Iowa Books

In the "Acknowledgments' OGD says he was advised to tell the truth, and he tried. But 'truth' is always accompanied by experience and opinion, which affect perception. "A Well-Regulated Militia: the Battle over Gun Control" is a better and more informative book.

Chapter 6 tells of the attempt to ban handguns in Calif (p.137); this was defeated overwhelmingly in the statewide referendum. It does name the multi-millionaire who paid for this attempt, but tells little more about the group. OGD explains Dukakis' defeat as due to NRA opposition (p.144), which provided the margin of victory to Bush I. Page 153 has some comments on the American Revolution. You'll find "What They Didn't Teach You About the American Revolution" a much better history book. OGD does not seem to understand the subject.

Chapter 7 deals with an NRA convention in April 1991; he seems to delight in media attacks on the NRA. Hasn't the monopolization of newspapers, radio, and TV been a factor in this? Whose side are they on? OGD notes that the 'Washington Post' attacked the right of the people to keep and bear arms for seventy-seven consecutive days in 1965! Was this just a way to control thinking and distract people from more important issues? Does anyone believe that they represent "public opinion" (p.168)? The bottom of page 168 mentions the willful ignorance of media workers. Those who work for a corporation learn their rules. Page 171 provides another example of OGD's censorship in writing about the attempt on President Reagan. he doesn't say if Hinckley was the son of Bush's best friend and business partner! Page 178 gives an example of OGD's twisted writing: the NRA did not support Bork because "he was unlikely to suppress the exclusionary rule" (bans evidence gained in illegal searches). What was that again? Bork's court favored the plaintiff with deep pockets; Bork resigned after this allegation.

Chapter 8 mentions the Brady bill, and quotes Sarah Brady as saying President Reagan was for it. Isn't that a self-serving statement? Didn't his biographer say he was senile in his second term? Page 202 mentions reports that were "almost uniformly exaggerated or wholly fabricated", an admission of biased reporting. Page 215 tells of the trick pulled to report out the DeConcini bill. Arlen Spector created the "magic bullet" theory used to explain the shooting of JFK and Governor Connally by a lone gunman.

OGD doesn't explain the politics of a "waiting period". This would prevent sales at weekend gun shows! Shutting down the computer would simply prevent all sales as well. Page 277 shows OGD believes Kellerman's story (a gun in the home was 43 times more likely to kill a family member than an intruder). Read the article yourself to see its limitations. In homes without a gun you are 99 times more likely to kill a family member than an intruder. Hint: most violent deaths in the home are suicides; "died at home" is a code word for this in obituaries. OGD again shows his prejudice when he says "gun violence" (p.282). Half of all gun deaths are suicides; they can't be prevented by a fantasy like "childproof guns". Maybe you would do better to read "Armed" by Kleck and Kates on this topic.

The author has written books on other topics; he has no background on this one. OGD did try to hold back his biases, but they slipped out in many places. Chapter 1 tells of "The Stockton Lesson" and how it was exploited by Gun Prohibitionists to further their agenda. The real lesson is that the Establishment refused to hospitalize a sick, deranged individual; they would prefer to exploit any crazy attack that occurs in a "gun free zone". How many other walking time bombs are being released in the hopes of another incident? OGD's criticism of the volunteer NRA (p.22) shows he doesn't understand "Democracy in America"; DeTocqueville stated that voluntary association was the basis of democracy in America. Pages 28-29 document no infringement on the right to keep and bear arms, then. OGD does NOT mention the name of the group that paid for "sweeping legislation to ban or regulate a wide variety of firearms" (p.29). Pages 35-39 show how the NRA is a democratic organization responsible to its members. Compare that to the "Million Mom March Inc.", or the major political parties! The 1968 Gun Control Act banned mail order sales of guns and ammunition, even though this leaves a paper trail, and provides a delay for cross-checking!

Pages 63-81 has a good summary on the passage of the McClure-Volkmer law, reports that are usually censored in the corporate media. OGD's writing shows his bias here. Page 69 shows the difference between the politically appointed Justice Department and popular elected House members. Page 50 mentions a description of ATF as "jackbooted group of fascists ... a danger to American society", but doesn't mention why. Could it be Waco? There is no mention of Ruby Ridge either. Read the book "Tainting Evidence" for good information on both events.

