Quills Books

This is a lovely book-warm, endearing, breezy, just like the lady herself. Filled with charming and hilarious anecdotes ("Mary Martin slapped here") and oodles of Broadway lore. She is also frank about how her career sometimes upstaged her family and the price she paid for that. Although I suspect there are truths she chose not to reveal (which one expects in any autobiography), this book is altogether delightful and just what you'd expect from Mary Martin.

I thought this was a terrifc book from cover to cover. From her childhood memories to her Broadway hits, there was the simple truth. She told it like it was. Reading it, I felt as if she were sitting across from me, telling me the story herself. I loved her before the I read the book and after, I loved her more.

The author was one of my boyhood icons. In this autobiography she undermines my high opinion with unwitting revelations of her unending self regard, and her obsessive craving for celebrity and adulation.She fails her children, paricularly Larry, in this frantic search for theatrical success. Yes, she was a talented lady, but she bought success at a terrible price to those around her. I stand disappointed.

This was my first encounter with Giovanni besides her poetry, and I was amazed at her perspective observations. This book was recommended to me because of it's chapter about black college students. This single chapter did wonders for helping me with my adjustment into the college setting. If I had an opportunity to thank the author face to face, I would definately ask her what influenced the to shape philosophies about race relations on college campuses, ironically we agree for the most part. It is refreshing to me to find a person of her stature willing to voice her own opinions about important issues without holding back.I strongly recommend this book to every serious black student. The necessity of this book before you enter the college classroom is more than you could understand until actually encounter the writer's truths.

Unless you are seeking a much needed feminist sensibility against Morrison's abusive Tar Baby narrative, I wouldn't bother. The rest of it is vague, presumptuous, shockingly lacking in self-reflection and criticism. For the most part, her flirtations at clear, responsible thought all to easily descend into her typical scolding tirades! She insults everyone's intelligence by speaking as if she is getting after an errant five year old!

I though this was a great reader. The accounts of her life and the lesson that she is giving to her son and the readers kept me very interested in this book. She gives you the tools that one needs to combat racism. I especially like her critique of Spike Lee's movies!

This is a fun and thought provoking book. I only give it four stars, because I had questions, and they did not all get answered. Not fair, but neither are the grades that Casti gives science.

My original questions were as follows:

1. What is chaos theory? Casti provides a clear and concise answer, although this is not the main theme of the book.

2. Does chaos theory have anything to say about the philosophy of determinism? This is not addressed in the book.

3. Does chaos theory provide any guidance on when to stop spending time and money analyzing a chaotic system? This is not addressed.

Some questions that were provoked by the book follow:

1. Are climatologists still using the same modeling techniques to predict climate change as used to predict weather? Casti made the point that predicting climate and predicting weather are two different endeavors, yet they were both using the same modeling techniques, as of the time that this book was written. I don't think he explained why.

2. What is Godel's Theorem of Incompleteness? Casti provides a good (as far as I know), non-rigorous explanation in chapter 6.

3. Does the fact that biological forms (or any other things) exist, imply that science can eventually describe a means of creating them? This controversial question is probably only implied by the full context of the book. Casti seems to want his audience to keep an open mind, because he cleverly avoids the creation versus evolution debate. Instead, in chapter 3, he focuses on what science could tell us (in 1990) about how cells differentiate into tissues in an embryo, and then form organs of appropriate size, shape, and arrangement. As in all chapters, he ends by jokingly giving science a letter grade on its ability to enlighten us.

Much later in chapter 6, he includes a humerous description of a chocolate cake machine (CCM) that he would like to invent, so that he could have any conceivable kind of chocolate cake. He then worries that Godel's Theorem of Incompleteness implies that there may not be a recipe for every conceivable type of chocolate cake. The implications with respect to my question about creation are not directly addressed, but perhaps the conclusion is obvious.

If you find the title of the book intriguing, you'll probably like the book.

