Q Books

This depiction of Lorrie's life prior to, with, and shortly after Keith will stay with you forever. You will listen to her music (and his music) from a different and enlightened perspective. You will have a profound respect for Lorrie, too, once you finish reading this book. She is a real trooper. A must-have for all Lorrie fans and anyone wanting to know more about Lorrie and/or Keith Whitley.

this is a good book to read but wasnt wrote that great' i dont think it was... keith whitley is my favorite singer. and i like some of lorries stuff aswell.. but i feel there is some stuff that should remain private even if you are famous... doesnt matter... but then i guess like the saying goes to each his own... now i know its hard to go through things she went through. but its a he did this- she did that kinda deal and no one is perfect...kellysherman

I found this book interesting. I found it unique as an autobiography, as I've never read one quite like it. Usually when I read these, they are filled with scandals and controversy. Sure there is a bit of that in here, but Lorrie Morgan writes this from her heart it seems. Of course you can't believe everything, authors of autobiographies want to write the book from their perspective and present in the best light, whatever way they want to. Lorrie chose to write this book about her great love with Keith Whitley, a fine country singer that was gone too soon. She recalls their relationship, which in fact when you read about it, seems much longer than it really was, which was 3 years. When she met him he was married, so she thought "hands off" but soon enough he was divorced and they were together. Their love story is sweet in the beginning, however later in the book it becomes more and more complex and confusing, as to why she'd stay with him. Keith Whitley was an alcoholic. She says she was so in love with him and that it wasn't as bad as it sounds, that there was still some great moments. She goes into great detail about his drinking binges, visits to the porn stores, his treatments, his career versus hers, and more. The events surrounding his death were complicated, as her career was just taking off and she was required to do some promotional work, and Keith ended up having an affair, and overdosing on alcohol, and ultimately dying. As well she talks candidly about growing up and finding herself. You call tell this love was very real and she very much loved him, but was love enough for this couple? Overall it's a slow starter but worth the effort to read, especially if you are a fan of Lorrie's.

I'm an avid reader and I have to say this is the most poorly written book I have ever read. Specifically the writing style was disjointed, uneven and childish. If you manage to continue reading through lorries choppy, confusing writing you will find that Lorrie portrays Keith as a drunken, cheating porn-addicted hillbilly. She always paints herself as the perfect loving, caring wife. I find it interesting that this person who would have the reader believe that the failing marriage was totally Keiths fault is currently working on her 5th failed marriage.

This is one of those books that you wish you could give 0 stars to. I say this not because I'm a huge whitley fan, but because the writing is sloppy, forced and ridiculously insincere. I bought the book hoping to get some insights about the late country music star. Instead I got some sort of public relations attempt by Lorrie Morgan.

This is the first book I've ever reviewed on Amazon but felt the need to express my opinion since I read other peoples before buying.
This book is very poorly written, almost like teenager diary entries. It is poorly worded and I agree with other reviewers, some things are meant to be kept private.
Maybe Lorrie needed to tell her story & maybe this was her therapy because she needed to heal BUT don't spend money buying it! She reads the audio book herself, but again very disappointing!
I am an avid Keith Whitley fan and have listened to Lorrie a lot as well, but it is rather one-sided and immature.

Borrows heavily from Dickens for settings and culture, borrows heavily from Poe for plotting and pacing. Fun entertainment, too much talking at the end to wrap up loose ends and not enough action. I know it's a novel, folks, but show me, don't tell me. You learn that in Storywriting 101; too many writers forget it.

Purports to be a journal of a just-above-poverty schoolmaster (teacher's aide, basically) aspiring to gentility who gets involved in a plot involving the young Edgar Allan Poe, his missing biological father, a corrupt bank official, and treasonous dealings with America--and of course various "interpersonal relationships" along the way.

Starts better than it ends. Still, not at all bad, and probably good enough to spur me to read another by Taylor.

The winner of the 2003 CWA Historical Dagger Award and well deserving of such accolades. Mom purchased this book for me last Christmas and she chose well. Set in the years following the War of 1812 in England, it follows a former solider turned school teacher ,Thomas Shield. Mr.Shield meets a young student in Edgar Allen , an American adopted by a British family and sent to school at The Manor School House in the village of Stoke Newington . Mr.Shield is then charged with riding to London to pick up a Charles Frant, the son of a wealthy banker and bring him to Manor House where he is to be instructed in the proper way. While in London he comes across a disheveled Irish American who claims he is looking for the Allens ( the adopted family of Edgar) and like wise encounters the mother of Charles Frant ( who feels an immediate attraction to) and her cousin ( whom he like wise is attracted too).

