Reviews Books

I wanted to know all the inner workings of applying and getting into nursing school. AND, I wanted to know how to actually make it through once I got in. This book has it all! From the reality of whether or not nurisng is for me to how to "get in." Plus, study tips, a specific breakdown of what to expect in school and very detailed advice on how to succed in it. I'm talking about details like how to prepare for tests, how to make the most of clinical experiences, and even how to get financial aid! Also,this book explains all about preparing for the licensing exam, and even how to write a "cover letter" and handle job interviews. THOROUGH! Vey thorough. I will refer to it for years to come.

I am already in nursing school, but I ordered this book anyway. I only wish I had found it before I got into school. It answered many questions I had to find out the hard way. It is very informative in so many areas. I would recommend it to anyone looking for answers about nursing school, either before or after you're in school. Excellent and easy to read. Lots of resources listed as well.

At first I thought, hmmm...this is kinda skinny for 25 bucks. But now my only complaint is,
WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, STEPH? This book answered every question you'd ever want to ask
but probably couldn't find the answer to in one place.

It is great! If you don't have much experience in healthcare, and want to be a nurse, this is the book to
get! There are a few others out there, but this one is straight to the point, gives concrete ideas, even
talks about going the LPN route.

Even if you have an idea of what it's like to go to college, or know the classes you'll be taking, the
hoops you have to jump thru, etc., Stephanie actually tells you what'll be like when you have your first
clinical day. She tells you seemingly inconsequential details like the supplies you might be expected to
buy before you actually start your clinicals. That may be a small thing, but if you're tight on a budget
and just approaching your pre-reqs, isn't that a handy thing to know? She spells out what a big time
commitment it will be, how hard it is, etc., but also tells you that you can do it if you just get
FOCUSED.

And she tells you how to focus, gives study strategies, note taking tips, how to use study groups. I plan
on reading this section to my son who just began high school and needs help with his study habits. We
will both benefit from committing this one to memory.

She also explains what different specialties of nursing means. Didn't you always wonder what Nursing
Informatics was all about (obviously something about information, but what kind?). She tells you what
the classes that are usually standard in most schools of nursing are about (like what the hec is
"Foundations in Nursing"? Is it the beginning of nursing? The history, or what? It is actually just the
"basics").

Financial Aid is covered in this book not so much as to tell you where to go and what to do (altho some of this is there) because truly, as the book advises, your school will steer you in the right direction and it lists some places you can try for additional help. But did you know some grants, loans and scholarships can help with your living expenses? Important information to know if you're a single parent who is wondering how they will go to school, feed the family and have time to study.

Taking the NCLEX is spelled out in detail as well as what to do if you don't pass the first time....or the
second.

You can't go wrong with this book and I can't say enough good things about it. Everything from
making your application to the school and what they're looking for to going on to graduate studies is
included in this volume. Plus everything in between. If you are either a traditional high school student
who wonders what the whole education process of a nurse is, or you're a 50-something wanna-be
nurse going back to school after 30 years, you will profit from this book immensely. Absolutely worth
$... and then some! It will keep you from tossing and turning and agonizing over things Stephanie has
thoroughly spelled out in this terrific book!

This book really answered a lot of questions I had about organization and time management. It focused on the importance of studies as well as emotional and physical well being. I would suggest anyone just beginning nursing school or thinking about it read this book.

The Catcher in the Rye is the best book I have ever written. I am a 15 year old, and no other book I have read has described a teenager as well as J.D. Salinger. At first, Holden Caulfield arouses the reader's sympathy, but quickly changes to frustration b/c one cannot tolerate Holden's kvetches for too long. One might interpret Holden as severely depressed and in need of a sgrink, but for me, I think Holden was actually a portrait of the typical teenager. Read this book!

After reading the reviews of Amazon.com, I decided to read this book as part of an English assignment. I had a hard time putting this book down. If you like old-fashioned writing, this book is certainly one you should read! The blurb on the jacket cover isn't very appealing, but the book is much better than the editors make it sound. I recommend this book to anyone over the age of twelve who loves good literature.

