Iowa Books

Exquisitely written, this book is superbly articulate advocacy in defense of the fundamental components of traditional liberal education. This advocacy of 'tradition' is all the more special coming from one of academe's leading true Liberals. As President of Dartmouth Universty, Freedman took on the hate-speech of Dartmouth's right-wing journal and made it stick. He held a similar position at the sometimes underrated University of Iowa, and was ombudsman and also law dean at the Universtiy of Pennsylvania. He truly knows whereof he speaks, and our policy makers would do well to heed his exhortations.

"Liberal Education" initially appeared promising. After an interesting chapter on the history of college presidents, Freedman discusses the current and future states of higher education. As expected he passionately defends liberal education and intellectualism. I was stunned, however, when in the middle of the second chapter (p. 42), he defends tenured faculty by drawing on the following statistics: there are perhaps "200,000 faculty members" at significant research universities and colleges in the United States, a country of "280 million people." He concludes that such faculty "make up less than .0001 percent of the nation's population." He repeats this assertion in the following paragraph, indicating that this was not simply a typo. He makes no small mistake: it is the equivalent of standing in Chicago and stating that Boston is about a mile away. Freedman attempts to mislead the reader (he uses these numbers to argue for academic freedom for a small proportion of the population); as my expertise is limited, I cannot tell if he has made other such mispresentations of facts, but one such significant mistake is enough to make me distrust the remainder of the book.

I highly recommend this guide to anyone who will be traveling in the Northeast as well as Canada. This guide gives you everything from upcoming events for the year to where to stay & eat. The maps are easy to read and follow. I have been a reader of the Mobil Guide for many years and it is continuing to give the most accurate, up-to-date travel information. This is the MUST-HAVE for the Northeast traveler.

The book gives a good overview of the areas with many addresses. Anyhow I found it a bit too black and white. It gives useful maps, but no coloured pictures from the areas, which would make it a bit more pleasant to read.

Hmmm, looking at the comments page on the author's website, it appears that only positive comments are posted.

Seriously, this is a major flaw in volume 1 of the book (I have not yet read volume 2). The tone of the book is too positive, too one-sided. It feels more like a propaganda piece than an unbiased review of the facts. It lacks a healthy scientific skepticism.

In several places, it even abuses the research findings. On page 32, for instance, it states "AP kids get ambitious". This is a clear mixup of correlation versus causality. What was measured was simply a correlation of AP students with advanced degree seekers, with no causality implied. It would be more accurate to say, "Students who have taken AP classes are more likely to seek higher degrees." And even more accurately, "Students seeking higher degrees are likely to have taken AP classes." More telling, from a social policy point of view, increasing the number of AP students will not necessarily increase the number of people with advanced degrees.

In any case, it is much more likely, I submit, that the students taking AP classes are already ambitious.

Such errors, along with other linguistic twists, serve only to increase distrust in the research, which needs every ounce of credibility it can get. And personally, as a strong supporter of AP classes and gifted education in general, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I am hoping that critical readers of this book won't be too annoyed by the tone.

P.S. What's up with the "Writing Consultant" listed in the credits at the back of the book? I'm tempted to believe that none of the three principals listed as authors actually wrote any of the text.


Ok, I've read Volume 2 now, and I'm happy to report that it is very good. It contains a collection of scholarly articles on a variety of aspects of educational acceleration. It is much more concrete than Volume 1, and more appropriately cautious when the facts dictate it. I can't change the star rating, otherwise I'd up it to a 4.

If you are interested in acceleration (grade skipping) for gifted kids, you MUST own these books. BUT...don't buy them. If you search for "A Nation Deceived" and go to their website, they will send them to you for free. Or you can download your own copies immediately. I prefer holding a book, so I ordered the free copies.

I have 2 sons who skipped grades, and this book gave me great research-based ammunition. I'm a teacher myself, and I had never read the research on acceleration until the idea came up for my oldest son. The research is indeed eye opening!

I don't know why the first reviewer gave this a 1-star rating. Maybe he/she was protesting the price,since you can get it for free. Certainly it wasn't because of the content.

Get these books! You won't be sorry.

Though her preference would be to stay home in Southern California, literary agent Charlie Greene agrees to accompany her adopted mother attending a funeral in Myrtle, Iowa. Charlie has not met this side of the family that has never accepted adoption as a source of viable kin. Still, Charlie would do almost anything for her mother, biology professor Edwina Greene, including meeting the extended family even in this backwater.

