cobbler. I love it now. I ran out and bought Dori's cookbook right afterwards.

The recipes presented in Dori's book are all relatively easy to make. It's southern cooking made non-southerner friendly. I come from an Asian background and my husband's and I are both from California, so we're the sorts that don't know what Creole is, and the only icon we can name of southern cooking is Emeril Lagasse.

This cookbook has been a dream, though. It's absolutely delightful! As another commenter noted, don't start your diet now. This is comfort food, very delicious soulful food. Like I mentioned with the peach cobbler, I'm not a big dessert fan and I never liked anything that resembled fruit pie, but oh my goodness, I downed four servings of that cobbler until I couldn't eat anymore. I've been trying to make all her recipes, finding occasions that would best match them, and all of them have come out better than I expected. It's truly a wonderful cookbook when you can't wait to try making something new from it because you've had such delightful experiences with all the past recipes.

Cooking is a joy with this book, and you don't have to be an experienced cook to enjoy making these recipes. Mothers, girlfriends, wives, husbands, sons, and fathers, if you're looking for good recipes that'll make quality food that'll wow your family, give this cookbook a try. If you're looking for a few recipes to try before making the commitment of buying this book, Food Network's webpage offers free recipes Dori shared with Sara Moulton during her guest appearance on Cooking Live. Give it a try, and I'll bet you'll be back for more!

I first met Steve when he came to give a wonderful presentation on Mongolia to our Navajo schoolchildren in Pinon,AZ. Pinon is in the middle of nowhere, no hotel, no place to eat, but I really wanted him to talk with our kids...he came trekking out with his falcon, wonderful dogs and his ever loving, patient, sweet wife! he was a hit! We distributed this great book to our community and they all came out - he signed books, ate and drank with us - it was wonderful! I got to hear many of these stories in detail - if you are a teacher - have him come to your class - well worth the time! Great read - even better in person - and can shoot a shotgun almost as well as ?

Stephen J. Bodio's Eagle Dreams is one of the best books I've ever read. By turns lyrically poetic, hilariously funny, dramatic, touching, and inspiring, this book is travel writing at its very best. Most authors cannot approach Bodio in terms of talent, in the way his masterful prose brings scenes and people (in this case, the wilds of Mongolia and the tribesmen who hunt with golden eagles) to life and puts the reader in the middle of the action. Fascinating, exotic story, beautifully told. Buy this book!

I was a junior in college when my dad sent me a copy of a new magazine he had started receiving at home called Gray's Sporting Journal. An English student and avid sportsman, I turned immediately to the book review section. Typically, I did not expect much from a sporting magazine's book review; seldom did these reviews actually convey much critical information.

This was the first time I read Steve Bodio's by-line. I read his review column, then went back and read it again, and again. In three pages, I knew this was a writer that deserved my attention. In fact, I had never read anyone who so passionately loved books and the sporting life, and who also wrote about those passions so beautifully. As Bodio himself once wrote about another writer: "He's THAT good."

Steve Bodio is a cult writer, a characterization I once heard Bodio himself acknowledge. Those of us who make up this cult cannot figure out why he isn't better known. Quite possibly it is because he is a naturalist who remains an unapologetic hunter, a hunter who would rather discuss natural history than the latest camouflage pattern, and a writer who ignores current fashions and writes about subjects like falconry, pigeons, catfish and wild freedom.

This latest book, on Mongolia, is a wonderful travel book that one hopes will introduce Bodio to a new and expanded readership. "Eagle Dreams" traces Bodio's fascination with the eagle hunters of Mongolia to the realization of the dream during the course of two trips.

Calling "Eagle Dreams" a travel book is perhaps unfair; it is not easily placed into a neat category. It is a travel book, a sporting book, a nature book, a "sense of place" book-but none of those categories convey its real spirit.

Bodio has a naturalist's keen curiosity, conveyed through vivid descriptions of everything from eagles to malaria. He has a fascination with even the more common creatures, writing of the magpies and pigeons he finds with a delight that seems as if he is seeing these creatures for the first time. He captures Mongolia's interesting history, its nomadic culture and the difficulties of travel in a way that is humane, engaging, and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

Of course, there is a lot of falconry here, with fascinating writing about the eagle hunters of Mongolia, their methods, their birds and their lives.

Bodio does not take his travels for granted, in stark contrast to the writers of many modern travel books. His travels to Mongolia are the realization of a dream, and he conveys just what it is like for a lover of words and ideas to finally stand in a place one has imagined deeply. I suspect many of us who grew up dreaming of travel that seemed so beyond our means can relate to this; I have never read any writer who conveys this feeling better. His observations on the "sountrack" of such experiences are worth the price of the book.

This book is a good introduction to Steve Bodio, capturing his love of animals and wild places, his opinionated (and true) observations on our society's maddening political correctness and Puritanism, his embodiment of a well-lived life (again, to paraphrase him on another subject, I'm not sure that he is making much of a living but what a life!), his literary musings that lead one to believe he has read EVERYTHING, and a writing style that is just a joy to read.