When you ask the question, Would you read this book? Well I'll tell you why I would. Personally, I would read this book over and over again if I had the time. The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that is based on a teens life who has faced many challenges in his life. He went from going to a prep school and failing out, dealing with his brothers death, where to stay at night, who to call when he needed to vent about lifes troubles and worrying about telling his parents he failed out of prep school. He also told a lot of white-lies, but who doesn't? This book shows a lot about how a person deals with many troubles in their life, and how to move on and become a better person. Someone said,"Once you've found what your looking for, it's yours, go for it and don't look back." My favorite part of this book was comparing it to my own life. I may have difficulties in my life, but I have never given up. Like Holden, I wasn't very popular in high school either, but I never gave up the hope of thinking that one day people might like me for who I am. I'll do what I have to do, to get through life being happy and satisfied with what is before me. But and I quote, from my senior highschool year book, "I'll stay the way I am because I don't give a damn". That's just the way I am. In the book it said that Holden represses his emotions and pains inside, if he would have just let them out once in awhile, he would have had a better way of making decisions in his life. I was told many times before, don't give up on life when you are struggling, keep trying and smiling and you'll go far, farther than you can believe. But like I said before, I would read this book over and over again if I had the time in between my busy schedule. I've already read it twice, once in high school and now, my freshmen year of college. I would recommend this book to those of you who are understanding the troubles of highschool, and/or anyone whom may be struggling with the walks of life known to be difficult.

A young boy by the name of Holden is always seeing life negatively. He hates just about everything in the world from movies to school. Holden only treasures his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Allie. Going in and out of schools, Holden doesn't understand stability, but only rejection. Unable to cope with his surroundings, Holden goes on a journey through the hotels and streets of New York and finally finds what he has been searching for all his life:happiness. I recommend this book to anyone of any age. I'm not much of a reader, but I continually picked up this novel to see what would happen next. I especially liked the relation of young teenagers to depression. I know people who are depressed and I want to understand the illness. In Salinger's book, he shows the anger Holden carries very well and the sarcasm at times were even funny. I didn't really understand the ending, so that might puzzle some people. Overall, The Cathcher in the Rye is definately recommended.

This is the first time I buy from amazon and it was great. Very fast delivery. I will definetely buy through them again.

I used this book along with the textbook and ACED the test!

This is the best book we've had in my RN, BSN program so far. The content is very easy to read. The sentences are kept short and to the point. The content is repeated over and over in different places in the chapters as well as throughout the book, making it easier to remember the main points. The summaries at the end of each chapter really focus on the main points and great for last minute updating. I wish all of our books in nursing school were this good.

this is a great review for my nursing classes and career choic

This is a short book but it will get you started and more.
What is an OODA cycle? Don't know.
Better find out today

The difference between an effective and efficient military as opposed to an ineffective and bloated military. A must read for every military planner and every citizen concerned with runaway government spending.

Col Richards walks the reader through how Sun Tzu and John Boyd might have assessed 4th generation warfare and the world in which we find ourselves. His presentation is thought provoking to say the least.

Sun Tzu's wisdom has survived 2,000 years of study by people from a young Mao to the United States Marines. Sun Tzu is all about winning the battle before the battle begins. His wisdom is durable beyond expectations,
" Those whose generals are able and not constrained by governments are victorious ."

Sun Tzu speaks of "The Way" where there is unity of purpose between the ruler and the population. By inference a goal is to break that bond.

John Boyd, cigar chomping fighter pilot turned student of war. His early studies focused on why one side won aerial combat in the jet age. After annoying the Fighter Mafia of the USAF to no end he was sent off to an obscure Pentagon office, hidden exile. However, Boyd used the time to launch a study of Patterns of Conflict, which turned into a monumental brief. Out of this effort also came the OODA loop which stressed the importance of maintaining an advantage by processing information and operating on a faster cycle than the opposition.

Boyd's greatest contribution was not to the USAF but rather to a fundamental restructuring of the Marine Corps battle doctrine. After the 1991 Gulf War the Marine commandant gave Boyd much of the credit for helping to achieve what many pundits believed to be impossible, rapid movement through the heavily armed Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait.

