Austria Books

As the daughter and niece of three of Britain's most powerful and influential women in the late 1930's, Ellen's future and options are limitless. But instead of attending Oxford, she shocks her mother and aunts by enrolling into a cooking and housekeeping academy, and then accepts a position as a school matron at Hallendorf School, in Austria. Hallendorf is far different than any boarding school that Ellen's ever known. The teachers and students are free spirited, lively, and dramatic. But most mysterious is the gardener, Marek. Marek is plagued by years of guilt, and Hallendorf school is just a cover for a secret mission that he is driven to accomplish...one that he might not be able to complete without Ellen's help.

Ibbotson's spirited voice rings true in this enrapturing novel with a varied and colorful cast of characters and a complex and multilayered plotline. Though the ever changing points of view and lack of extensive elaboration on many subjects may disorient the reader slightly, A Song for Summer exudes a relaxed and comfortable air that makes it simple for the reader to step into the time period and setting and experience every wonderfully depicted detail with Ibbotson's clever use of imagery. Her smooth delivery builds up suspense on every page, making each sentence of this realistic and frank novel all that more enjoyable, culminating in a tasteful and artfully crafted masterpiece.

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The first Eva Ibbotson books I ever read were her ghost stories such as Dial-A-Ghost and The Great Ghost Rescue. Her humor and sly writing caused me to shout with laughter. Journey to the River Sea and The Star of Kazan took me back to my childhood reading of Noel Streatfield and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I was interested to see her adult fiction showing up in the YA sections of the bookstores. This is a perfect "vacation" book. The story of Ellen and her gift for "life making" was utterly and deliciously satisfying.

As the daughter and niece of notorious suffragettes, Ellen could have had a brilliant future as a political leader, an eminent scholar or scientist. But she found true happiness cooking with grandfather's housekeeper and "doing things with her hands." Instead of finishing college she graduated from a school of cooking and household management and found a job as a housekeeper and house mother at a boarding school in Austria.

Eccentric teachers, needy children and a handy-man who is actually a world famous composer are living, working and learning together at an "innovative school" housed in the dilapidated Schloss Hallendorf. Ellen's healing presence improves all their lives even as the threat of Nazism and WWII looms. Ibbotson fills the story with rich supporting characters who each deserve a book of their own and takes the storyline in many directions before bringing all the threads back together again at the end.

There is a decorous romance along with good food, gardens and music that make the book a curl-up-by-the-fire-with-a-pot-of-tea treat. I read a passage like the following and I'm ready to book a trip to England.

"If only it had rained, she thought afterward...but all that weekend the Lake District preened itself, the air as soft as wine, a silken sheen lay on the waters of Crowthorpe Tarn, and when she climbed the hill where the hikers had perished she saw a view to make her catch her breath. In Kendrick's woods the bluebells lay, like a lake; there were kingfishers in the stream..."


Ibbotson's low key humor punctuates the storyline.

"And then, because they were both Englishwomen and their hearts were somewhat broken, they turned back into the room and put on the kettle and made themselves a cup of tea."

I can't make a trip to England or Austria but now that I've finished the book, I feel like I have already been there.

This is one of my all-time favourite books, the kind of comfort-blanket you can turn to when ill, dull or depressed, and almost as good as Jane Austen in that respect. The story is conventional, in the sense that a pretty young girl goes to work as matron in a boarding school and falls in love, but it's the writing, the details and the characters which give it a kind of magic. (Anyone new to Ibbotson's work should also check out her superb children's novels, especially The Star of Kazan, which has a similar heroine). Ellen is the daughter of a trio of fierce feminists, who are horrified when, instead of pursuing a serious career and finishing her degree at Cambridge, she becomes an expert on matters domestic - cooking espeically. Ellen leaves England to work at a progressive boarding school in Austria, where sensitive children are dumped by rich parents and taught to be forks in drama classes. (The author attended Dartington School in the 1930s). Unfortunately, Hitler's rise to power is impingeing even on the demi-paradise of rural Austria, and it turns out the mysterious Marek is rescuing Jews who manage to escape the camps. A composer who wins your heart instantly because he hangs bullies and Nazis out of windows and refuses to let his music be played by the Reich, he falls reluctantly in love with Ellen, but almost loses her thanks to the coming War.
Steeped in good jokes and high culture, this is the kind of romantic novel that like puff pastry looks light and feathery but is the most difficult of all to make - and find. The wit is delicious. Ellen's serious aunts in Bloomsbury, puzzled and mortified by their relation's femininity, the absurd idealism of the school, and Ellen's quiet battle with disorder are like Cold COmfort Farm only without the snobbishness and anti-Semitism.

Evoking idyllic childhoods with a glamour unsurpassed, the magic of Ibbotson's vison is such that I reapprise my own child-rearing patterns.
That children treated with true empathy - neither indulged nor coddled yet given every opportunity to flourish will become wonderful adults is an aspiration I hold dear.

In reflecting upon what sort of childhood I want to provide for my children and what I am doing to give it, I have become aware of a great selfishness heretofore unnoticed.

Positive attention & interactive pursuits are what children crave most. Mulling over the story I realise that my most revered & beloved authors all provide the same admirable characteristics for their hero's & heroines.