Ultimately, this book seems to be saying, that, even in an increasingly tamed and conformist world, there is still quarry to hunt, books to read, birds to watch, adventures to live. It's not a message you'll find in many travel-to-unusual places books. If for that reason alone, read this book.

This book came in with others on Mongolia I had ordered a month ago and so I thought it was just another aspect of this fascinating country I am presently dedicating my attention to. Instead, as usual, generalization is not for human sprit. Opening the book I found out this naturalist grew up in New England as I did, he has italian chromosomes and is a novel Federick II. Immediate simpathy arised. So I dived into this unknown ornitological world (by the way I am scared of birds and I live with terror of an annoying pidgeon that once in a while comes into my kitchen).
First, a notation on the language which is fantastic. I am amazed that such a talented writer writes only about nature and birds and is not better known, but I will surely get my hands on some other books of his.
Second, the cultural milieu that brings the reader to the opening scene (of the eagle actually killing its prey) builds up during the narration and is one of the main subjects of the book. We get an excursus through Marco Polo's travels, Vadim Gorbatov's art work, Andrew's dinosaur discoveries, David Edwards beautiful fotographic images (by the way visit his site and enjoy the eagle and horseman pictures), practically into the author's mind. His references become our references and his dreams ours. One of the fascinanting aspects of this book is the closeness even layman can achieve to the eagle hunting subject.
Third, the book is travelogue or explornography (as the author puts it) and so a get along tale, that as always has the power of getting you to the last page with the curiousity of what is coming up next.
This work is enjoyable, mind and heart raising, didactic and cultural. Truely it can be offered as a gift to curious and encyclopedic friends.

I don't hunt or fish or tramp around in the wilderness but, despite that, I was entranced by this book - couldn't put it down. To me, it's a story of how one person, in this case a brilliant and engaging writer, managed to achieve a dream he'd held since childhood. Bodio is such a fine (and funny!) storyteller that he makes one of the world's most exotic places accessible without making it a bit less exotic. Hunting with eagles in Mongolia doesn't have to be your dream for this book to be one you'll treasure, just like you didn't have to fish for trout to love "A River Runs Through It." I highly recommend this book.

This collection of short stories was given to me as birthday present and came wrapped up and labelled "highly recommended". I had some reservations at first but they quickly dispelled after reading the first few pages.

The emphasis is on quality writing as much as erotic content. The contributors range from talented debutants to distinguished authors, including a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.

Editor Mitzi Szereto breaks out of the limited constraints of the erotic genre to present a unique piece of literature. Erotic encounters and fantasies from every continent are skillfully blended in a book full of warmth, enigma and passion. The book is full of fun and adventure - and you wouldn't mind reading it on a train or a plane.

In fact, I suggest you do - who knows where it will lead?

I think this is what literature is supposed to be.

Editor Mitzi Szereto assembles an eclectic group of writers writing an eclectic group of stories. You don't need to buy a plane ticket to have sex around the world, just read this book! Unlike most other erotica anthologies I've read, there is nothing remotely stale or trite in the storytelling in this one. Forget those so-called "Best" erotica books, because this one really IS the best.

Editor Mitzi Szereto has definitely outdone herself in this new offering of tales of erotic travel. There isn't one weak story in the bunch. Some of my favorites include Traditional Aryuvedic, Brit novelist Lesley Glaister's Silver Cowboy, and the editor's own Bakewell, Revisited, which made my breath catch in my throat. Szereto is a masterful prose writer in her own right, and her keen editorial eye for quality erotic storytelling is unrivaled by anyone else working in the genre. This is a truly superior anthology.

Erotic Travel Tales 2, the second in this wonderfully original anthology series edited by author Mitzi Szereto, has something for everyone -- and gives it to us with a delicious punch to the brain...and the groin! A diverse collection with stories penned by old favorites and fresh voices in erotica, including erotica's first Royal Fellow of Literature. Szereto takes us on an unforgettable journey. I just hope we are gifted with a volume 3!

I've never been all that keen on erotica, but Erotic Travel Tales 2 has changed my mind. I was expecting the typical one-handed drivel you usually find in this genre, and did I get the surprise of my life when I opened this book to read the contents. Szereto's amassed an interesting collection of material penned by a wide range of voices -- from popular authors of erotica to those from more mainstream areas of literature. As a result, this is a collection utterly unique from anything else in its category. The stories work as literary fiction, erotic fiction, and travel fiction. You can't go wrong with this sparkling collection! Szereto is a real class act!

This book is a powerfil critique of reductionist and/or simulation (modeling) approach to mind/body problem, and "what is life" question. Rosen builds his case against Church Thesis, arguing that contemporary mathematical and, more generally, scientific rigor, which bans impredicative loops from scientific discource, would not allow us to build what he calls "new science", which is needed to account for life and consciousness.

More than once he mentiones Goedel Theorem, as well as various paradoxes, encountered by science over the centuries, emphasizing the fact, that they all are directly related to the impossibility to draw definite border between an observer and her object (not just in quantum physics).

