The Empire Books

This is comparative history at its very best. Elliott superbly describes and chronicles the history of the British and Spanish exploration and colonization of the Americas, as well as the process whereby both the British American and Spanish American colonial societies brought about their independence from the imperial governments. It is a comprehensive, detailed, and yet highly readable overview of the political, economic, social, military, and religious forces at play in the Americas during the time period. Elliott goes beyond the telling of historical events and facts, to provide analysis and interpretation of why history unfolded as it did. The writing is excellent and clearly reflects a highly learned historian who has the ability to tell history in a an engaging manner. His juxtaposition and comparison of British and Spanish America in a single volume results in a very interesting and stimulating way to learn about the two empires. The book contains very attractive end papers, a number of excellent maps and numerous color plates. Very highly recommended.

Elliott delivers the masterpiece that those who study the Atlantic World have been waiting for. The idea of studying history from the perspective of the Atlantic has been growing in popularity and worth taking a further look at. Britain and Spain established mammoth empires and Elliot looks at their rise and fall. He also considers other powers including the French and Dutch but focuses mainly on the first two mentioned. The age of exploration is put in context and in true Atlantic fashion the slave trade and development in Latin America are very important. The revolutions of the Atlantic world are very clearly explained in this book and Elliott leaves you wondering where else this field can go. Elliott writes very well and this book is a must read for those who want to consider how the Atlantic world impacted Europe and the United States.

In Empires of the Atlantic World, Professor Elliot compares and contrasts Spanish colonial America with British colonial America. I am not aware of any other books that take this is their subject, and I think that it is worthy of attention. Elliot presents 2 very different experiences in terms of government, economy, and culture. For instance, the Spanish conquistadors came upon a very highly centralized political structure, which they were able to penetrate (and co-opt for their own rule) with relative ease. This enabled them to retain the tributary labor system of the Aztecs and Incas, which they labeled the encomienda system. The British in North America did not have the same experience, as the Indians there tended to be far more decentralized. This forced the British to pursue a far different strategy in their efforts at conquest. Also, the scarcity of gold and silver in North America forced the British to diversify the colonial economy, leading to a more developed economic scene.

Additionally, I found Elliot's side-by-side discussion (between the British and the Spanish) of various other colonial themes to be well-developed. In particular, he goes into considerable detail in contrasting Spain's Catholic-only policy in the Americas with the religious diversity that existed in the British colonies. At the same time, he also explores the very different attitudes that the British and the Spanish had toward the Indians, and how those differing attitudes shaped political and social orders in the 2 regions (look at the large "Mestizo" population that exists in many parts of Latin America today, in contrast to the relatively small population within the United States). For instance, the Spanish sought to bring the Indians into the Catholic Church (witness the significant presence of the Catholic Church in the colonies), and even (theoretically) included a measure of legal protection for Indians within the encomienda system. On the other hand, the British did not make christianizing the Indians a high priority, nor did they concern themselves wth any legal protections for the Indians (a notable exception to this was William Penn).

Elliot gives a great deal of space to discussing how the political and religious regimes that existed in Great Britain and Spain were transferred to these nation's respective American colonies. For example, the British colonists were nurtured, to some degree, by the growing "liberal" ideas that were coming out of Great Britain at the start of the 1700s, while Spanish colonists had no such ideas to turn to (at least none in Spanish). Moreover, British control over its colonies was relatively decentralized (many of the colonies were private or corporate, and all enjoyed a measure of self-government), though Spanish colonies were under the tight grip of the Spanish monarchy. Finally, Elliot demonstrates how both Great Britain and Spain began to "reform" their administrative policies vis-a-vis the colonies, and how those reforms triggered colonial resentment (though the 2 nations had different results in quashing this resentment).

This well written and well organized book is a careful synthesis of the enormous secondary literatures on colonial British America and colonial Spanish America. Elliott provides a pair of parallel narrative overviews of British and Spanish America from their foundings to the revolutions that severed ties to their home nations. The narratives provide the basis for some comparative analysis that recurs throughout the book.

Knowledgeable readers will probably be familiar with much of the narrative about British North America. Much of the information about Spanish North American will probably be new to many readers (like me). For example, the small British settlements of the 17th century were dwarfed by the scope of the Spanish colonial enterprise. When Boston and Philadelphia were modest seaports, Spanish America boasted several large cities. At the time of Harvard's foundation, Spanish America already possessed several universities.

Elliott divides this book into three sections; Occupation, Consolidation, and Emancipation. Occupation is devoted to the initial experience of exploration, colonization, and encounters with the native peoples of the Americas. The chapters in Consolidation describe the development of mature colonial economies and imperial government, the challenge of developing European style societies in radically different circumstances, and the sense of identities developed in these new societies. Emancipation describes the 18th century conflicts between the metropolitan centers and the colonies, particularly as London and Madrid attempted to develop closer control and upset traditional arrangements. All chapters are particularly good combinations of political, economic, and social history.