Thus there is a strong similarity between seemingly disparate authors - Ibbotson, Loretta Chase Lord Perfect (Berkley Sensation), Patricia VeryanMandarin of Mayfair (Georgian Romance), Patricia C. Wrede Mairelon the Magician (The Magician), Diana Wyne Jones Charmed Life, Cameron DokeyThe Storyteller's Daughter.

Their writing rings so true, dialogue makes you love characters even more.

Therefore their writing inspires & improves.

In a bohemian landscape of pre-Nazi Chechzlovakia, Ellen is engaged as a matron/housekeeper.

As she improves the lives of all around her by means of sensible intelligence and pragmatic kindness, there is a slow symphonic love story gathering momentum in the gentle movements of the story.

Ibbotsons erudite reality provides wonderful inspiration for all.

ALthough this novel is by no means beyond young readers, adults who dismiss this book, & Ibbotson in particular,j are missing a wonderfully enriching & rewarding experience.

Kot 2008

Finally! The highly acclaimed author Eva Ibbotson, (whose books were reviewed decades ago to justifiable superlatives of every sort known to readers everywhere have returned to print). No one writes like Ms. Ibbotson or perhaps ever will. "A Song For Summer, A Novel" will be among the best books you have ever had the honor (and I sincerely mean this...*honor*) to read and own. I do not know of any other author who creates such profoundly deep and complicated characters amid a sentence or two (when reader first meets the heroes and villains) creating the lightest of anecdotes that utterly defines them for one of the best stories you have ever read in your life. Also, in this masterpiece, I would defy anyone to match a wow-of-an-ending that will live as long as you do. In troubled times like ours, we all need a novel like "A Song For Summer" (certainly grand for all ages) not just because it is penned by this unique master of literature; or a fantastically appropriate summer book - but because the novel is so utterly gorgeous from its opening line, to the last sigh - conveying that Ms. Ibbotson brilliantly understands how to utilize art itself to keep us sane when seemingly one's world has gone beyond awry to the virtual reality of insane. I can only thank Amazon.com for bringing back books like this one and making it available at a giveaway price for the treasure it is, and always has been...beyond priceless.

While I think this is such a beautifully done book with great photos, descriptions, prices and all, only a few pieces of the Swarovski jewelry are pictured or mentioned. Perhaps a companion book which would feature all the retired Swarovski jewelry pieces should be considered as it would certainly complete the whole Swarovski package.

While this book is very informative, with pictures and reviews, it needs updating to keep prices current and more pictures to distinguish varations would be helpful. Still, it is well written and an enjoyable read.

I had previously owned some Swarovski that I had received as gifts and decided I wanted to start actively collect them. I was buying a lot of the older pieces on the second market and wanted to make sure I was getting a fair deal. This book was exactly what I was looking for. It had the details that I needed to make sure I was getting authentic pieces at a fair price. Great for any starter collector.

This book which arrived in a timely manner and at a good price is very well put together incorporating a host of information for the Swarovski collector. The pictures and text are clear and well layed out.

I was excited about receiving this book, as my aunt had given me her collection of Swarovski Crystal to sell on eBay for her. I thought it would at least identify all of the pieces in her collection and answer at least most of the questions posed by potential bidders. It did not. At least half of the pieces are not listed in the book, nor does the book answer what I feel are some pretty basic questions posed by bidders. Not a complete waste of money, but had I known in advance, I would have looked for a much more comprehensive book.

I think one of the reasons I did not particularly care for Vienna was that I was trying to use this guidebook. It seemed to me that we were constantly crossing boundaries in the book's map of the city, which made it very confusing and not very convenient. My biggest gripe with the book however is that the index is printed in a very small and faint font, making it extremely difficult to read, for no sensible reason.

This is a surprisingly effective and well-organized guide, with some interesting maps and information. If you're planning on spending just a few days in Vienna, then this compact little book will be indispensible in locating the famous streets and tourist sights. The maps are more than adequate and the walking descriptions to each locale are precise and accurate. There is also corresponding material on how to use the public transportation in the city and which station to take for each particular site. There is a separate chapter on the churches of the city with a brief ranking system for the nosiest places, the friendliest, the cheapest food, etc.

If you're planning a lengthy sojourn in Vienna or if you already know the city well, then this book would not be as helpful. It is solely intended for the casual tourist and there is little, if any, information on the intriguing environs of the city. Many of the best sites are neglected because most tourists don't want to bother or simply don't have the time to stick around. Still, this is a thrifty guide you can stick in your pocket and consult when you need to find a restaurant, beer haunt or hotel. In short, if you're a first timer to Vienna, enjoy one of the greatest cities in Europe and be sure to tuck away Brook's guide,

This is an excellent travel companion. Though several of the pictures/maps are cut off by the binding of the book. I recommend buying one before you travel to any country/city.

