Charles Williams Books

I just reread it in a collection of Nobel Prize winning authors--their acceptance speeches etc., and this story and "As I Lay Dying" were chosen as examples of his work. This story!!! It's such a mundane little macabre "gotcha" story, over-anthologized for high school students (along with other tired stories like "The Most Dangerous Game"). Faulkner is such an incredible writer--I'm reading Fury in the Dust right now, and his sentences--the Nobel Prize committee described them as being "as powerful as Atlantic rollers". What was he thinking when he wrote "A Rose for Emily"? Obviously not much. Read anything else by him, you'll have a better time.

this book is about a very good short story on the changes of the south during a very representative period!

This is definitely a quick but good read. If I begin to go into detail, it will ruin it for you; however, it is about one Miss Emily Grierson, who is from a respectable family of which she is the sole remaining descendent. She remains shrouded in a cloud of private mystery with only the occasional entry or departure of her black servant to provide her with the basic necessites from the outside world. After a small accumulation of seemingly unconnected incidents, the story ends on a horrifying and ghastly note, which manages to leave the reader confident that he knows what the ending means, but at the same time is left hanging uncertainly. I would also like to strongly recommend _The Sound and the Fury_ to anyone who has enjoyed this or any of Faulkner's works.

This is one of those books that are force on you at school. The basic story is of a Southern belle driven mad by isolation and her ties to the past. If this is your first reading of something representative of Faulkner this is the best example, as it is short and the story is intriguing. You can enjoy reading it for what it is and not have to analyze the thing to death. Even if you do not particularly cotton to Faulkner's style or subject matter, this book will transcend both. In 1982 they made this story into a movie with John Houseman and Anjelica Huston.

I am sorry to see comments to the effect that this novel is less appealing because it is "dated." In some ways, that is what I love about it. Are we so convinced of the irrelevance of past times that there's nothing to be found in a book that takes a snapshot of attitudes and behaviors at an earlier time and place?

That aside, the beauty of this, all of Williams' books, and indeed all the work of the Inklings is that you don't have to be a Christian to admire the authors' respective abilities. (Sometimes I feel as if educated Christians and I are the only ones reading these books.) I have an atheist intellect and a pagan temperament, but relish Williams and Lewis, especially, for their deftness at capturing psychological types; specifically, the human ability to indulge one's personal immaturities while pretending to oneself and others that one has only the loftiest goals and is completely justified. Deep portraits? Perhaps not, but we've all seen people play the games with themselves (and others) that these characters do, caught up in supernatural dramas of one sort or another. That's what's most telling in a way: the knack Williams has for showing how his characters approach even miraculous happenings through their own preconceptions, just as we do with more mundane events every day.

And back to "dated" -- in some ways it's the most delicious part. When the African "heir apparent" makes his identity known, the response of one character -- straight from a reading of Rider Haggard -- is rich with both nostalgia and the ironic reminder that novels like Haggard's were often all even educated people once knew about the non-European world. Williams is a quirky miniaturist, but a skilled and generous-hearted one.

This may not be Williams' "best" to some people's minds, but that's possibly because so much of the plot is ambiguous. The average religiously-inclined writer is all too ready to make it foot-stampingly clear whether his characters are on the side of the angels or the devils. Thirty and more years after my first reading of this book, I still can't decide what I think of the immortal Nigel Considine.

Charles Williams was a member of a group of writers called The Inklings. (There is an excellent record of this group called 'The Inklings' by Humphrey Carpenter.) Another member of the group was JRR Tolkein. It's a while since I have read 'Lord of the Rings' (and I haven't seen the movie) but I did recently reread 'The Hobbit' and Tolkein is an engaging writer but does show a tendency to British parochialism. Another member of the group was CS Lewis and for me he is by far the superior writer - for SF fans see 'Out of the Silent Planet' and 'Voyage to Venus' (aka 'Perelandra'), for fans of children's literature see the Narnia legends, and then there is all the Christian writings, such as the Screwtape books.

