Reviews Books

Derek Robinson's "Piece of Cake" is my favorite novel telling the same story that Frank Barnard revisits with "Blue Man Falling." Stories of the Fall of France are not numerous. At first I was a little concerned as there were many similarities between "Blue Man" and "Piece of Cake." The American pilot in "Blue Man" seems very similar to the one in "Piece of Cake." As the novel progressed it became clear that this was a different story and it was very enjoyable. Anyone who has read "Piece of Cake" should enjoy "Blue Man." If I have a complaint it is that I would have liked to get to know the other pilots of the squadron much better. "Blue Man" has a secondary plot which means there is not as much time devoted to flying and the lives of the pilots as one might like. Still all in all a very enjoyable book.

Quite unlike any other work I've read based on the happenings during early WW2. The detail was particuarly impressive and the reader will absorb an enormous amount of historical fact in an easily assimilated way without appearing to do so. The persona and life of the main character, the well brought up and slightly naive,unworldly young fighter pilot from a priveleged background, is particularly well drawn and totally beleivable. There are one or two sub plots and beautifully set up characters that add enormous interest. The contrast between the hastily snatched social breaks and the chronicles of the death and destruction whilst flying against the enemy reflects no doubt exactly how it was and again is particularly well drawn and sensitively written. The lifetime of the average frontline fighter pilot at the time being measured in months at best. A lot of meticulous research has been done for sure by Frank Barnard to produce a great read that is hard to put down once started. I look forward to his next one, as he must go will surely go from strength to strength.

"Blue Man Falling" by Frank Barnard , is a fascinating glimpse into the fragile, often bizarre days of the "Phony War", that "wishful thinking" period of WW II when few believed the Nazis would actually invade France. Accordingly, one day we find an RAF Hurricane pilot engaging in a dogfight with his German counterpart and the next we see him enjoying a drink in a Parisian cafe. This jarring juxtaposition of moods illustrates all too well the surrealistic nature of that period. Mr. Barnard has a great ability to capture a "sense of place" whether he's describing a French farmhouse, a British barrack, or the Hotel Crillon. He also portrays convincingly the comaraderie and the rivalry among the "blue men", as well as their romances. I found this to be a very readable and well written book about a period not widely understood.

Blue Man Falling deserves to be a great success. Frank Barnard has managed to combine a gripping adventure story of Hurricane fighter pilots with a moving and totally convincing account of the tragedy and drama of the phony war. The book gradually builds pace through the skillful use of flashbacks and scenes which contrast the relative calm of pre-occupation Paris with the turmoil of the German advance. The author clearly shares in the adrenalin rush of an aerial dogfight, but equally clearly recognizes the pain and horror experienced by combatants and civilians on either side of any conflict.

After reading Blue Man Falling, you will not only have enjoyed a hugely entertaining story; you will have learnt more about the early days of World War II (and probably the Spanish Civil War, too), and very likely wondered how you yourself would have acted in the heat of battle.

This anthology rules the roost when it comes to good writing from the west. There's a freedom of expression and a willingness to push the envelop here that I have not found with other reviews on the university level. Kudos.

Bukowski's ghost is probably putting in overtime reading selections from Blue Mesa.

What I enjoyed about this particular issue was the willingness of the writers to explore the boundaries between countries and how that influences not only our relationships but the way we tend to look at the world. When a narrator writes about cities separating him from his friend, he is writing about more than geographical distance. Kudos to the editors of Blue Mesa!

BLUE MESA REVIEW #6 doesn't pull any punches. It begins with a great dramatic monologue dedicated to the memory of Cesar Chavez. This is a special issue because it is a tribute to Rudolfo Anaya, the man responsible for the existence of the magazine. He has helped assemble a marvelous collection of poetry and prose from writers more interested in The Other than the Self. These selfless writers challenge the status quo with emotional fireworks. I would say this issue is probably the finest collection of voices to come out of the west in quite a while.

This is a good concise way to study different aspects of medicine. I really like that each question has a full explanation of the answer.