When he brings the boy to Manor House, the child has a rough go of it as the older boys at the school takes to bullying him but young Edgar Allen and Charles strike up a friendship of mutual surival and soon the two are best of friends. Ironically enough both boys look quite alike and are often mistaken for each other. Then the drunk Irishmen comes and accosts the children in the village and is chased away by Mr.Shield but the episode vexes him. When Mr.Shield is invited to the Frant's estate as a means of saying thank you, he is employed by the boys father to keep an eye out for the drunk Irish American and report to him any new developments. Then one day while cruising the wharf, he spots the Irishman and chases him through the streets of London till he finally catches up with him. Finally after buying the man dinner and some beer he reveals that he is an unemployed actor by the name of David Poe, and that Edgar Allen is his son.

From there the pace of the book speeds up with the collapse of a major bank run by the Frant family , the subsuqent discovery of a mauled corpse discovered in a muddy field that may or may not be Charles Frant's father . Mr.Shield finds him drawn further and further into the mystery against his will through his association as a teacher of boy Charles Frant and Edgar Allen. Enter an American business man, a Mr.Noak and his black clerk, Salutation Harmwell who may or may not have something to do with the death of Charles father. Add to this tangle weave of mystery is Mr.Shields feelings for Sophia Frant ( the widowed (?) mother of Charles) and Flora Casawell( her cousin).

It a very well written mystery that goes into great detail on the life of the 19th century. The author has obviously done a great deal of research on the language and customs of that period. If you love the english language and the beauty of elqouence, this a good book to read. Only problem with the book was the first three chapters were kind of slow. After that the action began to pick up and you really could not put the book down without reading a few more pages. If you have ever studied the biography of Edgar Allen Poe, I suggest getting this book because you might have some "wait a minute!" moments when reading it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this period piece, elegantly written & truly engrossing. Judging from the Epilogue, the author based it upon Edgar Allan Poe's biographies. While Poe himself (as a child) has a supporting role in this novel, he plays significantly, though subtly, in the plot. It must be noted that a person is not an independent entity, but is to a large degree a product of both heredity & environment (esp. early family years). Thus, Poe's significance in this novel is far more than a surface reading would reveal--despite what some editorial (& other) reviewers may state. Per Knowledge Management, it takes context to convert information (useless in itself) into knowledge (which is actionable). Psychology IMHO agrees--e.g. see Alice Miller's famous "The Drama of the Gifted Child."

The plot is intricate & dependent upon 19th century values to a very large extent. But, the moralities of the characters continue into the present. People tend to be people. The Appendix is actually an epilogue so, do NOT read it first (I frequently read Appendices of non-fiction works first). But do read the biographical pages at the very end, but at the very end (of your reading). The book is very smooth & easy to read--much more than Dickens. Not all of the mystery is exposed but there's enough to satisfy IMHO. Also, while one might guess some of it, it is not a game of find the culprit a la Agatha Christie. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it so much I will give it 5 stars (a rarity for me, esp. for fiction) & will be reading Taylor's Roth trilogy starting today--this was my 1st Andrew Taylor book--I got his name from the "Mystery Lovers' Book of Quotations."

Twenty-something Thomas Shield, recently recovered from war injuries, finds himself in desperate need of employment. Serendipitously, it seems, a teaching job lands in his lap. At first, his new circumstances are exciting, especially after he meets, and becomes enamored of, two lovely female relatives of his two favorite students. Shield longs to be accepted their world, that of the gentry, but alas, the class system in Victorian England is too rigid. But slowly, inexorably, he is drawn into a web of intrigue in which he becomes the unwitting pawn of three dangerous antagonists who care little about Shield's welfare and much about money and power. And somehow, this mortal game seems tied to one of those favorite pupils, the 10 year old American Edgar Allan (Poe).

Readers hoping for a strong presence from Edgar are likely to be disappointed, for the story revolves only loosely around him, in a way that does not become clear until the end. Conveying ambiance is one of author Taylor's strong suits, and his characters are well delineated. Shield is a sort of grown up Pip, and Unpardonable Crime does read something like Dickens, no small accomplishment! While the pacing of this tale is somewhat slow, as the incidents unfold, curiosity keeps those pages turning.