Although the book was very interesting for me, i felt that some essays essentially repeated the material, already covered in other parts of the same book. Also, this "new science", which Rosen thought is needed to deal with open systems, is never really described in any way, so we are left with critique only.

I am not sure i fully agree with Rosen's view of the Turing Test, which he only sees as a simulation approach to the mind (intelligence) problem. My understanding is that Turing Test should be rather understood in the "observer/object" context, meaning that the participant makes a judgement, being, at the same time, fully incorporated into the system.

In one of the essays Rosen says: "If somebody wants to call this 'vitalism' - then ... so be it." With no constructive theory in site it's a bit like this, to my understanding.

This collection of essays, along with Rosen's other book _Life Itself_, are mandatory reading for any scientist or any astute layperson interested in biology, physics or philosophy of science.

Rosen was a very insightful and technically capable theoretical biologist. His work - first as a student of physicist and theoretical biologist Nicholas Rashevsky, and later as professor emeritus at Dalhousie - is unquestionably of the level of importance of Einstein's Special/General Theory of Relativity, or Godel's Incompleteness Theorems. This is a grand claim to make, but once you read Rosen's work, you will see for yourself.

These are not the easiest books to read, despite Rosen's excellent writing skills. The difficulty is two-fold. First and foremost, the new concepts and paradigms presented are of such breadth and profundity that it can take several readings to begin to fully grasp them adequately. Secondly, Rosen is mathematically (and otherwise) quite astute. The reader will encounter to some degree: category theory, topology, catastrophe theory (Rosen dedicates a chapter on genericity in _Essays_ to Rene Thom), differential equations, dynamical systems, Godel, Church-Turing, as well as philosophical topics of epistemology, ontology, and foundations of biology, mathematics and physics.

This should not, however, deter even the non-professional. Particularly in _Life Itself_, Rosen progresses carefully and patiently, even including a short intro to Category Theory. One can gloss over some of the math and still garner most of the insights from the text alone. _Essays_ utilizes a wider range of math skills, since that book covers a broader range of topics, but it is still quite accessible to the careful and astute reader.

In _Life Itself_, Rosen was investigating the question posed by Erwin Shrodinger originally in his 1943 lecture "What is Life?". Rosen's search led him to peel back in careful detail the foundations of Newtonian mechanics and reveal the underlying tacit assumptions of a state/phase-based physics and the repercussions for science in general, and biology in particular.

By setting aside state/phase-based physics, Rosen then proceeded to layout the groundwork for an atemporal relational biology based on functional organization and to methodically investigate the theoretical limits of mechanistic systems, including along the way: simulation, Turing machines, and the epistemology and ontology of such systems. The distinction eventually becomes clear that any such algorithmic mechanisms cannot embody the kinds of impredicative complexity that are characteristic of an organism. Because the syntax of Newtonian physics can express no such closed loops of entailment, "life" cannot even be described in that model of physics, much less modeled in any complete way. Thus it is that biological organisms are not a mere subset of current physics, but are representative of complexities that require physics to be enlarged.

In _Essays on Life Itself_, Rosen uses his considerable abilities across a broad spectrum of topics to continue the ideas from _Life Itself_. It is difficult to describe how topics as diverse as the assumptions of Pythagoras, the Turing test, universal unfoldings, morphogenesis, mind-brain problem, and more can be in the same book. Mostly, they all in one way or another accomplish one task: to look beyond the limits of how a problem is currently being viewed, and to see it from a larger perspective. Often, these perspectives take Rosen into terrain others would avoid, since they sometimes lead into the non-algorithmic / noncomputable, or the breakdown of the presumed subject-object division, or other kinds of "messy" scenarios.

Often they lead into "complex systems", where Rosen uses the word "complex" to define a certain class of systems - those systems have symptoms of being: impredicative, non-algorithmic, context-dependent, semantic, nonformalizable. This classification is not a desire for obfuscation or ineffability, but is as rigorous as the nonformalizability of Number Theory or the unsolvability in closed form of the n-body problem. It is a complexity akin to the size of a transfinite number: it is not simply a matter of merely being hugely complicated, it is rather an entirely different order of system structure.

However, guided by Rosen, one does not feel uneasy following his path. Rather one feels enriched both in knowledge and in paradigm. Distinguishing the broader generic case from the degenerate or special is a characteristic theme in Rosen. The unfamiliar terrain he argues to is thus not some void, but a grander scale that subsumes the orthodox view.

In that grander view, it may become more clear that some problems are based on incorrect assumptions, while some are more difficult or complex than in the more limited original view. However, it is apparent that Rosen is uninterested in making problems appear simpler by ignoring those difficulties - he is interested in where the science leads. It is an immensely richer, complex view of the physical world that one comes away with. As such, it presents some difficult challanges, but it also opens up vast opportunities - opportunities not visible in the neat and tidy fantasy model of science that generally prevails where it is assumed that with enough effort everything can be reduced or calculated.