Charles Williams in his novels (such as 'Place of the Lion' and the one I am reviewing here) explored less of fantasy (Tolkein) or speculative/philosophical writing (Lewis) but concentrated on the occult/spiritual world. In this novel there is a character who has 'conquered' death by power of the mind and self discipline. There is also a strangely unspecified threat/invasion from Africa (in some ways this perhaps foretells the waves of illegal immigrants) but it is a curiously dissipated threat. The greatest weakness in the book for me are the archetypal characters that are all overwhelmingly British - even the African 'king'. Not only that, but they are archetypal of the thirties when the book was written - hardly to be identified with now.

It is an interesting novel, if a bit slow, but I suspect most of today's readers will find it badly dated in a way that you wouldn't see with Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf or Anna Kavan.

Reading "Shadows..." I was constantly reminded of the whipsaw changes that are so characteristic of GK Chesterton in, say, "The Man Who Was Thursday" or "The Napoleon of Notting Hill". Rapid, unexpected alterations in perception-as one gets flashing glimpses through a glass no longer quite so darkly of the Christian reality at the core of each man's participation in existence-occur at nearly every turn. There is also a flavor of fellow Inkling CS Lewis's works, with some particular similarities in the setting, mood, and characterizations that one finds in "That Hiddeous Strength". Beyond giving the potential reader the ideas of similarly flavored works, however, it is difficult to unfold the story line in a short review - and probably of no particular value to the potential reader. Williams must be read and his reality swum in to get even a hint of understanding at the driving truths of his Christian faith - namely, that the things of this world all point to a reality beyond that is infinitely more real; and, that actions in this world reverberate into eternity in an actual and final way. I find less of another of the central themes of Williams's life-that of truly substitutionary intervention between men-but there are hints of that stream of understanding as well. All in all, though perhaps not quite as well done as the Chesterton or Lewis mentioned previously, a worthwhile read in the sense that something of worth can be taken from the book and incorporated into living.

In my opinion, this book is not at all up to the standard of Williams' other novels. There are some interesting characters and ideas but a lot of inconsistencies and rough edges as well. Read it if you have read the other novels and want this one for completeness. The one memorable character for me was Isabel, and her most memorable quote,

"But those that die may be lordlier than you; they are obedient to defeat. Can you live truly till you have been quite defeated? You talk of living by your hurts, but perhaps you avoid the utter hurt that's destruction."

I re-read this book recently and re-discovered why I've been keeping it all these years. In short, the article selection (from Zymurgy magazine, hence the title) is excellent. As your interests change over the years, re-reading articles - or perhaps reading articles you may have skipped the first time around - solidifies and deepens your understanding. So it was for me on at least two topics: hot side aeration (HSA) and yeast propagation. This book, for example, contains information on a simple chemical test for oxidation due to HSA that I don't have anywhere else. The yeast propagation article I have in mind is simple, but is strikingly clear and illustrated by a few helpful pictures.

There are scores of articles in the book. Since it's topical, you can pick it up and read through it randomly. Individual articles are short and stand on their own.

The book could benefit from being brought up-to-date. Also, like every book with Papazian's name on the cover, the quality of the book itself (paper, etc.) is really crummy - think cheap paperback romance quality. I've never understood this. Papazian is arguably the biggest name in homebrewing. You would think that alone, never mind the sales figures, would merit something better. My copy is completely yellowed and brittle.

This is a nice compilation of articles however with recent advances in the art, science, and technology of homebrewing some of the articles are noticeably dated.

A decent book of a varying topic field. Some articles go into a topic deeply, others just go skin deep. After reading it, I wished more topics had been covered in more depth. However, it would have made a bigger book. Enjoyable and recommanded to the avid homebrewer.

In Australia we have not been fortunate enough to receive a regular supply of the famous "Zymurgy" magizine. The few magazines I have received have been worthwhile, sparking my interest, but I have not seen the value in actually subscribing. This leads to curcumstances where it is worthwhile obtaining a compilation of the better articles, often spoken about in various litrature in the Brewing scene.