Andrew Taylor's 2004 publication, "An Unpardonable Crime", is billed as a period thriller suggested by the years Edgar Allan Poe spent in England as a orphaned child. As a period thriller, it works beautifully. Like a 21st century Dickens, Taylor takes the reader deep inside 19th century London (a place where I've spent a good deal of fictional time lately, having just seen "Sweeney Todd" at the movies)--to the landed gentry, public squalor and many places in between. The thrill ride has the requisite number of twists and turns--the villains are dastardly, the settings foreboding, the murder circumstances murky and the hero determined, albeit a little at odds finding his place within society, having been rescued from an asylum by his now dead aunt/benefactor.

The book was a quick and fascinating read that I finished in less than two days. Ultimately, what it wasn't, however, was very intimately involved in the life of young Poe, who appears as essentially an extra character. Perhaps his exposure to macabre events like those depicted in this the book shaped his literary sensibilities. Certainly his years in Europe helped him write convincing fiction with European settings. But we didn't need this novel to know that. I came to this book on the recommendation of a Poe scholar, for which I thank him. Still, "An Unpardonable Crime" enhanced my understanding of the life and mind of Edgar Allan Poe very little.

I recommend the book to lovers of both mysteries and 19th century period fiction about Great Britain (5 stars). As a story I liked it even better than the similar The Dante Club: A Novel by Matthew Pearl. However, I warn Poe fans that they may not get much about the anticipated connection between Poe's life and this story (minus one star). Total--four stars.

The book consists of the 4th and 5th books in Trek Mi Q'an series by Jaid Black. I love this series of stories and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of this book. The book is a large mix several stories going on at the same time. Once I pick this book up I did not put it down until I had read from Cover to cover. It's well worth your money. I love this series of stories and am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series.

Let me start but saying that i love Jaid Black and I love a lot of her books. But this book I did not like at all. I have two other of her trek books so I do know that i would be missing book three so I know there would be a jump. but this one. In both books she jump from the main story to subplots and simed to focus more on them than on the main story (I think she was tring to set up the final book which so far five years later she has not written) Me I am going to wait (maybe I don't think she is going to) for the final book.

Kara runs from Cam to the matriarchal planet Galis to hide from being married and madness insues. in book 5 librarian Brynda is taken by Jek to a different wold where men ruled and women did as they were told

I liked it both stories. But i think if you do not follow the other stories then you will be confused so if you are planing to read start with the first book. GOOD READ

This book "Conquest" includes two stories: "No Escape" and "No Fear" (books 4 and 5). I rate both of them 4 stars. Even though some books are better than others, I love the series and plan to read them all. It is a wild and fun escape. I recommend reading the books in order. See my review of "The Empress' New Clothes" for a list of all the books. I reviewed it 3/11/08 under 5 stars.

No Escape:
This story has several stories in process, to be continued in the next book. The primary story is about Kara fleeing from Cam because she wanted some independent time before she married. He initially thought she was dead, but as soon as he heard she was alive, five years later, he was able to hunt her and find her. Separate stories begin about Dari fleeing her future husband while learning about and how to stop the evil one. Jana mates with Yorin who takes her to his ice planet. Kari continues to flee from Death and helps Dari.

Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: thirteen plus. Setting: 6044 and 6049 Yessat Years Galis, Khan-Gor and other planets. Copyright: 2001. Genre: erotic paranormal science fiction romance.

No Fear:
The main story is about Jek and Brynda, but several side stories are happening which will be continued in the next books. In this story, Jek finds his Sacred Mate Brynda who is a librarian in Texas. She has cancer and expects to die within the year. Jek takes her and they visit two planets on their way to his home. They visit Wassa where men have gills and live both underwater and above water. All females are slaves to the men on this planet. They next visit Dementia, where the men look like ape men from the movie Planet of the Apes. Brynda gets caught by the predatory vine which injects an aphrodisiac into her and drinks her fluids.

Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: twelve plus. Setting: 6049 Red Moon of Morak and 1986 Houston, Texas. Copyright: 2001. Genre: erotic paranormal science fiction romance.