Only 100 questions for this price is too little. Questions are good, same format as Kaplan questions. Good help when you are studying specific subject for the shelf or the boards, before you can do integrated subjects tests form other books.

Portable! Complete! Pertinent!
These are three strengths of this book. This white coat pocket-sized book allows one to complete 200 questions anytime and any place (including during rounds). The questions vary in difficulty from easy to more difficult. Nonetheless, the key facts to be learned are well explained in the answer explanation section, which covers not only the reasons for a correct answer but also outlines reasons that the other answers are incorrect. It is an excellent source of questions and a great starting point. If used to prepare for the actual Medicine shelf, then one can finish the entire book in under 4 hours! Some additional time will be needed to review the answers.

The new edition of the book now has 200 questions (twice that of the previous edition). The questions are arranged in the same style and length of the current Step 2 format. The questions are broken up into 5 question blocks. Each block has the answers with an explanation of why the correct answer is correct and (most importantly) why the other choices are incorrect. The questions in the book provide a good review of fundamental concepts with the more involved "2-3 step" questions found on Step 2. I think this is a great resource to use for Step 2 as well as a third year medical student on the wards. Many of the same concepts come up with actual patients in the hospital.

They are called the Bog People--these remains found in peat bogs in Denmark in the early 1950's. P.V. Glob gives us this story as a direct request of schoolgirls in England in the early 1960's. Asking for more information, the girls wrote: "We would like to know where he (the Tollund man) is now because we want to visit him when we are older." After sending some print-outs, Glob received yet another letter: "We like hearing about these people because it is amazing how well they have kept." THE BOG PEOPLE is his response to these curious girls.

If you are thinking circus at this point, you have captured that trait of man fascinated in the really weird things of life. When I taught "Beowulf the Epic," I included stories and photos from this book and displayed them through use of an opaque machine. Some students were so mesmerized they would leave their seats to examine the photos up close.

What the reader/viewer finds in these photos is an extremely bizarre preservation of these mummies with such detail, one can see eyelids, fingernails, blood vessels, hair, skin pores, and, yes, finger prints. Even the stomach contents of Tollund Man (shown on the cover) are preserved and include clover, rye, buttercup, yarrow, nightshade--it is believed to be a sort of vegetarian soup.

A noose was also found around Tollund Man's neck. Historians believe he was part of a ritual killing for sacrificial purposes. There are other remains, now in museums, that depict other details of life a thousand and more years ago. What preserved these people for so long--unbeknowst to the preservers-- was the peat, whose properties in water prevent normal decay. (The other way is intentional mummification, of course, the method practiced by the Egyptians.)

All in all, this book provides fascinating clues to the way of the life of man in prehistoric northern Europe. Plus, you get to gawk in the privacy of your own home.

A beautiful slim volume which should be on everyone's bookshelf. It is a disturbing and yet strangely moving book. However the text is woefully out of date and has a lot of misinformation on the Celts and their relationship with the trading systems of the North. It also lacks the modern theories of how and why these individuals were sacrificed. I highly recommend this book just as long as you don't use it as your only source of information on the Celts.

P. V. Glob's BOG PEOPLE is a concise and illuminating study of several exquisitly preserved bodies of Iron Age inhabitant discovered northern Denmark by peat diggers in the early 1950s.

Glob, who was on the scene soon after the bodies were discovered, describes the remarkable condition of the bodies, then proceeds to explore the circumstances of their deaths. Glob's exposition gives us a look into the practice of ritual sacrifice in Iron Age northern Europe. Enhancing his discussion with studies of their last meals, the manner of death, the clothes and jewelry they wore as well as other bog artifacts, Glob introduces us to a brutal world where ritual sacrifice played a critical role in the spiritual life of Iron Age residents of modern day Denmark.

The photographs and x-rays of the bodies are stunning. In particular, the haunting photos of the serene, delicately preserved Tolland man cast this study in an earthy yet unearthly light.