This book is possibly one of the best guidebooks around as it takes a completly new way of presenting things. For the easily lost it provides good maps as well as detailed drawings of prominent buildings and descriptions of the internal and external architectural points and displays. The book is divided into sections, based on the districts used in Vienna. Apart from detailing the sights inside the Ringstrasse, it ventures to sights and museums in and around the city and gives detailed drawings for suggested walks. The details of the food and drinks around are also great, so now you can really tell what exactly to expect when ordering in a restaurant. The downsides I found to it are that the prices are provided in brackets, as in the Roughguide series. While this is a good way of hedging bets on price rises between updates, it's a bit hard for the person trying to travel cheaply. The section on accomodation also is limited to the more expensive ones, which means that if you're backpacking on a budget, you're best to buy a Lonely Planet guide as well (I'd suggest this anyway, they're updated more regularly and are pretty accurate for countries like Austria).

I can't stress enough how valuable this book was on our family trip. The maps were detailed and easy to read. Vienna is filled with little alleys and cobblestone streets, it would've been easy to get lost, were it not for this book. Aside from the streetmaps, I referred to the subway map often.

The book also outlined a few self-guided walking tours, detailing history of landmarks and statues that you might otherwise miss if you were just walking by.

Most helpful were interior 3D maps of places like Schonbrunn, Hofsburg, and the Kunsthistoriches museum. At these venues, they often charge you for sketchy, uninformative maps in English. This book was really all we needed.

It's no wonder you see so many people with this guide, in all it's different language versions.

A solid and readable account of the rise and fall of Imperial Spain by an experienced scholar. The book dedicate a great deal to the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand, which is regarded as the golden age of Castile with the discovery of America and the finishing of the "reconquista" but also marking the expulsion of jews and the beginning of the inquisition. Mr. Elliott explain the whole context of those years, politically, socially and economically, the real situation of the people of the time and the differences between the crowns of Castile, Aragon and Portugal. As the book advances and with the following Kings, the author makes clear the difficult situation of Spain, with an empire geographically separated, agravated by several revolts either at home or abroad, with the core of spain overburden with taxes, with a stagnated economy and more important, a mediocre ruling class. Those are just part of the reasons that finally translated in the dissolution of the empire at the beginning of the 1700. In summary, this book totally fulfilled my curiosity to understand this period of Spain, and like the last words of the book: "Castile has made Spain and Castile has destroyed it" (Ortega y Gasset).
Note: I had the opportunity of being at the Escorial, I just lamented not to had read this book before.

Spain experienced a metamorphosis in the 16th century. It had been a divided country battling with an age-old enemy. Its separate parts worked more against each other than with each other; Castile concentrated on the fight to reconquer the land from the Muslims, while Aragon and Catalonia fixed their sights on a Mediterranean trading empire and control of southern Italy. Under Ferdinand and Isabella, well-known as the patrons of Columbus, the Moors were conquered, the Jews expelled, and all three main parts of Spain joined under one crown. Spain soon acquired a vast empire in the Americas and Asia. Through marriage, its fortunes were hitched to the Habsburg crown, thus despatching Spanish arms and treasure to the endless European wars in Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries. Spain rose to a certain proud zenith, both in war and in administration of its vast lands. The arts began to flourish. Portugal came under the Spanish crown for sixty years. The glory days did not last long as history goes. By 1640, Spain had crashed. It was bankrupt, taxed-to-the-limit, and losing everywhere. Its European empire fell away, even Portugal threw off Castilian rule. Government fell to mostly incapable favorites of the weak and indecisive kings. Bereft of a middle class, the only good income was to be had from the church or the court. In short, the imperial greatness, which had shot across the world like a brilliant comet, had winked out in financial collapse and administrative failure, though literature and painting continued to shine. Poor education and religious ultra-conservatism had denied Spain the leaders that might have saved it.

Elliott's history of Imperial Spain paints a clear picture of the reasons for this abrupt rise and decline. He concentrates not on battles, foreign adventures or any sort of "glory", but on administration, finance, the strong differences between Castile and Aragon/Catalonia, the Inquisition, trade, and domestic policy. I admit that such a mix may not be everybody's cup of tea, but if you are serious about learning the reasons for Spain's brief term at the top, you will certainly need to read this work, an amazingly complete study that stands with some of the best history books ever written. Though the title contains the years 1469-1716, the vast bulk of the book concerns only the sixteenth century.

It seemed to me, as I read IMPERIAL SPAIN, that the book should be required reading in Washington, but of course our "leaders" are not interested in history. They reflect in their actions an uncanny resemblance to that Spain of its glory days, thinking that glory can never end, that the mighty shall not fall. Since we seem unable to avoid foreign wars, our education system is inadequate, we are facing a rising tide of religious obscurantism, and worst of all, we operate at a huge deficit, there are some disturbing parallels. Could we learn from the history of Imperial Spain ? No doubt. Will we ? No way.

Over the years I have managed to read a fairly large number of historical works dedicated to surveying particular periods of history, but I have rarely found one that managed to combine learning with readability as well as this one. Although a historian, Elliott must of necessity tell a story, and that is how Spain went from being a relatively unimportant afterthought on the tip of Europe to being for a period of time perhaps the dominant power on the globe, only to fall into a state of decline and veritable collapse. It is an amazing, improbable story, yet Elliott manages it without ever losing the reader in historical minutiae.