If you want to read a story about how the author thinks he can survive in the wild, this is the book for you. I bought this book many years ago and found it useless at the time. I recently got it out again and thought I would give it another try. Same thing- almost useless. The author talks about a lot of things that would probably be very good to know/learn but the trouble is that most of the things are not explained enough for a regular person to be able to figure out how to actually do them. Your money would be better spent on a real survival book and not this one.

I don't understand why this book gets such high praise. It is not a how to book but more of a show and tell. If you want to learn survival skills look elsewhere. I bought this book thinking I was going to learn something. It just shows you what a shelter is and what this is or that.

This book is still used and recommended by the Boulder Outdoor Survival School, possibly the most reputable school in the business. Larry Dean Olsen, the author, is a guru in the field, and quite an amusing writer as well. This book is a classic, having come out originally in 1967 (my copy is the 30th anniversary edition from 1997). This is not a book for weekend backpackers, it is a text for those who want to explore and preserve true primitive survival skills - living off the land, friction fires, etc. If that is what you are looking for, this book is a great choice.

On reading some of the foregoing reviews, I can't believe we're talking about the same book. I received my first copy of Outdoor Survival Skills in the late 60's and it was the first of the best. There have been many excellent survival/primitive living skill authors since - Tom Brown Jr., John McPherson, Richard Jamison, Kochanski, Mears, Graves, Janowski, more recently, Cody Lundin, and the list goes on. By the way, the reason it was my first copy, was because I lent it to someone, who I guess, appreciated it as much as I did, so I never saw it again.
Even though the first edition came out sometime in the late 60's
the information is just as thorough, valuable, and accurate as it was then. Anybody that does not find this book so, should stick to outdoor writer's like Cliff Jacobson, who it appears, believes the only reason to carry a knife in the outdoors is to spread peanut butter.
Well done, Mr. Olsen, I thank you.

This book is meant for the survival enthusiest. I.e. someone who likes to go out and intentionally spend weeks at a time living off the land. For them, this is a good book.

It is NOT useful for hikers/backpackers/boaters etc. who are worried that if they get lost or stuck they need survival skills to last until rescued.

It has a information on topics such as building a bow and arrow, setting trap lines of 100-200 traps, making stone tools, and tanning hide (all things that require considerable time, energy, and practice). What it does not have is any information on getting rescued - not even a mention of what makes a good distress signal.

I haven't read many survival books, but if you're looking for a "survive until rescued" book check out The Complete Book of Outdoor Survival by J. Wayne Fears.

This was really thought provoking and brought back many memories. That era is gone forever but we will always have our memories!
If you read this book you will have to read "Leap" also.

Sara Davidson's "Loose Change" is a brilliantly-written account of the Sixties as experienced by three young women coming of age. I bought this book when it first came out in 1977 and loved it. Recently, I came across "Loose Change" in a used book store and just couldn't put it down.
The Sixties were a time of great social upheaval, and I remember many of the major events. I went though college in the late 60s and early 70s. Even though my background is somewhat different -- Blue collar, conservative, Catholic, male, short-haired, Pittsburgh, and definitely never inhaled -- it was interesting to see the female, radical point of view. Like many others in that period, Sara, Susie, and Tasha search for life's meaning in a turbulent time in which the old values they grew up with have withered away.
You are there in the historical events and movements of that period -- the Antiwar movement, major student protests at Berkeley and Columbia, the bloodbath at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, the music of Woodstock, rural communes, free sex, and the terror of the Altamont Concert.
This book seems to get better over time because there is a greater contrast between today's world and the 1960s. The Antiwar, Womens' Liberation, and Civil Rights Movements changed the country and the world for the better, and drugs have changed things for the worst. And the sexual revolution.... well, you be the judge.
I like Ms. Davidson's rich writing style, as she places the reader right there, feeling and experiencing life with Sara, Susie, and Tasha, "warts and all." She's gutsy enough to talk about sexuality, a formerly taboo subject. Sara, Susie, and Tasha follow their sexual drives and suffer many bad love affairs, for which both the men and women share the blame.
I've also enjoyed a few of Sara Davidson's other articles and her biography of Rock Hudson. "Loose Change" is now historical, and it's so alive you can hear the music and the protest marches. This book is definitely worth five stars and I would recommend it to almost everyone, even my own daughter.