This is a rather unusual book and well worth reading. Most of the time we read about remains being found in caves,tombs or graves under stone monuments,etc. In this case, there is a real departure in that they are found in wet bogs.
Although, at the time these bodies were placed in the bogs,it was probably not known that the acidic properties wound result in their unbelievable preservation.
These bodies were most likely "buried" in the period of 200 B.C until
200 A.D. This period was during the early Bronze Age and in the northern
and western part of Europe. Civilization was not near as well developed here as in southern Europe when Rome was at its height of development.
The author describes a few of the remains and tries to show who these people were and why they were interred in bogs.This occurred over a wide area and at many locations.
There seems to be two main reasons why remains were placed in these bogs.
Some were obviously murdered,sacrificed,hung or otherwise executed because of crimes,need of a victim for sacrifice, or because they were thought to be possessed,or otherwise evil. Many were staked to the ground to prevent them or their spirits from returning. Others were placed there because of their high ranking in the society.This was determined because those remains showed no evidence of wounds,mutilation or ropes around their necks or limbs.They were also accompanied with artifacts and or treasures.
This book would probably not be considered a great or highly learned Archaeological effort. Be that as it may,it is a very interesting read and an insight into life at the time through a very different window.
The author has included a large number of excellent photos;though it's a shame they are not in color.
It is also of note, that it was first published in 1969 and is still in print.

This book is absolutely essential if you want to understand what television has done to Western Civilization. It is not a rant against shabby programming but a brilliant analysis of what the medium itself does to us, regardless of content. Marc is a compassionate and witty writer and his book deserves to be widely known and discussed.

The main point of Bonfire of the Humanities is that there isn't a difference any more between what used to be called High and Low Culture. These categories might have been hard to define, but at least academics used to know where to put Titus Andronicus and where to put Star Trek.

The Low Culture David Marc is most interested in is television, which he points out controls us by delivering pleasure, not pain, as dystopian literature sometimes predicted.

But there were artists who foresaw how we would get hooked on TV. (Even the expression "hooked on" reduces the viewer to just another plug-in.) I remember a scene in Francois Truffaut's film Fahrenheit 451, where the fireman's wife is is watching/participating in a TV soap opera. The characters stop and address her by name, asking what they should do about the latest plot complication.

What's worse is I don't remember if the scene is in Ray Bradbury's novel, which I read, or not. But I still remember the image from the movie. I've been educated out of the reading culture and into the viewing culture just like the character in Truffaut's film.

What makes Marc's essays so informative (and a lot funnier to read in places than most university press books) is that he isn't a partisan of one culture over the other. He criticizes teachers who have allowed their students to graduate without developing a love for reading and writing as well as the professional curmudgeons who want to limit "education" to some cannon they've decided on.

Did you know that reading Madame Bovary and watching Beavis and Butthead might drive you to the same kind of antisocial behavior? Huh huh huh.

The film critic David Thomson said that there have been two terrible threats to humankind in the second half of the twentieth century - - nuclear weapons and television, and that the way it turned out television was the more insidious, beamed into our brains every day.

I am a doctoral student in English and I teach multiple sections of Freshman Composition. This is the first book this presents a recognizable picture of the contemporary classroom: a place where literacy is taught as a specialist's skill to students immersed in television culture. If you are interested in the future of reading and writing, I recommend this book highly. It is also hilariously funny.

To his credit, Marc, an erstwhile literary scholar, doesn't delve into the pseudo-academic question of whether television is or isn't a cornerstone of contemporary American culture. Instead, he examines what actually has transpired in the US -- the wholesale acceptance (and enjoyment) of the medium -- and describes its impact on the ever changing landscape of the Republic. With an oftentimes acerbic wit, Marc, lifts the curtain on the great Oz, allowing us to see who we are and what we've become, intellectually and culturally, whether we want to admit it or not. Ample notes let the reader discover further musings on the effects of this commonplace appliance. Overall, a brilliant -- if not disquieting -- social critique of Americans and our often reviled, often beloved boob tube.