Again and again Sun Tzu, Boyd and Richards stress the importance of non combat war. Victory, not slaughter is the goal.

During the early days of the war in Iraq the press was filled with reports of very tired US troops, often so far beyond their supply lines that they were short on food, yet they continued on. Why, too often the Generals are seeking near perfect preparation while Boyd and others understood that the ability to act is a way that kept the enemy off balance was the quickest and lowest cost way to victory. Richards seeks to restructure the military along the visions of Boyd and Sun Tzu.

Richards acknowledges that he goes far beyond his mentor, John Boyd, in his recommendations for an overhaul of the US military from top to bottom. Richard's ideas are bold and near revolutionary, reduce the officer ranks, close the service academies, promote officers from the ranks of the enlisted, fill pilot slots in the AF, Navy and Marines with non officers. The list goes on.

Col Richards has produced a highly readable book, filled with wisdom of the past 2,000 years along with his own ideas. Highly recommended.

As I understand it, Dr. Richards' book is in fact an amended version of a presentation he gave at a conference in Quantico in Fall of 2001. The presentation itself, which is available on the net in Powerpoint format, was a straight-forward summary of the new situation we find ourselves in: the age of 4th Generation Warfare. The book expands on the presentation, pointing out the obvious flaws of U.S. military management by examining the ideas of John Boyd and Sun Tzu.

In an era where the U.S. still emphasizes gadgets over human assets, answering every other problem with more cash rather than new concepts, Boyd's advice ("People. Ideas. Technology. In that order.") seems more practical than ever. Richards' work is a good examination of Boyd's core concepts and solid guide to reorganizing U.S. Defense strategy.

Readers who enjoyed this book may also want to take a look at H.J. Poole's "The Tiger Way." It applies similar concepts towards the reorganization of the military on the tactical level.

The book was received in record time, in excellent condition, and, was an excellent read.

This is a great book, giving a balanced pespective on the practice and surrounding aspects of Tai Chi. If you practice Tai Chi and have been looking at the books available, then you probably understand that style specific content isn't very useful for most of us. The differences in styles and instructors combined with the non-photogenic nature of Tai Chi make the photo sections all but useless. This book doesn't spend a lot of time trying to teach the specific movements, but how to feel when doing them. This is the best part of any Tai Chi book, and Horwitz's book has plenty of it. I have been practicing Wu style Tai Chi for 14 years, and am currently working on a College project on my studies.

BY FAR THE BEST BOOK YET ON TAI CHI CH'UAN AND TAOISM.

Truly insightful writing about the TRUE nature of TaiJi Quan. A review of the TaiJi classics, and in-depth discussion on Daoism. Truly a MUST-READ for those interested in the higher levels of TaiJi! :o)
...and besides, it's cheap...

this book is for you... it is full of great pictures and information... it is awesome

Digby Diehl has dug up enough ghastly art and story lines from the old E.C. vaults to chill even the most die-hard Crypt fans! This book captures the horror and fascination many of us experienced as kids, encountering our first Tales from the Crypt comic. This archive presents a rich visual history of the development of the horror genre in comics, its rise to horrific success, and the devastating blows it was dealt in the 1950s, as comics came under tighter censorship scutiny. It is worth having this book for the collection of cover art alone, but also worth noting is the section on its spinoff into the television series. Anyone who has ever seen the comics, or the shows, will undoubtedly enjoy poring over this collection into the wee hours of the night...

A mere comic book in 1950, today Tales From the Crypt and its Crypt Keeper are trademarks whose value exceeds their initial medium, much as Disney's Mickey Mouse surpasses the value of his cartoons. And if Mickey means amiable family entertainment, the Crypt Keeper signifies a particular kind of horror tale: one combining brevity, gore, black humor, and moral irony.

Tales From the Crypt is also a multimedia property. Digby Diehl touches most bases along its history, beginning with the origin of comics books, a marriage between newspaper comic strips and pulp fiction. In 1896, Richard F. Outcault created The Yellow Kid, a comedic strip of cartoons about ... a yellow kid (allowing its publisher to showcase a newly invented, bright yellow ink, a favorite practice of tabloid yellow journalists). Until the late 1920s all cartoon strips were comedic, hence, a comic strip.