Elliott tells his story by focusing on the reigns of the great monarchs of the 15th and 16th centuries of Spain, and the considerably less great monarchs and their "favorites" (noblemen who actually ran Spain--as Elliott puts it at one point, the kings reigned, but the favorites ruled) of the 17th century. The highpoint of the story comes rather early, with the remarkable reign of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, surely the greatest monarchial partnership Europe has known. Two gifted, talented, and powerful monarchs, they worked together brilliantly to create one of the great empires of Europe, managing such feats as driving the Moors out of Spain and creating a dynasty in the New World (as well as funding Columbus' discovery of it). Unfortunately, they, the Most Catholic Kings, also were responsible for the Inquisition. Elliott takes a balanced approach to the Inquisition (not my own inclination, since it seems to me to be an unmitigable horror), not minimizing its effects, but trying to understand it in context.

From Isabella and Ferdinand, Elliott takes the reader through the reasons that Ferdinand was reluctantly forced to arrange for the monarchies of Castile and Aragon to the Habsburgs (it is fairly complex, but essentially there was no acceptable heir), and the eventual accedence of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to the thrones of Spain. Although not quite as glorious a time as under Isabella and Ferdinand, Charles V's reign was also a highpoint in Spanish history. Although to a large degree an absentee monarch, his reign is characterized by his attempts to expand his empire--which embraced a substantial portion of Europe--and his wars against against heresy, i.e., protestantism, whether in its Lutheran, Calvinist, or English forms. Indeed, if religious zeal--even if profoundly misguided--were a criterion of religiousity, then Charles V might go down as the most religious monarch in European history. That protestantism survived is surely not to be blamed on Charles V (I'm a Baptist, by the way, so I'm hardly lamenting his failure). In the end, however, Charles V's wars put such a great strain on his various subjects as to lead to general financial chaos, and his expenditures led to multiple bankruptcies, not only in his own but in his son's reign.

Phillip II is in many ways the polar opposite of his father. Although the monarch of the Dutch territories and Spain, he was not like his father the Holy Roman Emperor. He was also not a warrior king, although many wars were fought under his reign. While Charles V waged war closer to the field, Phillip II waged war at his desk and papers with a pen. The last of the great Spanish kings of the imperial period, Phillip II struggled desperately to carry on his father's goals amidst dwindling funds and financial resources.

The final sections of the book chronicle the long, slow, depressing period of decline, the period depicted so vividly in DON QUIXOTE. Ironically, although the 17th century was a period of waning Spanish successes, it was nonetheless a far richer period artistically, not just through the work of such great writers as Cervantes and Lope de Vega, but a host of great painters like Velazquez and Zurburan.

Elliott is a truly fine historian, but he is also an engaging one. I remained interested in the fate of Spain from the beginning to the agonizing end. I would strongly recommend this volume to anyone who wants a stronger background into the formation of modern Europe. It also makes an absolutely perfect introduction to the historical setting of Cervantes's DON QUIXOTE (my immediate purpose in reading it).

Synopsis of Early Modern Spain starting with Ferdinand and Isabella through Phillip II. Not the most in-depth or inclusive book on the subject, but has enough to get a person started. This book is blander than other history books I have read, but if you can make it through, it will give you a good grasp on Spain at its highest point.

This book is accessible to a general reader although it assumes some basic familiarity with European history. Without being overly long, it does a great job of cutting to the heart of matters: what were the factors that made Spain a world power in the 16th century and why did this power ultimately fall apart? Elliott concisely helps the reader to understand Spanish politics, the Inquisition, tax policy, foreign affairs, as well as social and religious tensions.

I found this book extremely tedious, poorly edited, full of boring speculations and philosophical self centerdness. Am shocked at myself being able to say this about any survivor, but there you have it. I kept thinking, "OK, now when are you going to get on with the actual story", before realizing that it just droned on in this way. A much better book that I just read is 'A Jump for Life', a far more moving account and likeable woman.

The author doesn't simply recount fact and opinion, she has truly analyzed her childhood growing up in Vienna and then through the Holocaust and concentration camp. What a treasure we have in this book to document one girl's life, living through a horrific time in history. It is a bonus that the author is such an outstanding writer. Kluger allows the reader to relate to her life through their own life experiences. She is certainly someone I'd like to know better. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was written in a way that went through Ruth's life during the Holocaust years. It starts at the very beginning and just talks about her whole experience. I like how Ruth mixed in experiences and comments from the future. This showed how the Holocaust still impacts her life and what she thinks about her surroundings. No one will ever be able to understand what Ruth had to suffer while in the concentration camps. But I feel that by reading her life story it makes it seem more of a reality and brings to life aspects of how the Jews were treated during this time period in American history. All the hardship and discrimination that Ruth had to endure shows the power and willingness she had to live. I liked how she never said it was strength that le ther live rather it was mostly luck. I thought that reading this book made me feel greatful for everything that I have. I would recommend reading this book if you want to realize what life during the Holocaust was like.