Rosen writes deliberately and with precision, and is both a critical and a profound thinker. I hope that he one day receives the recognition and admiration he rightfully deserves.

Dr. Rosen was a great man and this collection of essays follows on a number of foundational and classic works. The essays expand on, and clarify, a number of key issues that are present throughout Rosen's work. These include the Church-Pythagoras thesis, the mind-body problem, reductionism, syntatics and semantics, and biology and technology.

My main contribution to what has already been said in other reviews is to note that this work might be best viewed as a complement to Rosen's earlier work, Life Itself. Or, said differently, it might be best to read Life Itself first (if you haven't already). These are very complex topics that are explained from the standpoint of biology and mathematics and those without a previous foundation in Rosen's work--as I was when I bought this book--may find they have to establish that foundation first.

This collection of papers and presentations, published posthumously, is a companion to Rosen's earlier books "Life Itself" and "Anticipatory Systems: Philosophical, Mathematical and Methodological Foundations". This is probably the most accessible of his work to those without a fairly solid mathematical background. Not that this should prevent people from reading the earlier work since there are many sections that will be quite clear; I just feel that unfortuntely the crucial points of "Life Itself" might be lost due to the seeming technical nature of the explanation.

This is truly paradigm-shifting, moreso than anything else you are likely to read about in science. The Sante Fe crowd such as Stuart Kauffman obviously did not even grasp what Rosen was talking about when they met back in 1994 and that is even more tragic. So much time has been wasted with such money-wasters like the genome mapping fiasco when it could have been going into exploring new axioms for science.

For you see, this is what Rosen so eloquently points out in his work: the present axioms of science are much too limiting to explain anything we really would like to know about the universe. It is very interesting to see that Rosen grasped the implications of what also caught Einstein and Schrodinger's attention: the problem of inertial and gravitational mass. Rosen also points out the myriad of other areas where science has been busy putting band-aid after band-aid on the present set of theories to try to make them predict real phenomena.

For this is the problem with the present-day paradigms: they are only useful for predicting the N+1 state for some dead (and therefore uninteresting) mechanistic universe. The evidence has been staring us in the face for quite a while and I am not sure why Rosen should have been the first to analyze where the problems lie; it is even more surprising why his work appears to be so little known.

I also like the fact that this book is much more polished than his previous work. The index is mostly complete and there is also a list of references. I didn't note very many editorial erros and the language is quite friendly. This is a very high-quality science book and I suspect the first editions will be going for large prices in about 20 years when the "establishment" finally figures out where they went wrong.

Buy this and read it. And read it again. Then wonder why we are rushing pell-mell to "engineer" the world when we don't understand it at all.

Robert Rosen died in December of 1998 after a long bout with diabetes and its complications. He left a significant quantity of unpublished notes and had this book in the publication process. His last "writings" were hand done on paper with great effort due to extensive peripheral neuropathy. It was a mixed blessing to be among the first to read his last works both this manuscript and the next, unfinished one. I am saddened by our loss even as I feel his presence through his writings.

Bob was an eloquent speaker and reading this set of essays is almost as good as hearing him in person. The essays were written to be published in a number of places, usually as invited talks, yet they may as well have been set down to be a book from the start. There is a thread of continuity that makes this the case. In addition, even though I had read many of the essays as they appeared earlier, their juxtaposition in this volume proves that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts"!

His stated purpose of this collection is to, in a sense, "flesh out" arguments in Life Itself (LI) that had to be short or even omitted for what might be called "logistic" reasons. In my opinion the essays do that at least. In LI he began with a caveat with which I am totally sympathetic. He warned the reader that he was weaving a very intricate cloth with a single linear thread and therefore much was being laid upon the reader's shoulders. My own experience is that it took numerous readings to begin to see how the weave was manifest. Once there, things fell into place more and more quickly, yet still a lot more was required because the design is so highly interconnected and rich in levels of meaning. I hope this book of essays will spare others that struggle. It will never be my place to evaluate that possibility since I can never go back.

The first part deals with the relationship of biology and physics within science, which can sound like an innocent enough topic until one understands that it is a revolutionary view.

Underlying it all is the common notion that physics is the source of all scientific laws and that chemistry and biology somehow must utilize physics to be scientific. Rosen rejects this notion and thereby opens a Pandora's Box. He uses the now more than fifty year old essay by Schrödinger, What is Life? as a springboard to the revealing argument about biology's more generic character in comparison to physics. As he does this he develops his notion of complexity as a description of this more generic view promoted by biology in contrast to the kind of "simple systems" which are the subject matter of physics. None of this should sound new to anyone who has read his earlier work, especially Life Itself, except for the new connections and new depths to which the arguments are taken. The result is a more solid whole than ever before

His introduction to this part of the book is worth having here to get a flavor for where he is going: "I claim that Gödelian noncomputability results are a symptom, arising within mathematics itself, indicating that we are trying to solve problems in too limited a universe of discourse." This is a nice capsule version of Rosen's message. If nothing else comes from his writings, this alone should change everyone who understands the message.