Overall I agree with the other reviewer on this page. The opening chapters of Searching -- those treating science and uncertainty from a theoretical perspective, and those devoted to 'case studies' of the weather and the stock market -- were concisely and strongly argued. Together they formed a solid introduction to scientific reasoning and method. The chapter on the prediction and explanation of war was the least compelling. Casti is at his best when discussing the hard sciences. Like the other reviewer, I am also at a loss to understand Casti's discussion of mathematics (Goedel's theorem, Turing machines, etc.) in a book on scientific uncertainty. That said, it was a useful overview of the topic (albeit a more or less verbatim excerpt from Casti's slim volume on Goedel [Goedel: A Life of Logic]).

On balance, Searching is a very thoughtful and thought-provoking book. I particularly appreciate the attention Casti lavished on his annotated bibliography.

It is a study of some diverse fields attempting to give a measure of how well we understand a field and how well we can predict the future. I am not sure why various fields were selected but overall they give a good range of concepts - weather, biology, stock market, outbreak of war and mathematics.

The writer then at the end of the discussion gives his own grading for how well we can predict an event and how well we can explain it. These figures are purely subjective and I often disagreed with them.

There are often two problems in trying to predict something using science. The first is how good is your scientific knowledge of something occurs. The second is how good is your data. For example imagine a rocket being feed wrong data. Although our knowledge of mechanics is excellent, it will probably crash.

Three of them are actually fields that I have spent a considerable period of time and study on and can comment on them in detail.

The weather I found very interesting. It is a case where we have very good data and our theories look good. The major problem seems to be our ability to process the data.

He then goes into predicting climate. Here we have good data but lousy theories. We really know very little about this field.

Stock market - I found his study starting to being very good on the theoretical points of the merits of different theories. Unfortunately just as he started to get interesting he stopped. Possibly as his study is to short or he lacks the experience in this field.

Here again we have a field where we have good data but lousy theories.

However many studies of various theories of the market are examined. Some that the writer states show that the market is not perfect. But he seems a bit dubious about this at times. Quite rightly I feel. For example he shows over time that smaller companies are more profitable. This maybe due to because they are riskier they are undervalued by the market. This argument is true of even large companies with low P/E that the writer misses altogether. There is often a very good reason why the market gives them a low P/E. But the logical point now is that if this is so what does it say about the market. If the market is overcompensating for risk then it cannot be perfect.

The other main problem that in my experience from many years in the stock market there are three main variables on a share one how well the company does, how well the market does and how well the shareholder does out of it. They can and often are very different.

If the market is near perfect as some theories suggest because the public know enough of the facts. As people do not know or use the information equally well some people must be using the information better then others. Some are showing over the years repeatedly better performance then the average. Buffet is a huge one and I am a tiny one. Now why? This is not explained. Buffet does not buy heaps of shares but a few selected ones.

The next discussion was on trying to predict war. This is even harder to predict. Here we have little data. For example how much knowledge did the US have on the North Vietnamese government thinking processes at the start of the Vietnam war or how much did the Egyptians of the Israeli government in 1967?

Here the writer claims that after the event our theories can offer scientifically defensible schemes for explaining how any given war came about. This is nonsense. Historians are still debating the causes of just about every war I know of! Often there reasoning seems like rationalisations for what happened.

He does go though a few theories that just shows that we really know almost nothing about predicting war. Almost all historians would probably admit that even knowing what they know now, very few war could have predicted say a month before it happened. One historian I read stated that Germany attack on Russia was remarkable as it's about the only war that you could predict. Interesting though I would argue that Stalin did not.

Above all he claims to make war you need cash. This is true but it predicts little as in today's world a country can often by a third party be given the cash.

This is the same problem with the master variables discussed - population, technology and resources. Where he states that you need technology to make war. This maybe true but predicts nothing, as a country may be able to get it without having it. For example Egypt under Nasser had the population. Russia supplied the technology and never got paid as Egypt had little resources.