Zymurgy: The Best Articles and Advice, is just that, a compilation of various articles from the magazine. It is a bit of a misnomer that Papazian has his name plastered all over the front because he is the compiler/editor (with the assistance of others) of this collection. He has not written much of the content at all, and only contributed 2 articles, and an introduction.

Like him or loathe him, Papazian has compiled a wide range of very good information, faithfully reprinted from various editions of Zymurgy. Each article acknowleges the author, along with the original date of publication.

If you already subcribe to Zymurgy magazine, or have been collecting the magazine for a number of years, dont bother buying this book unless you want a one stop reference to what you already have. To those outside the USA, who may not have had the opportunity of regularly receiving Zymurgy - this is a very good cross section of articles and contains a wide range of information for the home brewer.

I recommend this book as a general source of Home Brewing information.

I bought this book because I had been enthralled by my, admittedly brief, introduction to some of Chestreton's work.

"Day by Day" provides many pearls of wit and wisdom yet there are many also that are so couched in his time and culture that they are lost to a different generation.

This book serves two purposes. It is intended to be a daily devotional (like Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest"), focusing on G. K. Chesterton's wit and wisdom. The quotes were selected by Chesterton himself, so they represent what he thought was important, as opposed to reading another person's second-guessings.

One good point is that it has moveable feasts in an appendix, like Lewis's "The Business of Heaven." A down point is that the book lacks an entry for Leap Day. This is a common mistake made by all devotionals I own, except for Chambers's. If you are smart enough to include the Roman Catholic feast days (which you would expect from Chesterton), then why can't you remember Leap Day? It is beyond me!

The second purpose of the book is an unintentional one. This book serves as a de-facto quote book. I love quote books, since they serve as random sampler for a person's thought. C. S. Lewis said, "The only use of selections is to deter those readers who will never appreciate the original, and thus save them from wasting their time on it, and to send all the others on the original as quickly as possible." (The Quotable Lewis, #447)

This book accomplishes both: it is a wonderful daily devotional, and it whets the appetite for more.

I bought this book for my grandmother and she loves it. It's hard for her to sit and read for a lond piriod of time. This book is nice because it has one little reading for every day. I would highly recomend this book.

This book is an A-Z listing of hundreds of Chinese names and symbols, with a brief explanation of the items relevance and importance in Chinese culture and history. Want to know the symbolism behind a bat, or a peach, or a mandarin duck, or other more abstract concepts, this book is for you. A very valuable reference tool for those interested in things Chinese.

There ~are~ reasons to commend this book, like the bountiful illustrations, the charts showing the evolution of Chinese characters, etc. What I fault is that at many points the author departs from accuracy and injects over-Europeanized interpretations of Chinese mythology and symbols (for instance, characterizing Tibetan Lamas as "devil-worshippers" and calling the Chinese place of the dead and its god, "Hades" - repeatedly). To be truthful, some of the illustrations are so poorly drawn that you cannot really make out what they are. The text is easy to read and the topics covered numerous. I would use this book with caution, however, checking Williams' interpretations against other, more recent sources. For the record, I am giving this book a two because the only other reviewer to write about it gave it a five and that is far too high for it. I think this should yield an average of three, which is about right for this book.

"Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs" by C.A.S. Williams is listed as a "third edition" and dated 1989 (Tuttle paperback) and 2000 (Castle Books hardcover, apparently with a "new" introduction by Terence Barrow which seems to have been included in a Tuttle edition in the 1970s). This suggests that it is a fairly recent book. In fact these editions reproduce the 1941 Shanghai edition of a book published in 1931 in Peking (now officially romanized as Beijing), as "Outlines of Chinese Symbolism," and previously revised in 1932.