Ruth Kluger gives a remarkably lucid and thoughtful account of her experiences as WWII Austria, and eventually the concentration and forced labor camps of Germany. Even though English is not her first language, Kluger writes remarkably succinct and cogent English prose, and she confronts the moral and emotional complexity of the holocaust in her memory. "Still Alive" is loosely structured, as Kluger prefers to record the events as she recalls them as opposed to adhering to strict chronology, but the result is very interesting, she superimposes her thoughts and secrets as the horrible events unfold. She paints a vivid and, at times unusual portrait of the Nazi holocaust, often ruminating on the pain and humiliation (she wonders if her father trampled children when sentenced to the gas chamber), but also the sheer enormity of the camps as an historical event, she recalls that when she received her tattoo she felt glee because she realized that she was a part of something that was much larger than herself, something "worth witnessing." A third of the memoir is post-holocaust, Kluger recounts her experiences in New York after the war as she and her mother struggle to regain control of their lives, and look for possible meaning and redemption in their past-suffering.

There are many excellent memoirs describing the Nazi death camps, but this one touched me in a way that no other book has.

My fiancé died in the World Trade Center, and this is really the only book that resonates with the deep, bitter grief I felt in that disaster's aftermath. I don't mean to compare 9/11 to the Shoah at all, but Kluger articulates many of the contradictory feelings and beliefs I myself have struggled with, including my frustration at being shaped by something that everyone knows about, but almost no one understands. I felt a shock of recognition when she complained about people visiting Auschwitz as a sentimental gesture, because I feel that same (totally irrational) discomfort about people visiting "Ground Zero". Though I have lived my life as an intellectual, Kluger spoke to the savage in me that still rails and howls at my loss.

This is oftentimes an angry, bitter book, but she mentions in passing that she has grandchildren, so I believe she found some measure of joy in her life after her internment. After my tragedy, I was forced to ask myself how someone who doesn't believe in life after death can go on in the face of the gruesome injustice of existence. I never really found an answer, but I kept on living, and I don't intend to stop anytime soon. I heard a lot of my journey in Kluger's voice as well, and I am exceedingly grateful that she wrote this book.

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (12/06)

World traveler, Vicki Landes, portrays Europe in the most delightful way one can imagine. She captures, through her precise eye, sights of delight, wonderment, and beauty in her enchanting coffee table book.

Enchanting it is as Landes takes the reader through various areas of Europe, evoking not only sight through pictures, but through the other senses. Although one would think that her photos would only induce appreciation through site, Landes' photos are so defined that they look real. I found myself touching the pictures, expecting to feel the bright green ferns. I imagined the smell of the water blooms, and almost heard the pipe organ in the Fraumunster Church.

The other thing I found delightful was to see photographs of places I've been to: Linderhof Fountain, Temple of Venus, city view from a castle in Heidelberg, Cologne Cathedral, and of course the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Going through Landes book was like revisiting Europe.

"Europe for the Senses" is more than a picture book. Landes also explains some of the architecture as well. An example is, "Pisa a collection of clay-colored roofs being interrupted by a pallid square of marble structures. Contain a smirk when you ponder Pisa's only claim to fame is an engineering failure; imagine the perplexing mixture of pride and embarrassment for its creator, knowing the world remembers you for this crooked tower too unstable to ring its own bells."

Landes adds a wonderful section on Austria. To me, Austria is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been to. The photos of garden urns and fountains are magical. I love the statues in the gardens and have tried to recreate the same atmosphere in our own courtyard. She also adds photos of the various frescoes in the St. Charles Cathedral.

Secondly, I love the Netherlands, and of course Landes added a wonderful section. She explains "Rows of colorful tulips as far as the eye can see...it's tulip time in the Netherlands. As each flower greedily reaches for the sun, countless visitors at the Keukenhof Gardens snap pictures and purchase bulbs and seedlings." It is obvious that Landes was one of those snapping pictures. The rainbow of colors that are portrayed in the photos of "Europe for the Senses" is spectacular and the hyacinths are so true to form that I feel like putting my nose into the picture. In fact, I'm sure I can even smell the flowers!

Europe For The Senses: A Photographic Journal by author, traveler, and photographer Vicki Landes is a breathtaking collection of full-color photographs from around Europe. Images range from wildflowers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa juxtaposed against an aerial view of flying to Pisa, to Luxembourg's American Military Cemetery, and much more. Most photographs have a brief commentary in the form of text, printed in a handwriting-style font and reminiscing fond memories as well as recounting historical facts about the images that portray classic locations. A joy to page through, and the perfect giftbook for Europhiles.

I was thinking about a trip to Europe, but after a friend showed me a copy of "Europe for the Senses" Wow, I have to go. The pictures are so inspiring along with the discriptions, I'll make sure I don't miss the Black Forest. Such a great book, it now has a home on my coffee table.

I live in Germany, myself, and this book was made by one of our (school) student's parent. No bias here, really, when I say this is the best book I've ever seen like this. Europe has a lot of beautiful books published about various sites and cities. This one tops them all! Just absolutely beautiful!

I feel so ripped off. I'm astounded by the other reviews unanimously giving this book 5 stars. They must all be the author/publisher's friends, is the only explanation I can come up with. It is not worth the money at half or a quarter of the price. In fact, if this was on a sale table going for ridiculously cheap, I still wouldn't buy it. It is small, it is paperback (I know I should have looked more carefully at the description), it is not printed on paper that is conducive to showing off photography. Even if it was, the pictures themselves are nothing special. They are faded, not artistic shots at all. It appears to me that it is a third generation copy of leftover postcards from 20 years ago. I was hoping for something like a glossy, high-quality coffee table book. I have learned an expensive lesson. Pay attention to who the publisher is. If it's not from a big name publishing co. it is probably because it was rejected by them and was self-published by the author hoping to make a buck off some unsuspecting internet customer. I'm disappointed that Amazon allows this.