The last section is about mathematics and I am a bit confused as to why he put it in. There he goes though Godel's principal. I found this whole section a rather confused mess. Mathematics is more a study of human thought then science as such.
Perhaps the writer was trying to say that we could never really be sure of anything even an idealised system.

He then gives it a B for predictability that is quite arbitrary.

Overall I found the book interesting as one-person attitude to this concept of looking at certainty.

This guide to quillwork and its counterpart beadwork was originally published in the 1940s for the U.S. Dept. of Indian Affairs, and sees new light today thanks to Dover. Craftspeople of all kinds will find Sioux Quill And Beadwork Designs And Techniques begins with a short history of Sioux art and patterns to quickly move into the specifics of creating and sewing quills and using beadwork techniques adapted for Sioux designs. A special guide to a very specific art.

if you have bought lyford's book, _quill and beadwork of the western sioux_, you already have this book.

yes, its a wonderful resource--i thought so when i bought i under its original title. i thought this book, with the different title, would expand upon the other.

as long as you keep this information in mind, and only buy the book once under either title, you will be rewarded. since it was originally published by the government in 1940, there are no color plates, which is a great shame. however, some of the historic photos are worth the price of the book.

the instructions for both quill and beadwork are very good. there is a section that briefly analyzes design elements, very useful for creating your own designs.

i just wish i had known i already owned it under another title.

Another of those Dover rehashings -- if there were MINUS stars, I'd rate this a million!! There's so much better books and museum/exhibition catalogs on American Indian beadwork, that this title should remain where it belongs: on some dusty dark library shelf.

Many authors have tried in the meantime to dispell Lyford's myth of porcupines NOT living where quillwork was done -- the contrary is true and I've found dead porkies on highways in Montana, right in the heart of Native American quillwork country!

Another ethnocentric myth that was buried long ago (and it should stay there!): "Caucasian rugs" being an alleged source of Sioux beadwork designs. It just ain't so: there are worlds between that "classic" spidery Lakota beading style of the late 1800s and early 1900s and Caucasian rugs. One might find perhaps similar design elements on kelims but these have evolved convergently. Only some ethnocentric arrogance can find a source of artistic ideas in the cheap rugs that the homesteaders and settlers brought with them to the West or mail-ordered from some Sears & Roebuck catalog!

This Lyford book may have become sort a "classic" but only so because for many years nothing else was available on Sioux beadwork.

As to the new title that deceived one buyer: it has become most likely a deliberate policy of Dover Publications to republish copyright-free books under new titles, in one case even using a title that still belongs to another book ("Native American Beadwork" for Orchard's classic "Beads and Beadwork of the American Indians").

I stopped reading this book the minute the "hero" shook hands and made friends with the Federal Agent who raped the "herione". All was forgiven because he loved her. The complete disconnect of the realities and repercussions of rape by the author was sickening. Erotica and romance books are my choice always, and I am familiar with most every situation and category written. Cross this author off your list.


Dom

This was a great read and I purchased this book based to the previous comments but was not warned there was a past rape and a present rape involved... this kinda killed the story for me and that is why I gave it a 4 star.

By TT reviewer Tonya Ramagos

Love-starved Sarah Mason desperately wants her parents' approval. So much so that she allows her parents to dominate her life in every way, from the job she keeps to the man she is set to marry. But Sarah is getting fed up. She can feel herself growing stronger, building the strength to stand up to her parents and manipulative fiancé. Consumed with worry about her sister's disappearance, Sarah flees to Jamaica in hopes of finding clues that will lead her to Nicole. What she finds is Dominick LaCroix. A man who will change everything about her life forever.

Tall, built and handsome, Dominick LaCroix possesses a special power of a sixth sense. It is a power that warns him when things are about to go wrong, can tell him the sex of an unborn child and tells him when he sets eyes on Sarah Mason that she is the woman he will spend the rest of his life with. As Nicole's ex-landlord and boss, Dominick aids Sarah in finding her sister. But even his sixth sense can't warn him of the dangers they are about to face.