Elliott points out the common problems faced by both British and Spanish colonial efforts but also how the different features of the home nations and different circumstances in the Americas produced different outcomes. The Spanish, for example, were confronted with very large native populations that they attempted to incorporate into their empire. This fact, plus traditions inherited from the Reconquista, would contribute to the generation of the very racially differentiated society in much of Spanish America. The existence of enormous silver deposits in Mexico and Peru drove the Spanish Crown to exercise considerably closer control of its colonies than the British monarchy would exercise over its colonies.

In his comparative analysis, Elliott deals with the major differences in British and Spanish America, and implicitly how they led to such differing outcomes after the revolutions at the end of the 18th century. Elliott's answers are surprisingly traditional. He stresses the centralized bureaucratic nature of the Spanish empire, the more 'commercial' nature of British settlements, the religious pluralism of the British colonies, and the more liberal/representative political traditions that the British brought with them. Elliott is careful to point out that many of these ultimately beneficial features were essentially inadvertant. If the English crown had been stronger or if rich gold mines had been found in the Blue Ridge mountains, the path of British colonization might well have been closer to the Spanish model.

This was an eye-opener for me as I knew very little on Spain's American territories, besides brief descriptions of some of the conquistadors such as Cortes and Pizzarro. What Elliott has done in this book is to show the comparisons and contrasts between England's New World Colonies and Spain's. There are many fascinating facets underlaying the reasons for acquiring these territories, how both sides viewed their mission and goals, and how they governed them. This is without a doubt a remarkable book that revealed a lot for me.

The first colonization was begun by the Spanish in the early 16th Century. The English made their first successful attempt in the early 17th Century. Both South and North America posed different challenges for both governments, i.e. the size of the indigenous populations, the geography and climate, natural resources and so forth. For me, the real fascination was learning more about the Spanish colonies and the establishment of the viceroyalties of New Spain (based in Mexico City) and Peru (based in Lima) with additional ones developing over time. The interaction with the natives, the attempts at Christianization, trade, and many other aspects of Spain's colonization were quite enlightening.

Being more familiar with United States history, I felt more familiar with the material covered on England's planting of settlers in Jamestown and later in New England. However, the real education was in Elliott's efforts to show how each of these two powers (Spain and England) confronted the realities and challenges of establishing their presence in these very different regions. The differences were often quite stark. Some of the points of contrast that most differentiated the two powers included each nation's attitude towards the Indians (including the attempts or lack of evangelization) and the extent of imperial bureaucracy brought over from the mother countries.

Elliott also describes how world events had helped to shape and or guide the developments that occurred in both country's territories. The Reformation, the British Commonwealth under Cromwell, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, the French and Indian War, the French Revolution and so forth, all served as factors in shaping the events that transpired in North and South America. The role of various monarchs, religious, military and political leaders, as well as indigenous leaders, are also discussed.

Elliott does try to take an even-handed approach in acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of both government's endeavors. Of course it goes without saying that the notion of empire, with the connotations of exploitation of natives and their cultures, is unpopular in most peoples minds nowadays. Yes, it was and remains a blot on the records of all nations that engaged in replacing the livelihoods and cultures (sometimes more like extermination) of indigenous peoples, or those who engaged in the slave trade, but we must keep in mind that we have to try to keep modern standards in check for historical purposes.

This is such a broad subject that I find it hard to even begin to touch on more specific details found in this book; I'm just trying to outline the broader contours of Elliott's book. Having some introduction to this time period will help you, but you need not be an expert on this particular topic. An illuminating read.

This is obviously the most comprehensive book ever written on the life of Warren Buffett, the undisputed world champion of investing. This is not a quick "How to invest" book, but if you are looking to learn as much as you possibly can about Warren Buffett and the cult of investors who make the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting a "Woodstock for Capitalists", this book is for you. As an added bonus, at over 1,400 pages you will be sure to have a functional doorstop when you have completed reading this monster.

I was attracted by the first edition of this book(in chinese). Really interesting.

So I bought this latest version.

This is a great book that adds detailed research not included in Warren Buffett's annual reports for Berkshire Hathaway.

Recommended highly!

Of Permanent Value: The Story Of Warren Buffett is a weighty tome will appeal to fans of financial wizard Warren Buffett, exploring his newfound popularity in wake of the latest stock market environment and exploring how Buffett began from scratch to form a business empire. Rises and falls blend with in-depth examinations of Buffett business philosophy and perspectives to pack in over 1400 pages of detail in a surprisingly lively read. Biography and business savvy makes for an intriguing blend, here.

First, I want to mention two constructive feedback about this book. One is that this book is probably only suitable for Warren Buffett fanatics/fans. For general investors interested about Berkshire Hathaway or how Warren Buffett invest, this is probably not the best book to read (as it has so much more info. i.e. more than 1000 pages). Second is that I have read this book more than once and I still don't know how the book is organized (the chapters aren't following chronological order, alphabetical nor topical order), therefore it is quite confusing to read as you progress from one chapter to another. Only after you read enough chapter (or completed the book) then you can put it all in the big picture in your head (from Warren's childhood till his current Berkshire days). Nonetheless, kudos to Andrew Kilpatrick for putting this book together. Moreover, once you know the limitation, this book is easily considered the best book about Warren Buffett in my opinion.