There is another deliberately misleading or false statement on page 121. The rate of violent deaths in America is less than in Japan, but ahead of Canada. See how OGD constructs sentences to hide this fact! This is the typical dishonesty of Gun Prohibitionists. OGD also mentions the high gunshot death rate among young black males. Does this underline their oppression in our society? Psychologists know that concentrating laboratory rats creates aggression and violence. Are urban ghettos a "kinder, gentler" version of concentration camps? Hubert Humphrey wanted "good jobs at good wages"; didn't he also attack the 1968 Gun Control Act when running for President? Since crime is very low in South Dakota and Vermont (no gun control laws), could "gun control" be a scheme to generate business for urban hospitals (p.122)? Since 1987, 33 of the other 48 states passed "right to carry" laws that overturned WW I era laws. The book "More Guns, Less Crime" reports the results.

Another dishonest statement is on page 129: "opinion polls have showed consistent support for gun control". The 1976 Massachusetts referendum to ban all hand guns was soundly defeated! The truth is that these polls are rigged to get the answer that is desired! Page 135 shows another deliberate distortion of the Second Amendment. Those who passed the Bill of Rights did NOT want only the Federal Military to "keep and bear arms". That quote by W. Burger suggests the contrariness that accompanies senility. You will find William Weir's "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Battle over Gun Control" a better and more informative book.

Gray does a masterful job in documenting the founding of the NRA, as a quasigovernmental organization through the powerful lobbying organization it is today. It presents the story without any particular bias, exposing the infights and its hot and cold relationship with law enforcement.

The documentation of the Cincinnati Revolt of 1977, which brought Harlon Carter to power, thus giving the association its John Birch veneer, is unique. It was interesting to note that "jackbooted thugs" was a long-standing staple of the organization.

The story of the obstructionism, disguised as cooperation, in the Bush decision to ban imports of certain assault rifles shows exactly how powerful this group has become. The exposure of tactics such as smears of law enforcement officers, who had the audacity to enforce gun control laws, shows why this is an organization to be feared, and perhaps countered. The deceitful practices of fudging their membership roles, and framing the public debate to regulation equates to confiscation, through historical misrepresentation, is enough to give one a jaundiced ear to anything the organization says.

Gray doesn't hold back in his similar exposure of the proregulationers either. His description of the evolution of the "green apple" to become known as the "cop killer" is a case in point.

All in all, an excellent book, which fills a critical niche in the gun control debate, and it's confluence with contemporary politics.

This is a must-read if you really want to become truly informed about the NRA. A statement near the end of the book clearly reveals the thesis of the author. The author says something like "The NRA is not the evil empire that its enemies claim but neither is it a super patriotic defender of the constitution." The author goes on to explain that the NRA is simply a special interest group. The NRA's understanding of the second amendment is flawed. If gun-control is really unconstitutional then why are there so many gun-control laws in some areas of the US? No court has ruled those laws unconstitutional. The NRA has often tried to demonize those who support sensible and moderate levels of gun-control. Instead of addressing the issue logically, the NRA is content to resort to personal attacks and name calling by referring to such people as communists and comparing them to Hitler.

On the other hand, the book tells of how the NRA was right about cop killer bullets and plastic guns. A ban on all types of armor piercing bullets would have included many types of hunting and sporting ammunition. Plastics guns that can fire real bullets is a myth. A ban on such weapons is unnecessary. So if you are looking for a book that tells it all, then read this book.

Some reviewers have noted that "gun nuts" (et al) will complain about the bias that they tend to claim isn't there, but when you read the last chapter that was added after the first edition was published ("200,000 Bodies: The Battle Continues") it's painfully obvious. If after reading that chapter someone STILL claims there's no bias, the claim says a lot about that reader and little, if anything, about reality.