WHITE LIES is action-packed to the max. A destructive hurricane and a dangerous undercover mission are just a couple of the suspenseful events that will hold the reader captive. Lies are being told by everyone, and as the truth begins to come out, the spell bounding twists and turns pile on the captivating suspense. And all of this is neatly entwined in a hot, steamy budding romance of exciting and exotic proportions. The character of Sarah Mason is one who is easily identifiable. Her desires to be loved, to have approval and the pain she holds secret deep inside will seep into your heart and leave you praying for her happiness. Dominick LaCroix is the perfect hero: sensitive, handsome, loving and strong. WHITE LIES is a book that keeps you guessing and sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation. I highly recommend this novel.

My previous experience of reading George Eliot (admittedly about a decade ago) had been unhappy - her celebrated humanism seemed like so much fussy interference; 'Silas Marner' was too cosy, and I could not get past the infuriating first chapter of 'Middlemarch'. I've always felt a bit guilty about abandoning 'the greatest English novelist', and this volume of two short tales was a perfect opportunity to see whther my tastes had matured.

'The Lifted Veil' is a dark masterpiece, part-Gothic tale, written in the stilted style of famous horror stories like 'Frankenstein', in which inexplicable horror is described with unnervingly inappropriate articulacy; part-Henry James study of an idle, wealthy man tormented by the unknowability of a woman and her faithfulness (shades of Proust too, who worshipped Eliot).

As Gothic, its influence on cinema has been slight, although the narrator who narrates his own death looks to 'Sunset Boulevard', while a character who can see others' minds was recently enacted in 'What Women Want'. The story begins with one of the best, most shocking openings in English literature, as the hero Latimer, blighted with the gift of 'prevision', gives a detailed account of the way he will die, alone in a crumbling mansion, abandoned by careless servants.

At times, the story reads like a textbook psychological study with a solipsistic hero who lost his beloved mother at a young age, whose father resented him as inadequate, and whose brother's fiancee he loves. The various previsions he has are full of those details Freudian critics enjoy. But those previsions are described in ominous tableaux, and the switch from 'real life' into these states has a genuinely disorienting effect on the reader.

The text has always been seen as valuable as a rare instance of Eliot in effect denying or questioning the humanist principles of her most characteristic work and her interest in progressive science - its narrative is hermetic, anti-humanistic, circular: conflating time to an eternal, hellish present.

'Brother Jacob' is more like the Eliot I remembered, the story of a confectioner's apprentice who steals from his mother to emigrate to Jamaica where he intends to be given his fortune. Although it is a (sour) moral fable, with every character emerging badly, rather than warmly humanistic, the novels' irritations are here - the bossy, intrusive narration; the portrait of a growing, bourgeois community, lifelessly focusing on their obsessions with status and money, where every metaphor is inextricably linked with commerce and consumption. Each character is a caricature: the 'humour' is smug, smart-alecky, sarcastic and sneering. The tale is full of the details English Literature critics enjoy - colonialism, mental defectives, assumed identities etc.

The volume is worth reading for Sally Shuttleworth's exhaustive introduction, which discusses the stories in the context of Eliot's life and work (both are seen as negative allegories for writing and the writer), British Imperialism, laissez-faire economics, gender, the growth of science and progressive philosophy as the new religion etc.

A little-read story of George Eliot's "The Lifted Veil" is a lovely example of the intersection between humanities and science in 1859: it ends with a revivification scene worthy of Mary Shelley. Written just before Eliot admitted to being the author of *Adam Bede*, the emasculated protagonist, Latimer, mirrors Eliot herself in his desire for solitude. Exceedingly well-crafted Victorian writing. (I don't know the other story *Brother Jacob* well: it espouses that the wages of sin are embarassment and ostracization.)

