History Books

This book was recommended as a gift to a pre-med student. She was excited to receive this as it dove-tailed with a course she is currently taking.

This book is amazing! I love it and recommend it to my friends. The author formerly wrote for a New York magazine, and his stories cover decades. It is interesting to see how some diseases such as Lyme's first became known and how the tools available to the medical profession have both changed and some have remained the same. Read it, you will love it!

I was given this book by one of the epidemiologists that was featured in the book. He had great respect for Roueche and loves his articles. I think these stories a very well written and really hold your attention. They also give you a good history of diseases and conditions. Great book!

This "classic collection of award-winning medical investigative reporting", published in 1988, is an excellent book. Each of the 25 case studies originally appeared as an "Annals of medicine" piece in the New Yorker, and there's not a dud in the bunch.

Most of the cases happened in the 1950's or 1960's, when sophisticated, CSI-era analytical techniques were unavailable. Nonetheless, there is no sense that these stories are dated. Roueche is a natural storyteller and has the rare ability to present technical aspects in a way that is intelligible to the non-expert reader, at just the right level of detail.

It's like 25 "House" episodes, but without the gratuitous obnoxiousness, condescension to the reader, or the ridiculous constraint that only a limping, misanthropic painkiller addict can be right.

Berton Roueché wrote for the "New Yorker" magazine for almost half a century, and was winner of the 1950 Albert Lasker Medical Journalism Award. His many volumes on physicians and medical detectives, including this book, were collected from his articles in the "New Yorker."

"The Medical Detectives" volume II is great bedtime reading, because the good guys, i.e. physicians and epidemiologists always get their villain (whether it's a germ, poison gas, or a disgruntled boyfriend). Volume II's twenty-three case histories date from 1947 to 1984, before the days when Big Insurance dictated how long patients would stay in hospitals and what kind of treatment they would receive. Some of the doctors in this book actually made house calls! A couple of the cases really stayed with me, because the patients were kept in the hospital for weeks at a time just to track down a diagnosis. In one case, a man had the hiccups. In the other, a woman had a headache. Can you guess what would happen to these patients if they went to an emergency room, today?

Anyone who is interested in medical detection will be both engrossed and instructed by Roueché's careful, detailed true-life mysteries. The cases contained in this volume range from the man who hiccupped for 27 years through the deliberate poisoning of a family. One of my favorites from 1948 is called, "The Fog". This does not refer to John Carpenter's famous 1980 horror movie, but a true story that is in some ways even more frightening than anything Hollywood could produce. It takes place in Donora, Pennsylvania, a gritty mill town along the Monongahela River, which is infamous for its fogs: "They are greasy, gagging fogs, often intact even at high noon, and they sometimes last for two or three days."

The Donora `Death Fog' killed 20 people and left hundreds injured and gasping for breath. Roueché tells this story of America's worst air pollution disaster through the observations of eye-witnesses, one of them a physician. London usually comes to mind when Death comes stalking through a thick fog, but this story is every bit as atmospheric as one by A. Conan Doyle, and "The Fog's" detectives are real people.

This collection of true medical stories starts off a bit slowly, but you will end up wishing for Volume III.

Book was purchased as a gift for my mother. Arrived on time, in great condition as it was listed. There was a small tear on the cover - but it was listed this way so it was what I was expecting. I just taped it up! She won't mind as she will be delighted with the book.

Let me first say that I have a ton of vintage jewelry in my personal collection and I also sell it in our family owned antique store. I purchased this book and read it from cover to cover. WOWOW, what a great book. So much great information and easy to read. These girls did a wonderful job in the layout of this beautful book. The pictures to say the least are all stunning and really show up great in their book.
I would recommend this book to anyone that has ANY kind of interest in vintage jewelry. This book really explains how different designers tried to copy the Haskell style. Great reference on how to date pieces and also identify key Haskell style trademarks.
Thanks for a wondeful book!

Serious collectors must have this book on their shelf. Close-up photographs show the jewelry's intricate designs in detail.

This is a fantastic resource book for the Vintage Jewelry Collector or Seller. It is wonderfully organized & beautifully illustrated with many large color pictures. The descriptions are concise & precise. Values are given after each description.
There is also a wonderful & informative section on Identifying & Dating Haskell Jewelry~vintage to present~including clasps & materials. This section also has clear close-up photographs.
I feel it is an invaluable tool for the serious collector. And well worth the investment!