I thought I was going to read thoughtful, personal accounts of the sixities as experienced/described by three thoughtful, incisive women. Unfortunately, what the author chronicles is how she and two other self-absorbed irritating women move from stupid, annoying man to stupid annoying man during the era of free love. Every so often, one of the women manages to witness a Pivotal Event (tm) of the '60's. When the women are not witnessing pivotal events, they are whining about stupid, annoying men.

This book pales in comparison to other, superior chronicles of the '60's such as Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem or White Album. Do not bother with Sara Davidson's tripe.

It takes a lot to make a book excellent where all elements are concerned, but Sara Davidson has managed to accomplish that with Loose Change. The characters are very vivid, and easy to picture. What really made me enjoy this was that it was based on the actual lives of the three main characters. I thought that the sixties was covered here in great detail, with images that seemed to jump out at the reader from the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would love to read others that were similar to it. Highly reccommended!

When I first read this book some 10 years ago, I quickly identified with the characters, even though I am Jewish girl from NYC. Ten years later, I often think about the characters and wonder how they turned out. I ffound the book to be true to "us" and how "we" really felt as we went through the 60's, Vietnam, drugs and free love. You had to be there. The author captures the moment. Why not write a follow up to Loose Change? You could call it Dollar Bills.

I have to start off by saying I am a bit confused as to the complaints about this book being a rip-off -- it is printed on almost indentical grades of paper and a fraction of the price of other similar photo-centered skating books, so how could this possibly be a rip off in comparison to others in the genre? Although many of the photos are not new, the book is nicely laid out and presented, like a personal scrapbook. I enjoyed it, but with its simple presentation it is most definitely geared towards Michelle's younger fans.

I really enjoyed this book! Michelle's book focuses only on positive things -- her own skating, friends, family, and favorite things. Michelle is truly a class act, and this book is yet another reflection of what makes Michelle a true champion.

This book was a nicely arranged book with many pictures and captions. They help you to know a little more about Michelle Kwan and her family and friends. It is worth getting and it is short but very enjoyable to the reader. This book is a must have for any Michelle Kwan fan !

Great, full-color photos featuring Michelle in all her best-loved programs over the years. A must-own for any Michelle kwan fan!

Michelle is a great athelet and role model for kids. This book is great for it's price. It has many good pictures of Michelle and her family. Any true fan of Michelle Kwan must have this book.

This book enriched my experience of my first child's early months by making me more aware of all the changes she was going through, and how incredible even tiny new developments are -- such as learning to move her arms and legs intentionally. The book was first published in the 1970s and this is a revised edition from the early 1980s, but in many ways it feels more modern and sensible than many of the books on babies which are most popular today. It addresses the issues of babies' individual personalities and how this can affect how they develop -- a subject which more practical, but less well-informed baby manuals don't even acknowledge.

This book enriched my experience of my first child's early months by making me more aware of all the changes she was going through, and how incredible even tiny new developments are -- such as learning to move her arms and legs intentionally. The book was first published in the 1970s and this is a revised edition from the early 1980s, but in many ways it feels more modern and sensible than many of the books on babies which are most popular today. It addresses the issues of babies' individual personalities and how this can affect how they develop -- a subject which more practical, but less well-informed baby manuals don't even acknowledge.

While Penelope Leach's other book was refreshing with new common sense insights onto my little one's behavior, this book is much to wordy. I suspect it was written as a PhD thesis as it reads about as exciting as one. It is very wordy and seems to ramble. I lose interest long before I discover any new useful info.

Everything that is written in support of this book is true. It's thorough, interesting, etc. The only drawback is that it is very academic as well. Leach is a psychologist and writes at length of the nuts and bolts of animal behavioral studies that are interesting to researchers, but what I want is the conclusions of those studies and more of a how-to manual. I recommend Magda Gerber's books for that approach.

The only thing this book left me wishing for - is that that there was anything remotely similar to it today. The book is not written in an easy "a-to-z" or "month-by-month" or any other format for people who don't like to read. It is a textbook... on babies, the only one I have found.

With all the controversial advice out there, all I wanted was to understand WHERE it came from, WHY we believe this or that, WHAT the evidence suggests. This book answers these questions as adequately as the research conducted by the 1980's allows it.

There are many books which are easier to read, will give you more step-by-step cookbook advice, and are a reference on the brands of food and strollers. So though this book lacks in all of those areas, it is the only one which can be used as a pure source of knowledge about the baby's development.