Now about the content of the book. You will learn a lot about Warren Buffett and his life, and not only investing topic (investing decisions that he made throughout his career) but his life principles, family, and business in general as well. You will learn about his first job delivering papers when he was 13 (he filed income tax and deducted the bike as business cost), and how he build his first business (pinball machine business), created Buffett partnership, break it up (liquidate), acquire berkshire mills, creating Berkshire Hathaway as investment vehicle, and many other great investment decision/story that he made (Geico, See's Candies, Dairy Queen, General Re, Coca Cola, Salomon, Washington Post, Gillette etc)

Buffett concrete rules for investing are:
1. Never lose money
2. Never forget rule #1

I know it's easier said (what he say above about to never lose money) than done based on my 10 years of invesitng experience , but then again I'm no Warren Buffett.

In my opinion, here are the 5 strategy/skills that Warren Buffett uses (Mr. Buffett, please correct me if I'm wrong):
1. Intrinsic Value
2. Margin of Safety
3. Temperament (discipline and understanding Mr.Market)
4. Circle of Competence (knowing what your circle of competence)
5. Common Sense (which I think is the most important factor and encapsulate everything about Warren Buffett.)

You will learn that Warren is very good with numbers (calculating in his head) and memorizing so many facts and numbers. You will also learn that Warren is a man with a very good sense of humor.

There are so many things/chapters that I like on this book. Let me try to mention two of my favorite sections.

One is when Warren need to make a decision who would run Salomon ($150B institution with 8000 employees) within 2 days during their first crisis. There are 12 top-level managers that he interviewed. "This was the most important hire of my life", said Warren to the Columbia business students. The chapter explain his thought process of this candidate selection in detail. Warren mentioned that the good news (for the students and the candidate) is that he didn't ask what their grades were (laughter). Warren also said, "Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. and if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. if you think about it, it's true, if you hire somebody without integrity, you want them to be dumb and lazy" (laughter). And he conclude the topic with this statement which I think is very powerful: "Pick the kind of person to work for you that you want to marry your son or daughter. You won't go wrong". By the way, he picked Deryck Maughan by the way for his integrity.

Another chapter that I really like is how Warren put the audience (of more than 2000 people) through Business School in an electrifying two minutes (The chapter about "Generics"). See how Warren answer the question of "Will developments in the generic brand area hurt coca-cola?" which is a very important questions. I'll try not to spill too much and take the joy of reading this chapter yourself but he basically explains in a nutshell (with all the details and numbers) how business and competition works (and using several other example like Gilette, Marlboro, Sam Cola etc) and how he convinced the audience (and me as a reader) that coca cola is considered immune to generics. He explains how one can save $500 for smoking generic brand (vs Marlboro) which is a lot of money. While a man will probably will only save $11 per year by not using Gilette Sensor and probably leave band-aids on his face and an uncomfotable experience for opting for generics/lower quality blades. And for coca cola, the net profit margin is only 1 cents per serving (can) while a lot of the ingredients cost (such as the aluminium close to 6 cents a can, sugar 1.3 ounce per can or 1.75 cents etc) the same regardless for coke or other cola company.

I'll stop here before it's getting too long. In summary, If you are a Warren Buffett fans, then this book is for you. If you are uncertain, you can get other books first (potentially less thick book), like "Warren Buffet Way" or maybe "Buffettology", and if you like them (Warren) or want to know more about Warren then get this book. I personally don't like it in the beginning but as time goes by (and after I re-read the book/chapters), I changed my mind, this book is a masterpiece.

As a Berkshire shareholder, I want to encourage all berkshire shareholders (and potential/future shareholders) to read this book to know more about the person in charge of your berkshire investment. I also want to encourage all shareholders to go to the annual shareholder meeting while Mr. Buffett is still in charge.

Last but not least, if I have to sum this book up in a word or two, I would use the word "WISDOM" to describe this book, though I have a strong feeling that Warren will disagree with me and think that the more suitable phrase is "COMMON SENSE"

I went to the author's reading at Cody's bookshop in Berkelysome weeks ago. I had no knowledge of his work prior to this event. Heread well (was he ever an actor?) which encouraged me to buy thebook. I am a Muslim woman and I thought it was brave of a male authorto make his narrator a 24-year-old woman, but he succeeds verywell. One bit I found harrowing and that was Salman's life-story astold to The Stone Woman. Could Mariam have been so evil? I finishedthe book a week ago, but its images still haunt me. When I'verecovered from The Stone Woman I intend to read his other novels

The Stone Woman is the third book of writer and filmmaker Tariq Ali's "Islam Quintet". Emotional, lyrical prose is the hallmark of this superbly crafted novel, which presents daily life under Islam as well as conflict and challenges. Also highly recommended are Tariq Ali's previous books in the "Islam Quintet", Shadows Of The Pomegranate Tree (0860916766, ...) and The Book Of Saladin (1859842313, ...).