In 1933, Max Gaines conceived of reprinting comic strips into pulp books, making him the Father of the Comic Book. In 1945, his partners at Action Comics bought him out and he founded Educational Comics, publishing titles such as Picture Stories From the Bible and Bouncy Bunny in the Friendly Forest. He died in a 1947 boating accident, saving a child's life while perhaps sacrificing his own.

Bill Gaines grew up hating and avoiding comics because they had represented Max, a critical and demanding father. Now Bill's mother insisted that he run EC. He did, changing EC from Educational to Entertaining Comics, and hiring Al Feldstein to draw an Archie clone, Going Steady With Peggy. But Bill soon dropped the idea of cloning successful trends, a standard publishing practice then (and now?), and created what he called his New Trend titles.

The history of EC's New Trend horror and crime comics (Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories) informs much of Diehl's book, but there is much else. We read of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, Bill's sci-fi comics tolerated out of love since they never achieved the success of their horror siblings; the GhouLunatics (Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, Old Witch); Harvey Kurtzman's distaste for horror, his meticulous attention to military detail in his beloved EC war comics (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat), and his creation of, and defection from, MAD; EC's plagiarism of Ray Bradbury's "What The Dog Dragged In," leading to a long, congenial working relationship with Bradbury (but who later requested that his name not be put on covers, as he worried that being adapted by the comics hurt his authorial reputation); and the cloning of the New Trend, so that by 1953 about 150 competing horror titles were being published, today mostly forgotten.

Sections on each EC artist includes bios and samples of his unique style. Al Feldstein, who wrote and edited most of the New Trend, demanded that each artist have his own signature style. Bill Gaines encouraged it by instituting an "Artist Of The Issue" kudos page, a respect rarely accorded by other publishers.

EC's five horror and crime titles all folded in 1954, due to public outcry against comic book sex and violence. Psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham of the New York Department Of Hospitals and Harlem's Lafargue Clinic led the fight. Powerful enemies against EC included gossip columnist Walter Winchell, waging a vendetta against EC business manager Lyle Stuart (whose book had revealed the "seamier side of Winchell's private life"); Senator Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn) of the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency and a presidential hopeful; and EC's competitors, particularly Archie Comics's John Goldwater and DC's Jack Liebowitz. As President and Veep of the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA), Goldwater and Liebowitz prohibited the words "horror, terror, crime, and weird" for a comic book to earn the CMAA's new seal of approval, required by distributors. EC's strength was its horror and crime titles, unlike its competitors. Ironically, Bill Gaines had called the meeting at which the CMAA was formed.

Wertham recruited support from "women's groups and religious organizations," vilifying horror and crime comics for their "detailed descriptions of all kinds of felonies, torture, sadism, attempted rape, flagellation" and portraying women "in a smutty, unwholesome way, with emphasis on half-bare and exaggerated sex characteristics." He decried all horror and crime comics, but EC had the most to lose. Ironically, EC was rare among publishers in diluting its horror with humor. The GhouLunatics' wry commentaries distanced readers from the suffering characters.

One rare political hero was New York Governor Thomas Dewey, who vetoed "numerous bills outlawing horror comics." But though attempts at state censorship failed, bad press, public pressure, and boycotts discouraged distributors and retailers from carrying EC. Bill Gaines summarized, "Magazines that do not get onto the newsstand do not sell."

Gaines requested permission to testify before Kefauver. In his statement (reprinted by Diehl) Gaines says, "I do not believe that anything that has ever been written can make a child hostile, over-aggressive, or delinquent." Here he was disingenuous, or at least contradictory. Gaines believed in comics' power to influence youth, periodically publishing what he called preachies (tales condemning racism, anti-Semitism, drugs, etc.), usually in Shock SuspenStories. And if art can influence for good, it follows that it can influence for ill.

The question should not have been: are violent comics potentially harmful? Tobacco, marijuana, airplanes, cars, guns -- and yes, art and ideas -- are all potentially harmful. To users, to third parties, to children. The proper question is: Do we chose to live and raise children in a society that assumes the risks of liberty, or do we wish a society cocooned, safe, and inoffensive, hypersensitive to the sensibilities of all?