.... "It has seventeen new essays and 37 new book lists added to the second edition mentioned here. Forty six essays describe how individual groups are organized and portray thier strengths, weaknesses, and unique characters. Special-interest groups, groups with professional leaders or sponsors, new groups, and groups that have been meeting for decades are all represented. Readers discover what makes a good group tick, from how to organize meetings, select members and books, and stimulate discussion to turning a flagging group around. More than three dozen reading lists supplied by the groups themselves help to provide insight and inspiration for all who currently belong to a book group or are tempted to start a group of thier own....

From Fall 2000, but Amazon does not carry it yet. Hopefully soon. "It has seventeen new essays and 37 new book lists added to the second edition mentioned here. Forty six essays describe how individual groups are organized and portray thier strengths, weaknesses, and unique characters. Special-interest groups, groups with professional leaders or sponsors, new groups, and groups that have been meeting for decades are all represented. Readers discover what makes a good group tick, from how to organize meetings, select members and books, and stimulate discussion to turning a flagging group around. More than three dozen reading lists supplied by the groups themselves help to provide insight and inspiration for all who currently belong to a book group or are tempted to start a group of thier own. This book replaces 1-55652-246-0" catalog

I was looking for information about starting a book club when I found this book. At first I thought it would be useless because I was looking for guidelines, and this is a collection of essays. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the essays here not only provided the information I was looking for but were enjoyable reading in their own merit. The collection reads like a book of short stories. The compiled book lists are also very helpful.

A Thoughtful Guide to Forming & Enjoying a Stimulating Book Discussion Group with essayss written, often collectively, by members of many & varied groups together with a What To Read section. With a foreword that only Margaret Atwood could write, this collection of quirky, humorous & serious essays gathered from book groups around the country, enchants, entertains & had me plotting how to start a group out of our local library. A really neat read. ................

This is destined to become one of the classic management texts. I found the authors treatement of the subject matter to be insightful and well thought out. This is a must for any person of color who is wondering why it's taking them so long to move into the executive level. As a trainer I will be using this as one of my texts, and I plan on sending a number of copies to my friends.

Few books have the ability to relate the importance of the information contained within to both professional and layman alike. That is, however, exactly what this book accomplishes. It shows you the how the achievements of minorities trying to attain status at the corporate level are linked to career decisions and mentoring relationships. This is accomplished by examining the characteristics of several minority executives at different companies who have managed to break through the glass ceiling. It also teaches several approaches for acheiving racial diversity throughout a company. It examines three large corporations who have accomplished this feat, by tracing their diversity efforts throughout the past few decades. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the processes by which businesses accomplish diversification throughout all levels of the company.

I just finished reading Breaking Through and learned quite a bit. Recommend it to you. I wish the subject of leadership, and how to properly use it to get results on the job, was addressed more. I recommend you also get a copy of another book that addresses this issue and is very applicable to the subject of minorities as leaders: "The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills." It's at Amazon too.

Breaking Through is a multifaceted book that speaks to a spectrum of audiences: the business leader committed to creating a diverse workplace; the human resource professional charged with designing and implementing diversity initiatives; the minority professional aspiring to break through.

This book sheds light on the complex career dynamics presented to minority professionals in corporate America. As an aspiring minority professional, I took away valuable strategies, as well as pitfalls, for achieving my career goals.

The book is a balance of compelling empirical evidence and real-life examples. The depth of analysis makes for an engaging and enlightening reading experience.

Breaking Through will serve as a personal professional reference guide and I am sure that it will become an invaluable resource throughout my career.

Best review book to prepare for the subject for USMLE. Comprehensive and detailed. Explained some concepts I couldn't find the explanation for in any other textbook. Lots of useful tables and charts. Much better than Pediatrics by Blueprints Series. Don't miss this book if you want a great score in this subject.