Once there, Charlie realizes she has an opportunity to uncover the identity of her biological mother, but instead ends up at Gentle Oaks Nursing Home. Though elderly, the patients seem more than senile than the average geriatrics. Most of the senior citizens act petrified in mind and body leaving Charlie to wonder why society allows people to live with what appears no dignity, hope or thought. Apparently someone agrees with Charlie because someone begins killing the residents. Encouraged to uncover the truth, Charlie begins to investigate what seem to be euthanasia killings.

The latest Charlie Green mystery, THE RAMPANT REAPER, is a strange eccentric amateur sleuth tale. The story line centers on what to do for the aging especially when the mind goes and the body is not lagging far behind. However, Marlys Millhiser's efforts to use humor to diffuse the seriousness of the topic come across as iniquitous because the cast including the heroine is nasty. Fans who don't mind an ensemble of misanthropes will enjoy Charlie's sleuthing and the insight into a problem that society would prefer die away.

Harriet Klausner

When her mother asked her to go back with her to Iowa, Charlie Green had wanted to refuse. Iowa and the family there meant nothing to Charlie--noting but the people who had made her mother's life miserable. Still, she couldn't abandon her mother to her ruthless relatives. Charlie goes to Iowa.

Myrtle, Iowa is something of a mystery itself. The town is supported largely by a home for the aged--where, curiously, people go to die but...

Author Marlys Millhiser delivers a quirky and thoughtful mystery. ...

THE RAMPANT REAPER includes knee-slapping humor, but is occasionally hard to follow and sometimes loses track of the mystery completely. As I was reading, I couldn't help wonder if Millhiser is having current problems with her own aging relatives. Perhaps so, because REAPER seemed unable to make up its mind whether it was intended to be a funny-quirky novel, or a thoughtful examination of the way America treats its aging, and saddles its women with these responsibilities.

If you are looking for a book to inspire your next midwestern trip, keep looking. Bob Puhala's writing is hardly the sort to bring out the intrepid (or insipid) traveler in anyone. Reading the reviews of inns I was familiar with was disappointing. He does not manage to bring these places to life or capture their essence. He does provide a good basic description of each inn and fairly good directions to each, along with the information you would need to make a reservation. Because most of his picks are rather on the beaten path, if you're going to visit Uncle Lem and Aunt Nan in Backwater Creek, you probably won't find a likely place to stay using this resource.

I was suprised that many Inns were neither Inns or in the counrty. Jumer's Castle Lodge is hardly an Inn (having 210 rooms and being part of a chain) and the Blanche House, minutes from downtown Detroit, Michigan (and a short walk away from some unsavory neighborhoods), would only be in the country if one traveled back in time about 150 years.

This book might be more useful for business travelers looking for something different, but for the traveler looking for inspiration and a nice country vacation (as I was) - it dosen't fit the bill.

This book was very useful for planning our wedding reception in my home state - Michigan. With my mother's assistance from Kentucky, my husband and I were able to coordinate our reception AND guest accomodations from our home in California. I found the book helpful, insightful, very well organized, and succinct. Flowery writing is great if you want a novel. If you are looking for a true reference book, this one is a good place to start.

Although containing good general information, this book is not very detailed. For the most part, I needed more specific information for prairie restorations. However, I did enjoy the discussion on the history of tallgrass prairie restoration in Iowa. Additionally, the species-specific information with additional comments on the native prairie wildflowers and grasses is quite useful and much appreciated. It is the first species list I have found that provides information regarding what wildlife would be attracted to each plant.

Restoring the Tallgrass Prairie is a great "first" book for a person interested in praire management/restoration. The book is split into two parts. The first part is a guide to restoration. The second part is a field guide for the identification of prairie grasses, plants etc. I recommend this book because of its content and superior value for this type of book.

Hi Andy,
We bought and enjoyed your Civil War book. We sent it on to a son and he liked it too. You were not bashful about the facts, as some are, and folks will respect your judgment on the matter.
Hal Hotle, Bentonsport, Iowa (received in U.S. mail; Hal doesn't have computer)

Perhaps I was expecting too much, but the interesting title suggested that a welcome update to the field of the impact of the Civil War on the developing states -- and vice versa -- had arrived. I was sadly disappointed. The book adds little, is full of inaccuracies, and -- aside from a couple of pages of bibliography -- has no references or citations. If you're looking for a quick read, it's okay. If you're looking for serious scholarship, you, too, will be disappointed.

Here is one example of where I felt that the movie(s), that were based on this book, were better than the book itself. I loved the Pat Boone remake but wished that it contained more of the fair goings on. I had hoped that the book would contain more on that, but sadly it did not. The family does not even get to the fair until almost halfway into the book. I found the author's writting style tedious, and I also did not appreciate the "low" morals displayed by the (post) teens, as depicted in this book. It was obviously written from the male point of view.