The Stone Woman is an exquisite microcosm of life in a decayed empire. Tariq Ali's most recent segment of his Islamic Quartet is the best so far. The novel reads like an epic poem, but with all the drama and intrigue you would expect from a Latin American soap opera. The rich tapestry of one wealthy Ottoman family's story unravels through the clandestine reports made to a pagan statue near the summer residence of an exiled forbearer. The interconnecting details are told through a headstrong daughter who has returned home after a long absence. Ali's gifts are especially evident as he slowly unpeels the layers of this family's compelling and often-cursed history. Meanwhile, Ali wraps in the politics surrounding the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the so-called "Sick Man of Europe," on the eve of the Great War. The sometimes tedious subplot about the proto-revolutionary movement in the Empire is the novel's only weak point. As a student of Ottoman history, I found it interesting, but it takes away from the true brilliance of the novel. For fans of Ali's other two works on the often violent but always spellbinding confrontation between Christianity and Islam, this book will be a godsend. It is quite similar to Ali's first book in the series, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, in that it focuses on the life and times of patrician family. But this work deepens the focus on family and creates a vast array of memorable and believable characters where Pomegranate had only a few broadly drawn archetypes.

A friend recommended this book, and i am so pleased that she did. What a novel i am absolutely swayed by it. Stone Woman my first of Tariq Ali, but certainly not the last. I read with initial resistance, but was lured to it from the first page. Mystically he draws the attention with the words which encapsulates the reader as a silent observer witnessing the developments in the palace of Pasha. One is drawn away from present times and transcends to the era of Ottomon empire's decadence.

I found the characters in this narration to have immense depth, which is delieved in part by confessions. Confessions are made to a small rock resembling a pagan goddess. Secrets are divulged to the goddess which sheds a light on the mental and emotional state of the character. Another luring aspect of this novel are the discussions by the characters. Rational, religion, philosophy and the creation of the future republic to be carved from Ottomon Empire are debated.

The narration has an expanse of seduction, rebellion, confessions, betrayal, rational, arguments, religion, treachery and conspiracy. It is to these reasons i find the text rich in prose.

Tariq Ali is a master of setting the character as a recognizable human with depth, worries, complexity, hopes and resourcefulness. And always with Ali there is at least one character of resolution and will power who is ttempting to change direction of their life, this time away from the path laid out by the Ottoman Empire and its traditions, culture, and political narrow-mindedness. The characters are so well drawn and realistic one from the very beginning is involved.
This story is set at the very end of the 1800's when the Ottomans and the rest of the world is heading towards the first world war. The strength of the story this time is a woman who is reevaluating her life; the forces of the old ways are crashing on the shores of the new times: Old men hold onto old way honor and tradition, while their sons plot rebellion and revolution and the future; women and families and values are caught in the riptide. Some of this is revealed in confessions the characters make in private in the forest to a giant stone that has a face resembling a woman, The Stone Woman.
Interesting people, interesting times with real and believable characters and situations in a fascinating time of a dying empire. And all of it so very well written.

This is a wonderful collection of images. One of the most beautiful wildlife collection I've seen in a long time. A must for wolf lovers!

THIS IS THE BEST OF THE MANY BOOKS I'VE SEEN ON THE DAILY LIFE OF WOLVES. THE PHOTOS ARE GRAND AND MR. BARRY'S WRITING BRINGS YOU INTO THEIR WORLD. IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING IN EVERY CLASS ROOM IN THOSE STATES THAT WANT TO HUNT WOLVES AGAIN. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL AGES.

This book was awesome, if you're a wolf lover at all you'll love this book. It has great photo's of the wolves lives and their personalities really shine through on each and every page!

The pictures were fantastic. A great book for anyone interested or wants to learn about wolves.

I have a deep fascination with wolves and I'm always on the lookout for more to read about them. This book was a gift from my husband, and it didn't disappoint. Barry's writing is friendly, informal, and informative. He is clearly in awe of his subjects and treats them with respect, but also has a sense of humor that makes his text and his photography equally engaging. If you skip over the text, that's fine, because the main attraction is the photography. Barry captures some truly intimate pictures of wolves. They are at once as familiar as domestic dogs and as fierce and mysterious as folklore has always depicted them. The elaborate rankings and rituals of wolf society are depicted and helpfully explained, but what really interested me were the shots that showed the individual personalities that make up a pack, and the pictures of wolves' faces that were so expressive. The stark black and white tones allow you to focus fully on the wolves, but Barry's descriptions of a wolf's eyes or the subtle shading of color in its fur made me wish at least a few pictures had been in color.

Don't let the size of this book fool you---the point of reading is to understand and this is the best book I've read that puts Alexander the Great's campaigns together in a way that military professionals and casual readers can understand. Every war form we use today has its antecedent in the past--there is a lot to learn from the past if we take the time to reflect on it.

Warry shows some remarkable things--that Alexander's Army of 40,000 defeated a Persian Army of 600,000 and did it with almost no casualties because in ancient war shields defeated arrows and spears. The Macedonian phalanx--a formation of men with shields linked together would close on the enemy at foot speed led by Parmenio, while Alexander surged ahead with his cavalry and collapsed his enemy while the phalanx held the enemy. Think of how Commanders combined their arms in the film, Braveheart to see how Alexander waited until the time was right before placing himself and his Cavalry force at the critical spot to smash his enemy's structure. It was when enemy cohesion and formations collapsed---when they threw down their shields and ran---that the high casualties we usually associate with 1st Generation muscle-powered combat come from. That we are having too many casualties on the modern, automatic weapons fire swept battlefield, means its high time we re-examine the individual Soldier shield to recreate a phalanx capability today.