Although Diehl makes no connection, Wertham began his campaign in 1948 and Bradbury began Fahrenheit 451 in 1950. One wonders what influence the psychiatrist had on the author. For the society in Fahrenheit 451 is a democracy, one in which whatever book offends any group is banned, until none are left. Unlike 1984's obvious state totalitarian target, Fahrenheit 451 reveals that people can discard their freedom by choice.

Yet as EC so often demonstrated in its pages, you can't keep the dead down. The Crypt Keeper lived on. In fanzines, in Russ Cochran's hardcover reprints (published in black & white so as to display the artists' meticulous ink lines), in the Amicus films, in the HBO series (Diehl includes a 93-episode guide covering the first seven seasons), in the more recent films, in the Tales From the Cryptkeeper cartoon. All covered, if only a page. There are a few errors (remarkably, Boris Karloff is referred to as William Henry Platt). Thankfully, there's an index, albeit incomplete. No reference to Karloff under any name.

Not covered are the Amicus film novelizations by Jack Oleck. Although pictured in the collectibles section, there's no information on its making. I miss it because it was both my introduction to Tales From the Crypt (being underage for the Amicus film) and my first "adult" book. To boomers, Tales From the Crypt is a comic book. To Xers, an HBO series. To those born in between, the Crypt Keeper is Ralph Richardson, seen on the back of Oleck's novelization.

Diehl's book reprints four "classic" stories and all 105 EC horror and crime covers (nine per page). Extensively researched, generously illustrated. If you have a serious interest in Tales From the Crypt, you'll want this book.

While I was never a big fan of the HBO cable series - I always felt it was more a star vehicle than a scare vehicle - I did always enjoy the comics it was based on, and with this, the offical history of EC and all their creations, you too will become a fan all over again. This book comes fully equipped and packed with features. It spotlights the history of EC and beyond, background profiles on artists, writers and producers, as well a comprehensive listings of episodes from the HBO series, plus four reprinted classics from the original run (LOWER BERTH/THE THING FROM THE GRAVE/HORROR WE? HOW'S BAYOU? and THE OCTOBER GAME - adapted from a story by Ray Bradbury... who has an interesting history with EC), plus a cover gallery running the gambit of all the EC horror series. This is a must for any fan of the series or collector of comics in general. Very fun, very nice package and very well done. My only complaint is that on occasion the material can read a bit light, but it never bores you... and you learn a thing or two, like: Just who owns all the original art work from MAD #1? To find out - buy and and read inside.

It appears that Kirkus'bias against Gerald Stern has unfortunately led them to unprofessionally trash a bright new poet on the scene. Beckman's work is anything but trite-his words flow, his scenes are graphic, and his subject matter fresh and invigorating. This is a book to read & re-read, and to share with friends. L. David Howe

"Things are Happening" is a complex and thought invoking collection of poems by a new poet. His imagery is wonderful and he speaks from the heart of his experience with life and words. Well worth the time to read and reread.

Gerald Stern in his forward provides poetic geneology of these poems: Schuyler, Ashbery, O'Hara, "Grandfather Carlos", berrigan, Whitman, Spicer, Lorca, Hart Crane, Creeley, etc. Sounds good, eh? Yep. After reading the first poem, "Lament for the Death of Bullfighter", I flipped to the back and wasn't surprised to see in bio this poet has a deep visual streak. The phrases seem to be thoughtfully parceled out, arranged, pushed together with a minimal visual logic, stacked almost the way colors might be, edged together. There is no huge declaration, passion, or attempt to be outright witty. The passion or humor is mulled. The sometimes Creeley-like lines slowly collect their meaning, somewhat like cinematic phrases, and always showing care, making the line gossamer, and using the daily for material. Stern wasn't kidding when he says, "His identity is through affection. That is his print." At times the lines and narratives seem like they might float apart -- this seems the opposite of Lowell's granite. But unlike a lot of new poetry -- the narrative does not dissolve in confusion. Example: "Old Watermelon Hands told me/that I lack any real talent/for setting tables or having children,/that the knives were crooked/and the kids like their mother. His hands seemed to be healing,/white lines puching up/a strange map around them,/and the dog chased him through the house/showing off its leather tongue." Interesting, new, appealing. Teachers: This may be a dicey text for, say, intro poetry class as it seems simple but, I think, tone and style could be badly imitated.