This book is very well-written and flows quite smoothly --- there's not so much of the choppy, outline-ish feeling found in other books of the BRS series. Keep in mind that it's 600 pages long, so you'll need to budget your time accordingly. It took me the full 6 weeks of my pediatrics rotation to get through the book. The questions at the end of each chapter (and in the comprehensive exam) are challenging, but they'll prepare you well for the end-of-rotation exam. Highly recommended!

I'm usually not a big fan of the BRS series, they just tend to give me the impression of long text description for each topic with minimal picture/illustration. However, I got this one because one of the authors wrote the school exam for my peds clerkship, and I heard that the exam was based on this book. Turned out that the book was pretty good, and was very comprehensive in the variety of topics covered. The chapters are organized by organ systems (Renal, pulmonary, etc.) Practice questions follow each chapter and there is also a comprehensive exam at the very end. There do seem to be more details than needed for a 3rd year med student level, and reading the entire book once does take some time.

This is one of the best review book out there, definitively the best for Peds. I only wish more BRS were available for step 2. It is much much better than Blueprints Peds, which is the other one I bought. Great questions at the end of every chapter. Excelent format that helps you retain a lot more than you'd do with other review books.

Calculus for the Forgetful by Wojciech Kosek is an excellent short calculus book. The author fundamentally achieves the goals outlined in the preface. The prose highlights the "core ideas and concepts" of the subject. Enhancement with proofs and examples is natural and easy. I certainly would consider using this as a primary text if supplemented with a collection of exercises, problems, and projects.

I am used to teaching calculus in a very intensive format in which each class lasts 3½ weeks. The professor must "trim all the fat" (some say "execute a full liposuction") in order to achieve success. Thus, I naturally favor a shorter treatment than the usual encyclopedic calculus text. Kosek's effort certainly is the best I have come across. I will recommend it to my students as a supplement to text adopted by my department. In fact, I will suggest they buy and keep Calculus for the Forgetful and sell the regular text to a subsequent student.

This book is the perfect response to the modern calculus textbook that provides so much information that students can't see the forest for the trees. It focuses tightly on building understanding of central concepts by the use of intuitive arguments and well chosen examples. Particularly effective are the examples that address common misunderstandings and mistakes by demonstrating what not to do.

This book has all the right scaffolding to hold up the building that is calculus. Small, easy to carry and has everything you need in a calculus reference. Plus, while covering the basics nicely, there are expert comments included for those who are interested, and they are marked by a different type-setting so that the user who just needs to get in and get out can easily skip these parts. Perfect for the calculus 2, 3, physics, engineering, or other student who needs the occassional calculus refresher/reference.

I'm really impressed with the way this book handles complicated and subtle calculus ideas in an accessible way. I hadn't taken calculus in quite some time when I first looked at it, and it really did jog my memory! If you're looking for a good resource that isn't a textbook (or that doesn't pack the price of a textbook but covers the same material), this is it!

Max Gerson M.D. cured more than a few terminal cancer patients with food. Some people who were supposed to die 50 years ago are still alive. This is probably the most important book on medicine published during this century

This is a book that America's "cancer industry" would like to keep under wraps. Within the pages of this technical treatise, you'll find complete how-to details that thousands of seriously ill cancer patients have used over the years to give their bodies the power to heal their cancers. Using a powerful juice therapy and natural diet of organic fruits and vegetables, the Gerson therapy has saved the lives of men and women that traditional medical establishment called "terminal." Even if you're not sick, this book belongs on the shelf of every serious health seeker

I have heard Charlotte Gerson speak and have read many of the testimonies of healing in this book. I am convinced that raw foods and juicing, plus elimination of toxic foods are essential in maintaining good health and healing from all disease. It makes so much sense that our diets are killing us, but I have heard so many doctors say that it doesn't matter what we are eating. Listen to Max Gerson and what his patients have to say!!!

This book is an excellent weapon in our fight against cancer. One of the alternate therapies to put in the powder keg in the battle against cancer is diet. The author of this book has been called a genius by many. Diet can be a powerful weapon against cancer because of diet's effect on our immune system.