Still, Davidson does a good job, overall, of at least minimizing his (or her?) bias and reporting information, but the bias is still present enough to be obvious if you're not already biased as much or more than Davidson.

That said, it's still a good source of information on the NRA. Only religiously pro gun rights advocates can argue that the NRA is purely noble and beyond reproach without embarrassing themselves, and Davidson points out why, beyond the typical simple-minded, reactionary recrimination and myth-making (and buying) so often heard from uninformed, feeling-over-fact liberals and "we know what's best for everyone," social engineering, nanny-state democrats.

This is unfortunately one of the most disappointing books I have read on these great warships. The text is very loosely spaced and occupies barely 21 pages, with very few illustrations. The only positive are the paintings of the possible look of the ships as modified in service.
The text does not even cover the Vietnam era updates or the other possible conversions considered in the 1970's and 1980's, which would have made it more worthwhile.
A very limited book and a great disappointment, and very poor value as well.
I returned it immediately.

The decline of the battleship began on December 7, 1941 when carrier based aircraft attacked and sank the U.S. battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor. Three days later on December 10 Japanese
aircraft sank the British battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, this time the battleships were not sitting ducks like at Pearl, but were underway at full battle readiness. The reign of the battleship was over.

The Iowa class battleships of the U.S. Navy were under construction at this time, they would serve through the war, but after the guns fell silent what would become of them? The navy proposed several conversions to keep the battleship relevant, however none were carried out.
In his book, Iowa Class Battleships and Alaska Class Large Cruisers Conversion Projects, Wayne Scarpaci explores these conversions and illustrates them with his original artwork and line drawings of what the ships might have looked like. The 31 page book is a quick read and explores the proposed armament schemes and how the redesigned battleships would be employed. There has not been much written about this subject so this book should be of great interest to battleship fans around the world.

Michael W. Pocock

This is a very useful, consise book. In order to fully appreciate the full design processes behind the projects listed in the book it is best read in conjunction with Friedman's Illustrated Design History of US Battleships, which offers a 'fuller' design history and places the plans in context. The artwork and line drawings in Mr. Scarpaci's book are first rate and allow a very clear view as to what the ships may have looked like if ever built. One small critisim is the ommission of any plan views to accompany the excellent profile drawings. All in all, a very good work - I hope the first of many from this author on similar topics!

Anyone with an interest in Naval history would do themselves well to purchase this fine book. The artwork and line drawings are fantastic and the text is easy to understand, even for the lay person, who may not be totally versed in everything dealing with the subject. The artwork is as good as it gets... precise... crisp and the vessels are set in various scenes that depict a fantastic mood to each painting. Scarpaci has hit the nail on the head with this fine reference book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With 24 pages of real content (not counting index, title page, colophon, blank pages at the end) and a large typesize at that, I was very disappointed in this book.

Each conversion project was given at most two paragraphs of attention, while every other one got a nice piece of lineart and a full color painting. The projects themselves were interesting and informative, but there is only so much you can learn in a single paragraph.

Were it not for the illustrations and artwork (which are all beautiful) I would have given this one star. Were it half the price I would have given it three.

It is obvious as you enter this book of poems why it was a prize winner. The poet is very talented. She has taken the tradition of the prose poem and jumped into it wholeheartedly. There are a few non-prose poems thrown in with titles which helps to break up the density of the prose poems.

All that being said, this is not a book of poems for the lay reader. I came away feeling that this is artistically sound for those intrested in: post-modernism, surrealism and prose-poetry, but for the general public this may be a difficult book to delve into.

I will be interested to see where this poet takes her style into the future because with lines (from page 7 in my edition) such as the following how can there not be promise!: Meet me two years earlier in the street. Omega Street. I'll try to be there, to be / perfectly present, to get the eyes right.

Google Karen Volkman online and there is this hilarious review written about her, which says what I think far better than I ever could. Volkman is a joke. That people like this teach?!?!

I was disappointed, at first, by the prose poem approach: what would happen to the humorous voices rounded by line breaks, alligator purses, tennis courts and humanity's other detritus? This is a poet capable of anything, including sheer beauteous irrelevancy. I wanted her to cling to the personable. But she does sustain a voice, a narrrative harkening back to embodiment, while playing with it. Very impressive. A bit cold? Performance like this can only be judged by the next permutation. I eagerly await it. I do.