Dealing with jewelry is both to me, profession and hobby. So I also like reading books about the stuff I love, and this one really got past my expectations. It helps getting insight not only in a really interesting branch of the jewelry business, but tells also about the people behind the design. At the same time, the author manages to give a helpful guide to the ambitioned collector of that kind. The book reminds one how much fun it is to create and wear exceptional pieces and tells some stories that are connected with those. The pictures are magnificent. This book is motivation for new ideas and simply fun to read.

i orignially purchased this book as a resource for a paper i was doing on tuscany, but when i received it and began to browse through it, i sat down and read the entire thing from cover to cover. the photography was magnificent; the information was just the right amount without going on and on; the entire product was stunning. i wanted to run to the internet and book the next flight to tuscany!

This is the best for someone wanting to visit interesting places in Italy. It is not only well arranged and written, but it helped so much in trip planning. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling on their own to Italy.

Since I love Italy as a place to visit, this book is great to own.

Yes, the photos are nice, but how many coffee table books with pretty Tuscan villages, cypress trees, and silvery olive leaves shimmering in the wind do we need?

Someone who reviewed this book suggested bringing it along on a Tuscan trip; if you put this large and heavy book in your luggage, you will have to leave the toothpaste, underwear, and a number of other things at home, particularly now that some airlines are apparently toying with the notion of lowering weight allowances and charging for the excess.

The text in most instances is not particularly helpful. There are quite a few books on Tuscany that do a much better job. And I was truly surprised to see the town of San Quirico d'Orcia included in the list of "most beautiful villages". I happen to know San Quirico and because it is off the usual beaten tourist path, it retains an "Italianness" that has been lost by, for example, Greve in Chianti, where one would be hard-pressed to find an Italian in that town's lovely main square on a Saturday afternoon. But San Quirico could never be called "beautiful", by any stretch of the imagination.

Despite my reservations about this book, it would probably be a welcome present for a friend who has recently returned from the grand tour of Tuscany and it will, at least for a while, have a prominent place on this friend's coffee table.

Great service and beautiful pictures of Tuscany but somewhat dissapointed at the lack of an organized route map for efficient traveling to the various villages.

This is no rehash of other books. Yes, there are new sources and insights in this book. And what some of the other reviewers do not note is that Bungay draws upon the research of what might be called the "buff" community, those interesting and obsessed individuals who have devoted years to amassing information and understanding the men, decisions, organizations and technologies that all interacted to play out the Battle of Britain. It takes skill, patience and organization to write a book like this. I wish I could create a history book this beautifully written -- too bad more books are not up to the standards of this one.

For inquiring minds who wish to know more: Derek Robinson's "Invasion, 1940" perfectly complements this book; John Terraine's "The Right of the Line: The Royal Air Force in the European War, 1939-1945" provides a thorough and detailed "official" history with many more delightful details.

A truely great history of the Battle of Britain. The best I've ever read

Having read most everything about the Battle of Britain while I was growning up, I came across this book by Stephen Bungay a couple of months ago and decided to read it. It is an outstanding book, well researched and well written. It doesn't so much dispell myths as to accurately explain how they came into being. His treatise on war, on fighter pilots, on battle conditions, tactics and planning simply expands one's awareness of what it takes to emerge victorious in battle. The myths are not myths after all. They were earned the hard way. This is a compelling read and I recommend it without hesitation.

This book details the organization of Fighter Command prior to the Battle of Britain and then documents how it functioned in action during the battle. The real heroes here are Dowding who created Fighter Command and Keith Park who commanded 11 Group which was responsible for the crucial airspace over southern England where the bulk of the battle was fought. There are plenty of personal stories of pilots and a good amount of the book is devoted to the aircraft of both sides. The Luftwaffe command structure is also detailed and the strategies of the German commanders analyzed. I found the book riveting and could not put it down even though before reading it I already knew (or thought I knew) a lot about the Battle of Britain. After the critical period was over Dowding was removed as chief of Fighter Command and Park was transferred out of 11 Group - poor rewards for their efforts. This book attempts to set the record straight and give appropriate credit to them.

Having read David Fisher's "Summer Bright and Terrible" and its even better predecessor "A Race on the Edge of Time," both of which deal with the singular importance of radar in saving Britain and, thus, Western Civilization from the wretched Nazis, I was hoping to recapture the excitement of those times in this work. Unfortunately, while "The Most Dangerous Enemy" had all of Fisher's facts--and lots more--it never managed to convey either Fisher's sense of immediacy or the fullness of the players in that civilization-defining epoch. If you're writing a paper on the era, Dangerous Enemy is your better source book. But if you want a story that excites your mind and engages your emotions, be sure to get one of Fisher's books, preferably "A Race..."

This is a recommended book to read for people who would like to read about statistics and maths. People with few knowledge about these sciences will find it a bit difficult to read.

This is the best book I have found for a general study of the of neural networks. I found this particularly useful when looking at how to write my own NN frameworks. The depth of the mathematics allowed me to easily answer questions like: 'what if I replaced function abc with xyz'. I have found other texts failed to show key mathematical derivations, or to explore the subtleties of what the maths imply.