When Alexander confronted the walled island city of Tyre/Sidon he built siege engines on both ships and rolled across a causeway of land he built by throwing stones into the sea as foretold in the Bible in Ezekiel 26. Warry shows the siege in amazing detailed, color illustrations that enlighten without boring the reader as a dry "scholarly" book tends to do. He then marched across the known world at amazing march speeds--Warry describes the weaponry/equipment in great deatil--you'll notice the macedonians wore a "himation" which could be used both as a sleeping blanket and as a coat--there was no wasted weight being carried on the Soldier's back--a lesson we could stand to relearn today.

Reading Warry's book with its long-range and close-up maps and illustrations from ancient engravings and modern depictions is like an inter-active computer simulation of the battle---you can see both the "big" picture and the "little" picture, in short this book is a masterpiece. We need to re-evaluate our views that for a book to be "accurate" it has to be visually dull, especially in the computer age we live in where we can with hyperlinks go to an entire world of background information from all walks of life on any given subject.

Alexander 334-323 BC: Conquest of the Persian Empire (Campaign Series 7) by John Warry is one of the best of the Osprey Campaign Series. Unlike most to the other books, Alexander does not focus on a given battle or a series of battles, but on the almost decade long conquest of Persia and neighboring countries, such as parts of India. If one is looking for an overview of Alexander's conquests then there is probably no better book. The battles are described in such a manner as to acquaint the reader with the ins and outs and the maps are beyond excellent.

Warry does a fine job in explaining how 50,000 infantry and cavalry troops were able to defeat an empire with troops several times their number. Focusing on the the tactical brilliance of Alexander and the innovations in battle field technologies, the book explains why Alexander was victorious. It is written in a readable fashion and is a good place to start for anyone who is interested in the conquests of Alexander.

It is a very interesting book. But it is written from the Greeks point of view about the Persians. For examole, it is well accepted by modern historians that the Persian army was not 600,000 men and yet the author fails to mention this and just repeats the old fictional account that was passed on from the past. However, I recommend this book for anyone interested on ancient history and Alexander the great. But it is a bit bias.

If you want a comprehensive analysis, with explications of the army's and the leaders, with maps and graphics in color, explaining the tactics and strategies involved in this battles... THIS IS YOUR BOOK. Very simple to understand, and very complete review.

Also try "Cannae 216 B.C." - Hannibal's campaign against Rome, other excelent book

One of the better books of the Osprey Campaign series, this book gives a concise and yet fairly comphrehensive account of the strategies and tactics involved in the campaigns and battles of alexander the great. The key battles of the campaign are well illustrated and easy to follow. The book is an excellent and informative introduction to the full scope of Alexander's political, strategic, and tactical genius.

its pretty cool to see that all the fun we had jumping around and beating the hell out of each other is immortalized in print. and i thought it was pretty cool that my name was on the cover! im buying this book right now, and alex if i ever see you again i want you to autograph it!

I'm sooooo picking this book up tomorrow at Borders...I'm only a teenager but when im on my high-speed internet PC all i do is look for backyard wrestling clips/matches to watch...And i promise to read this book more intensely then i read the Manson bio(and thats really intense)....thank u guys for doing what i love most in life (beside religion and girls)....WRESTLING!!!

-Steve-o

This book to me tells not the good, not the bad, but just the story on what we went through to try to become those we love so much! You never relize those around you and the passions they have had such a big impact on my life and those i spent so much time with! You would be a fool not to buy this book and read it! in fact buy two and give one as a gift! last but not least..Alex, Thank you for something I will look back on for the rest of my life!

I had the pleasure of being a part of EBA and this story, while fiction, rings true with its tale. We went through so much, shared so much, and created so much during our time in the EBA and this book does it justice by preserving those memories. I would recommend that anyone who has a love of backyard wrestling read it! Great work, Alex.

This book is very well written and had a great storyline. Backyard Empire will keep you on the edge of your seat. As a former Wrestler for the EBA it brought back a lot of the great memories that we all shared together. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading, you don't wvwn have to be a wrestling fan to appreciate this. Nice job Alex.

When I was a kid I though that the Chinese written language was impossible to learn (unless you were born there) and that the signs were just a bunch of arbitrary strokes impossible to remember.

All this changed when I picked up this book in the 1990s. I then discovered the connection between the Chinese culture and history, and the written Chinese language. It is thick with carefully chosen and categorized stories, often experienced by the author herself, about how a Chinese character reveals something about Chinese history, thinking, or everyday life in ancient times. The Chinese themselves are often strangely unaware about the etymology of their Hànzi characters, since the school system encourages rote learning. Its richly illustrated by drawings and photographs that shows similarities between something and the character representing it. E.g. how the character for "well" resembles the ancient Chinese way of constructing wells, quite different from western ones.