Karen Volkman is definitely one of the leading poets of her generation. Of this, I have no doubt. In this, her second collection, Volkman uses a denser language and syntax than in her first collection, but the effect is quite stunning. I am not a huge fan of the prose poem, but Volkman knows how to use that form well and demonstrates it in this collection over and over. This is a beautifully-written collection of poetry and is highly recommended by me to anyone interested in what the poets under 40 are writing.//C. Dale Young, Poetry Editor, NEW ENGLAND REVIEW

Karen Volkman is a very special poet, & for me this book is an absolute masterpiece in terms of aural sophistication & conceptual ingenuity. Volkman writes like no one else, & her writing is rife with great poetic decisions. Her art inspires me with its great vision & boldness. I don't know how unique to me this strong feeling of being able to relate to the thoughts she presents is, but I love it. The book starts with the poem Create Desire, which starts with the line "Someone was searching for a form of fire." Is that what life is? That you are someone searching for a form of fire? Later, she ends one of the prose poems with "Your turn." She ends one with a string of 3 vowels. She builds one by planting in your mind the suspician that she's addressing a lover, then reveals in the last few words that she is indeed. Her tropes & unexpected word choices are so exciting. One of my favorite syntgactical excerpts from the book is in one of the prose poems when she writes,"Plural keeps and cues med, does me dither. Is what is more than mind is -- when I am?" -- though that's not much of an example of her troping. Nothing she does in this book feels accidental or not fully thought through; everything feels like a perfect deliberate decision. She is aware of what prose poems do to the weight of words & the pace of the poem. She's very sparing with titles. She uses more regular lines & stanzas when she decides to. Reading this book is like riding a motorcycle with no brakes! As far as another reviewer's comment that Volkman doesn't give the reader enough information, I think the level of electric metaphor that might be abstruse is a matter of taste.... If you're interested enough in poetry to be considering this book & reading my review, do buy the book; I hope you'll be as pleased as I am.

Before i start my review i will start with the things which do it an injustice thus making it a probably flawed book.The book starts with the author offering his sincerest gratitude to the members of c-coy for giving him the time to speak to them,How in gods name could any author be thankful and to print it in his book to these scum who commited such terrible deeds is beyond me.Jackie legs robinson why is there so much time givin to her she went out with john adair and took drugs with him yet her every word has obviously been taken as fact by the authors.When you come to the end of the book you are left wondering how for the five or so nightmarish years in the early 90s that adair planned everything was he able to get away with it,This book dosent delve into it but surely another book on this matter in years to come will resolve the matter cause im my mind to get away with what he did was near impossible (Adair had to have had help from special branch plus the front cover will turn many off from reading a book that should be read it is not a glorification of johnny adair it delves into there planning of murders the vast majority being innocent of any republican connection ie..Chemist workers,Pizza delivery people,There is not many books that a brought a tear to my eye but this at times did.It is a shocking intro into the murky loyalist world who started with the killings of dozens of innocent catholics and ends with the loyalists turning to drug dealing and there guns on each other.. Only for the negatives it could have been as good as martin diLlions account on the equally if not worse than the c-coy the shankill buthcher's.

"Freedom fighter"? Get a grip BH! Adair is a nihilistic, callous, murderous thug whose only interest in life was his own gratification. Not for him the thoughtful and pragmatic evolution of others from his background like the late David Ervine who, whilst not repudiating their former actions, at least came to recognize their continuing futility and the necessity of engaging with republicans if any kind of normal society was to be in Northern Ireland's future. I fail to see the logic in your assertion that the criminality of former IRA men proves that Adair is a freedom fighter. A drug-dealing murderer is a drug-dealing murderer, no matter what side of the peaceline he is from. Adair and his republican counterparts are equally contemptible.
As for the input of Dublin and nationalist parties in the affairs of the six counties - get used to it! Craig's "Protestant Parliament and Protestant State" is long gone. I fail to see how denying nationalists, whether or not they vote for 32-county parties, a say in the affairs of government will help Northern Ireland to continue to exist as a statelet. And look on the bright side: Dublin is now going to be footing part of the bill for mundane stuff like road-building in the six counties. And I wouldn't worry too much about the border: in 1998 people on both sides of the border overwhelmingly voted to keep the border as it is... until the majority of people in Northern Ireland decide otherwise! You can't really object to that, now can you?
The book was a great read, BTW. Picked it up in Shannon Airport the other day, haven't put it down until I finished it today.