The book covers a plethora of topics from simple gradient descent through second order techniques and conjugate gradient, through to the use of 'bayesian techniques' (basically confidence intervals on network outputs), monte carlo techniques etc. Similarly error functions, non-linearities (sigmoids, softmax etc.) and data preparation are all treated.

The extensive bibliography also provides excellent references for further study, (a whos who of the field, as well as actual titles). My copy is now dog earred from frequent reading.

The theories of NN and PR are quite difficult to understand. But this book makes them much easier. The author can explain the concepts without using too much formula. If other authors could follow his step then the life is much easier!

If you want a very good, intermediate introduction to pattern classification this book must be on your bookshelf. It even does a very nice job explaining the EM algorithm in a few pages! Basic calculus is all you need to understand the book. A must read.

Mr Bishop's book is very well written and contains a lot of useful information on neural networks. It is outlined well and progresses in a logical form. If, however, you are looking for a book that gives discussions with concrete examples of neural networks applications or set ups, you will be sorely disappointed. The mathematical treatment is universally generalized with very few specific concrete examples shown. Even the exercises will not serve you well. The term 'graded' is used; however, that simply referes to the description of difficulty. There are no answers to these exercises, so unless you have a teacher or are already firmly familiar with the material, you will not know if you have completed them correctly or not. Even worse, the exercises are in general not written to reinforce concepts in the chapter, but in most cases extend the chapter material into new regions.

In summary, this book should only be purchased by someone already familiar with neural networks and their mathematical basis. Anyone else will be wasting their money.

Woodward had done a masterful job, with his writing assistant, of describing the issues of command, the concern about sending others into combat where they may lose their life, the need to keep in mind what is central about a mission, and so many other thoughts about what leadership means. This book is a study of BOTH (1) management of a large task (be it war, be it a large company or nonprofit, be it of government) when dealing with an adversary compelled to fight you (be it the other side in a war, be it a company fighting you for market share, be it a Democrat or Republican that believes as you do not), and (2) of management of a military war where weapons are wielded by you and weapons are wielded or threatened against you. The real-life drama of uncertainty of events, of certainty of purpose, and of just what went on in this saga is of interest to very many readers. I have British friends, I have Argentian friends, and no matter which side you believe is right (both have their points) this is a good book about a mission one is given and how one needs to carry it out, and the thoughts and second-thoughts that must go through any leader's mind.

Read this as a book about leadership, and you will do fine. Read this as a book about war, and you will also do fine. Read this as a book about both, and you'll get even more out of it.

The book was received in excellent condition. The story is well written and very interesting. Would recommend it highly.

As Wellington famously said of the Hundred Days Campaign culminating in the Battle of Waterloo, the Falklands Campaign was a also damn near run thing, according to the Battle Group Commander, Adm Sandy Woodward, in this excellent book. Writing in what can best be called a distinctly British style, Woodward takes the reader into the bridge of the Hermes, his command ship for the Falklands expedition. What we get is a brutally honest, technically detailed, and gripping narrative not only into how the British pulled off a decisive victory, but also the self-doubts and mentally taxing minutia of a Commander sending troops and sailors into harm's way. This book is especially valuable for its detailed description of how navies fight. This is no small task. For example, the reader learns how:

1. submarines track ships and the risks they run to track them and shoot them. The example of the sinking of the General Belgrano is first rate
2. how a routine matter such as cross-decking troops between ships bedevils commanders and can end in tragedy
3. ship's tactics for defending themselves against aircraft (this is particularly helpful. In the US military, we have become so accustomed to air and sea superiority that those who operate on the ground take it for granted. It's not! It must be gained and earned - if need be, the hard way.)
4. The inevitable tension that will arise between sea, air, and land commanders during the prosecution of an amphibious campaign. We get Woodward's side here, but he is brutally honest on when he was right and when he was wrong.
5. The role of destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers, amphibs, and supply ships, and the risks they ran -- and still do -- to do their jobs.

This is one of the only books I know of that actually explains how modern navies fight, and it is thus indispensable to navy officers and to those who seek to learn more on control of the seas.

Into the finest traditions of The Royal Navy ( and any other righteous, but self-anylizing, self-depricating, hero-by-fire war-tested veteran), we are allowed an inside view into a theater-of-war that we, who have never paid the price, secretley covet. Gallentry, selflessness, pride of country, pride of duty, discipline, all seem to be the lost arts of the past, but Woodward and others in this telling instruct us that, to this day,our young men and women rise to the occasion, as in the days of old. What is that extraordinary part of us that is able to trandsend all our own limitations and push beyond to victory, over our enemy and over ourselves? This book may help you to answer that question!

