Essays Books

A terrific book for die-hard Mets fans that enjoy a quality read. Literate and smart, but also accessible and real. In writing about his own experience as a true fan of this team, the author touches on things that are universal to most of us fans. Highly recommended.

This amazin' collection of essays, was thoroughly enjoyable and easy to read. Dana Brand masterfully weaves his personal stories, season recaps, the highs, the lows, and plenty of sentimentality together in perfect form. This book truly sums up everything it is to be a Mets fan, or a sports fan in general.

I have read plenty of books covering the Mets: books that take the reader inside the locker room, books that give an A-Z statistical history of the ballclub, trivia books, and and all of the downright goofy ones. Mets Fan is similar to none of these. This book is really one of a kind. Dana Brand shares his personal memories of this team, and if you too are a fan, you will definitely see so much of yourself in them.

I was born in 1978 and I have been a fan of the Mets since 1985. It is fantastic to finally read about 1962-1984 from a pure fan's point of view. The point of this book is not to look up Jerry Koosman's ERA for the 1973 season, it is to see what a fan went through during the 1973 season. This makes for fantastic reading.

From now on, if anyone asks me why I care so much about this team, why I get upset when they lose, why I jump up and down when they win, why it is necessary for me the check the score, I will simply tell them to read this book. Mets Fan explains why were are fans in the first place. It expresses how we Mets Fans feel when we see orange and blue and why we feel that way, it goes deeper into the soul of fans than any book that I have ever read before.

This is one of these rare books that just gets better with every reading Vividly described as only Dana can, reading this book in it of itself makes you feel like your actually sitting in the ballpark surrounded with all the intangibles that come together with a trip to Shea Stadium. And now with the Stadium all but gone this book is the closest you can get to bringing back your favorite Shea Stadium memories.

I love this book! Dana Brand illustrates what it's like to be a Mets fan because he is one himself. I thought this was a nice piece of reflective Mets history. I plan on giving it as a gift to a few friends. This is aust read for any Mets fan! I also noticed a few people complaining about the price. I don't think it's over priced. I don't mind supporting independent artists who offer quality work. If you like this you'll like the Mets fan documentary. Very cool. Mathematically Alive: A Story of Fandom DVD

"Mets Fan" is the ideal book for people who can relate to the unconditional love you feel for a particular sports team. It goes beyond the diehard, irrational loyalty that allows one to persevere through the good times and bad; never giving up no matter how dismal things get.

The essays in "Mets Fan" illustrate how that unconditional love manages to permeate every aspect of life and shape us from the time we are children, and for the rest of our lives. The specific events Dana Brand writes about have such powerful emotional significance, that you sometimes forget he is writing about baseball. Regardless of what is omitted, what is included is relatable to fans (and non-fans)on so many levels. This is life with a side order of baseball, and we should be grateful for the opportunity to get a brief glimpse of how meaningful baseball can be, not just in the ballpark, but outside it as well.

This book arrived in mint condition and as promised. We are very pleased with this purchase.

Contemporary Mexican history is definetely shaped by the events (Mexican Revolution and its impact on Mexican society) that took place in the early 20th century. Casasola could be considered the father of Mexican photojournalism. Along with many other photographers that followed his steps or worked under his wings, Agustin Victor Casasola left an invaluable visual legacy of Mexican history and the participants that took place on it (from the radical painter to the workers on the streets). I recommend this book for anyone interested on Mexican history.

A terrific introduction to the work of the relativly unknown [ outside of Mexico that is] photographer Augustin V. Casasola. Casasola ran a small commercial photographic studio in Mexico during the long turbulent years of the Mexican revolution. Although he generaly worked with various medium and large format cameras the work is often astonishingly modern, direct and immeadiate. Covering not only demonstrations, firing squads, battles and the rebel leader Emiliano Zapata, but also intimate portrayals of daily life; its all at a level to obliterate any distintion between photojournalism and 'art' photography. If only we had photographers like this covering todays news and events.

We saw this exhibit at the Museo del Bario in New York City and the photos are wonderful. Many were taken 90 years ago yet they are in beautiful condition and give a wonderful sense of history. The book does complete justice to the photos. Terrific size and detail. It is better than I expected.