The full title of Williams' final version was "Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives: an alphabetical compendium of antique legends and beliefs, as reflected in the manners and customs of the Chinese." Dover Publications issued it as "Outlines of Chinese and Art Motives" (note the old-fashioned spelling) in 1976 (with correction of "obvious printing errors"); under which title I have also reviewed it. There have been other editions available as well, from a variety of publishers, some of which have slightly varying titles, such as "Encyclopedia of Chinese symbolism and art motives." (The Tuttle paperback seems the only one listed by Amazon to get personal, identifying Williams as Charles Alfred Speed instead of sticking with initials, so C.A.S. Williams is the name to search under.)

With 401 illustrations (including color plates on the inside covers, jacket flaps, or elsewhere, depending on the edition), it is an extremely attractive volume, packed with information, and reasonably well arranged. Williams' compendium looks like everything an ordinary curious reader could want; and I have found nothing quite comparable to it, at least in English, although there are now excellent studies of particular symbols and concepts. (Wolfram Eberhard's "Dictionary of Chinese Symbols" has a different focus, with different strengths and weaknesses.) It is still cited in reputable works by professional Sinologists, along with Williams' "Manual of Chinese Metaphor" (1920).

It should, however, be used with caution; a useful resource to someone with the necessary background can be a snare for the rest of us. Described by Dover as the "work of a scholarly English resident of China," it does not seem to reflect professional skills as a Sinologist, and frequently reports information at second or third hand, some of it already antiquated in 1921. Williams' own observations are interesting, but largely restricted to North China, mainly Peking and its vicinity (to Williams, very properly for the time, Peiping), and various Western enclaves on the coast. It is to Williams' credit, however, that he at least tries to include some Chinese popular culture, rather than just the idealized official versions. It is a reflection of the time that he actually rather apologizes for including Buddhist (therefore "foreign") and Taoist (to the elite as well as the missionaries, "superstitious") as well as Confucian symbols and concepts.

Those who have read much about China will soon notice that the transliterations are inconsistent, and sometimes very odd, at times corresponding to no system that is readily apparent. This is particularly common in Williams' quotations from his sources. I suspect that a mixture of the use of spoken vernaculars and "classical" pronunciation in those sources, alongside differing transliteration systems themselves, is responsible; Williams doesn't seem to have made a clear statement of his approach to this problem (or I missed it). Apparently he used the Wade-Giles himself, but didn't try to impose it on quotations. In a world of books then already littered with German, French, Dutch, English, and other systems for alphabetical renderings of Chinese, and now with the continuing use of the old Wade-Giles system alongside the "official" Pinyin, both with variants, this is a real nuisance, although usually not more than that. (It would be nice if, in some future edition, a qualified person supplied current Romanized renderings for the Chinese characters; and possibly the modern, simplified form; but it doesn't seem likely. Everyone seems to prefer reproducing the old book as-is.)

More serious is Williams' sometimes free-and-easy use of materials without, apparently, checking their ultimate origin, so that his impressive citations can't always be taken at face value. (In addition, his references to nineteenth-century academic journals are of little practical help today, although inevitable when the book was first published.) In one extreme case, the result is rather amusing. Williams mentions that the standard version of the "Willow Pattern" design on porcelain was invented in England in the eighteenth century, and copied for the foreign market by Chinese manufacturers. But he then reproduces a long, romantic, story explaining it, without making it quite clear that the story is also a Western concoction, containing only a few Chinese elements, which he does identify. This leaves the impression that it is, at whatever remove, and however freely, translated from a Chinese source. Robert H. van Gulik, diplomat, scholar, and novelist, later incorporated the main points of the tale into his Judge Dee mystery, "The Willow Pattern," explaining the situation in a Postscript, which cites Williams as a readily available source for the story. The Chinese translation of his novel, he pointed out, would introduce the supposedly Chinese story to the Chinese language....