This is an absolutely first-rate memoir by the man who led the British fleet to victory in the Falkland Islands War. Only 50 years-old when he was chosen to lead the battle group to recapture the islands in 1982 (hard to believe this gentleman is now 73!), Admiral Sir John F. "Sandy" Woodward was courageous and competent commander. That being the case, he is also refreshingly honest and humble as he tells his remarkable story.

As the Admiral mentions in the epilogue, many will always regard the Falklands as having been "a pushover war - the mighty Brits crushing the ridiculous Args" (349). But as this book makes clear, it was anything but a cakewalk. The Argentinian sailors and pilots were brave and worthy oponents. The British fleet took heavy casualties: 6 ships sunk (2 destroyers, 2 frigates, 1 amphibious warfare vessel and the transport vessel Atlantic Conveyor with its precious cargo of 10 Wessex and 4 Chinook helicopters). Another 10 ships were badly damaged. Many of these were not sunk only because the Argentinian bombs reguarly failed to detonate. The British, of course, won decisively though, thanks to the professionalism and courage of the British forces. But it was an intense and bloody six weeks.

The campaign was also a turning point in the history of naval warfare. Although anti-ship missiles were first used to sink Syrian missile boats by the Israelis back in 1973, the destruction of HMS Sheffield by the French Exocet missiles fired from Super-Etendard fighter-bombers grabbed the attention of the world's militaries. Newsweek's subsequent cover-story on the incident read "Falklands Fallout: Are Big Ships Doomed?" Many wondered if large warships had been rendered obsolete by the effectiveness of anti-ship missiles. Indeed, the two British aircraft carriers in the South Atlantic were very vulnerable. If even one of them had been put out of commission by an Exocet, it is unlikely the Falklands could have been recaptured. It is very interesting to read about how the British struggled with some of their new high-tech weaponry such as the Sea Dart. It took some failed attempts in battle before the bugs got worked out and they got comfortable with the new system.

Admiral Woodward is an excellent writer. His descriptions of the battles are riveting, especially the moments of calamity such as when HMS Sheffield was crippled by Exocets. You really get a sense of the fear, anxiety and adrenaline. It's as exciting as any Tom Clancy novel without a doubt.

I really loved Peter Hessler's Rivertown and found Oracle Bones just as enjoyable. The author's style of writing is original and surprising, at unexpected points of his books. I studied in Taiwan in the mid-70's and found Peter Hessler's descriptions of the Chinese to be very similar to my own experiences. I get the feeling that there are others who are finding his writing just as enjoyable - a few days ago I was in the Denver airport and saw a copy of The New Yorker with his article about the Olympics listed at the top. He is a wonderful writer and anyone picking up this book will finish it knowing quite a bit more than he did before starting it.

I've read it before going to sleep and more than a few times it made stay up later than I wanted. The book is well written, without artful gimmicks (it doesn't try hard to be literary), but also without the cliches and boring turns of phrases one sees in modern 'reporting'.
The book weaves the past and the present. The past appears in the form of the oracle bones that belonged to the Shang dynasty. Hessler talks to old scholars, people who dedicated their lives to the study of ancient Chinese history; he finds out how their lives were affected by the Communists and ruminates on the importance of writing for Chinese culture.
The 'present' part of the book looks at ordinary people and the way they lead their lives in this fast-changing society. Hessler is clearly aware that this is not a free society, but he doesn't hit you over the head with it: instead, what he cares about is these people - their stories, aspirations, dreams. Some of them are former students and friends, and he doesn't shy away from getting involved in their lives.
All in all a pleasure to read.

I brought this book with me when I moved to Shanghai, China and eventually got around to reading after 2 months of living here. I have previously studied many of the topics he had touch base upon in his book, from the history of oracle bones, to the current politics (such as Xinjiang's struggle for independence). I even took a class once (ancient history of china) where a professor had criticized the book for being misinformed on its information regarding the oracle bones. All this considered, I kept an open mind when reading Mr. Hessler's novel and ended up enjoying it greatly.

I enjoyed the fact that Mr. Hessler took a different route when writing this book. He focused a lot on the individual stories of Chinese citizens, while sliding in factual events, history, and culture. This made the book as enjoyable as a fiction novel. Most of the facts in the book were previously known to me, so in some ways, I was a bit disappointed (looking forward to enhance my knowledge on the region). But like I said, it was the individual people he met on his journeys through China that made the book a page-turner. I would suggest this book for anyone who has any interest in China, or just a good story about a different culture. If you are in the Asian/Chinese studies field you may find this book a little below your level. Although you may, like me, end up enjoying it for what it is, entertaining!

I enjoyed the book very much because author use his point of view to describe his journey through his students, friends and travel through out the China abut the feeling toward past, today and the future of China.