Mexico has a great history of producing world class photographers. Along with Hugo Brehme, Augustin Victor Casasola is one of the founders of that tradition. His photographs of the Mexican Revolution have passed into the realm of iconic. Casasola is so esteemed that the Mexican Government purchased all of his negatives and used them as the foundation of a National Photographic Archive.

In 1912, Augustin and his brother Miguel started the Casasola Photo Agency. They hired a number of photographers around the country to take pictures of the great events of the day. Along with portraits of the important people of the time, there are many beautiful photographs of revolutionary soldiers, peasants, urban workers and criminals. A quarter of books photographs are of the Revolution. The rest show Mexico as it was entering into the Modern Age. I especially loved his photographs of Mexico's Jazz Age.

This is a high quality publication produced by Aperture. It is hardback book and is 13" by 9.5" in dimension with 155 photographs. All the photographs were made with large format cameras and in turn the photographs are very clear and detailed. This is a great book for both photobook collectors and people interested in the history of Mexico. Highly recommended.

this is a great book of photos. i have the original first addition big version of this book which has more pages and is bigger in size, so get the big one if you can. if you can't, get this small one because it has so many beautiful photos.

OK. This book is really magnificent. Alone the cover and the back cover are to frame. The Black Sitting is indeed breathtaking and belong on billboards.
However you want to be aware that there are different editions of this book. This one is a tiny hardcover edition, very small. I don't know why it was made. The regular one was a regular sized coffee table book, of around 10 inches height. It looks as though this may be out of print.

Simply put, Milton Greene's photographs, as a group, place him first among equals of the group of Marilyn photographers,some now dead and a fair number still alive (as of this date),whose work-along with, of course, her theatrical motion pictures-are all we have of this enigmatic and emotionally compelling figure, dead 42 years now.

This book is available both in a small pocket edition and in a larger coffee-table version, and each has its purpose, although most will prefer the bigger one.

Greene's relationship with Monroe differed from others in that he was also her business partner in Marilyn Monroe Productions, the company they formed that was one of the first serious assaults on the then-reigning Hollywood studio system. It gave MM the contractual withal to have much more control over the types of films she did, and the standards to which they would be made, and discretion over her actual work (an example being the provision that she did not have to film while periodic) than was generally the case at that time.

This also provided Greene with insight as to Monroe's thought processes and a great deal of interaction with her personal life, which photographers not so affiliated wouldn't have.

While there are many fine portfolios of Monroe by many very fine photographers-George Barris,Eve Arnold, Richard Avedon-Greene's,as a whole, stand out as capturing the Marilyn Monroe essence. No one image of his is iconic in and of itself-it's only in the aggregate that his work dominates. If you are only allowed one volume of Monroe, this clearly is the one to get.

We've seen enough pictures of Marilyn Morone, but this book unveils some of the rarely-seen backstage and real life pictures of Marilyn taken by her favorite photographer Miller Grenne. In addition to her normal sexy appearence, Marilyn looked natural, stunning and relaxed in these pictures. A must buy for Marilyn fans!

As the previous reviewers commented, I found this book to be a superlative photo album of one of America's foremost photographers. Mr. Green truly captured Marilyn Monroe's candid beauty. Green brought forth Monroe's innocence as well as her sensual and goddess like images through the lens of his camera. You see her playfully swimming and frolicking in a pool. You see her riding atop an elephant in Madison Square Garden, NY to help benefit Children's Charity. The closing photos in the book of her portrayal of Elsie Marina, in the Prince and The Showgirl and "Cherie" the "Chanteuse" in her first movie production of "Bus Stop" are memorable as well. I truly recommend this magnificent work for anyone who enjoys seeing a creative master photographer and the beautiful legendary Monroe.

This is a fantastic book that explores the depths that modern psychiatry has only recently rebounded from, and is in danger of relapsing into. McHugh is a fairly balanced thinker, and pretty well-informed. The article on sex reassignment surgery is an absolute gem that challenges psychiatry to look its dogma in the face. Occasionally, there is a tendency to be extremely conservative. The Terry Schiavo comparison to the Nazi's extermination is a bit hyperbolic, although his point that there was no fMRI, PET, or even conventional MRI to _scientifically_ enlighten the debate is a very good one. The slippery slope argument is valid, but I think focusing of the right to keep alive by tube-feeding is going to distract from more clear-cut issues. Finally, McHugh outlines where the future of psychiatry might lead and how we have to make crucial decisions at this point in history to keep the art in accordance with truly Hippocratic principles.