What this book is not:
- Its very, far from anything like a textbook in Chinese writing. But it may be the best soft introduction to such a topic. Its well suited for people that want to know something about the Chinese language, but don't want to spend time studying it.
- Its not a dictionary. It covers 500 characters in 350 pages. The characters are not selected because of word frequency, or usefulness in everyday life etc. Many characters covered are really rare.
- It doesn't say anything about how the signs are pronounced. It is strictly about how the Chinese culture embedded in the written language.
- If you stop reading before the last chapter you will believe that the Chinese language are mostly made up of ideographs or pictograms (a picture of something in the real world). In fact more than 90% of Characters are made up of Radical-Phonetic signs (explained in the final chapter) and character do not resemble anything "in real life". To "unlearn" this misunderstanding I will recommend J. DeFrancis: "The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy"

Because of this book, I moved to China and studied there in 2005. Without getting inspiration from this book a few years ago, I would never have thought it was worth even trying to understand the Chinese language.

CHINA : Empire of Living Symbols. By Cecilia Lindqvist. Translated from the Swedish by Joan Tate. 424 pp. New York : Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1991 (1989). ISBN 0-201-57009-2 (hbk.)

Although Cecilia Lindqvist is a professional scholar of Chinese and was in fact a pupil of Bernhard Karlgren, one of the greatest sinologists of the 20th century, she is one of those rare scholars who, instead of devoting herself exclusively to academic publications, has not been afraid to produce a book designed for the general reader.

Her book, though founded in a specialist knowledge of both Chinese and China, where she lived for many years, is written with a light and engaging touch, is magnificently illustrated with numerous photographs, both black-and-white and color, line drawings, maps, Chinese characters, etc., and is so beautifully produced that it could be read or browsed with interest by anyone.

Her book attempts so many things, and succeeds so well in them all, that it would be difficult to overpraise it. It introduces us to the pictorial element of the Chinese script in a more engaging way than has ever been done before, and becomes in fact a painless way of acquiring a vocabulary of the basic building blocks which go to make up Chinese characters.

It relates these basic pictograms to a wide range of topics in Chinese cultural history in a sumptuously illustrated series of chapters dealing with - Oracle Bones and Bronzes; Man, Mankind; Water and Mountains ; Wild Animals; Domestic Animals; Carts, Roads, and Boats; Farming; Wine and Jars; Hemp and Silk; Bamboo and Tree; Tools and Weapons; Roofs and Houses; Books and Musical Instruments; Numbers and Other Abstract Characters. It also includes a chapter on Meaning and Sound which traces the development of Chinese writing from the early pictographs through to phonetic compounds.

The book is rounded out with a gallery of superb color photographs; a section on Character Stroke Order; a really excellent Bibliography of both Western and Chinese books (which unfortunately gives only the pinyin and lacks the sinographs for the latter); a table of Dynasties and Periods; and a full Index.

The book is a curious size, having been made 8.5 by 8.5 inches to accomodate its many photographs, is bound in full linen, stitched, and beautifully printed on a very strong smooth ivory-tinted paper.

Anyone who, after reading the book, would like to learn more about China's culture or writing system, will find that the fully annotated Bibliography with its extensive list of interesting works for further reading will provide many leads. These range from general books on the science and civilization of China up to such things as specialist Chinese dictionaries of the ancient bone and bronze forms of the characters.

Lindqvist's love of China, its people, language, and culture shines through on every page, and her book is clearly a labor of love. It can be recommended without reservation as a marvelous introduction to one of the richest and most fascinating cultures on earth.

This is a fabulous book on Chinese, though it's not a textbook on learning Chinese. It tells the history of the development of many characters, and is fascinating. The main part of the book goes back to the oracle bones and ancient bronzes and shows quite a few of the characters and how they developed. A chapter in the back of the book (where I started) tells how the characters were invented. It tells of the various strategies for creating characters. Every strategy devised for creating characters ended up being exhausted, and new strategies had to be created. One of the last strategies was the `radical' concept, where they would take an existing character that sounded like a word that didn't have a character, and they would add a `radical' to it to create a new character. This concept allowed for almost a limitless number of characters and was one of the final strategies. It's interesting to note that in ancient China, most of the words for daily life had no written equivalent. Writing for the most part was reserved for administrative tasks, record-keeping, etc. Words that were used for daily life for thousands of years had no written equivalent and posed great challenges to create characters.
The author is Swedish and the book was translated from Swedish to English recently.
It would be a great book for anyone studying Chinese, but it would also be a great book for Chinese children to learn more about the history of China. It really is a fascinating book that I can hardly put down...
This book also helps with learning (& remembering!) Chinese characters, but a reader does not have to be learning to read and write Chinese characters in order to gain a lot of insight not only into the language, but the Chinese culture itself.
By the way, did you know that the character for `self' Zì, originally meant `small nose'? In western society, when people refer to themselves, they may point at their own chest, whereas in China, traditionally, people pointed to their nose. That's how the character Zì, [which originally meant `nose'] came also to mean `myself', or `self']. It's also interesting to note that the radical for Bí [nose] is the same character for Zì [nose]. In fact, Zì means `small nose' and Bí means `big nose'.
The book is filled with all sorts of fascinating things...

I cannot believe how beautifully this book was written. Even as a Chinese educated in China, I was fascinated by this little book. It is not only about Chinese language but also about a people, a nation, and a civilization. This book made me re-think about my cultural heritage that I am extremely pround of already. I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in China and humanity in general.
Thank you Cecilia Lindqvist. Your professional expertise inspired me and your lovely sense of humor made my days.