Wherever there is overlap in coverage, I try to check Williams against Wolfram Eberhard's "A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols" (referred to earlier), which, among its other merits, often mentions whether a particular concept is common Chinese, regional, local, or associated mainly with minority cultures; an issue often ignored by Williams and his sources, including missionaries and merchants who took the groups they were working with as perfect representatives of Chinese culture. Of course, the same problem was found among serious scholars, who often described everything about the better-educated Chinese they came in contact with as "typical" until told that it wasn't; and tended to regard it at as in any case more genuine than the beliefs of the vast majority of Chinese. Williams' industry was admirable; one wishes the product of it had gone through further revision.

The major problem with this book is that it is poorly edited.

Examples #1 & #2, from pages 177-178: There are two sections with the following names: "Working with Default Services in Tiger" and "Allowing Non-Apple Services in Tiger". But the book is about *Leopard*.

The index has a block of entries under the subject "Tiger" - and *no* entry for "Leopard".

Screenshots in various places are sometimes either wrong (p. 345, where a HenWen config screen is placed instead of a Kerio login screen) or from previous versions of OS X (the Bluetooth Preference panes shown are *not* from Leopard; the location of the Firewall preferences pane being in the Security preferences rather than Sharing); other times the captions for screenshots haven't been updated from the Tiger version of the book.

The firewall section refers to a feature (including screenshots of it) - UDP blocking - that no longer exists in the firewall settings pane.

The section on ACLs omits any discussion of how to view them, or how to set them.

There are one or two mentions of "Sandbox" but no discussion of what it is nor how to use it.

There is a rather ridiculous editing gaffe where the text recommends using the Unix "mkdir" command to create a *file* (this command creates folders or directories, not files).

Examples could be multiplied, but these are some of the most egregious ones.

Lastly, the style is rather tedious. It reads like an oral presentation, but written English isn't spoken English.

I don't fault the authors for any of these issues. All of these problems should have been caught and fixed during editing. But these technical problems make me a bit uneasy about trusting the information in the book. This is the sort of book I would normally keep for reference purposes after reading it, but I'm going to give this one away. It's just not reliable as a source of security information.

It's not a one-star book - there is *some* useful information in it. But beginners should stay away, and others will need to be careful to verify what it says thanks to the editing problems.

I can't overstate my satisfaction with this book. This is a wealth of information that is presented in a clear and easy to follow manner. Working in the IT industry, it is important to keep up on developments (as they occur daily). For Leopard security, this is THE BOOK to have.

At least a half-dozen times in the book "Foundations of Mac OS X Leopard Security" the authors state that there is a misconception that the Macintosh computer is immune from security problems. That allegation may explain why there are very few books published (and nearly none in recent years) about security for the Mac. This book is meant to change all that. The authors acknowledge that the Mac OS Xsoftware has had little of the security problem experience of Windows (and other operating systems, to a lesser extent) but they spend 488 pages detailing exactly where and how the Macintosh platform is (or may be?) vulnerable.

Many of the security issues raised in the book are theoretical or deal with added elements of the Mac software install that contain non-Apple components -- Apache Web server and Perl and PHP scripting packages, for example. Many of the items of concern deal with generic problem areas of computer usage in general, both software and hardware, which affect the Mac as well as any other computers and networks. While the perspective of the book is on the Mac, much of the security review will apply to any type of computer or network.

Messieurs Edge, Barker, and Smith are seasoned Mac and security professionals who point out in a very systematic and comprehensive way the potential problems of running the Mac both in single use and networked environments. The focus is primarily on Mac OS X Leopard and the other software which comes with any new Mac computer, although there is some discussion of earlier OS X versions and earlier generations of Apple applications like Airport.

The book has five main parts covering general security matters, essential security fundamentals, networking, sharing, and workplace security issues. There are four very short appendices of modest value.