In short, every psychiatrist should read it, but I am sad to say there are many who won't because they lack the capacity to be self-critical.

An excellent collection of essays by Dr. Paul McHugh. Having been a student of Dr. McHugh's, these essays reveal his thoughtfulness and incredible grasp of things medical, social, and psychological. It is an excellent overview of where the field of psychiatry has been and where it is going. The future is bright thanks to the foresight and leadership of Dr. McHugh and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins, among others.

Having encountered the fads of the 70's-80's,I had come to take a very dim view of the profession. It is a relief to see that change is in the air, science is back in the saddle (or nearly), and a refreshing practicality guides at least some practitioners.

McHugh provides biological,psychological,and psychiatric insights in a thoughtful, scholarly, and highly readible commentary.

In 1909, during a lecture at Clark University, Dr. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, who was educated to be a neurologist, told his audience in Massachusetts that he was pleased and satisfied that psychoanalysis would only accompany medical doctors for a short distance but then "take leave of them."

Just how far this distance would grow and how unfortunate the consequences of the separation between psychoanalysis and scientific medicine would be for our culture, and indeed all of society, is one of the topics in this new, five-part book, "The Mind Has Mountains." The author, Dr. Paul McHugh, former chair of the department of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School, has put together a collection of his scholarly articles.

Harold Bloom in his column, "Why Freud Matters," (Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2006) advised us that despite the fact that no one today believes that psychoanalysis is a science, it cannot be gainsaid that "Freud ... was the equal of the other major writers of his era, James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka." Freudianism, along with its creative and imaginative platonic-like constructs (id, ego, libido, etc.) continues to impact society.

A reader of "The Mind Has Mountains" will have a balanced, erudite critique of Freud's continuing influence. Unlike the work of Freud and his progeny, Dr. McHugh's "Reflections" are based not on personal opinions or unproven theses, but are the fruit of years of painstaking, empirically verified research coupled with the vast clinical experience of the author and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins and other major university hospitals.

The book is not narrowly limited to psychoanalysis, but treats the whole range of issues which psychiatry faces today. From Part I, "Beginnings," until the last chapters in Part V, "The Ethical Use of Embryonic Stem Cells" and "A Psychiatrist Looks at Terrorism," the book covers a breadth of subject matter in engaging language that is accessible to the layman.

Such a charming, descriptive book with off-beat, revelatory photos, that I bought copies for a grandson who lives in London and uses the tube, and for several American friends who used it this summer. History and lots of entertaining comment. I've used the subway in Washington, Berlin, and Moscow but never in London. Now I can hardly wait to wide to the end of the various lines James tells about so winningly. Great gift for anyone visiting London or anyone who lives there.

The cover of the book draws the eye immediately because of it's unique (to me) design, and the title attracted me because it repeats the phrase heard over the loud-speaker in the "tube" as the doors begin to close. The photographs are excellent because they give a hint of mystery, solitude, history and loneliness -- all at the same time. The text just adds to the information in the photographs and shows James' thoroughness in presenting his subject to the readers.

This book was like a trip back to London. The charming photos captured many quintessential aspects of the Tube and its stations that I instantly recognized and recalled but hadn't remembered. The articles explain many interesting aspects of the Underground with humor (without getting into a dry historical recitation). Very enjoyable and a classic.

A wonderful and humorous history of the London Underground. However, this is more than just history, James' photographs create a sense of time and place for the viewer, regardless of whether or not you are familiar with London and it's underground transportation system or not. Perhaps, what struck me most is the how full of color these Underground stations are -- quite unlike anything I've seen in the United States.

A surprising success. Though the appeal may be quite narrow, this book does a surprisingly good job at what it attempts to do. For anyone who has enjoyed a ride on the Underground, or who has marveled and the (mostly) clean, efficient, and occasionally spectacular Underground stations, Mind the Gap provides a new, fun, and provocative perspective. James takes his camera to all (literally all) those stations that those of us who spend our time in "Zone 1" see at the fringes of the Underground map but never visit. There he captures simple, carefully composed almost documentary images that give us unique view of the history, health, and scope of the Underground system. Though the photographs are individually nothing special (I really could have taken most of them myself, and done better in many cases) the collective effect is balanced and enjoyable.