`Dream Story' is now a famous novella on account of Kubrick's mediocre film `Eyes Wide Shut,' but it remains a fabulous literary exploration of infidelity and the Freudian conceptualization of Eros. After over eighty years, Schnitzler's prose remains fresh and mysterious like a cold, damp Viennese alley. It is the story of a young couple's adventures in infidelity both real and of the unconscious. After a jealous fight, the protagonist leaves his home and wife and wanders the deep recesses of Vienna in search of sexual gratitude and revenge. He encounters a lonely widow, the young promiscuous daughter of a shop owner, and religious orgy. He returns and his wife reveals dreams of infidelity and betrayal. Schnitzler is probing the darker and more painful dimensions of human sexuality, the fact of Eros, the fact of desire, both real and imagined. After a moment of reconciliation the bourgeois home has come full circle; `Dream Story' is brilliant in its ability to be both conventional and provocative. It is a wonderful novella of intrigue, sexuality, and love.

Arthur Schnitzler - "Dream Story" (1926)

A potentially interesting book, about the period of just a day in one man's life - but lacking any sufficient ending to do justice to the material, and ending up as a mere fragment.
At the end, a prostitute is in hospital but we are not told why; a secret meeting took place, but its function is never explained; a woman acting as a saviour at the secret function may have been killed or may not have been, but we are not told more about her fate; an old piano-playing friend goes missing but we are left in the dark as to what happened to him after that. Why raise these questions in the reader's mind, then just drift the plot off into nothing? What was the point of the thing?
The quality of writing, as expression, is good, but the book fails to go anywhere sufficiently significant and conclusive by the end to have justified taking the reader on the journey there. The reader is let down at the end, being given only half a story and a lot of straggly ends that drift off to nothing, creating a feeling of dissatisfaction. The book posed too many questions but then failed to answer them and was only half a book, cheating the reader out of a story worth reading.

1 star out of 5

Published in 1926, Arthur Schnitzler's DREAM STORY ("Traumnovelle") is a novella of dark Freudian images and plays on the merging of the conscious and subconscious in human life. Forgotten for several decades, it has returned to print with Stanley Kubrick's last film EYES WIDE SHUT, which was a somewhat faithful adaptation set in the present day. DREAM STORY tells of a married couple in Vienna, perhaps at the turn of the 20th century though the date is unspecified. While having what begins as a friendly conversation one evening, Albertine confesses to her physician husband Fridolin that during a vacation in Denmark the previous summer she felt she could leave him and their daughter behind for a handsome naval officer who was staying in the same hotel. Fridolin, shocked that his marriage isn't terribly stable and that his wife could maliciously leave him, is then called to visit a patient. From there he encounters several women in his journeys through Vienna and eventually gains entrance to a upper-class orgy (presented somewhat differently than the black mass of Kubrick's film). The action takes place over only two days, and this slim volume can be read in a mere two hours. I can't comment on this translation, having read the translation into Esperanto by Michel Duc Goninaz, but the novel's meaning is based on symbolism that wouldn't lose much in translation, though one must be aware that the German names of the characters (and the Schreyvogelgasse, a Viennese street) are linked. People owning a German dictionary will get a little more out of this novella.

Arthur Schnitzler was quite enamoured by the theories of Sigmund Freud, so much so that Freud joked that he would never meet the novelist because of the belief that one would die upon encountering his double. DREAM STORY is full of allusions to Freudian psychology, and the orgy is both a real event and a representation of Fridolin's subconscious. Albertine's dream recounted to Fridolin afterwards, told in unrealistic detail that shows Schnitzler is trying too hard for a roman a clef, echoes the previous action eerily and hence the title of the novella. It is because of its Freudian basis that DREAM STORY is ultimately disappointing. Freudian psychology has been taken some heavy blows in favour of the theories of Jung and Lacan, so this story shows its age. And while it would seem at first that Schnitzler is being progressive in saying that women do indeed think of sexuality, it is apparent that Schnitzler believes that women unhealthily desire sex only as a tool to hurt and strike out, as Albertine insinuates several times that she would take great pleasure in abandoning Fridolin for a purely physical relationship with a younger man. As a result of this basis, DREAM STORY is quite out of date and misogynist.