An interesting story that will leave you happy to have read it, Oracle Bones is worth the time.
A country is best learned about by living with the people; something the author has done. Furthermore, he is able to relate the feeling of China in a way that is accessible and entertaining. Thankfully without cliche. . . for example, never does Hessler mention the "raising importance of China on the world stage." By avoiding the subject he toys with a tension that is best only alluded to: we as westerners are aware of China on the horizon; his job as a journalist is simply to offer well vetted evidence. All of this sets a stage for an understated humor.
The idiosyncrasies of particular regions in China (as in any country), are illustrated by slang. For example, one Sichuanese student named Willy, who sought his fortune in Wenzhou, writes to Hessler of his "backward and yashua [toothbrush] hometown--Sichuan". Throughout the story is the word "jiade". Meaning pirated, jiade becomes a catch-phrase and an inside joke that we're in on.
A method employed throughout the book is that of a parallel narrative: Artifacts A through Z. These are loosely interconnected chapters that pepper the book's 458 pages. They function as historical vignettes; Hessler here has an opportunity to contrast his travel documentary within the context of ancient Chinese history. In Artifact A, we are introduced to the Oracle Bones of the book's title. Oracle Bones are the oldest surviving Chinese writing. Named in Chinese "jiaguwen", they were ideas carved onto tortoise shells and cow scapulas. Cryptic passages such as "The king goes to the hunting field; the whole day he will not encounter great wind" or "We ritually report the king's sick eyes to Grandfather Ding" were, depending how they broke apart, read as an oracle. "The irony of Chinese archeology" Hessler points out, "is that the earliest known writings attempt to tell the future. . . . From the Shang, the voice of the turtle speaks." Throughout the different Artifact chapters the author demonstrates his diverse and growing knowledge of archeological sites, past dynasties, and oracle bone era written characters compared to their classical and contemporary counterparts.
The plot shifts toward a more investigative thriller. Mr. Hessler follows a thread of a story for The New Yorker: did historian Chen Mengjia commit suicide and, if so, why? Mengjia had travelled to the Unites States in the 1930s. There he documented ancient Chinese bronze artworks that had wound up in private hands. The Artifact chapters also begin to follow this theme. Part of the intrigue in this subplot lies in the how so many of the older generation in China were persecuted and threatened under Mao. Mengjia's book was published later by the communists. Only they had a different idea for the title: Our Country's Shang and Zhou Bronzes Looted by American Imperialists. As the author unravels what happened, he must, upon interviewing elder intellectuals, word his questions carefully so as not to offend. This story dovetails nicely into Chairman Mao's misguided-- and later aborted-- attempt to simplify the written Chinese character. We find ourselves uncovering a linguistic mystery.
In a story like this, being a journalist is a perfect job to keep things interesting. Whether we're in a border town across the river from North Korea for a National Geographic piece, or in a threatened hutong neighborhood in Beijing (where he finds an apartment-- and the next story) he moves the tale along. We witness the sad fate of Falun Gong members as China "cleans up" for a State Visit in Beijing. Later, the attacks of September 11th allow us a peek into the expatriate world as a news starved Hessler buys jiade videos to see more of what happened in New York. All along we are aware of the tremendous rate of growth in the country. The locals say, "we live in chai nar" (meaning "demolish where?").
Reading Oracle Bones is a learning experience. The placement of the Artifact chapters is an enjoyable way to break up the story, and there are many facts woven into the book by way of this lexicon. Having myself lived outside the States for several years, I could identify with some of the difficulties Peter runs into. As the Olympic games approach, and with China in the news, I have been checking the bylines of my New Yorker magazines for Mr. Hessler's name, to learn what he has been up to. I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

Wonderful book like all of Mc Phee's work. However, disappointing in that he did not cover the California orange industry to the same extent he gave Fla. Perhaps another book one day. JMK

Expertly executed. A detailed history of oranges--customs surrounding, growing, marketing, geography--yet if you apply your close reading skills and critical thinking you may find that this work has deeper meaning. Could it also be taking on social issues such as poverty, ignorance, miscenegation, reproductive rights, and just plain old politics. It is certainly intriguing to consider this when drinking in the beauty of the writing and the mastery of weaving a comprehsensive report on all things having to do with oranges. Never dull no matter what your take.

It's forty years now since this brilliant little mandarin of a book appeared. Early reviewers (and readers of McPhee in the New Yorker) were amused and even a bit ill-at-ease at the entertainment that the author squeezed from a subject as apparently banal as oranges.