Johnny Adair is an example of what can happen to individuals when they grow up in a society utterly debased by sectarian hatred and bigotry. A man devoid of virtually any sympathetic qualities, Adair nonetheless became a hero figure amongst the loyalist community in Northern Ireland in the early to mid 1990s, following his involvement in a series of brutal and utterly indiscriminate murders.

This book does an excellent job at exposed Adair as a politically uninformed egomaniac, motivated by little more than a burning sectarian hatred for Roman Catholics, and lays bare the emptyness of his UFF C Company's ideology and tactics. So debased were Adair and his associates that the more prosaic vices of drugs and extortion gradually came to mean more to them than even the thrill of sectarian murders, leading inevitably to Adair's exile by his erstwhile colleagues in the UDA.

The dry tone of this book means that it is often a grinding effort to get though it, as we go from one senseless murder to another. Nonetheless, it is immaculate in its research and the sheer nihilism of Adair and his gang is evident in every page.

This is a brilliant book charting the rise of an Ulster freedom fighter, not "terrorist" as D.A.Leonard ignorantly puts it. Johnny Adair fought for the U.F.F. (Ulster Freedom Fighters)and anyone doubting this can check for themselves whether it was Northern Ireland wanting control of more land or whether it was in fact Southern, Republican Ireland (IRA) wanting control of more land. D.A.Leonard, an American with seemingly no links with the country in question claims that the "aftermath of the war which saw Sinn Fein and the IRA grow in power, while the UDA disentigrated into drug dealing and feuds". Again if you check the details you will find that the IRA is now considered Europe's largest criminal gang, being linked with guerilla warfare training in Columbia, the worlds largest ever bank robbery (in which senior Southern Irish politicians were linked with money laundering)and you will see that Johnny Adair is in fact a freedom fighter.I find D.A.Leonards review, highly offensive and false and hope that this book and my review serve as a counterweight to D.A.Leonard's propaganda, from someone with a blood link to the country(ies) in question. My personal view is that the borders that are currently set should stay and that Sinn Fein and any other Southern party should not be allowed to run in Northern elections and vica versa. I highly recommend reading this book for a more specific background.

THIS IS A GOOD OVERVIEW OF NORTHERN IRELAND DURING THE 80'S AND 90'S.IT GETS GOING GOOD WITH MR. OR SIR ADAIR AS A GLUE SNIFFING SKINHEAD AND THEN ROLLING ONTO HIS RAVE DAYS AND OF COURSE HIS SHOOTING,ROCKETING AND PILLAGING OF CATHOLIC NEIGHBORHOODS.
THIS BOOK SHOWS THAT WHEN A MAN IS DEEPLY INSECURE AND TOTALLY UNTRUSTWORTHY AND ALSO HAPPENS TO HAVE ACCESS TO WEAPONS,THINGS GO FROM MANIC HIGHS TO DEPRESSIVE LOWS IN A FLASH. I MUST SAY I WAS DISGUSTED AT THE PETTY AND BRUTAL BEHAVIOR OF THESE SO CALLED COMRADES IN ARMS. THIS BOOK USES SEVERAL OF MR. ADAIR'S FORMER FRIENDS TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT SAD AND TRAGIC PEOPLE THEY WERE AND ARE, FOR BUYING INTO "THE ADAIR MYTH". A WELL DOCUMENTED AND YES "MUST READ" FOR THOSE WHO HAVE AN INTEREST IN THE WILD WILD WORLD OF BELFAST DURING THE TROUBLES.