I found this short volume to be an excellent introduction to the world of Jungian psychology. It starts off with a brief biography, since Jung's experiences had a great influence on his way of thinking. Then it gets into some of Jung's key concepts such as archtypes, psychological types, and dreams. Of particular interest is his views on therapy. He deeply disliked the clinical sterility of psychoanalysis, and favored a more person-to-person style of therapy. In this he stressed the involvement of the therapist with the patient--therapy as a two-way process between equals. It is this sense of warmth that makes Jung's ideas attractive. He allows for a more social approach to psychology. For those who haven't read about Jung before and would like a brief introduction, this book is perfect.

I'll pile on with what everyone else has said. I read this one and the VSI to Freud and they're both excellent......and a nice pair to read in sequence. Everything you probably want to know about Jung is here and it's all explained very clearly. A truly fascinating character and a great book.

Books in the 'Very Short Introduction' series almost always do a solid job of introducing their topic. Some, however, do it better than others - and this particular volume, about the important 20th-century psychiatrist and philosopher Carl Jung (1875-1961) is one of the better in the series.

Anthony Stevens, himslf a respected Jungian, gives a relatively thorough overview of Jung's life, and then proceeds to examine important topics of Jung's thought in depth - topics such as the collective unconscious, dreams, and psychological types.

Interestingly, the book also features a chapter on "Jung's alleged anti-Semitism" - a chapter which is a bit too defensive.

All in all, this book is clear, lucid, and accessible, although occasionally the author has a tendency to rely a bit too heavily on psychoanalysis when discussing the issues, for example by saying that "Those who continue to press [anti-Semitic] accusations against Jung... [may] have not worked sufficiently on their own repressed Fascist, anti-Semitic, or anti-Christian shadows." Also, he occasioanlly reverts to overly technical language. Some bias appears because the author is a Jungian analyst, but it doesn't really detract from the value of the book.

Still, a solid work, one of the few really accessible introductions to Jung, strongly recommended.

A professional with no training in psychology, yet long fascinated by Jung. fluent in German, having read Jung's Memories Dreams & Reflections several times, possessing his collected works and having read a substantial portion of them, I picked up this little book wondering what it could tell me and was amazed at the author's superb job of comprehensively summarizing, sympathetically yet critically, and very clearly and readably Jung's life and his work in what is but an evening's read. I learned things I didn't know and gained something from the bird's-eye view. This book is a tour de force. Hats off!

The task of creating a concise, well-rounded, and very readable introduction to life and teachings of Carl Jung seemed impossible to me until I read this book. This book is a true work of love written by someone intimately familiar with the subject. This is not surprising, considering that Anthony Stevens is a practicing psychiatrist and Jungian analyst who wrote several good books on the subject as he has been developing ideas of Carl Jung in the last thirty-plus years.
If you need an excellent short introduction to Jungian thought, look no further.

It is well known that in the fields of both science and math, women are less visible than men. Ruth Lewin Sime, a woman of science herself, wrote this excellent book about a tiny Jewish woman who escaped the Nazis after World War II and was deprived of the Nobel Prize she clearly deserved. Meitner never married but physics gave meaning to her life, she was responsible for nuclear fission. This is a book that should be part of the reading lists in women's studies and in all high schools. It can serve as a magnet in attracting females to study science. Lise Meitner broke the patterns of women denied equitable access to education. This book is not only well written but it is also rich in fotos with an appendix full of interesting scientific data. You don't have to be in the field of science to understand this historical biography of an incredible woman.

This is the story, well told, of one of the world's most important achievements by one of its finest scientific heroes who was forced to suffer the indignities of both racism and sexism.

Against improbably long odds, beginning with her family who did not want her to become a Physicist, to Nazi persecution for being a Jew, to her eventual need to flee Nazi Germany to exile in Sweden, Lise Meitner's career progression led her to be among the logical choices to discover how to split the atom and to infer that it could lead to a chain reaction, and eventually to the development of the fissional atomic bomb.

This gripping story tells of how her less able male colleague, Otto Hahn, a Nazi Chemist, rather than a Physicist, effectively stole her ideas and went on to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1944) for an achievement that should justly have gone to a Physcist, and Meitner in particular.

In fact Hahn had no idea how to interpret the experimental data in his hand until Meitner, through correspondence from exile in Sweden interpreted it for him. Based on her continuous advice via mail, Hahn was eventually able to take credit for her ideas. And although this egregious error was never formally corrected, Meitner, with great dignity and strength remains larger than life and stands as a towering monument to what the human spirit can accomplish in the face of racism and chauvinism. Five stars.

Lise Meitner may not be particularly well known outside of scientific circles today, but the same could be said of a lot of other great scientists, mathematicians, etc...Anyway, she is one of my favorite scientists of all time. This book helped cement that for me...