Fruit, after all, is hardly a subject for serious discourse and therefore must not be a subject for serious readers. But it was hard to avoid the suspicion that there was something more important about the dynamics of everyday life than about the transient political and artistic events that captured 'serious' attention.(Valley of the Dolls was a best seller that same year)

In the years that followed, we saw a growing realization among scholars that ordinary life was worth study. In fact, the suspicion is even raised that ordinary life may be the thing most worth studying. There has been a spate of books examining such mundane topics as salt, the codfish, apples, spices, coffee, sugar and wine. We have had biographies of diseases and inventions and public manias.

Some of this attention to the mundane has been diluted by its focus on the ordinary object as a marker of greater things: sugar stands for colonialism in Sweetness and Power, public napping stands for a cultural of denial in (No) Time for Sleep and so on.
But increasingly the daily lives of ordinary people-the hohum stuff of most of human existence is seen as worth attention.

Remarkably, it turns out that everyday things are often the most fascinating. Here's a book by the man who played the first card in the genre. It remains remarkably readable and charming and its indirectly indicated concerns are very much alive today.

"Oranges" was the first of John McPhee's books I ever read. I found a copy at a thrift store about ten years ago, and was absolutely blown away by it. Since then, I've probably read it another six or eight times. There is so much fascinating information in it, covered in such a beautiful way, that I could probably read it once a month and still find it entertaining. I'm here to buy yet another copy, as I tend to loan out McPhee's books to my friends, whether they ask for them or not. Unlike other books I loan out, my friends eventually return the McPhees, if only in hopes that I'll loan them another one. I always do. Oranges has been away for about a year this time, and I'm feeling a powerful urge to read it again.

Whether a lot of the information in the book is out-dated or not is totally immaterial. McPhee's work is not journalism covering current events, it's brilliant literature on non-fictional subjects, in the same way as the writing of Samuel Pepys is well worth reading today, in spite of all his subjects' being deceased.

I recently read Mr. McPhee's "Survival of the Bark Canoe" again, and found it just as hilarious as ever, and just as informative. Mark Twain couldn't have covered the subject as well, or any more entertainingly.

Aside from the sheer quality of his writing, the great thing about John McPhee is that he's so damned prolific. Any time I see one of his books which isn't already in my collection, I snap it up; yet I still haven't managed to read his entire body of work. But, I'm working at it.

First published in the 1960s, Oranges by twice Pulitzer winning journalist, John McPhee got a limited lease of life back in 2000 when Penguin reissued it as a modern classic. And while it's an interesting little book covering pretty much everything to do with oranges, the reportage within doesn't so much as ground the book in its time than date it

You may think that there is not much to say about fruit in general, never mind being specific. But that's where you'd be wrong as, it turns out, the orange has a catalogue of facts literally bursting with juicy trivia. It begins with uses for the fruit around the world, covering methods of eating, seasoning, and even cleaning the floor and removing grease. It explores the etymology of both the fruit's name, and it's scientific name, Citrus Sinensis. Along the way, as it spouts nugget of information in quick succession, we see the orange in history as it began its two thousand year westward journey from China to the Americas until orange growing and juicing became a worldwide industry within itself.

Splitting up chapters of trivia, McPhee shares the outcomes of his meetings with orange barons, orange growers, and other assorted industry types. While interesting to read, the text is littered with anecdotes containing names that will mean nothing to anyone other than their immediate families. And, to top it off, there is a section whereby we learn of new methods being introduced to improve the industry that, even if you have no experience of it, you know has long since been superceded by methods. It doesn't take a genius to know that in a world rife with technology and technological gains, that the huge workforce mentioned in Oranges has long since been made redundant or replaced by immigrant workers.

McPhee's style is immensely readable, the way he dances from fact to fact a delight to read, and when he injects some humour to his catalogue of orange facts, you can't help but raise a smile - at the joke and in appreciation of its wording. His anecdotes do drag, and I think it wouldn't be uncommon to breath a sigh of relief once they conclude.

It's a quick read and a quirky subject, and McPhee's research is to be commended, although much of the journalistic writing -reading it forty years on from publication - has soured. That said, if you know nothing of the orange industry - and oranges in general - then Oranges is a fun little book that should quench that specific hole in your trivia.

We purchased twenty copies which we used as a text book for a 13 week class at church, mixed men and women. The thrust of the class was to help the students know what is involved in finding, mentoring, teaching, and releasing a disciple in a one-on-one long term committed relationship. The book made a good back drop for the course in so far as it gave us a track to run on, since none of us had taught this subject before. As the teacher, I found several of the chapters to be spot on target and I used them pretty much exclusively for about half the course. Other chapters however were either weaker in content or just didn't cut to the specific deliverable I wanted to get across, so I supplemented with independent material. Several of my students had gone to the church website (Xenos) to check it out and were a little worried about the "casual" approach to ministering. Our church takes a more conservative approach and some behaviors that are considered culturally permissible, like smoking, course language, etc. we tend to frown on and believe the Holy Spirit through the process of Sanctification will cleanse the mature believer of. We therefore don't condone or model those behaviors in an attempt to woo the non or immature believer into sticking with us. Fortunately almost none of this came out in the book. Moreover, the book (and Xenos fellowship) rely heavily on "cell churches" which we also do not subscribe to. This method did come out in the book and so I had to customize the content for my class when it did. This was not a problem though. All in all, I'm glad I chose the book because it lived up to its "organic" name. That is, it got right to the heart of mentoring one on one, as opposed to many books I've seen that are more "clinical" or targeted to my own discipleship and walk with the Lord. This book definitely got us into the messy "human-ness" of one man pouring his life into another man, or woman to woman.