Glad to see it was translated from Swedish. It is quite good, I have seen other interpretations of some characters than the ones she gives. Also I was hoping she would cover more characters. Still a very interesting book.

Tom Anderson
Anderson Analytics, LLC
http://www.andersonanalytics.com

When a college in San Diego asks Edgar Donahoe to leave due to his drunk bellowing from his dorm room window at 4 in the morning, he resolves a decision to embark upon a journey which he has romanticized for some time. Throughout his journey his goal is to rid himself of the corruption of America by his discovery of paradise. Until he received a postcard from his best friend Mountain, he never had a destination in mind. With the discovery of Poisson Rouge, Edgar now sets out to the island where he intends to become one with nature and return to a more natural version of man.

However, Edgar makes the mistake of assuming that a change of ambience will help him live a meditated life. At the end of the novel the readers realize true peace of mind can not be achieved through paradise, but solely through one?s personal efforts. An external change will only change surroundings; it can not balance or improve one?s inner-self. As Edgar works through his internal and external problems he becomes captured in the same corruptive and influenced behavior he hoped to leave behind in America. Some of the adversity Edgar is faced with is a love triangle with his best friend Mountain, and Mountain?s girlfriend Kate. He is also stalked by an island native. Ironically, it takes a hurricane to remove protagonist Edgar from this complex lifestyle.

Poe Ballantine creates the image of a youthful character by breaking us down with complex tragedies and then building us up with his unique sense of humor. It is the story of a hero who attempts to regain paradise. Ballantine?s fast paced style keeps you interested from the beginning to the end and then craving for more. His detailed descriptions and vivid scenes make you feel as if you were following Edgar on his journey to paradise. Once Edgar reaches the island, the culture shock seems so grave that you wonder whether it is a direct representation of the society or a delirious description due to an unhealthy mix of heat and alcohol. However, this quickly forces Edgar to realize that civilization is not as overrated as he perceived. Ballantine also maintains an intriguingly relaxed and almost conversational tone throughout the novel which provides a level of comfort between Edgar, the author, and the audience. With this said, Ballantine has proved himself to be a contemporary spokesperson of today?s society with a strong sense of wit.

Despite the fact that the novel takes place in 1976, I believe it is still a good reflection of today?s younger generation. Edgar helps to open the minds of an older more structured generation to a more simple and fanciful mentality but also aids the youth in recognizing the demand for direction. Edgar?s whimsical idea of a simpler life, his endless craving for alcohol, and his yearning for unity with nature will leave you wishing to return to the days of youth or a motivation to improve upon them.

I suspect Edgar Donohoe, the twenty-one year old anti-hero and warped protagonist of "Decline of the Lawrence Welk Empire" may have walked straight out of the 1976 edition of the author himself and into the pages of this novel. Or maybe I would just like to think so. Perhaps it is a slight to think there is an autobiographical foundation to the character, but Ballantine clearly knows Edgar very, very well.

The action begins in San Diego, but the bulk of the story occurs on the blighted Caribbean island of Poisson Rouge, where no one is who they first seem to be.

Edgar, a young man without a moral compass, has a hearty appetite for booze and an appreciative eye for the ladies. His bawdy descriptions of the female anatomy punctuate the narrative thoroughly and consistently.

Immersed in Ballantine's descriptive power and offbeat imagery, the reader follows Edgar at a safe distance, keeping an eye out for Legion, a crazy loner who first wants to kill Edgar with a machete, shadows him relentlessly around the island and, ultimately, saves Edgar from his murderously jealous best friend, Mountain.

As Edgar lurches from one mishap to another, you'll feel torpid from the oppressive heat, your mouth will be sour from last night's Scotch and your head will throb with the dull ache of a hangover.

If you wish to revisit your own wasted youth--or if you are currently youthful and wish to get some good ideas--this book will fill the bill.

Once again, Poe Ballantine will crack you up, break your heart, and make you wish you had half his verbal skill. In his second novel, Ballantine follows his hero, Edgar Donahoe from God Clobbers Us All, on an ill-conceived attempt to simplify his life in a tropical paradise, only to discover that paradise exists solely in the mind. Traveling through his own personal heart of darkness, Edgar finds himself entangled by all the base desires and jealousies he'd hoped to escape by leaving the western world behind. Ballantine makes the island of Poisson Rouge come alive with explosions of language and vivid descriptions that border on hallucinatory. After reading a scene in which Edgar's love affair with his best friend's girlfriend is consummated in a graveyard, you'll never look at a headstone the same way again.

I'd never read anything by Ballantine before I purchased this novel. I was browsing a bookstore in Cambridge when I saw its cover proudly displayed in the window. Of course, I had to investigate. Needless to say, this book is fantastic. It is both a belated coming-of-age story and an adventure story, coupled with tinges of lust. I've loved every single page thus far, and unfortunately, I've nearly finished it (20 pages to go). "Decline" seems to be one of those novels you can read over and over, without getting tired of it. I love the pace and description in the narrative. Ballantine is certainly a welcome writer on my "favourite books" shelf. Do yourself a favour and read it.