One of the reasons for her fame (or slight lack thereof) is that she never recieved the Nobel Prize for her nuclear work. It went to Otto Hahn. Had Lise shared in the prize, as many think she should have, she would almost certainly be better known today. I mean, the Nobel Prize sort of separates "known scientists" from "unknowns" as far as the general population is concerned (not counting popularizers like the late Carl Sagan and Stephen J. Gould). She was however, briefly famous in the US after WW2 as the "mother of the atom bomb" or some such - a title she rather disliked...In the late 1990s, the element 109 was named "Meitnerium" in her honor. And I beleive the element named for Hahn ("Hahnium"?) has been renamed something else.

I won't go into the plot of the book since its a biography and we know about whom. I will say she faced huge obstacles in her life, most notably being a young female who desired a high education at the turn of the century (1800s-1900s I mean) and who managed to obtain it; also being a Jewess scientist during the Nazi takeover of Germany and Austria - this time as a middle-aged woman (almost 60), forced to rebuild her life. She perservered ! These obstacles are well documented and discussed in this excellent book.

There is a brief but fascinating look into Vienna in the late 1800s that really enjoyed. It showed how the Meitners came to be in Vienna and what their world was like. I would have liked to have known more about her siblings, where they went and what they became (particularly her little brother Walter, who is tantalizingly mentioned several times as Lise's favorite - but no details are given. The two are buried near each other in Bramley, England).

If there is a negative to the book, it is that there's a certain amount of strict science (numbers, math, sci-jargon, and calculations) in the book. BUT - don't let that turn you off ! I just skipped past those parts that were over my head, and focused on the "biographical" part - the parts about Lise herself, which in fact, make up the majority of the book. Author Sime made it easy to do that in the way she wrote the book.

I highly recommend this work. I believe this will be the definitive Bio on Meitner, barring any unknown letters, secret love-child, or other stuff coming to light....Kudos to author Dr. Ruth Sime for the great work!

Ruth Sime's, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics, is a tribute to one of the most outstanding women physicists in the world's history. Sime's includes a detailed account of Meitners childhood, career, trials, tribulations, misfortunes, and fulfilling accomplishments through a collection of Meitner's personal papers, correspondences, and interviews with her contemporaries and friends. The reader enjoy's learning about the young girl in Vienna, who travels to Germany with only the ambition to learn and breathe physics. The reader enjoys Meitner's accomplishments, as she is promoted to being Max Planck's assistant in Prussia, despite her gender, and feels the betrayal when she is not credited with Otto Hahn for the Nobel Peace Prize.
All in all, Sime's does an excellent job of telling Meitner's story and providing insight on the historical and scientific contexts. The scientific explanations of both Meitner's research and of her contemporaries is hard to understand for those who are amateur physicists and are not cognizant of many basic principles of chemistry and physics. However, for a woman who was not given her credit where it was due, Sime's biography is truly telling of her life and just how remarkable this physicist of humanity really was.

I first learned of Lise Meitner from a book on atomic energy when I was a kid. I remember the illustration of her and her lab partner Otto Hahn staring at an apparatus in which they discovered the tell-tale signs of radioactive fission. But when I went through science courses in high school and college, she was hardly mentioned. This book has put her in her rightful place in the history of the atomic age. While it is always easy for a biographer to skew the importance of the individual being chronicled, that is certainly not the case here. Given the obstacles placed in her path by her gender, her religious affiliations, and her citizenship, her story is all that more remarkable for a view of our world which has been papered over in the last half-century.

That she would persevere despite everything is a testament to will and the desire for knowledge. Girls growing up in this day and age are not encouraged to pursue the scientific disciplines, but I think if a young girl today were to read Lise Meitner's story, she might just be inspired. I fully intend to give my copy to my daughter some day, in the hope of stirring a passion for science and the knowledge that if she applies herself, no matter the obstacles, she can become someone great.

It is encouraging to know that there are those, in this day, that still have the faith and courage to stand up against evil and prevail. Would have liked the opportunity to meet this man. He faced, what can be considered, insurmountable odds that would have broken most and maintained his loyalty and integritiy to the very end. This book is inspirational and uplifting.

Easy to read, human, and insightful book. Plainly tells what happened during the Holocaust to Jehovah's Witnesses. I would highly recommend it and plan to have my daughters read it once they are old enough.

Outstanding biographical material for not only life events, but what makes the core of a man.

I had the privilege of meeting Leopold Engleitner in person at the Austrian Embassy in Washington DC last year. The Austrian government was belatedly honoring him for his stand against Nazi brutality over 60 years ago. Though in a wheelchair and nearly one hundred years old, he exuded an inner strength that compelled him to share his experiences, while he still had a chance to do so. This book does a nice job of letting you get to know Leopold without having to go to Austria to do so.

Enjoyed this book immensely. Read it in one day. It strengthens your faith. Realistic, unpredjudiced portrayal of events.

The best book of an age is a brave new form of imagination and wisdom. "Danube" is a post-generic transcendence of art and vision to an unknown zodiac of meaning. When a book is a leap of creativity, it is an honor to be a reader.