I really liked the book. It had the right theological framework necessary to grow God's people and care for the flock as well as providing very practical advise for helping those that want to engage in discipleship at different levels.

I found the section on professional counseling rather difficult. I lean toward Biblical counseling which empowers God's people to counsel at different levels. I cringe at the advise most people get when they see psychiatrists. The problem is real, however. You were brave enough to speak about it. I would think something not so sophisticated speaking about this might be more appropriate for the readers of this book.

Your section on quality conversation and friendship making will surely be helpful to some.

It is a good basic book that helps people trying to make discipleship work in their cell groups.
I already started talking about your book and will pass it on to some of our pastors

For a number of years now I've been working on a practical how-to book on discipleship. Dennis McCallum has beaten me to the punch with Organic Disciple Making. He's written the most practical book on how to disciple people I've ever read.

Time and time again I find myself saying, "Yup, he nailed that one; that's how it works." For example, early on the book covers the subject of modeling and its key role in making disciples. Later it delves into the practical questions of how you counsel and disciple through various issues or how you deal with blocks in their development.

For example McCallum distinguishes the difference between weakness and resistance and the appropriate response of a disciple maker. A disciple struggling with weakness generally needs encouragement, whereas a disciple who is resistant often needs confrontation and possibly discipline.

I loved that the book had a whole section on coaching and I loved that its counsel is both biblically grounded and rooted in the everyday experience of someone who leads 250 home churches. I've read so many books on discipleship and few drill down to address the questions ordinary people have as they struggle to help their disciples grow.

All of us who have committed ourselves to following Jesus and representing his name need to learn how to make disciples. It was the last thing he asked us to do before leaving the earth. If you as a Jesus-follower feel like you need help in learning how to do this in a way that feels natural, do yourself a favor and get Organic Disciple Making.

If you want to make a lasting impact for Jesus Christ, this book is a must. McCallum and Lowery give Biblical, insightful, and practical ideas on how to promote and achieve Chritian formation in others. Not many have the gifting to lead thousands. Very few are effective at preaching to hundreds. Yet helping disciple one or two other Christians is something every Christian can do.

In the long tradition of The Lost Art of Disciple Making, Multiplying Disciples, and Disciples Are Made, Not Born, Organic Disciplemaking: How to promote Christian leadership development through personal relationships, biblical discipleship, mentoring, and Christian community is designed to do more than tell about the need for making disciples of Jesus. This is a book that painstakingly provides a path from start to finish.

This book has the potential to be used by small group coaches to disciple and develop small group leaders. With today's small group ministries launching groups with leaders just a step ahead of their members, this could be a very helpful resource providing a pathway for mentoring.

In its pages you will find more than stories of how it's working at Xenos. You'll also find the practical steps needed to begin a disciplemaking ministry in your own church. More importantly, you may find the inspiration to look for one life to pour into. After all, that is the point.

If you are familiar with feynman this is just what you would expect from this great man. This is him uncut and uncensord. When ever i feel like smiling and gain some inspiration i pick this book up and flip to a random page, it works everytime.

Michelle Feynman has provided an important service in collecting the letters of her father in "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations." I was especially interested in the letters concerning his award of the Nobel prize. Despite receiving the most prestigious award in science, Feynman refused to take himself (or anything else) too seriously. My favorite exchange (pp. 163-164) begins with a letter from Sandra Chester who writes "Hail the Nobel Prize Committee for its recognition of your unsurpassed achievement in the field of bongo artistry." True to form, Feynman responded "I was delighted too when I heard about the Nobel Prize, thinking as you did that my bongo playing was at last recognized. Imagine my chagrin when I realized that there had been some mistake-they cited some marks I made on paper some 15 years ago-and not one word about percussion technique. I know you share in my disappointment." His fans even extended to students who had failed his courses: one named his female Siamese cat "Richard P." in his honor, to which Feynman responded "Some measure fame by just a Nobel Prize but I have had a cat named after me! Thank you for such a distinguished and subtle honor." (He even agreed to become "a knight of the Order of the ever Smiling and Jumping Frogs" to celebrate his status as a Nobel Laureate.)