I read this book for my 8th grade english and reading class. I never really heard of the book, but of course like ever one else in the United States have seen then the musical State Fair. The book was a lot like the book. The reading goes really fast. If you want a book that you can read in a day or two this is the book you should pick.

WEISS: "Years now without coffee, without alcohol, without tobacco", you wrote. Was it because of your health?

CIORAN: Yes, health. I had to choose. I was drinking coffee all the time. I'd drink 7 cups of coffee in the morning. It was one or the other. But tobacco was the most difficult. I was a big smoker. It took me 5 years to quit smoking. And I was absolutely desperate each time I tried. I'd cry. I'd say "I'm the vilest of men". It was an extraordinary struggle. In the middle of the night I'd throw the cigarettes out the window. First thing in the morning I'd go buy some more. It was a comedy that lasted 5 years. When I stopped smoking, I felt like I'd lost my soul. I made the decision. It was a question of honor. "Even if I don't write another line, I'm going to stop." Tobacco was absolutely tied up with my life. I couldn't make a phone call without a cigarette. I couldn't answer a letter. I couldn't look at a landscape without it.

WEISS: You felt better afterward, I hope.

CIORAN: Yes. When I'm depressed, I tell myself: "You did succeed in conquering tobacco". It was a struggle to the death. And that's always made me think of a story Dostoyevsky speaks about. In Siberia there was an anarchist at the time who was sentenced to 18 years in prison. And one day they cut off his tobacco. Right away he gave a declaration that he was renouncing all his ideas and everything at the feet of the tsar. When I read that in my youth, I hadn't understood it. And I remember where I smoked my last cigarette, about 14 years ago. It was near Barcelona. It was 7 in the morning. It was cold, the end of September. And there was a foolish German who dove into the water and started swimming. I said: "If this German can do that at his age, I'm going to show that I can too". So I went in like that and I had the flu that night.

The Eugene Ionescu interview was semi-interesting. And the other interviewees didn't interest me at all.

Weiss undertook these interviews of famous writers between the years of 1980 and 1987 to gather information for newspaper profiles of writers. Later, he began to publish the full interviews in literary journals. The writers are loosely connected in that they all spent a great deal of their adult lives in the city of Paris. Also, they were all taking risks in their writing by either breaking from or reformulating their literary traditions. There is, however, a deeper similarity between the pieces. In the introduction, Weiss reveals that he began to see a common theme in these interviews, that the discussions kept returning to "certain cultural preoccupations" that he had not always planned to talk about. Eventually, Weiss collected nine of these interviews together and published them under the title Writing at Risk. Weiss begins each chapter with a brief profile of the subject and a few comments on the subject's impact on the literary world and his personality. For example, Carlos Fuentes "is above all a man of conscience" and Eugene Ionesco is "one of the leading dramatists in the `theater of the absurd'." In these one to two page profiles, the interviewer outlines the writer's literary works, his political influence if any, his occasion to live in Paris, and the circumstances of the interview. Also, Weiss is careful to note the month and year of each interview knowing that the information garnered from the conversations is only understandable within it's political and historical context.

The conversations are recorded in a tradition interview style with the interviewer's questions written after his initials and a colon and the subject's responses after his initials and a colon. This, however, is as close to tradition as Weiss gets and his innovation works well. For the most

I quote the great Meryl Streep by calling this book a crime against literature. I wish there were negative stars that I can give this awful concoction of pointless romanticism and inept story structure. The plot was minimal, the characterizations were nonexistent. For the life of me, I can't understand why this book was so popular. You have to give Mr. Waller credit for marketing. He knew what would sell, and apparently he spent all of an afternoon producing it. Now please, stop the madness and don't produce any more books like this one.

One reviewer said you either love this book or you hate it. I was one that hated it. The good news is that is a short book and I finished it in an hour. At least I didn't waste days reading it. I found it depressing and disappointing - not romantic at all.

This book is SO over the top I found myself anticipating the next breathless passage with actual excitement. It also provides another exception to the cliche that "the book is always superior to the movie"---the Eastwood movie is actually a nice little bittersweet romance----if you want a love story see the movie---if you want a laugh read the book!

I love this book. Great love story. The book arrived in perfect condition and very quickly. Thank you

I read this in one sitting yesterday afternoon, and immediately regretted it. What's so romantic about betraying your spouse? Maybe this is just my conservative upbringing, but both Francesca and Robert disgusted me beyond belief. I especially hated her daughter's reaction to the affair. There is no justification for cheating, least of all fickle emotions. It seems Waller is trying to insult the reader's intelligence.

[..]The romance itself was unconvincing, rushed, and unrealistic. I certainly hope this "novel" doesn't find its way onto any required reading lists, because it's such garbage.