A majestic book of 401 pages and 170 chapters, "Danube" follows a mighty river(of 2,888km) from beginning to end as a journey of knowledge--of time, space, history and fate--to find not only where the river ends but also where time, space, history and fate end: in "God's plans." To know anything fully from beginning to end in an absolute feat of knowledge--the way Magris knows the Danube from the Black Forest to the Black Sea--is to know everything.

At the heart of "Danube" is a visionary outlook on time as a vastness of centuries of meaning that resides like a cosmos in a nutshell in any moment or place of our lives. Every place along the Danube is "a corner in which a vanished enchantment has taken refuge." In a memorable metaphor, Magris sees the countless years of time and history that have "mysteriously disappeared forever" as "fallen leaves" that accumulate like "humus" in the places where we live and in whose unknown depths lie the roots of who we are. For Magris, history settles as geography. With a preternatural vision of "wave after wave" of history--from the dim ancient days of the eighth century B.C. of the Thracians, Cimmerians and Scythians through the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Hapsburgs to the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature to Elias Canetti--"superimposed and deposited one upon another in layer after layer" as "the multiple, composite substratum" of Danubian landscapes and lives, Magris unpacks history out of geography or time out of space. In following a river from place to place across a continent, "Danube" is a mythic descent into buried lives and races, dynasties and empires, ideologies and movements and epochs and civilizations that becomes a miracle of ascent to an ageless meaning untouched by "the incalculable loss of things."

Written out of encyclopedic learning radiant with moral lustre and unrestricted by the contracting conventions of a particular genre, "Danube" is free and "abundant" as a travelogue, a collection of essays, a handbook of biographies, a journal of meditations, a treatise of human geography, a history of "Mitteleuropa," a volume of literary criticism and a book of books all bound with artistic accessories of imagination of the craft of fiction into a post-generic "confederation" of writing and reality.

In "Danube," Magris has re-invented the book as a signifying expression and experience. Magris's book brings to mind the history of the book as a form of expression and a structure of experience and strikes us as beyond comparison with any other book.

An immaculate unity of heart, mind and spirit as a dignity of truth and beauty in words and a profound composition of selfless surrender to "the ultimate and essential things" in which a book becomes a state of being, "Danube" is simply the best book of our time. A soaring act of writing and a sublime structure of wisdom, "Danube" is an omega of solace. With an epic solidarity with everything from beginning to end in a chorus of faculties of awareness of unknown intellectual, emotional, aesthetic and spiritual synthesis, Claudio Magris is writer as hero of wisdom.

This book records one man's journey, but because this man is so many, it's more like the record of a migration.

Claudi Magris's work is simply the best travelogue that I have ever read: it is a work of imagination, erudition, and deeply-felt culture, and has been beautifully translated: I have never encountered English prose that better captures the cadence and rhythm of Italian!

Throughout history, the Danube has meant many different things to many different people: a highway, a playground, a barrier against the Turks, a symbol of eternal life or of life's melancholy. Magris structures this book as a travelogue, following the Danube from its source(s) in Germany through its debouchment into the Black Sea in Rumania. But in every place he visits, from a humble bench on the riverbank to the major cities of Vienna and Bucharest, he paints a vivid picture not only of the place itself, but of the people who have shaped its character and history.

I already knew that this region (for which he uses the shorthand term Mitteleuropa) had a complicated history, but I didn't realize how incredibly complicated it was until I read this book. Magris doesn't always untangle the complexities clearly enough for a non-European (and, from living briefly in the region as well as having family roots there, I'm probably better informed than most). On the other hand, his portraits of the people he meets are vivid and memorable -- from the old woman who presides over the 18th-century farmhouse where the Danube (possibly) rises, to the fisher-folk who live at the mouths of the river, to the functionaries and innkeepers who punctuate his journey and the friends who accompany him for parts of it. Writers, living and dead, are evoked as much as politicians and historians; one persistent theme of the book is how literature has reacted to, preserved, and in some instances shaped the history of Mitteleuropa.

All in all, the book is a magnificent achievement and well worth reading, even if some of Magris' observations have been rendered obsolete by the breakup of the Soviet Union. The translation is generally fluid and readable, although one can quibble with it here and there (I found a few minor inaccuracies in the sections that describe places I'm familiar with). And, as for the complaint that the regions traversed by the Danube are "too different" to be treated in one book, that difference *is* part of the story.

In this fascinating journey, Magris takes us from the very -and much disputed- sources of the Danube in the Black Forest, in Southern Germany, to the mouth of the river in the Black Sea, in Romanian territory. Along the way, Magris recreates the legends, stories and historical moments of every village and city he visits. The Danube area is, of course, full of history, since most peoples who ever set foot in Europe seem to have crossed it one way or another. Princes, wars, writers, lovers, many interesting and even fascinating stories illuminate for the reader the waters of the Danube. It really makes you want to make the same trip.

It would be interesting to read an update by Magris, especially about those places who were then under Soviet rule, now that almost 20 years have passed since the publication of the book. Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia all pass before your eyes like a dream.

Every town and story motivates in Magris deep reflections on history, memory, the passage of time, politics, and many other subjects. Magris's prose is dense in the best sense of the term: it is rich and deep, with a poetic quality to it. Very much recommended, it discovers for us many writers from that area who seem worth to read.