Beckman. A poet once, a poet always. From the formative years in Madison to the blessed years of Hampshire and the ensuing acclaim of the mature work, Beckman has always been a force to reckon with. Now, with the publication of this volume, Beckman's work is reaching out to the world, which will now find out what many have known for a long time: the man is a poet. No longer does he xerox his poems and bind them in unique ways; no, now the machinery of publishing has taken Beckman and presented him: stunning, unique, essential. Beckman. Now. Always.

A heady treatise on altered states of being and how free will plays a role in our time space continuum. I highly recommend this book.

Bergson's works are always inspirational and the remarkable thing is that he doesn't assume anything he always explains what is needed (almost always) unlike the standard treatises on philosophy by other philosophers. It is never that much of an effort to read Bergson and as such it makes his works far more accessible than usual for a philosopher, probably one of the reasons he was all the rage in the early 20th Century, people can actually understand what he was talking about. What is the reason for this ? I think much of it has to do with his unwillingness to separate his insights into distinct pieces as is the norm in philosophy. His essays tend to flow along nicely without being stuck in difficult terminology which must be remembered as you progress, anything such as the word duration which has a special significance in Bergson work becomes part of the flow of the essay rather than being in any way special it is always reinforced through the dialogue. Another interesting aspect is his lack of references to others, possibly a result of the French way of Education which encourages self reliance and expression as much as possible.

In this work, one of his earliest (1887), Bergson introduces his concept of duration which is less of a concept than a real lived sense that is happening in your life right at this moment. But first he introduces the reader to the intensities of psychic states such as beauty, grace, joy, sorrow, pain etc and how a misinterpretation of real lived experience gives rise to a way of philosophy which separates real duration as it is experienced into space-like time, this is also evident in feelings which are modified through the space-like construction of experience. Although this first chapter fails to convince once you proceed onto the construction of the idea of duration you feel on much safer ground, one feels Bergson has seriously studied this phenomenon, not of course just in thought or conceptualisation but, in his own lived experience present at every moment. He goes on to explain the falseness of the spacialisation of time which inevitably leads to the paradoxes of Zeno in ancient days and determinism with its lack of human freedom. He overcomes the usual arguments of determinism by simply just not defining freedom or its prior conditions since this would once again introduce determinism and spacialise duration.

Bergson's work is simply highly insightful of the human condition far more than any dry attempt at it through the usual approaches such as Descarte's or Kant's. He literally lives his work using his own experience to enliven it, I mean literally enliven it, Bergson's work is living in a sense. It is less an argument than a movement through your own feelings and intuitions which then allow you to understand what he is saying, it isn't difficult concepts you can't wrap yourself round. It does occasionally suffer from a lack of clarity wich is an advantage other philosophers have over him but a careful reading will help.

Superb as always.

Bergson, all the rage in the early 1900's, has now been rediscovered,thanks in part to the work of Deleuze et al. Time and Free Will is a great exemplar of Bergson's work and his idea of the duree and the spatialization of time. Bergson presents to the reader an energetic flux which is the precondition of our more vulgar concept of time. With this flux, the past is pulled along by the future and presented to consciousness in the present as a heterogeneous conglomeration, inseperable and uncategorizable. It is this work which inspired the stream of consciousness novelists, especially Proust. But the most remarkable element of Time and Free Will is its demand on the reader to live the duree, to return to the duree and forget oneself in it. The goal is freedom and authenticity and this can only be achieved when letting oneself go, flying like a bird, and despatializing time. This book does not only open the door to phenomenology, but it also contributes in a significant way to french existentialist thought.