Certainly a worthy addition any collection of Underground books, and a nice alternative for one that already includes the other fine books of photographs of the Underground and its stations.

good, worth reading.the book" one hell of a ride " the life and times of Lou Federico " A FANTASTIC READ . COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN SAY ALL READERS .NONFICTION on Baja and many more true stories.
you should promote this book more.No one will be dissapointed .

I loved this book. It will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you want to go to this amazing peninsula asap. Or go there again. (What else is a Baja Buff to do?)

Miraculous Air was very enjoyable to read. It has lots of historical & political information but it's a "page-turner" all the way to end, which was a quite a surprise.

This book is a series of real-life stories as experienced by the author over the course of about 5 years travel throughout Baja California. The stories paint a fascinating picture of many facets of life in Baja, both contemporary and historical. Ms. Mayo's writing style is also painterly - the words are pared to only the essential needed to convey the picture. The result is an extremely well-crafted book that is pure pleasure to read. Read this book if you are interested in Baja, or plan to travel there - it's one of the very best.

God, what a read! Like a novel, almost, full of surprises and little historical bits that will enrich your visit to Baja beyond measure... it was my first visit to Mexico, in 1957, and reading this book takes me back to my childhood visions of a place where the air is miraculous, the sand clean and white, the people like brothers and sisters. Read this book in the teeth of winter, to survive the snowbound months. And if you want to give someone a gift when they're Baja-bound, give them this book. Truly a miraculous treasure.

I bought this knowing only part of the story(Norman Clyde finding Starr's body) but had little idea of the complete tail. If you have ever hiked in the Minarets area, this is a must read. Just the research notes are a story in and of themselves.

This book was a sheer delight for me to read, and I hated to see it end. As a 50+ year Bishop resident who served as an aquatic biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game during much of this time, the book brought back any number of memories and nostalgia for those "days past." Much of my work was done in the Shadow Creek basin in the Lake Ediza area and other tributary lakes to Shadow Creek and close-by drainages. Norman Clyde was a good friend, and we spent many hours discussing things of mutual interest (and there were many of them). During backpacking ventures following WWII, "Starr's Guide to the John Muir Trail and the High Sierra Region" was our guide book. There were no others at that time. William Alsup has done a superb job in researching and writing this marvelous book. I wish there more of them of this quality.

I never knew about the actual people until I read this book. These people the book discussed where the actual people the Minarets were named for. This story gave me a taste of history, such as the early days of the Sierra Club.

This book talked about the actual events that may have lead to the death of a scholar, Stanford grad, and lawyer. He was from a well-to-do family and he had charisma. The book discusses how this fellow was "called" to the mountains. He loved to be in the mountains.

The determination of one man Norman Clyde (Clyde Minaret is named for) to find him on Michael Minaret.

The book addresses various theories that could have lead to his death. His remains are entombed in the very mountain for where he died.

I really enjoyed this book, although, it was a tragedy. I keep in mind of the details that may have caused this tragic result. This keeps me aware of more things should I ever hiking alone. The book is a good example of why the buddy system is a good idea.

I wish there were more books like this about the history of the Sierra and the early explorers. While the book centers on the search for Peter Starr, it is filled with wonderful background on the legendary early mountaineers and explorers of the Sierra. This was one book that ended too soon for me.

Very moving account of the search for Walter Starr, Jr. The energy and dedication of the searchers (especially Norman Clyde) was truly heroic. Great photos and personal accounts brought the story into clear focus. The Sierras are a wondrous, beautiful place; they are a challenge and even to the experienced climber, can be deadly. This saga brought the "back country" home to me again. Although I know I will never enjoy it first-hand again, I can still visit it vicariously through stories such as this. I heartily endorse this book and encourage any lover of the high country to read it. Thank you.