The book develops this theme along with the idea that science has limited itself unnecessarily. It created a surrogate world and then insisted that any observations about the real world not compatible with this model were "unscientific". The consequences are many and he explores them systematically. Whether you agree or disagree, an honest reading will require you to re-examine your beliefs.

It's difficult to describe why Bruno Bisang's images are so exciting when many similar books are dull and repetitious. I suspect that the photographer has a really deep sensual appreciation of beautiful women, and the results show on every page.

I like this book because you can see really nice shots, technically and artistically marvellous, but you can see others in wich you just see a really pretty girl.

I think is a book of nude and glamour photography, and I prefer just the nude. If someone likes glamour pictures, this is his book

...haven't seen a good book like this for long long time..!! As a freelance photographer, I'm truly impressed by Bruno's artworks, whatever from light setting to posing or from color to techniques, I am so impressed. However, I have fewer opportunities to take pics of nude models. Personally, I really like those B&W pics on this book and you won't be disappointed with it at book..!! Well, sorry I want to know when the second book comes out coz' I am looking forward to it..!!

This is my first Bisang Book, and I must say that I'm definitely impressed. I would recommend for anyone's collection who is looking for tasteful nude photography that can be left on your coffee table and not be ashamed for anyone to look through...

I've got an entire shelf of books on nude photography, but this is certainly one of the best. No "average people are beautiful too" here -- all the models are gorgeous and well developed. The pics are in both color and black & white, and usually take up the full page. Heavy paper, large size, tasteful clear photos, and gorgeous women. Fantastic.

I looked up 'foolhardy' in the dictionary, and Jeffrey Tayler's picture was there for illustration. Even Tayler admits at the end, in a brief but moving epilogue, that his initial motivations for the trip were absurd: "I had pictured (Zaire's) wilderness as a bourn where I could rejuvenate myself through suffering and achievement and the conquest of my fear. But my drama of self-actualization proved obscenely trivial beside the suffering of Zaireans and the injustices of their past. That it should have seems obvious to me now, but I learned this only by buying a pirogue and attempting the descent."

It's that type of personal insight - not the trip itself - that makes "Facing the Congo" such a great read. In fact, the blurbs for this book are misleading and fail to capture the best parts of the book. For example, the back cover says "But once his tiny boat pushed off the banks of the mysterious river...".

Hey, I'm here to tell you (and I think Tayler would agree) that the *least* compelling part of the book is the pirogue trip itself. It's what leads *up to* the first step in the pirogue and what happens after the trip that makes the book stand out from the average travelogue. Tayler travels upriver in a barge owned and operated by the book's standout character: Zairean Colonel Ekoondo. And, luckily, Tayler is obviously as fascinated with the guy as he figures his readers will be. In fact, when Tayler departs the barge and the Colonel leaves the picture, Tayler deflates...and so does the energy of the book. The paragraph where he takes leave of the Colonel is spine-tingling:

"There was another knock on the door. It was the Colonel. He looked grave. 'Don't play games with your safety. Hire a soldier.' He fixed me with his eyes. He stepped forward and hugged me hard, then wished me bon voyage and walked out...I closed the door and leaned back against the wall, feeling my heart pounding. In fact I was trembling. Whether he was in league with Mobutu or not, the Colonel had helped and protected me. He had treated me like a son; he had been straightforward with me; he hard asked nothing of me, nothing at all. During the long trip upriver I found only he dealt with me without pretense, without discernable ulterior motive; and only he perceived the risks of my venture and thought in practical terms about how to surmount them. Now I would go on without him."

Well done, Mr. Tayler. That's brilliant stuff.

The other thing worth noting: this is no ordinary traveler. Tayler's sojourns are backed by his astounding linguistic skills. This is a guy who speaks fluent French, Arabic and Russian for starters. And he picks up some Lingala for the journey. This guy is incredible. Thanks for the ride, Mr. Tayler (although staying at home with Tatyana in Moscow sounded like a far better option to me).

Tayler's ability to capture the full flavor of Africa while giving the reader room to make an assesment of this often violent culture attests to his flare and careful attention to the human experience. Tayler never forgets that he is traveling this river looking at its inhabitants with Western lenses. For the reader looking for adventure, this book is full-flavored. For a fellow and perhaps struggling writer, Tayler's words speak a priceless and empathetic language. But what makes the book most successful is that it speaks to anyone who has lived, loved, and searched for that missing piece, realizing it can always be found in the journey. It is travel writing at its best, full of observations and rhetorical questions presented to the reader as writing's greatest gift.

A great read for anyone interested in adventure travel or Central Africa. Tayler chronicles his travels along the 1,100 plus mile Congo river in Zaire, and his personal journey to find meaning in his existence.

Demonstrating laudatory courage, Tayler navigates the dangers of the Congo (e.g., weather, disease, beasts, banditry, corruption, etc.), first up-river as passenger on a barge, and then down-river along with two Zairean companions in his pirogue (a small wooden canoe) - a trip no mondele (i.e., white man) may have completed since the explorer Stanley (many of the several who have tried did not survive). The result is a compelling tale that provides a glimpse into Tayler's inner soul and the people of Central Africa, while also indirectly shedding light on political, economic and social issues regarding the developed and undeveloped world.

