Oliver Books

A historian and Austen-lover's take on the Jane canon: this is a terrific book! MacDonagh has a chapter on each of the major novels, filled with insight on a particular social/historical aspect. "Emma and Social Traffic", for example, examines the relationships among the characters in order to illuminate the social framework of Highbury-like towns in the Regency...or is it vice versa? This is a book aimed at those who have read most or all of Austen's works, but for those of us in that category, Jane Austen's Real and Imagined Worlds provides a way to revisit the beloved novels in a new light, and with a most erudite and entertaining guide.

Areal is a project about a project. First there's the urban renewal project centering on a square block in Munich, Germany. Then there's the ten-year documentary project about this same area conducted by german photographer Joachim Brohm. In some ways, Brohm's book is about change-from an industrial site to a housing complex, but, in some ways it's about how things remain the same. The stained concrete, the triangle sign, the gas staton in winter and spring, the vw stationwagon are present in the first and last pages of the book (arranged chronologically). Think of it as a document of transition in which the world never quite transforms but hovers somewhere in the present, always in the act of becoming, always one thing and another. There's no endpoint here, just middle as far as the eye can see. Cars and trees and girders and girls, all in transition, always in transition.

Like the project itself, Brohm's method of depiction remains transitory and elusive. Unlike the romanticized and commodified landscape of Andreas Gursky or the close-up, blurred everyday of Wolfgang Tillmans, Brohm never relies on a single visual vocabulary or gesture. Instead, he breaks down the commonplace into the visual qualities that characterize it: rapturous complexity, unexpected beauty, random color, overlapping styles, omnipresent and always broken grids, and the near miraculous power of the most deadpan human interactions.

The result doesn't feel like the story of a singular place or of a singular perception; instead it feels like the story of someone paying attention--like the project itself, an extended look into a transient perceptual intelligence. That intelligence isn't about codifying and thus finishing something: it's about the endless wanderings of human curiosity: Noticing one thing and then noticing another and then noticing something new about what you noticed before. There are no rules undrlying Areal, only observations; no final message, only the next message in a dynamic perceptual middle. That's the secret of paying attention. It's also the prize.

In the spring of 1936, Frigyes (Frederic) Karinthy, a popular Hungarian poet, heard locomotives rumbling, reverberating, dying away. He knew there had been no trains on the streets of Budapest for 40 years. After long, exhaustive examinations Budapest neurologists told him that an egg-sized cyst webbed with tiny blood vessels was sprouting on the right side of his brain, back of his cerebellum. Karinthy's wife took him to Stockholm and Dr. Herbert Olivecrona.

Oliver Sachks asks: "Were doctors in Budapest in 1936, worse than doctors in, say, New York or London seventy years later? ... [O]ne needs to remember ... how difficult and delicate an art it was, seventy years ago, to diagnose and locate a cerebral tumor." Ether could not be used -- it would congest brain blood vessels. Karinthy remained awake during the operation. This book is the first patient's account of a brain operation in medical history.

Much of the book is autobiographical, but in chapter "Avdeling 13" Karinthy describes the operation itself.

"I felt them wheel me under the lamp. I felt a succession of little pricks in a wide circle ... on my head. Then . . . one long horizontal incision at the back of my neck. This did not hurt me either. I felt soft gestures, as if my flesh were being opened and folded back.

"There was a sudden jerk as if [Dr. Olivecrona] had seized the opening with a pair of forceps. It was followed by a straining sensation, a feeling of pressure, a cracking sound, and a terrific wrench. . . . Something broke with a dull noise. . . . Each cracking sound reminded me of taking the lid off a jamjar, while the process as a whole was like splitting open a wooden packing case, plank by plank. . . .

"A veritable fury of destruction seized hold of me. Break it up! I wanted to shout. Smash away! Bust it to bits! Everything had gone red in front of my eyes. If I had had an axe or a lump of iron in my hand I should have hit out with it and smashed up myself and everyone else with the wild recklessness of a maniac.