A character trait I greatly admire about Feynman is his utter intolerance of pomposity and his demand of clarity in communication (perhaps best explained in a discussion of "new math" textbooks in Appendix V), as well as a general disdain for self-importance. My favorite example appears on p. 323. Mr R. Wayne Oler had written Feynman a letter deriding the practice of teachers selling unsolicited desk copies of textbooks sent to them for personal profit. I cannot imagine a better reply than the last line from Feynman's response: "Previously I have always returned, unopened, unsolicited books from publishers (I dislike advertising). But now you have given me a better idea."

The book also contains numerous letters between Feynman and the greats of twentieth century physics, as well as more personal glimpses into his character afforded by letters to his wives (particularly his first wife, Arline, who died of tuberculosis at a young age). The book also allows the reader to see changing of opinions or changed nuance of certain positions over time (I was especially interested in his appraisals of "new math" textbooks, which I generally loathe [in most cases Feynman agreed], the discussion of which is largely on pp. 218-220 and in Appendix V.)

Michelle Feynman has done a wonderful job organizing these letters, making just the right comments when needed for interpretation or comprehension. I highly recommend "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations" and thank Michelle Feynman for all the effort that went into producing this important volume.

If there was one intellect that dominated the latter half of the 20th century, it would be Dr. Richard Feynman. Yet, despite winning a Nobel prize and his early work on the Manhattan project and his years of original yet simple and creative approaches to complex problems, his humility and true affection for other people never waivered. He was one of those rare people who could touch our hearts as effectively, possibly even more, than he could touch our minds. He was one who gave new meaning to the idea of thinking outside the box and who never passed up a chance to remind us all of what is really important in life.

Some of his letters will make you cry with the emotion he could express to those he loved. Others will strike you for their humility displayed in teaching without condescending or apologies to those he feared he had offended. A truly great man with a great intellect and great ability to communicate his thoughts. This is the human side of one who had been named "the world's smartest man" by Omni magazine. And we are all fortunate to know him through this collection.

Having read "Surely you're joking, Mr Feynmann", I had wondered about his relationship with his first wife, because she was hardly mentioned.

This book sets that right, with some fascinating and personal letters. In particular, the letter he wrote a year after her death hit me very hard, and I don't consider myself sentimental.

And that's just the first part of the book...if you like Feynmann, this is a must have.

My main motivation for reading "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations" was to gain further insight into Feynman's personality and value system by the direct and reliable method of studying verbatim his interactions with other people. He has been so thoroughly enshrined (perhaps not unwillingly) as a brilliant, difficult, puckish character that I couldn't help being a bit puzzled about what he was "really" like.

In assembling this volume, Feynman's daughter Michelle has selected a variety of correspondence ranging from professional relations with colleagues to private exchanges with friends and, occasionally, complete strangers. I think it is in the latter case that we learn the most about Feynman. He was willing to pay close attention not only to people who admired him, but also to those who offered crazy ideas, or unfair criticism, or even ad-hominem invective. Well after becoming a Nobel prize winner, he continued to compose detailed explanations for, and invite replies from, people who could try anyone's patience. As an experienced debater-by-correspondence, he had a talent for cutting to the quick of a dispute and, while remaining perfectly courteous, nudging the contender into a corner from which escape was impossible short of offering something new or conceding the point. Whether arguing scientifically, graciously acknowledging praise, or simply trying to shake off a persistent bore, Feynman never failed to be insightful and thought-provoking.

The early part of the book covers Feynman's relationship with his first wife Arline, who died of tuberculosis in an Albuquerque sanatorium while he worked on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos. His decision to marry Arline, regardless of her uncertain health and against the advice of friends and relatives, speaks to the strength and depth of his commitment. Many extremely personal letters are included which illuminate the couple's mutual devotion as well as his loving acceptance of the frustration and uncertainty forced on both of them by the relentlessly worsening disease.

Feynman's attitude toward religion is revealed in several places, particularly during a 1959 television interview. In addition to critiquing the widespread notion that morality is tied to piety, he says quite succinctly that "The religious theory of the world ...doesn't fit with what you see."

In a number of letters Feynman explains the prickly positions on academic conventions and courtesies that helped to make him a legendary outsider. A representative example was his refusal to provide evaluations of former students and colleagues when they were already at the requesting institution. He essentially said: Look here, this person is working right under your nose and you know more about him or her than I do, so decide for yourself!

There are a few instances where an alert editor could have caught misreadings, for example "Serbeis" for the [Robert] Serbers on page 76, and "1023" for ten to the 23rd power on page 174. All in all, this collection constitutes a fascinating and skillfully-produced window into one of the world's most intriguing minds.