I enjoyed "Disturbing the Universe," and "Waking Sleeping Beauty" did not let me down, either. My academic focus is not actually feminist critique, but Trites has a wonderful section on subjectivity in this book, which is my focus (although specifically abjection, which Trites also covers well in that section).

This text is a wonderful read for anyone invested in the intellectual pursuit of scholarship and feminism. Obviously, this type of important work is upsetting to readers who do not like their patriarchal notions of "feminism" and the constructed body of the young and adult woman in today's culture questioned or problematized.

The previous reviewer criticizes the book for not being accessible to youthful audiences. It's quite clear that Trites is writing for a professional, adult audience. In doing so, she provides a thoughtful, intelligent, convincing analysis of feminist children's literature. Potential readers should not be mislead by the previous comments as the reviewer has misunderstood the intended audience for the book. The book is essential reading for any adult interested in feminist children's literature.

Trites' book is a must read for college students, teachers, parents, everyone... Her language is very accessible. I used this book as the main source for my senior thesis, and found it to be extremely helpful as well as enlightening.

Look, I'm a man, so I might have a skewed view of what "feminism" is and is not. But Ms. Trites's view of what constitutes "true feminist literature" with its emhasis on communication, sharing and self-improvement over effective female heroes sounds, to this White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Male at least, a LOT like the "finer qualities of women" extolled by Victorian lady novelists. It has little, if any, bearing on the passionately activist and physically and morally courageous teenage girls and twentysomething women of my experience - or of the older women (one of whom I'm married to) who fought long and hard so someone like Ms. Trites could call herself a "feminist".

Ms. Trites slams work featuring teenage girls taking effective action as "boys in drag", implying that a girl or a woman who actually defends herself, or fight for what she believes in, is somehow a gender traitor, while praising to the skies the kind of ovary-brooding tripe that encourages teenage girls to turn inward - and effectively, leave the driving to us men. I'm sure that her version of "feminism" goes over very well with the Religious Right and the Taliban - "Yes, you concentrate on making yourself a better person and communicating while we take away your civil liberties - oh, and put on this *chadoor* while you're at it!" I can't believe that I'm the only person who finds Ms. Trites's view of "feminist literature" smug, morally repugnant - and actively dangerous to young women.

This book is SO not recommended - and if this is what Feminist Studies Departments are teaching these days, no wonder there's been a backlash against feminism.

They are depressing pictures. definitely if you were to take color photos in the spring and summer there would be a much different mood. it conveys sadness for a corner of the world which seems to be slowly dying away. the pictures really got at the core of what it means to be iowan, the snow and cold that you just deal with, the openess-- land that goes on forever with nothing hidden, the partying and drinking on one hand and the amish on the other, the humility and lack of pretense of the people.

Full disclosure: I am not qualified to write this review. I haven't really, thoughtfully perused the book yet...

Opposing argument: ...but the damn thing's been sitting on my coffee table since Christmas, and if it had looked more engaging to me when my husband (a devout Hawkeye) flipped through it after he unwrapped it, I'd have torn through that mofo three weeks ago.

I hate, hate, hate to say this about the work of someone from the clean, pure state of Iowa. But, the images struck me as depressing. And maybe that's the point! It's art, right? But then, plenty of National Geographic photos are bleak in nature without making you want to die a faster death.

My husband's only words: This cost 27 dollars? It seems a tad thin for 27 dollars.

Danny Wilcox Frazier's book of photographs, Driftless, is just that. The reportage/documentary style body of images is an aimless collection of photographs tethered together by the vague theme of "Iowa." Some are excellent, many are poor. There are many pictures that capture an utterly indecisive moment, causing one to wonder what its purpose in the book is. Nothing in the volume totally blew me away. Furthermore, the quality of the printing feels flimsy and the layout, with a combination of full bleed two-page spreads and smaller pictures vertically off-set on opposite pages, leaves a lot to be desired.