An eminently enjoyable read that you are not likely to be able to put down, and one which may cause you to contemplate planning your own existential journey.

This is perhaps the best travel log I've ever read. It makes those in the western world appreciate more what they have compared to the desolation that wreaks havoc in this area of the world (in particular).

It is the journey of an American living in Moscow who wants to retrace Henry Stanley's trek down the Congo River in modern day Zaïre. It chronicles his planning; the trip to Brazzaville, Congo; the ferry to Kinsasha, Zaïre; the barge up to Kisangani; and the trek back town towards Kinsasha. It chronicles the folks he met (those who helped and those who hurt), personal fears and human tragedy.

There are even a few incidents of humor interjected (for those who have read the book: When Desi uses the toothpaste, the use of the shotgun, the TV show playing at the Kinsasha diner, among others).

It is, as Bill Bryson describes it, an "immensely gripping tale." I never found myself bored with it and was able to tackle its reading quite quickly (for me). I was actually near tears right at the end because I had become so involved with the book and its characters and I almost felt as if the tragedy was my own.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in either Zaïre (or Dem. Rep. Congo as it is today), Africa, or just likes to read a well written and intensely interesting novel.

Part travelogue, part memoir, Jeffrey Tayler's Facing The Congo takes the reader on a memorable and fascinating journey into sub-Saharan Africa's crocodile waters and lush jungles, lush jungles, and a spectacular variety of merchants, deckhands, prostitutes, mothers, spiritual followers, fishermen, children, and many other assorted charecters. From lively marketplace banter to cramped, mosquito infested sleeping spaces, Facing The Congo is the story of Tayler's trip up and down the legendary Congo River complete with fog covered backwaters, hostile tribes, and true-life high adventure. Facing The Congo is thoroughly satisfying, enthusiastically recommended reading for the armchair traveler.

...I have been eating poetry.' The quote at the beginning of the book is now, since reading it, my poetry mantra.This book is a delight.Others share their favourite poems after their reason why/or the reason/s they love poetry.There is a real mix of selections, which make a pleasurable read for anyone with a taste for poetry.

An anthology that proves that the gift of heartbreak are the art forms that celebrate a testament to the lost love, such as poetry that allows the remembrance of that love to live forever.

Think about your childhood, or the time when, as a teenager, you idly turned the page onto a poem that forever changed your world. Then multiply that experience by 68 and you have the contents and flavor of FIRST LOVES. edited by Carmela Ciuraru. Some of the poets she asked to contribute are already no longer with us, so their comments here have a slightly valedictory quality which makes this book even sweeter now, than when it first appeared three years ago.

It is also a good book to share with your own children. What's nice to know is that, in the middle of today's crazy world, young people are still stumbling across their very first poem, and again are succumbing to the pleasures of the word. A noble book, filled with lasting memories.

Simply a series of short essays in which poets comment on the poems that first awakened them to poetry. Fortunately, the poets seem to have felt no need to be "poetic" in their essays, which are all fairly straightforward and insightful. The poems themselves are, of course, included as well. It's interesting to see the diversity of poems that others have found meaningful and to hear their explanations as to why: Two selected "Jabberwocky" to my mild surprise, while another selected "Suzane Takes You Down" and another selected a Rodgers & Hammerstein lyric. Others selected more obscure poems that I find it hard to believe anyone would regard as meaningful, but that's the charm of this book. The one who selected "For a Dead Kitten" ("How could this small body hold / So immense a thing as Death?") is my new Favorite Poet, even though I've never heard of her or read anything she's written.

Poetry can be inspiring, uplifting and daunting. This book, however, takes a tack which will inform even the most casual poetry reader. Editor Carmen Ciuraru asked writers to name the poem which inspired them to write -- so, in this handy volume, you get a short essay about a poem and then get a chance to read the poem itself. It includes a wide range of poets and poetic forms, from Yeats and Dickinson to Rilke and Williams. It's also fairly easy to read because you can select certain essays to read in one sitting. This is a perfect book for those who think they like poetry and don't exactly know where to start.

This collection of color photographs of flowers by Robert Mapplethorpe is stunning beyond words. Just when you thought that nothing else could be done with the overdone photographing of Calla Lilies, Mapplethorpe graces this book with eleven new shots of them, along with Orchids, Tulips, Poppies and a Rose or two. It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Mapplethorpe's work that some of these magnificent color shots are quite phallic in nature.

It is appropriate that the artist selected flowers for some of his last work since he like flowers was here for such a short time. (It is futile to speculate as to how many beautiful books he would have published by now had he lived.)

A short but moving introduction is included by his friend Patti Smith: She ends her comments with lines:

"A flower that grew from years of flowers./By one who caused a modern shudder/and was favored by his mother./It is the wall that conceals all the tears of a relatively young man/with nothing but glory in his grasp and what he would be/grasping is the hand of God drawing him into another garden."