"Once the trephining of the skull was over . . . my mood underwent a change. There was a sound of pumping and draining and I could hear the drip, drip of a liquid. Although my brain didn't hurt at all, it did hurt me when one of the instruments fell on to the glass with a sharp, metallic sound. A certain idea passing through my mind hurt me too. It had nothing to do with my present situation. . . ."

Three hours after the operation began, the poet lost consciousness. Three weeks later, Karinthy went back to his Budapest cafés, and heard no more nonexistent locomotives.

His report from the operating table is compelling, and the autobiographical sections are also interesting as. "I felt absolutely at peace. This was no longer my whole life; it was just one afternoon. It might be that I was very ill. Perhaps I was even going to die. Yet this had nothing to do with that afternoon, nor I with the man born to sorrow from the day he came into the world."

And again: "Throughout nature, every living body has two aspects--one connected with its private functions and individual life, and one which we may call the sexual. Each of our organs has likewise two aspects, adapted for completely different purposes. Thus, the eye is not merely an instrument of vision, but an alluring jewel, an ever-burning lamp, whose sparkle inflames the opposite sex."

Finally: "Reality as a genre requires no helping hand from the artist."

This book makes a great companion to My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor who writes about her journey inside her brain. Both are compelling reading.

The Justice Council by Oliver W. Holmes Jr. is a deftly written thriller novel of murder, revenge, and international subterfuge. Vince Parnell is a man who must track the murderers of his best friend into the territory of a Columbian drug lord. A highly secret organization called the Justice Council allowed a chance for the wrong to be righted in this gripping, highly recommended saga.

Two apsects strike me in reading about Holmes. First is his life. What a great subject. Holmes is almost as exciting to read about as Lincoln. The second is his jurisprudence. White does a fine job covering both. I like White's style. Somewhat loose but never inaccurate, his biography is very readable.

Two chapters: The Supreme Court of Massachusetts and the "Progressive Judge" are so wonderfully written that they deserve to be read twice.

I read the book over a period of four months which is something I rarely do. This is because the subject and content are so important that the philosophy of Holmes takes some time to perculate. White's description of Holmes influenced my perspective greatly.

I would recommend the book to any person interested in law or simply about America.

Kazan the Wolf Dog, really is a great book, it shows readers all the aspects of the North, and tells the story of a dog that is three quarters wolf and one fourth dog. I tells of his struggles through the icy cold tundra as hetries to find his way back to his blind wolf mate. I loved the book, because wolves are really magnificent animals.

This log is perfect for anyone who lifts frequently and justs wants to record exercises/reps/weight only! Perfect for bodybuilders and weightlifters!

I was extremely moved by this book. It was told is a most remarkable way - one feels as if they are experiencing the same feelings and the events of his "real" life as they read this book. It is best read out-loud to a friend or family on a quiet evening. Every employee of Alaska Airlines should read this story and "Know the Happy Face" which is on the tail of all their aircraft! I salute you, Brenda Richty for honoring your Grandfather and the Eskimo heritage.

This is a beautifully produced book geared for the veterinarian. It is a multi author production which represents international opinion and current state of the art. Covers everything from economics to surgery.

In his third book about the films of L&H.Dr.John McCabe and his two co authors:The Late Al Kilgore and Mr.Richard W.Bann.Gives us all a broader insight into the team's work.Laurel & Hardy uses photos,an indepth text and the use of derbies as a raitings device to show us all the evolution and development of the best of the team's work and their dilliegnce in creating their classic comedies.The book also gives some insight into the working atmosphere of The Hal Roach Studios and some insight into the boy's forgetable films made at Fox And MGM during the 1940's and their last film together shot in Cannes' ,France:"Atoll K"/"Utopia!".There is also some tributes to the team in the section"For Stan & Ollie!".Which features honors from such performers and personalities as:Hans Conried,Eddie Cantor,Lou Costell,Patsy Kelly(Who performed with the boys in "Pick A Star!"),Marvin Hatley(The Roach Studio's resident musical director and the compoesor of "The Cukoo Song"/L&H's Theme song),Orson Bean,Leslie Halliwell,Marcel Marceau,Dick Van Dyke,Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce.For anyone..who wants to see the creation of L&H's best films? This is one book to have.Bravo Jack Al & Dick.Kevin S.Butler.