I really couldn't recommend DREAM STORY, unless one has an interest in Freudian psychology and its application, in which case this novella is a treasure of the thought of the period. While recommending the movie over the book is a reversal of the usual order of things, I'd recommend simply watching EYES WIDE SHUT. Stanley Kubrick was aware of many of the flaws of the source material and fixed a few of them, and the art direction and cinematography are superb. The novella doesn't have much going for it.

In a short novel of one-hundred pages length set after the turn of the twentieth century Arthur Schnitzler, the contemporary of Sigmund Freud, elegantly poses an implicit question. Are life, intentions and consciousness what they seem and would it matter were one's motives other than their outcome?
Dream Story came to me in the reverse order to what is typical. Having seen the film by Stanley Kubrick the masterful direction and intriguing premise acted as impetus for seeking out the book from which the former was adapted. Never mind that Kubrick is unlikely to be bettered; such was the quality of the film, Eyes Wide Shut. Moreover, it was unlikely that Kubrick would pick anything less than a winning novel as his outline to work on.
In twenty four hours the realities of a physician used to dealing with the corporeal and physical is altered once faced with the surprise, trauma and discovery of puzzling and nefarious happenings not oordinarily out in the open. Apparently, nothing is what it seems and reckoning only yields more questions. Forced to avert his eyes from the facade, the charlatans and the masquerade because of his emotions and coercion from a secret society Fridolin, the protagonist, comes to believe that what is most grounded in reality is something one cannot touch, namely feeling, emotions and intentions. Temptation might carry the battle, but the war is won by honesty, bonds of relationship and trust in the hidden motive.
Ultimately, as Fridolin and his wife Albertine concur, trusting in original intent surmounts momentary lapses or deviations from that essence. It is a lesson worth pondering.

To be quite honest, I had no idea that Dream Story was the inspiration for Eyes Wide Shut. It's quite unfortunate that Schnitzler should finally have garnered the attention of a wider reading audience because of some cheap Hollywood flick.

Since I have no interest in the movie, I have no way of relating the book to it, but I would like to point out the fact that some of the other reviews are unreasonably harsh in their criticism of Schnitzler. He is a superb writer, a keen observer of human emotions and behaviours.

Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that the story was written nearly a century ago (it was published in 1926, but I understand that it was probably written prior to World War One). It is easy then for the modern reader to interpret the story out of context, since much of what made the story so titillating has long since become commonplace.

One thing that I want to point out that was mistakingly claimed in a previous review is that the couple was "happily married." Not so. It is quite evident in the first few pages that Fridolin and Albertine have grown weary of one another. Both are tempted to engage in extramarital relationships, yet are incapable of actually carrying them out. We see this first-hand from Fridolin's perspective as time and again he finds himself in situations where he could easily submit to the temptation.

In my opinion Dream Story is an excellent read, and a work that I wish would not have been subjected to the indignity of being associated with some cheap Hollywood flick.

This book delivers exactly what it promises - an excellent overview of essential .NET Framework. Easy to read format, good chapters on IL,Framework,COM+ Interop. Unfortunately very little or no .NET serialization, memory management or threading. But a lot of information for the size of this book. Gives excellent foundation to learn upon.

I went to my local bookstore to get a functional understanding of ".NET". My previous readings had been hit and miss and provided little understanding of the new platform.

This book provided that understanding. The writeups on the CLR, assemblies, garbage collection, net components, web services, etc. were skeletal but quite good. I came away with some understanding of what .NET is, why it was developed and why I believe it should leapfrog Java in the web development world.

It wasn't an easy read since it provided good understanding with little detail, and takes some thought; but again, it serves it's purpose well.

Very well written primer on the .Net framework, internal workings of the CLR and language fundamentals. Great book.

As the title says, this book gives the essentials of the .NET framework. It is not an exhaustive treatment, rather, it touches on the main features of .NET. The book assumes that the reader is fluent in object-oriented and component-based programming. Overall, the book was fairly well written with the main features of the .NET framework being clearly explained. The book has no distractive "fluff" in it, so one can easily dive into learning about .NET. The authors give an overview of .NET, and then present a description of the common language runtime (CLR). The common programming model and working with .NET components follow. XML data and web services are clearly explained with a lot of code snippets being given. The book concludes with chapters on ASP, Windows Forms, and mobile devices. The appendices are useful, as sometime acronyms aren't defined in the main text, but are explained in the appendix.