The sugar-coated, romanticized, or one dimensional view of "Middle-America" would have us believe that Iowa is only a land of covered bridges, fields of dreams, or over weight mall moms casting their red state ballots. But the world where Danny Wilcox Frazier lives is the real deal, and he explores it deeply with his camera in ways that are never sentimental and trite or judgemental and cruel. He finds stunning beauty and intrigue in the daily lives of real Iowans around him.

This is the most powerful collection of photography released in 2007.

Fine for undergraduates but of little use to the orthopaedic trainee. Better off with one of the Thieme series.

This is a great, small book that can be used for quick reference when working with orthopedic patients. The pictures are small but it is not meant as a true anatomical atlas. It includes some nice x-rays, plenty of common pathological conditions and a few quick tests.

It is frustrating and sad to see Dr. Netter's art being miniaturized.
The book should be sold together with a microscope.

My order arrived very quickly and in perfect condition. I will do business with this seller again

Waldner has a good and evocative ear, slinging moon, June, spoon rhymes and assonances around with grace and ease. Perhaps she has become too enraptured by her facility with language, because I felt that there was nothing to most of these poems apart from the wordplay. The occasional emotional insight was not enough for me to enjoy this book as a whole.

Liz Waldner, A Point Is That Which Has No Part (University of Iowa, 2000)

After my last jaunt into the land of Liz Waldner, I was looking her work up on the Internet to research the review, and most of what I was finding on line seemed quite superior to the work in the volume I'd just completed. So I gave her another shot, and what came out of the library system's game of chance was this collection of prose with a few poems scattered through. While much of the work turns on the same punning as that in Etym(bi)ology, there are points in the book where it all comes together, and what you get is the subtle wit of Shakespeare rather than the meat-cleaver punning of a tabloid headline writer. While those points are few and far between, their sublimity is not to be missed.

Unfortunately, much of the rest has the same feel as did the newer collection; while the overtly political aspect that made Etym(bi)ology so noxious is mostly absent here (Waldner concerns herself more with the politics of interpersonal relationships), the stream-of-consciousness feel that simultaneously says "this poet has never revised a poem in her life" and "this is performance art/slam work, not poetry" is still all too much in evidence. I have little doubt these pieces perform admirably at readings, but on the page, they often read as strings of disconnected thoughts begging for being shaped into poems. **

I am a simple man. I like ideas, but can't always grasp them if put forward in complex form. Liz Waldner is clearly off-the-charts smart. I don't always understand what she's saying (I don't understand most poetry I read), but when I get it, it is stunning. Nature, philosophy, math, feelings, sex all bounce off one another in this book. Waldner is able to reveal hidden relationships, swoop from the theoretic mathematical level to the sublime and stick something sexual in between. That is, in the opinion of this simple man, really extraordinary. Well worth the money -- if you like large ideas or poetry or daring attempts, this is the stuff. I look forward to more from Liz Waldner.

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. I mean this in the same way as "I did myself a favor and had a massage". It is easy to love and be in love with this author. She strips edifices without pounding the table. She undresses, dresses and then re-dresses subjects with grace inflicting no harm but allowing the reader to walk away with a new appreciation of the complexity of the most simple of things. I object to the description above of Ms. Waldner as a "smarty pants" because that implies that she gets off as smarter than the reader. I don't get that sense at all. She could easily change her poetry with very few word changes to show life as brutish and short. But her writing is lovely, even loving because, at least in part, it is easy to feel like one is knocking around with a pal. It is paradoxical that such writing can unearth such passionate lines. The other part I like about this book is the inner sanctum one gets near. I became privvy to girl talk and it feels both tingly and welcoming yet foreign. To say it another way somtimes I felt I was seeing something private, unashamedly feminine.But feminine undefined by masculine, just feminine. The last thing I noticed about this writing is how self aware the author is of her own skill. Although at first I did not understand the title, I now see that the simplicity of the geometry it takes it's name from, Euclid's Geometry, can get increasingly complex with each hypothesis. Her writing is the same, seemingly simple insights woven into an elegant whole. A unique voice.I hope Liz Waldner becomes our poet laureate. We need her.

Good content for the Middle West. My book club will read for January 08.