The initial first three chapters deal with general security and security fundamentals is basic stuff discussing how technical computer security issues are entwined with practical realities of using computers in a business or home, and that compromises between security and practicality generally must be made. There is discussion of types of security attacks, how the Windows booting programs, Parallels and Boot Camp, implicate Windows security issues on the Mac, and how the UNIX underpinnings of the Mac OS X allow for more sophisticated techniques and tools in securing the Mac computer and networks. Chapter 1 is a useful "quick start" guide of items which can be addressed readily by nearly any level of user to safeguard the Mac from many security concerns. Apple has provided a lot of built-in security features and services which can be adjusted by individual users to his or her own needs, like FileVault, Secure Trash, Keychain, permissions, and others. Higher-level users and maybe experienced security professionals not used to the Mac may be bored with the first part of the book.

Part two deals with protecting the Mac from malware and exploitable services in the OS and major applications like the Safari browser and Mail applications. It explains how malware can affect the Mac through script viruses, social engineering techniques, and other exploits. The book lists a number of available software tools which can help solve some of the potential problems. The section on reviewing and configuring monitoring processes and logs is especially interesting.

Securing networks, using and configuring firewalls, and wireless networking make up the bulk of part three. The content in chapters 7 through 9 is quite technical covering types of networks; routers, hubs and switches;proxy, DMZ, and other servers and hardware setups, advanced firewall configuration using both GUI and command line interfaces; filtering; traffic throttling; and more. The sections describing testing of firewalls and hacking wireless networks using tools like Kismac and iStumbler are especially useful.

Chapter 11, in part four, dealing with website security when utilizing the built-in Apple web services, includes a checklist of at least a dozen items to be dealt with in locking down a site. Security for remote conductivity is addressed also, with particular emphasis given to VPN, secure shell, and the use of network administration tools like Timbuktu and DAVE. Attention is given to both the standard MacOS X installation as well as to OS X Server. The most complex discussions involve using Open Directory in a security plan. My favorite sections were in chapters 14 on network scanning, monitoring, and intrusion prevention tools. The book describes how to understand your own machine/network security status by learning how to attack other networks. And how to use techniques like white/black box testing, fingerprinting, enumeration, port and TCP/UDP scans, ping sweeps, and more.

The book describes how intrusion detection is accomplished. Guidance is provided on software tools like Tripwire, snort, Checkmate, and others. The last chapter concerns forensics and how to handle attempted or successful intrusions to both understand security weaknesses and to preserve evidence for civil or criminal proceedings, CSI-like.

Nearly all of the presentations cover two levels of interactivity using either GUI-based tools or the command line. Except for a handful of sections, the presentations are useful even for higher-end users, including those dealing with medium to large networks.

The writing is workmanlike and without style or wit, but carefully organized and expressed. There are plenty of (grayscale) screenshots of relevant software application configurations, and sidebar Notes and Tips on many topics. Anyone who has a serious interest in Mac OS X security will benefit from this book as its main virtue is its systematic and comprehensive approach to the issues. It is designed to inform users of all levels how and why to think about OS X security. Geeks who want or need to know Mac OS X security will get a nicely organized book sufficiently filled with useful content. This is not a book intended to raise all security issues or to provide all the answers. It does answer many problems, and will point nearly all users in the right direction for their specific needs.

I was disappointed by this book. It was difficult to read and offered no historical perspective on the narratives which were included. The narratives were interesting and certainly have a value of their own, but on the whole this book has more utility as a reference source than as entertainment.

As a Mohawk historian I am very impressed with this book, which brings together numerous source which may well have taken me years to find otherwise. It offers us insight into what the early colonists thought about as well as descriptions of what they saw and experienced in visiting the Mohawk villages. I would love to see a similar treatment of the other Iroquois nations as well as other aboriginal peoples. While there are a few accounts that may come across as racist to the modern reader, it is nevertheless an opportunity to "time travel" to the old Mohawk homeland. This book should be required reading for anyone who wants to study Mohawk history.

This is probably not a book you will read from cover to cover. It consists of an introduction and the writings of nearly 40 visitors to the Mohawk Valley of New York between 1634 and 1810. The focus is on the Mohawk tribe, the easternmost and perhaps the more important of the five nations of the Iroquois.