For those who will never afford a Mapplethorpe, this book is a beautiful substitute.

This book deserves more than five stars. It is the finest set of flower photography that I have seen before, and presents more dimensions of what a flower can mean that I would have thought possible.

I took a course of creativity from author Dan Wakefield a number of years ago. One of the many excellent exercises we did was to take a flower and write as much as we could about what we observed during an hour. At the end of the time, I was bursting with new ideas for all kinds of things. Try it sometime!

Seeing this marvelous book by Robert Mapplethorpe (that would earn a G rating if it were a motion picture) reminded me of that exercise. I had the same feeling as I examined each image, and had a great desire to start taking notes.

The essay, A Final Flower, by Patti Smith helps put these great works in perspective. Mr. Mapplethorpe found it "as easy to hurl beauty as anything else." "He came, in time, to embrace the flower as the embodiment of all the contradictions reveling within [him]." He was inspired by "their sleekness, their fullness, Humble narcissus, Passionate zen." As such, he found flowers to be "worthy conspirators in the courting and development of conflicting emotions."

The images themselves evoke more complicated views than any others of flowers that I have seen. The closest to his style is that which Georgia O'Keeffe used in her painings. But there are more dimensions to these photographs.

For example, a single flower may evoke a part of a human body, but it will also stimulate an impression of a human emotion contained in the flower image separate from the body part. Further, the shadowed background behind the flower will add movement and context that greatly expand the meaning of the overall image. Mr. Mapplethorpe also displays a genius for using varieties of color together to express complicated rhythms that make looking at the images a lot like listening to a drum beating a distinctive tattoo. He also employs juxtaposition (to make one thing appear to be part of something else), allusions to emerging and receding, and contrasts to great effect.

The technical quality of the images is superb. The lighting, detail, and composition of each image are precisely as must have been intended. Each image is an exquisite gem. Although I liked all of the images, some appealed to me more than others. Here are my favorites:

Irises, 1988; Rose, 1989; Orchid, 1977; White Longstem Flower, 1982; Orchids, 1982; Orchid, 1986; Flowers in a Vase, 1985; Orchids, 1987; and Poppy, 1988 (second one). I would like to specially praise the astonishing Calla Lilies (1985-1988) for their amazing beauty and inspiring qualities.

Where else can something simple display so much important meaning and complexity about nature and the viewer? I suggest that you consider looking at leaves, rocks, and feathers as possible additional sources of inspiration. Try your hand at arranging tableaux that use the vocabulary of Mr. Mapplethorpe's work here.

May your heart and mind be suffused with the wonders around you . . . creating a meditation inspired by nature!

While the photos are stunning, the presentation is a little rough. While most photos are presented with a blank page opposite there are a few photos that face other photos. This is a little jarring but worse is the two photos that are printed across the facing page. The spine break really detracts from a pair of beautiful photos.
Mapplethorpe was a genius with a camera and this book gives us many reminders of his skill. The publisher, however, lacks the artistic eye that would have prevented the distractions of a few photos that are damaged or badly placed by the layout. Minus a star because it could have been layed out better

Even though Mapplethorpe is better known for his controversial black and white nude photos, this book demonstrates his careful delicacy with not only the flowers but also the controlled lighting and the subtle colors. I have loved this book since the first time I leafed through it in studio photo class.

Unbelivable intensity out of such simplicity. Here is Mapplethorpe's ultimate genius, astoundingly powerful from such simple set-ups. The colour, composition, lighting, choice of vases and flowers: All the basics but brilliantly done.
I saw Mapplethorpe's famous exhibition in Philadelphia just before he died,the exhibit that was banned at the Corcoran in D.C., then siezed for a while in Cincinnati. The flower photographs were dye-transfer prints, which made the colour surprisingly intense; some were almost 3' tall. People would stand for a long time in front of those, enraptured, sensing the work on several different levels at once. This book does a good job of bringing that to you. You can look at this book over and over again, put in on a coffe table to start converstaions or, after having not seen it for a while, rediscover it to be awed and inspired anew once again.
The edition I have is a 1990 paperback 12" in height; the pictures are presented one to a spread, so that there is a blank white page accross from the flower, which is a very classy touch, completely the correct way to do it.

Bill Carter's FOOLS RUSH IN has got to be one of the finest memoirs ever written. Explains what happened in Sarajevo (and Bosnia) better than any book on the subject that I have read.

You'll shed your share of tears at the madness, cruelty and mindless slaughter and suffering that went on, but you'll also be laughing your butt off between bouts of deep sadness... (as the victims, trapped in Sarajevo, under under constant shelling and sniper fire, and I am talking about Serbs, Croats, Muslims--who referred to themselves as Bosnians & wishing to live together in a united way-- were able somehow to hold on to their sense of humor under these hellish conditions.)

Read it in less than two days. Could not put the book down once I started. Amazing feat by Mr. Carter, a survivor in his own right.