In the mid-'40s, Barbara Scot's father abandoned his wife and two children and ran off with another woman, leaving behind a mortgaged farm and a pile of debts. He committed suicide in 1950, but his wife Katherine continued to live in the small Iowa town and to attend the Presbyterian Church that was witness to her shame. Years later, Scot returns to the town, to her grandfather's house, and to the farm that her mother defended, to try to understand the truth. What compelled her mother to remain? What compelled her father to flee? What combination of church and land loyalty and family heritage created this singularly American tragedy?

As she answers these poignant questions, Scot also movingly discovers a real father: her uncle Jim, who kept her safe and taught her to love nature and the world. Scot's story reminds us that the truth is never simple, and that we are all woven into an intricate web that stretches back into time and deep into community and culture. If you're looking for a book to help you understand a father's abandonment, a mother's determination, and the power of place, this story offers some important insights.

by Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This book is not my usual genre, but thought I'd stretch a bit. A few chapters in, I felt that I should not be reading Barbara's private diary. Several chapters later I was wondering WHY I was reading Barbara's private diary. Several more chapters in, I was wondering why Barbara felt we all should be reading her private diary. I am confident that Barbara got more out of writing this book than I got out of reading it.

While I was aware that this was a memoir, my assumption was that something interesting must have happened to the author, or her immediate family, or her friends, or her neighbors, or her not so immediate family, or ANYONE! But that was not the case. While Barbara does a very good job of recalling various parts of her childhood, the reader is not really provided any reason to care about any of the characters. Unless you grew up in the Midwest, or were divorced once or twice, or had a parent die young or commit or attempt suicide, there was no real "hook," no connection to the author or her life. We don't really learn anything or take anything away from this book, nor do we learn that the author learned anything but a few missing facts about her past. We don't get any inkling of how that information and/or revelations will benefit her or the reader.

Despite her inclusion of geographic maps and genealogical family trees I had no idea who was related to whom, nor which generation was involved with which other generation. I'm sure it all made sense to her extended families, but to the moderately engaged reader it was very disjointed.

Though this volume was self-absorbed and narrow, Barbara's other volumes may be worth a read assuming that she has an actual story to tell in them.

i thoroughly enjoyed this book. i am not an expert critic, but i found myself wanting to go"home" again after reading her book. very nostalgic and bittersweet.

the book came some what handy, but I would have like more information than it gave. for example what drugs were used to treat the animals, or the difinative host and intermidiate host.

Miss Reith is referring to the 6th edition not the 5th. The 5th edition is still the premier reference for any parasitology student. Unfortunately the 6th edition and later editions were edited, diluted and reformatted to become a nice fecal collector used to house train a pet. Useless is a kinder description. Find, buy any edition before the 6th!

I was surprised at Dr.? Reith's review of this book. Contrary to what Reith affirms, the book IS divided into host sections, al least for the parasites diagnosed by fecal examination; actually, there are 28 pages and 55 photographs devoted to dogs and cats, 16 pages and 32 photographs devoted to ruminants, etc. Parasites of the urinary tract, genital tracts, or skin are in a separate chapter, as are blood parasites and arthropods. This does not bother me terribly. I wish Reith had mentioned the "very common parasites" that are not included; I have not missed any yet of the common ones in a veterinary practice. I have a fairly extensive collection of parasitology diagnosis books and, for the variety and/or quality of the photos, this is still the best. I only wish that some of the photos were in color but I am not sure I could afford it. I still recommend it very strongly to my students of Veterinary Parasitology and to veterinary practitioners.

The features that made the 5th edition so helpful as a reference, like separating the book into sections according to the type of host (ie: dog, sheep, horse, rodent), and showing photos of the parasites that commonly are found in or on that host, have been removed. Additionally, some very common parasites are not even included in this 6th edition! Rather than a good reference book, it has now been reduced to somewhat of a primer on parasitology, one that introduces you to 'types' of parasites, rather than one that actually enables you to recognize characteristics of one parasite that distinguish it from another, similar parasite so that you can specifically identify it. This book is no longer useful, as the previous edition was, for reference work. I do not recommend it.