The Iroquois held the balance of power between competing French and British interests in North America for more than one hundred years until the French and Indian War ended in 1763. This position gives them outsized importance in American history despite their meager numbers which, after smallpox epidemics in 1635, was barely over 10,000 of which the Mohawk counted about 2,000.

The authors have accomplished a useful service in collecting between two covers this collection of primary sources on the Mohawks. Following an excellent introduction, the selections are presented as written with few notes and little explanatory material. Included are Dutch, French, British, Italian, and American writers. Some of the selections make for good reading; others are probably of interest only to specialists. For the enthusiast about early North American history, it's a good reference book to have on your shelf. I enjoy picking the book up now and then to read one or another of the selections.

Smallchief

Reading the chapters do not help in solving the problems at the end of each chapter.

The book was very clean and no deterioration like a new book. The delivery was satisfied as I want.

The material came very quickly and was exactly as described. Very Good.

Really, this book should be on every aspiring actors bookself. If you are considering becoming an actor, nothing can be substituted for taking classes and seeing if you really like doing it, but in terms of really getting an idea of what that life is like and what to expect, biographies are essential and this is one of the Kings of them all.

The book really is an autobiography, but being that pretty much his entire life was spent in show business, its a good guide as to what to do and how to overcome the many and constant rejections involved in a life in the business.

Seriously, this really is a must read.

I enjoyed this book, if only for the humor and perserverance shown by Mr. Grodin.

I think it should be on the syllabus of every entry level acting class.

My brother is contemplating going to film school, and I've already sent him his own copy.

This book is depressing for aspiring actors, in that it shows how much SHEER LUCK is required to make it as an actor. My conclusion is don't go into acting unless a close relative happens to be a big Hollywood name (Nicholas Cage would be flipping burgers now if his Uncle Francis Coppola hadn't cast him in a number of his movies, to give one of numeruos examples). Grodin himself said in a subsequent book, that actors read this one and thought "Well, if Grodin made it, I can." And he said, "What my book showed you is that the odds are against you making it."

This is an excellent and very practical text on the subject. It covers everything from the basics to high level detail on technical aspects of how to overcome problems which those of us face in this area. Being written by arguably the world's most experienced and respected vitreo-retinal surgeon, it is a gold mine of gems and short cuts which Steve Charles has evolved over many years of research and passed on to the reader. This edition is up to date with the latest information and technology on everything from 25 gauge vitrectomy to anti-VEGF's, and it is both easy to read and well referenced.

I am a vitreoretinal surgical fellow, and I was looking for an introductory text to vitreous surgery. This book was adequate for that purpose. The fundamental concepts are clearly and concisely described, and at just over 200 pages with excellent illustrations, it's worth the read. However, it is not a book I would keep as a resource. Though Dr. Charles is eminently qualified to write this book, he need not continually describe how he benefited the vitreoretinal community with his contributions. He gives the perception that all surgical problems can be solved solely with his method. To add weight to his arguments, he quotes surgical statistics that are impressive but not entirely honest. For instance, he describes that he created no posterior retinal tears with his "inside-out" method of peeling epiretinal membranes and compares this to the 6-7% rate of retinal tears in the literature. However, he is comparing posterior tears to any tears, and he freely admits he has a 6-7% rate of postoperative retinal detachment, which must have come from intraoperative peripheral retinal tears. His bias is clearly towards Alcon products, and it is well known that he receives considerable compensation from them for his support of 25 gauge technology.

In conclusion, at $200 it's worth your time but not your money. Much of the same information can be found in the 3rd volume of Stephen Ryan's Retina.

Dr. Charles is very candid regarding his opinions on various subjects. The book is well written but wordy at times. The organization is pretty good. The discussions are primarily based on his own clinical experience although there is mention of study results. I particularly liked many of the illustrations, which I have seen in chapters of other retina texts that Dr. Charles has co-authored. For those pursuing retina, this book is an excellent introductory text.