Overall, I found the book well written. The coverage of topics is actually fairly decent. The authors have done a good job of focusing on the essential aspects of .NET. If you're looking for a book that gives gives an overview of the heart of .NET, this is a good book. If you're looking for an exhaustive reference, than you'll probably want something else.

IMHO, OReilly tends to have the best technology books (I own many) but this book isn't one of them. This book is lightweight even as an introduction. This book is certainly fine for managers, senior architects, and business types, but if you plan to design and write software I recommend Jeff Prosise's "Programming Microsoft .NET" and Jeffrey Richter's "Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming", though a bit dated, both cover the .NET framework essentials and then some.

The book "EINSTEIN'S UNIVERSE" by NIGEL CALDER is a very good choice as a primer, not simly to learn facts, but to understand the intricate and conclusive ways of thinking of the genius ALBET EINSTEIN, whom our world owes so much. The chapters are clearly anounced by their titles, and each chapter starts with a summery of fife lines, wich can also be rered after
finishing the chapter for personal confirmation, but also, if the reader
is looking for some item long after he read the book.
As the book is written in an easy to read english, i enjoyed its reading very much.

Mr. Calder has done an outstanding job writing a book about relativity that non-physicists can read and enjoy. Mr. Calder writes with such clarity, such tangible descriptions, and such succinct summaries of the theory that the reader can begin to incorporate the implications of the theory into one's own worldview.

For instance, the author devotes much time and energy describing the possibilities of the universe being either open or closed (essentially, will the universe expand indefinitely, or will it eventually contract). By the time Mr. Calder begins to describe the metaphysical implications of these possibilities, the conscientious reader is already prepared to explore them on his own.

This ability to communicate science with such clarity as to allow a lay reader, whom I certainly am in physics, to be able to consider the implications of science, is a great complement to the author. Unfortunately, I am a hostage to much of what I read in science, so often having to rely on the author to describe the science as well as its implications.

In addition to summarizing and communicating extremely difficult material very well, Mr. Calder also writes with a great deal of energy and excitement. The author clearly shares his excitement about the subject matter to the reader.

This is an excellent read for anyone interested in the history of science and its implications.

For a long time I've desired an understanding of relativity. Having just finished this book, I have achieved my goal -- without struggling with impossible equations. Thank you, Nigel Calder.

Due to the complex subject, this book isn't a particularly easy read. But the author keeps it very interesting and does as good a job as possible in translating the theories into understandable concepts. If you want to understand how gravity, time, space, energy, and mass are all tied together via relativity, then this book is for you.

There is an incredible amount of information packed into the pages. The famous equation E=Mc2 has never meant anything to me, but after reading just the first 25 pages of this book, I was able to explain to my wife the meaning and significance of the equation and some of the thought processes that led Einstein to develop it! I feel so much smarter now!

There were only a few places where I thought the author could have done a better job explaining some concepts, and some illustrations here and there would have been helpful. But if you are capable of understanding the Doppler effect, you are capable of understanding the major concepts of relativity.

Now I feel ready to tackle the basics of quantum theory!

I though that Calder did an excellent job of simplifying relativity theory, which I suppose was his goal. I found myself wishing that he had not simplified quite so much, and explained WHY things happen instead of WHAT happens, as he tends to do sometimes. In addition to that, this book is a little behind the times when it comes to theories (though Calder can hardly be blamed for that, seeing as he wrote it before these new theories were developed). Overall, it is a good introduction to relativity theory, very easy to understand, but you will probably need another deeper book or two to really get a grasp on it.

How does one go about taking our immense universe--with all its galaxies, quasars, neutron stars, etc.--and put it into words that a high school senior could understand? Not only that, but include all of Albert Einstein's mind boggling theories on the universe and still make it interesting to read?

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Einstein's Universe. A book written by Nigel Calder. Mr. Calder delves deep into the inner workings of two of the most complex things known to man, the universe and Einstein's brain. He does so with great confidence, writing in the first person, as if it were Einstein himself explaining his theories. This leads to a feeling of intimacy while reading about the creation of the universe and many other topics related to the giant realm we call home. Nigel Calder does a superb job of presenting the theories and the evidence, and then always proceeding to explain how it all fits together.

If you've got a hankerin' for something juicy sweet to read, and enjoy pondering the ways of the great big black thing way up there, I highly recommend Einstein's Universe. Enjoy!