In 1580, Michel de Montaigne dedicated this "honest book" to his family and friends. It may be called an extended autobiography; but it is quite unusual in its scope as well as its candor. Having tasted the life of courtier, parliamentarian, world traveler and mayor of Bordeaux, Montaigne retreated to his castle to explore an intriguing subject close to home: himself.
"Que sçais-je?" (What do I know?) was his motto; he had it engraved on a medal he wore around his neck. Using the ancient philosophers and poets as guideposts, he examines his beliefs and his prejudices, the validity of received wisdom, and the conduct of men in his position at a time of civil unrest and social upheaval.

With disarming honesty, he lists his shortcomings, his physical as well as his mental limitations. We hear about his poor memory (which often betrays him into misquoting his sources), his lack of and disdain for scholarship, his inability to deliver a good speech although he held public office, and his ignorance of even the basic concepts of land management although he inherited his father's estate.

He tells us what he eats and drinks, how he dresses and sleeps, and how he suffers from kidney stones. His insatiable curiosity attacks any subject that comes his way. The religious strife of his time gives rise to probing questions concerning truth, loyalty, fanaticism, and tolerance. A Catholic himself, he had friends and relatives among the Huguenots and deplored the persecution of religious dissenters. (Remarkably, his Essays were placed on the Index during the Counter-Reformation, after they had been in circulation for almost a century).

Sometimes his opinions stray far afield - as when he suggests that the discovery of South America would have been a happier event had Alexander been in charge instead of the Spaniards. Or when he strongly advocates entrusting the care and feeding of infants to wet nurses rather than the biological mothers - despite the fact that all but one of his six daughters died in infancy. Que sçais-je, indeed...

He did not believe that women were capable of friendship, or of sound reasoning, or of handling financial matters. It wasn't until late in life that he met a woman, his adopted daughter Mlle de Gournay, whom he considered his equal.
He wrote his best and wisest essays toward the end of his life. His thoughts on Experience and Judgment are well worth reading today.

Montaigne's essays are one of the most respected books in western literature. I was doing a survey of great books lists and montaigne was one of the most represented. I never heard of him so I was compelled to dive right in.

Of course Montaigne deserves his rep - and you can peek other reviews for many reasons to read this stuff. basically he takes many of those classic philosophical essays from the greeks and romans and adds earthy autobiographical flavor. so theyre both readable relatable and worldly.

THis specific collection lacks many of the more tangential and colorful essays. So it may be worth getting one of those "complete" volumes.

Montaigne gets really repetitious after a whiles - so it might be worth visiting this book slowly over a long period of time, rather than burning through it at once.

If you like Montaigne I would highly recommend senecca (one of montaigne's big influences) - who was nero's tutor and a singular individual (brutal and bizarre). I would also recommend "the anatomy of melancholy" a smartazz book that runs rings around montaigne - making fun of him and kicking his arse about 40 years later.

Michel(Eyquem)de Montaigne
French courtier and author
(born Feb. 28,28,1533,Chateux de Montaingne,France
died-Sept. 23,1592,Chateaux de Montaigne)
He served as a counselor at the Bordeaux Parliament.There he met the lawyer
Etienne de La Boetie,with which he formed an extraordinary friendship.The void left by La Boetie's death in 1563 likely led Montaigne to begin his writing career.He retired to his chateaux in 1571 to work on his 'Essais'
(1580,1588),a series of short prose reflections on subjects that form one of the most captivating and intimate self-portraits ever written.
"'''At once deeply critical of his time and deeply involved in its struggles,he sought understanding through self-examination,which he developed into a description of the human condition and an ethic of authenticity,self-acceptance,and struggles,he sought understanding through
self-examination,which he developed into a description of the human condition,and an ethic of authenticity,self-acceptance;and tolerance..."
(excerpt from the Columbia Encyclopedia on a profile of Montaigne)
It reminds me alot of Dr. Samuel Johnson's writings on self-examination, in his brilliant series of essays called 'THE RAMBLER',and also an amazing text on the diseases of the imagination.Montaigne is a fascination study.The essays are exquisitely written and the subject matter is continuosly changing,which makes it difficult to put down.This collection of essays along with the writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson come highly reccomended.Enjoy.