I am not a big fan of most recent fiction. It is so often just whiny, self-aggrandizing crap that glorifies debauchery and pretends to carry a greater message. I picked this book off the shelf because the title and the cover are hard to dismiss. Reading the first page, even though the subject material seems conventional, it was immediately clear that I held a novel wholly different from any of the other two dozen recent novels I'd opened that day.

This book is a real story with real character, real fear, real consequences, and a real philosophy. It begins like The Catcher in the Rye but ends like Fight Club. It takes place in 1976, which seems perfectly poised between those two works, and almost feels like a transition between Holden Caulfield's tired hopelessness, and Tyler Durden's wreckless self-serving activism.

I adore this work, and if you have a soul, I suspect you will, too. This is literature.

Here's a wonderful collection of diverse writings about New York City ranging from an account of Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage down the river that took his name to a very poignant piece about 9/11 by a member of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's staff. Articles by such well-known writers as O'Henry, Theodore Dreiser, Herman Melville, Stephen Crane, Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck (all who have lived in the Empire City) are included. Each selection has a brief introduction packed with interesting facts about the City and the writer of the piece. A great read and reference.

Superlatives seldom meet the mark, except EMPIRE CITY. This is a book of superlative moods, the city of true night and day, and of gifted writers meeting on Gotham's every old and new corner. Each in their own time, they're overwhelmed by the city's human vastness, its diversity, even attracted to its loneliness - the city's unique ability to confer absolute privacy in neighborhoods and buildings that rise into the sky.

To paraphrase, one writer said, "No matter the hour, there's always something exciting happening in New York." Like rubbing minds with Jack Kerouac, or going uptown with Federico Garcia Lorca, and James Baldwin - or rooting for the Yankees with Bruce Catton. Last night I sat ringside at the Polo Grounds for the Firpo/Dempsey fight; the day before I broke my back as a laborer on the Brooklyn Bridge; tonight I'm taking the ferry to see Whitman's leaves of grass. And after that, supper at Delmonico's. If I have energy enough come morning, it's off on the Half Moon to discover Manhattan - and you're welcome to come along.

I haven't even scratched the surface, because there's always something wonderful to do in Jackson & Dunbar's superlative collection, EMPIRE CITY.

I bought this book as soon as it was in stores because David Dunbar, my former teacher, wrote it and he is a GENIUS. Reading the essays and stories between the covers was an even greater experience than owning the work of a friend. It now sits on my coffeetable, waiting for my next trip to Dobbs Ferry, where I will ask David to inscribe the title page with his autograph. Each essay is packed with all the feeling and emotion to be found in the city, in all of its people and buildings and history. To read this book is not simply to follow words on a page...It is to experience the greatest city on Earth. From Joplin to New York and back again, this book, and CITYterm, have together been one of the most enlightening opportunities I have ever had.

Editors Kenneth Jackson and David Dunbar have amassed an enormous collection of essays, letters, diary entries, and poems about New York written by New Yorkers and visitors to the city from the dawn of the modern age (ca. 1600) to just after the ravages of 9/11. While an overwhelming majority of the pieces are pro-Gotham, I was glad that Messrs. Jackson and Dunbar had the wisdom and integrity to present some works that express anxiety and doubt about New York's status. The result is an extensive, celebratory, sometimes warts-and-all biography of the world's greatest city. As Mr. Jackson remarked in the 1999 Ric Burns New York Documentary, New York is not a stagnant, static thing: "New York is always becoming". He and Mr. Dunbar are to be congratulated for reminding us that New York's biography is long, and with a lot more greatness to come.

Rocco Dormarunno,
author of "The Five Points, A Novel"

this book is a masterpiece for anyone on the search. if you are one of those lower east side hipsters who thinks theres no success like failure, but failure's no success at all, then this book is for you. it leans into the kernel, and asks the right questions from beginning to end. get ready to strap on your conceptual goggles and prepare for some authors intention. from joan didion's "goodbye to all that" to walt whitman's "crossing brooklyn ferry" this book keeps the faith all the way.

This book has a fabulous variety of ways to use chicken and (just as important to me) a whole chapter of side dishes to complement them. The chapter on soups goes way beyond the standard matzah ball soup. I've definitely added a few new spices to my shelves because of this book, but a lot of the recipes work well with more standard substitutions. Every meal I've cooked using this book has received lots of ooh's and aah's.

Finally, a cookbook for all of us who love to eat chicken and have run out of handy recipes. We found lots of new ways to prepare our every day favorite food. Buy two copies and give one to a friend. We did!

This cookbook is great! The recipes in here are a nice change from same, repeated Hungarian-style recipes found in every other kosher cookbook. Although the long lists of ingredients and instructions might seem daunting to some, the recipes are not difficult, and so far, every recipe I've tried from the book has come out well.

My husband and I have spent many happy hours choosing, preparing and eating the recipes from this cookbook. This is the cookbook for anyone who doesn't think Kosher cooking is fun, delicious and diverse. You will be a convert!

A great selection of versatile recipes for excellent dishes. This ranks among a new generation of kosher cookbooks that is neither predominantly Eastern European nor relies on dairy substitutes.