Aged 80, already ill, Henri Bergson (1859-1941) went downstairs to the street (in his slippers and a sleep skirt) to underwrite a Nazi-registration-form, that he was one of the so called unworthy living creatures, a Jew, having no rights, being discharged, honourless, defenseless, unprotected. When in the "Etat Francais" also a Jew statute had been announced, the French government had offered an exception treatment to Bergson, that famous citizen of Jewish birth. However professor Bergson refused receiving such a gift from such hand. 1920, on the occasion of the establishment of the United Nations, Henri Bergson had been a first president of the commission for mental co-operation (when times were to be called still worthy to human beings). 1927 he had received the Nobelprize of literature regarding to his main-publication "Creative Evolution". At the end of his life the public ethic level had been fallen down immeasurably deep. Commissions for "mental co-operation" (1920) evidently had disappeared and instead had been replaced by tanks, execution committees, gasification camps and other genocide methods. The esteem of an human being you cannot measure exactly via empiric sciences (i.e. Nazi biological race sciences). An anthropology of such a bedeviled horizon of course fails his subject. The risk of every empiric, specialized science (i.e. psychology, social and political sciences) is to underestimate human beings via shortened views, operating with the handicap of false subtle ideologies, conceptions, definitions - and the practice to analyze only a small section of time. To seize the "life melody" of a human being, it is not sufficient to emerge ridiculously only one or two notes. The entire "SPAN", if possible from the birth to the end of a biography, - only such a span (the complete melody, not a single note) is able to illuminate the secret of a human personality to a sympathizing viewer. Only via this method you can discover the dynamics, movements, changing spirals, the will to carry through, the persistent believe at the own worth of a person - even if the social associates have lost such a horizon long time ago. Bergson's father had been a music teacher and a composer - considering this fact, the idea of talking metaphorically about "single notes" and a complete "life-melody" touches the heart. The upcoming of the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud surely inspired Bergson - and though there are some mad, too punctual views in this Vienna theories: this specialized science delivered a plenty of hypotheses better than the usual biological ones. Otherwise Bergson inspired a lot of novelists: Marcel Proust or James Joyce, Sartre (his writings about Flaubert) or Nikos Kazantzakis' movie "Alexis Sorbas" (featuring Anthony Quinn as the pure embodiment of "elan vital"). Erik H. Erikson with his innovative book "Identity and life cycle" also is one of the innumerable researchers, who developed knowledge into this advanced direction: the concept of duration, of showing a complete life-melody. A quotation out of a lecture held 1911 by Bergson at the university of Oxford: "Via philosophy we can get accustomed, never to isolate the present from the past. Via philosophy all things gain a depth of field, something like a fourth dimension, which permits to associate the earlier perceptions with the present." In the title of Bergson's book "Creative Evolution" the nature of this unusual human is as crystallizing as in that delivered gesture, underwriting the Nazi-registration-form, just as the inhumanity of German occupiers required. Surely none of them understood the nonchalant irony of this doing (in the spirit of a mind, which never loses a sort of a "BIRDS VIEW"). I like to compare this scene with a fragment of Emile Cioran, another French author; he wrote: "Did you see, how the birds, at first hunting in the roads, suddenly did ascend high above the roofs: to regard Paris in a distance?" This is a remarkable metaphor: visually strong - alike the "LIFE-MELODY", giving a hint to the long time memory of ears ...

David M. Lubin's "Titanic" offers valuable and interesting insights into James Cameron's 1997 Academy Award-winning film by the same title. Lubin, a professor of art at Wake Forest University, brilliantly positions the film within its artistic, historic and cultural context, relating it to art (Frederic Church's "The Icebergs" and "Heart of the Andes," George Caleb Bingham, Jacques-Louis David, among others), literature (Crane, London, Twain, Whitman, et al.), music (Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld," Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde," etc.), theatre (the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, etc.), and even to still photography (Lewis Hines' "Young Russian Jewess at Ellis Island," Alfred Stieglitz's "The Steerage"). Lubin also connects "Titanic" to numerous other films, especially "It Happened One Night" and "A Night to Remember," and filmmakers, including Hitchcock, Welles, Ford and Kubrick. Lubin says "Titanic" is "not by any means an intellectual film," yet his book seems to belie this statement. How could a film that poses "questions about society's divide between rich and poor, the nature of love, the meaning of sacrifice, and modernity's faith in...technological prowess and mastery over nature" be anything but an intellectual film?