Montaigne is considered the father the personal essay. And within them, it seems, there is not a topic he didn't cover. After serving in the Bordeaux Parlement, in 1570 "he retired to his chateau...to read, think, and write." This is where his essays are born, late in his life, and soon to be suffering from kidney stones, which would take his life (he discusses his mistrust of doctors in "Of The Resemblance Of Children To Their Fathers")

The tone of essays reveal someone who was highly skeptical and pessimestic. But you quickly gain a sense of how intelligent and honest this man was. Montaigne, in the preface, implies the essays are written to discover and reveal himself and recommends that no one should waste their "leisure about so frivolous and vain a subject." Although, here he is greatly mistaken. Montaigne, to me, was a genius; and there is so much wisdom one can part with after reading only a few of his essays, as can be seen in his influence over brillant minds like Shakespeare and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Any library would seem bare without him.


Some favorite quotes from his essays:
"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself."

"A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude."

"Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom."

Michel de Montaigne is considered by many to be the inventor of the literary form of the essay, so the collection from which these excerpts come is important in several ways. Montaigne was a humanist and a skeptic in his philosophical approach, and essentially looked at his own experience as the first topic for examination always.

The book of Essays was one he worked on periodically throughout his life, issuing different editions, the first of which appeared in 1580. Montaigne's style of writing is sometimes stream-of-consciousness, sometimes structured in more formal styles.

Montaigne's stated task in his preface to the reader is for self-examination, but it becomes very clear that Montaigne sees himself as an 'everyman' character. He strives for full-disclosure; indeed, he writes that were he another culture 'which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws', then he might have appeared naked.

This is a complete set of the Essays, together with a helpful introduction and notes for reading. As Montaigne added to his essays periodically, they are not necessarily in the order he wrote them, but this collection has preserved their order according to his standards.

Montaigne's essays show a pessimism and skepticism, perhaps based on the kinds of conflicts between Catholics and Protestants going on, in France and elsewhere, as well as the periodic flare of plague. He was a humanist who saw cultures as having value internal to themselves and preferred to not universalise morals, laws and other ideas.

Montaigne was sometimes conventional in thought (seeing marriage as necessary for children, and distrusting the idea of romantic love), but other times he was very much a free thinker (particularly when it came to religious dogma or absolutist kinds of philosophical paradigms). Montaigne had respect for those who followed religious codes and ways of life, but distrusted those who tried to impose such ideas upon others.

Montaigne added to his essays twice in major ways, but did not strive for consistency or systematic ways of thinking - he declined to remove previous essays if they contradicted new writings.

Montaigne is perhaps the most important French philosopher prior to the Enlightenment. His essays remain popular because they have a sense of the modern and the current about them.

It's been many years since I've actually indulged my love for cooking. My food preparation had long been limited to two choices: (1)add Lawry's seasoning salt and bake/fry/broil, and (2)fast food. Recently, I became reacquanited with my inner chef and became obsessed with cookbooks and books about food. I came across More Home Cooking during one of my recent trips to the local bookstore. I was intrigued by the tag, "A Writer Returns to the Kitchen." (I love good writing and I love good food.) The chapter titles sounded promising: Why I Love Cookbooks; The Case of the Mysterious Flatbread; How to Cook Like an American; Turkey Angst...Plus, the book had recipes! This was clearly a writer who had more than a passing interest in food; this was a true believer. So, what of this book? It's simply wonderful. It's not a book you rush through all at once, but rather one you can carry with you and savor in those brief windows of time throughout your day: during lunch break, while waiting in a line, in the car wash...Colwin's writing is so well-done it seems effortless and comes across as a conversation with an articulate friend who loves to talk about food. She's opinionated, good-humored, and honest in her essays about the merits of certain foods, the drawbacks of others, advice about food and living, and events from her own daily life. From her chapter entitled, In Search of Latvian Bread, regarding her attempt to replicate this bread: "The results were, to my mind, mixed. An Estonian came for supper and said it tasted exactly like the bread he had had in Moscow. I was not sure that this was a compliment. A dancer friend, also at dinner, tasted it and said he liked the other bread (miche from the greenmarket) better. My husband said that it was wonderful, but that I should have added rye flour. The Estonian said this bread would keep forever. I was not sure that this was a compliment." It's these little moments about her curiosity about food, her willingness to experiment, and her genuine fondness for food and the people it nourishes that make this book one you'll read through once and then pick up every now and again, just to enjoy a chapter or two once more. Incidentally, it wasn't until I was nearly finished with this book that I read the "About the Author" paragraph on the back cover. That's when I learned that Laurie Colwin had died in 1992; I felt a flicker of sadness. I would certainly have looked forward to future "conversations" with this engaging writer.