Eight essays on Sloth, Anger, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Avarice, Envy, and Despair (yes that's 8 sins). To be honest I bought it because of Pynchon, (whose essay -if you are even a slight fan- makes the buy worth it) but read on to the back cover. I quickly discovered that these authors compiled around the topic of sins is a great way to see inside these writers styles and appraoch to a similar idea. Some I'd read before, and others introduced themselves in this novel. All were unique and interesting in their own right, especially for someone -me- who isn't terribly interested in sins. Highly reccomended!

This book is a collection of eight essays. The first seven are each written on the subject of one of the "deadly" sins of sloth, anger, lust, gluttony, pride, avarice and envy. The eight is on despair. Each of the famous authors ruminates on the sin, looking at it from his or her unique perspective.

Overall I found the essays well written, and the book to be easy to read. This book makes for some lightweight reading, short and simple, but without much substance. Overall, I don't recommend it.

It is a good book for a first try if it is a first novel for this author. The main reason I bought it was because it featured a Keeshond on the cover and in the book. I am a Keeshond obsessed person as the author is and own 2 Keeshonden currently. All the Keeshond antics are true to life and never failed to bring a smile to my face while reading. It made the book seem that it was written just for me. So for Kees owners I say this book should definitely be on their reading list.

Planning on building a new house? Fox Hollow sounds like a perfect spot for it and Melissa Miller will create just the house designed especially for you. But, if you have dealings with Jackson Tobin, her partner, look out.

You will enjoy meeting Melissa and you will sympathize with her when she finds herself in big trouble because of her partner's bad faith dealings. She places a call to P.I. Rees McAlllister for help and together they try to unwind the mystery that brings a dangerous loan shark into Melissa's life.

Talented author Libby McKinmer gives the reader a look at what goes on behind the scenes in a housing development, using it to give the story added flavor.

A pleasant mix of mystery and romance, Fox Hollow will keep you reading and satisfy lovers of both genres. Recommended read by an author who writes with a light touch and creates characters you will want to know more about. Enjoy.

-Anne K. Edwards

This book wasn't awful, but it wasn't one of my favorites either for Megan Hart. Try "The Road Taken" by Megan Hart instead.

Sarah Lazin is still hurting from being dumped by ex-boyfriend William, who told her that he only went out with her out of pity. Needless to say, Sarah is not exactly open to another relationship so soon. However, as she helps her sister Rivka get her new art gallery organized, she is thrown into contact with Alex Caine, owner of a local restaurant, caterer, and money man for the gallery. Alex is just like William - classy, handsome, debonair - all those qualities that frighten Sarah and make her wary of entanglements. Even though they have nothing in common, can Sarah and Alex make their relationship work?

This story is novel-length (197 pages), but it captures the reader so quickly that it seems much shorter. I was very pleased with this book and enjoyed it - the plot was well written, and fast-paced, and didn't throw in any weird plot twists, or have an unrealistic ending. Neither the hero nor the heroine are free from flaws, and each of them takes responsibility for some of the misunderstandings that occur. Sarah is a woman that I can empathize with, since she is full-figured and not classically beautiful, and finds herself in a position that I've been in myself. Alex, on the other hand, is the guy I've always dreamed of throwing himself at my feet - Yum! His surprise at having the relationship tables turned on him is priceless. The secondary characters, Rivka and her husband Mickey, and the individual employees of Alex's restaurant, are realistically drawn, and emerge from the generic background with well-defined roles and motivations. There are several sexy love scenes between the hero and heroine that are fairly explicit, but more sensuous than graphic. -- Jean, Fallen Angel Reviews (courtesy of Fallen Angel Reviews)

I personally think that his is one of Poe's great short stories although it could be a bit more interesting but if you are fimiliar with liturature then you should enjoy this book.

I thought that this short story was very confusing. Being the age of only 14, I had to read this short story for a book report. I had some difficulty understanding what it meant and how it all added up in the end. I think that this is one of Edgar Alan Poe's horrible short stories. The story had many words that were hard to understand and it didn't make sense at the end. I reccommend this story to older teenagers and adults. It is to complicated for young teenagers.