For a movie that was almost universally loathed by "high-brow" critics, "Titanic" gets a very lovingly detailed and in-depth analysis courtesy of Mr. Lubin. His analysis is interesting and well-researched without going too overboard or reaching too far for metaphors and artsy-fartsy obscure parallels, as some BFI contributing authors have.

This book afforded me a fascinating 12th look at a film I've already seen 11 times, and I feel enriched for having read it. It is scholarly without being boorishly so, and resists the chance to take gratuitous potshots at the flimsiest part of the film -- the dialogue. Lubin rightfully defends writer/director James Cameron's film even at its weakest points, probably because to single out the flimsy and shallow dialogue is to overlook the mastery that went into every other single detail of getting this epic film made. Visually, it is so rich in detail and craft that to malign it for "teen-speak" dialogue is just to be petty. But make no mistake --- Lubin is not playing the cheerleader for the sake of doing so. He is carefully examining the film for its comments on class distinctions, its parallels to art and opera, its classic story structure, and how the timing of the making and release of the film is nearly as significant as the timing of the actual sinking from the perspective of changing cultural and social mores. Or something like that -- Lubin phrases it so much better than I ever could.

To those who would chastise Cameron for the dialogue, let's see how well YOU do writing dialogue while simultaneously juggling the 40 thousand details, large and small, of a project this massive!

Lubin acknowledges the film's flaws but also pays due heed to the elements that work well, and the film is full of them.

Just read the damn book, folks.

Any movie as large (in every respect) as James Cameron's TITANIC, deserves to be understood, not only in the contemporary consumer context in which it was created, but also through the complex philosophical, cultural, and artistic history which served as its genesis. David Lubin's splendid, captivating, and handsomely packaged little book is a rare jewel for any reader interested in popular culture as subject for serious analysis. We come to understand Cameron's film, although cloaked in melodrama and crude dialogue, as a fully realized "synaesthesia," striving (not entirely unsuccessfully) to consume and re-imagine everything that came before it. Lubin, without a hint of pedantry, goes a long way towards revealing the mysterious zeitgeist at the heart of a global blockbuster. This is a marvelous book, and it deserves to be read.

You think you understood this simple (if expensive) movie? Think again. David Lubin demonstrates why Titanic can really be seen as an allegory--about race and class, humanity and technology, and much more--with amazing depth and sophistication. He's an academic but he writes like a journalist, and you'll be amazed at all the fascinating tidbits he comes up with. Plus the book is beautifully produced with dozens of photos from the film to illustrate (literally) the points he's making. Just a great read.

I was looking for a good read on tropical medicine but also lightweight and easy to pack and carry around. There really were not much options out there that I could find. This one and the oxford handbook on tropical medicine fit what I was looking for. Both were good, but the Lecture Notes I found slightly more useful, easier to find information and a bit more clinical detail. Very wide range of topics listed both by presenting syndrome and by each etiology separately.

This small-to-medium sized text is perfect for folks who need a quick and pertinent Tropical Medicine reference. I have found that it nicely complements the Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine (OHTM). OHTM is smaller, yet touches on a broader array of disease. Lecture Notes on Tropical Medicine gives more depth, with emphasis on diseases unique to the tropics. Both are excellent and highly recommended.

This book is very useful in my practice as a general practitioner and Travel Medicine Specialist. It gives brief but concise up to date information about Tropical Diseases. I still use other refernces in addition for up to date information about diagnosis and treatment, but find this book as a good quick 'first stop'. The photographs, though interesting, are few and not particularly relevant for my practice in New Zealand.It is the course textbook for the Travel Medicine paper through Otago University.Good value for money.

I have used every edition of this book since the first one came out as a single author edition by Dr Dion Bell. The book has only improved as the years went on. This book is not encyclopedic but has the information most needed when dealing with diseases of the tropics and developing world. Even if you have a larger more encyclopedic text you should have this one. This book is ideal for the physician or other practitioner going to the tropics for the first time and who may not have the time for more exhaustive study. Of all the medical texts I have used over the year this is one of the best!