Laurie Colwin was a talented writer and had a real feel for the essential qualities of great food. Though not a chef or professional cook, she used her writing skills to delve into the mysteries of what makes good food great. And she did that with some of the funniest, sharpest, best writing since M.F.K. Fisher.

Alas, Laurie died in 1992, much too young, so you have to savor every scrap of writing she left us, in essays for Gourmet Magazine, and these, in her Home Cooking volumes. Colwin wrote some novels as well, but really, her food writing is what I appreciate the most.as

Colwin's writing is opinionated and passionate: she goes into raptures over things most 7 year olds (and quite a few adults) would gag over; succotash, beets, goat's milk yogurt. Yet her sense of what makes food essentially wonderful will have even the most confirmed vegetable-a-phobe at least thinking about trying her succotash recipe or maybe even looking at a raw beetroot with calm impartiality. In case you are certain you will still shun beets and lima beans, at least read her description of how to roast a duck. It's splendid.

I heartily agree with those previous reviewers who enjoyed curling up with "More Home Cooking" (and its prequel, "Home Cooking"). However, I have one major and one minor quibble with the book.

I am more than ready to blame the minor quibble on an overzealous editor and not on Laurie Colwin. Either way, someone decided that all food terminology that could possibly be construed as non-English should be italicized. It's surprising how distracting this is. It's one thing to see a reference to "crème brulée," (this review form does not accept italics, so I'm putting the words in quotes instead) but quite another to see constant references to "kielbasa," "pita" bread, and, surprisingly, "salsa."

The second problem can, considering that this is a cookbook, only be considered major. That is the fact that every recipe I've tried, with the exception of one, has been a total failure. Colwin was obviously an intuitive cook who never made anything the same way twice, and assumed that her readers would just know how much of what kind of spice to put in the soup and how long to cook the beans. Consider, for instance, this typical recipe, offered in all seriousness, for "Cold Yogurt Soup": "The easiest soup in the world to make...No-fat yogurt, defatted chicken stock, skinned cucumbers, a pinch of cumin, and the juice of half a lemon. There are endless variations on this theme: the addition of cooked grated beets, a teaspoon of curry, a small clove of garlic. The blender does all the work for you. The soup is put in the fridge and forgotten until dinnertime, when it is garnished with chopped parsley, chopped dill, scallions, chives, or all of them."

That's it. It's hard to imagine anyone following these proportionless instructions and coming up with something edible, unless they are also the kind of instinctive cook who doesn't really need any recipes anyway.

So, I've made up my mind that from now on, I'll just read Laurie Colwin's mouthwatering descriptions and accept the fact that I'll never actually taste these dishes. For that purpose, I highly recommend her books.

(Oh, the one exception: the wonderful Nantucket Cranberry Pie comes out perfectly every time).

another unique and interesting cookbook that is hidden inside a great read. I read this after her first book, Home Cooking, and I felt they complimented each other very well. As in the first book; the recipies are traditional but not really used anymore, sadly enough...easy enough to make, and practical in my opinion. A very very good book to curl up with.

'More Home Cooking' by Laurie Colwin is the kind of book that really makes you wish you could become friends with the author. Unfortunately, the author is no longer with us and I believe this volume was published posthumously, so there is a lot more than the usual barrier between celebrity and mere mortal between reader and writer.

Like the first volume, 'Home Cooking', chapters in the book are essays composed of both culinary and autobiographical material, although the book is not a memoir a la Ruth Reichl's two books. It is also not culinary criticism or exposition in the style of John Thorne. It is most similar to the kind of essays written by M.F.K. Fisher and Elizabeth David, one of the author's heroes.