A layered, character-driven memoir that reads like a novel. For everyone who wants to understand a little more about war -- and right now, shouldn't that be all of us?

I loved this book. It was raw and powerful and really moved me. This book touches on a couple of key themes - war and love. I found it a really powerful commentary on the politics of war, without being a political polemic. Equally,anyone who has experienced the death of someone young and close to them will find a kindred spirit which may make the experience less lonely. The only time Carter lost me was when he describes his experiences with U2. He comes across as bit of a victim, a bit too self pitying. This is a problem only because it is at odds with the rest of the book which has such a tone of endurance and spirit.

This emotionaly moving story encompasses all facets of human emotion and should truely be read by everyone.

FOOLS RUSH IN by Bill Carter is a memoir of the siege of Sarajevo by an American who voluntarily went there to help the Bosnians victimized by the Serbian aggressors.

Carter had recently lost a girlfriend suddenly in a car accident, and he was looking for something to do to get away from his grief. He went to the Balkans, where he had a friend working for an aid organization in Split, Croatia. He couldn't get an "official" job in Bosnia, during the war, so he joined The Serious Road Trip, a group of internationals, who drove brightly painted trucks and cars and delivered food aid to beseiged people while juggling and clowning for the kids. Carter's main friend in the narrative is Graeme, who utters some funny Brit black humor in the course of the surreal events of the memoir. ("Easy there, Spam," will forever be part of my ideolect.)

Carter essentially moves to Sarajevo, and stays in an office tower near the front lines, the Unis Towers. He tells of the daily hardships of living with no sure supply of water, food, gas, electric along with having to move through the city ever-aware of snipers. The Serious Road Trip delivered food to different groups around the city, mostly based on interpersonal relationships the members of TSRT developed. For example, Carter meets two sisters who lead him on a run across Sniper Alley (they accused him of being a "war tourist") to their apartment, which they couldn't leave once the siege began until their father dug a tunnel out of the building, as the main exit faced the Serb-occupied hills. In the family's apartment, Carter feels guilt over enjoying the hospitality they offer him. He can see from their faces and bodyies that they are slowly starving, but they are all amazed when they find a bullet in the flour he was carrying in the box of groceries he was taking to them as he ran across Sniper Alley. He watches a video with the family of a birthday party, and in the video, as they celebrate, a bullet comes through the window and lodges in the wall. After the instant of the shot, the family recovers and continues the celebration. After showing the video, the mother tells Carter, "Our first bullet."

It is unreal and inhumane moments like this that are best illustrated in Carter's narrative. Much of the last half of the book deals with Carter's idea to get U2 to publicize the problems in Sarajevo because of the siege. (The UN brought in food for those trapped in the city, but the Serbs wouldn't allow it to be delivered unless they got 40 percent of it themselves. The UN troops also kept Sarajevans in the city, not allowing them to connect with the free Bosnian territory just beyond the UN controlled airport.) The U2 aspect was interesting, and illustrated how the world came to be outraged about what was happening to Bosnians, but it was less interesting than the small moments so well depicted by Carter's intimacy with the lives of Sarajevans but colored by his "foreigner's" view, as an American. His stranger's view of the situation allows him to voice his moral outrage, but his intimate experience with the city's horrors, and his own hardships because of it, allow him that outrage, legitimize it.

The thing I didn't like about the book is an aspect of Carter's personality that I term (borrowing from organizational communication) "low elimination breakpoint." Carter seems to be better than everything, or at least everything around him has intolerable flaws. Aid organizations are too bureaucratic, so he won't work with them. Even though he works in film and makes a documentary of the hardships in Sarajevo during the siege, working in film is also not good enough for him. Etc. I found some of the writing overwrought (he was the most in love of any person ever in love, for example). He seems to morally eschew attention for his work in Bosnia, but then is offended when he doesn't get what he thinks is his fair share.

One of the most moving and upsetting moments in the narrative is when TSRT is trying to get out of Bosnia to collect supplies and stays with a Muslim family in a town after the Croats have turned on their Muslim allies against the Serbs. Carter and his colleagues know the town they're in is about to be ethnically cleansed, and the family they're staying with will be victims of that cleansing. There is a teen-age boy in the family who tells them it isn't their war, and Carter thinks, whose war is it?" A boy's war? People who didn't cause it, but are about to be killed en masse because of their Turkish sounding names? TSRT can leave the town, but the people with whom they've stayed cannot. Again, it's the intimacy and humanity of the encounter that make the impression. Carter later hears that the people of the town who could flee tied handicapped and sick people to their beds and fled the genocidal murderers by running into the woods. That's all he knows of the family who sheltered him...

I bought this book at an English-language bookstore in Sarajevo, so it was richer to read about such places as Sniper Alley, the Holiday Inn, the Old Town, the tunnel the Bosnian forces used to get supplies and soldiers into and out of Sarajevo after having seen them myself. It's a good book and serves as an effective companion to the historical and political reportage that exists on the war. I recommend it.