In one of her essays, Ms. Colwin puts her finger on a reason for the popularity of cookbooks and cooking shows in the face of what some people claim to be the disappearance of home cooking. Reading about cooking is simply very comforting and reassuring. I find that I may not learn a whole lot from a particular Ina Garten or Paula Deen or Sara Moulton show on the Food Network, but it is certainly reassuring to watch, if even for the fourteenth time, how Ina cooks salmon so she can have it at two different meals with her guests being none the wiser regarding the doubling up on the effort.

Ms. Colwin gained this insight by reading Elizabeth David's 'Italian Food' while under the influence of a particularly acute hangover. And, her admiration of David's style is well demonstrated in the way Ms. Colwin writes recipes. There is none of the formal list of ingredients at the top with neatly laid out prep instructions so one can do their mise en place in true French brigade fashion. This is straight from Elizabeth David's spare recipe writing style done at a time when home cooks knew a lot more about cooking than they do today, or that at least is the patter among the Cassandras of modern culinary journalism.

Fortunately, Ms. Colwin's writing is less about cooking technique than it is about how we do and should think about cooking and food. It is to culinary journalism much like the editorial pages are to political journalism.

Like all very good culinary journalism such as that done by Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman, this is stuff you can read and reread on rainy March afternoons. It is doubly good in that Ms. Colwin is speaking from a quarter she knows well, the slightly atypical American housewife.

Very highly recommended culinary reading. Recipes are more for inspiration than real life cooking, unless you just love to deconstruct Elizabeth David recipes.

Written over forty years, MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END is poet Gary Snyder's highest achievment. Here he has presented a perception of the world that has taken four decades of experience to put into words. The collection moves chronologically from Snyder's glimpse in the 50's of a Japanese scroll that gave the book its name, though his wanderings in the American West, and into senescene.

Decades of travel have exposure Snyder to so much of our planet, and this experience forms a major part of MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END. Mixing ecological perspective with Buddhist metaphysics, these poems are a powerful description of Man's relationship with the planet. Snyder is supremely aware of how attached mankind is to the Earth, and how its ever-surrounding landscape influences peoples.

The final poem "Finding the Space in the Heart" is a moving retrospective of Gary Snyder's forty years as a writer, from his Beat poet days in the 1950's to the older man that he is now, using elements of Buddhism's Prajnaparamita-sutra, the so called "Heart Sutra."

While Snyder's poems sometimes do not succeed due to clumsy meter, a lacking that makes me give this work only four stars, they often move the reader with their sincerity and signifance. MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS WITHOUT END is certainly worth a read.

I have some ambivalence about giving Snyder 5 stars for this work. I come to this collection of poems after reading "Turtle Island", which I liked better overall. It had a bit more of the wide-eyed innocence that makes the poetry more heart-felt to me, even with that whole section at the end dedicated to prose on how to make the world a better place.

I found several poems in "Mountains..." that I like better than the ones in "Turtle Island" - particularly pieces like "Ma", which takes the form of a letter from a mother to son. What I didn't like so much was the pervasive use of East Indian and Oriental terms, much of which had little meaning to me. Recognizing a certain desire on Snyder's part to "disorient" a traveller through the literature helped somewhat. But often I felt Snyder was abusing his "superstar" status to make these foreign phrases seem more important than they actually are. How difficult can it be to just say what you want to say without resorting to another language? Snyder certainly has many tools at his disposal - the sum of which comes under the heading of "Poetic License".

Admittedly, languages are not solid, and new words creep in all the time. Perhaps Snyder feels he is just doing his part to force the issue with regard to some patterns of thought he wants insinnuated into western english. But I don't think it comes off that way all the time. Many times it just sounds like: "Aren't I clever to come up with this deep-meaning foreign phrase that you don't understand". This detracted some from the total effect in the book.

Ultimately, that's just me of course. One must do one's own thinking on these matters. And since I gave the thing 4 stars, it obviously still comes highly recomended from my viewpoint.

In this work of poetry, Snyder has presented a perception of the world that has taken four decades of experience to put into words. But, this is more than a simple philosophical oratory, because Snyder came to write this due to the influence of Nature. This is a powerful description of Man's relationship with the planet.

Gary Snyder's epic poem "Mountains and Rivers Without End" is an epic work from an American Zen Buddhist pioneer. From Kerouac to the millenium, it is all there. His history is our history. Read it and get wiser.

Golden nugget from Sierra streams. Gold never rusts.