New York Books

I completed this 369 page "story book" in two days. It had been so interesting that I just could not put it down.

It's no exaggeration to regard it as a story book. Somehow the reality is more harsh and crueler than fictitious TV drama and movies, and the history of the investment world is surely no exception.

Back to the book. This is in fact an excellent collection of writings from books, journals amd newspapers of different witnesses to the author's selection of major debacles of the past four centuries. There are twelve parts of unequal period, with a timeline of critical incidents in the beginning of each part, followed by selected witness reports as mentioned above. Certainly, not everything could be accounted detailedly (so I would like to recommend "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor", a book that dug deeper but not as wide) but readers certainly would have a very correct idea of what went wrong.

As a CFA charterholder (not yet, passed all three levels of exam but not paid the fees), I strongly recommend AIMR to put this book into the required list of reading to warn its members of the limitation of the financial techniques or theories or calculations or integrity stuff we try to preach. Anyway, a must read for anyone, especially serious players!

p.s. One minor drawback: Soros was not there. He should have been.

this book gives you a window look into the brilliance of wall streets finest players , as well as the big scammers. this book gave me a better knowledge of how the market works and how the economic cycle is always repeating itself. it gave you a nice history into how wall street was established and how it evolved into the market it is today.

Editor David Colbert collected a multitude of printed source material - diaries, private letters, memoirs and articles - that spans 400 years, and, as the title promises, provides plenty of accounts from eyewitnesses to Wall Street. Organized chronologically, the book also includes Colbert's timelines and his original introductions for each piece. Divided into sections that reflect every era, the book is an insightful and often hilarious romp through financial history. We [...] recommend this book to all readers - there's something here for everyone, even if you don't think you give a hoot about the stock market. Colbert's collection is a sweeping, unusual look at social, economic, political and cultural history.

I don't work in finance, but I found Eyewitness to Wall Street very enjoyable and informative. It's a sweep of stories that captures the impact of Wall Street over the centuries -- and this subject seems even more relevant after the terrorist attacks that attempted to end the Street's intense vitality. This book does a wonderful job of defining and explaining, and thoughtfully celebrating, that vitality.

This is a must read for hispanics and non-hispanics alike. A treasure for any individual interested in the immigrant experience. An excellent read!!

This book takes you on a journey from a small town in the rural sector of Puerto Rico to the struggles Puerto Ricans faced and still face in the U.S. Rivera captures experiences so vividly, one can have a clear mental picture of what ia going on. This book captures your emotions and ties you to the story-line and lives of these characters.

I met Ed Rivera personally two years ago. He taught creative writing at a college in New York City. I've just read this book now, almost six months after he passed away and it is incredible how inspirational he can be, both in person and in the written word. In Family Installments, Ed Rivera has set the example for future writers. He has done something that not even Piri Thomas, with all due respect, did in his novel, Down These Mean Streets. Ed Rivera presented a story that truly captures the Latino's experience, from the native country all the way to life in the United States, mainly in New York City. Ed Rivera tells this story with a clever blend of grimness and humor that is difficult to imitate. His characters are powerfully vivid and his prose is rich and sharp. These details are what bring the story to life. But what adds to the charm of the story is the way Ed Rivera can make even the most difficult and embarassing situations very humorous. The book is a real treat for Latinos and non--Latinos alike. I give it five stars.

Rivera has opened the window to the world of what struggling Hispanic families had to endure just to become an almost invisible dust particle on the sill of America. This book captures the true essence of latin struggle and desperation to find a better life, the rigors of the ruthless yet merciful city (New York), and the good times though turbulent times. This book captures the pain, and frustrations of the Hispanic community coming to a newland, seeing it through the eyes of a developing juvinile into his manhood. This is a small nich in the historical carvings of being Hispanic. Thank you Mr. Rivera for writing this autobiography. As a young hispanic youth growing up in Corona, Queens during the early 80's, I can relate to the struggles your family and yourself have undergone. I was born in New York, but my father shared the same sufferings your father had upon migrating to America for a better life. He told me stories of living in the Dominican Republic and seeing pure poverty, then coming to America to work like a mule for close to nothing, saving every penny to bring my mother over and their new born daughter. We survived in a one bedroom apartment for 14 years...we were seven kids then. "My father also wears glasses fit for microscope". This is a great book, I hope you enjoy it as I have.

Note: I offended an immature person by giving negative reviews to books attempting to "prove the Book of Mormon." Rather than answer my criticisms, that person gives my reviews negative votes. Oh, well.

Your "helpful" votes are appreciated, and please remember that a short review (recommendation in this case) is good if it leads you to a great book.

I own this edition, and I would highly recommend it. I agree with the other reviewers. This is a must-have book for anyone with an interest in art.

My copy is from 1997. That edition (p. 112) contains the most wonderful scene of two children and a dog running up a hill with a beautiful valley in the background. It's from the cover of the "Saturday Evening Post" of May, 1960. Done in light greens and yellows, this painting is very evocative of an innocent youthful world.

I wish that painting had been larger. If someone knows where I could obtain a copy, please leave a message here.

"Famous American Illustrators" is full of large-format pictures that give the reader an appreciation for the talent and imagination that has gone into these paintings. What a wonderful world these artists created.

Thanks, and you will enjoy this book. Highly recommended.

The Walt Reed book referred to by the other reviewers contains many more artists, but it has far smaller reproductions because there is so much packed in. By contrast the present book has some magnificent large and colourful illustrations that allow the reader to gain a better appreciation of each of the artists. The colour balance is wonderful (unlike some art books) and the selection of illustrators is great.

Books on illustrators, from the golden age to the present, with their vast sample illustrations are in constant demand these days due to titles going throught out-of-print listings. One excellent reference source-The Illustrator in America:1880- 1980 by Walt Reed contains hundreds of works by illustrators from the late 19th century to the 1980's. The book unfortunately, is now out-of-print. Now, a new recent addition has been published-Famous American Illustrators. The various listings and samples of illustrators from the book are all elected members of the American Society of Illustrators. The book is an excellent supplement for Walt Reed's title where the readers can view more samples of each of the illustrators' unique styles.

The book is an excellent supplement to one of the title by WaltReed-The Illustrators in America: 1880 to 1980. The book containnumerous sample illustrations by elected members of the American Society of Illustrators.

Professor Wilshire calls for, and admirably practices, self-reflection, as he critiques the commercialization/professionalization and dehistoricizing trend of analytic philosophy. He celebrates freedom and ecstasy in a spiritual, passionate inquiry committed to pursuing difficult questions, wherever they may lead.

He takes risks, not least of which is deliberately remembering, even that which is most painful.

Someone who has survived academia without being tainted by it,
he is also one of the very few men who can truly appreciate the radical feminist theology/thealogy of Mary Daly.

What's not to love?

Socrates died long ago but his influence continues. Wilshire's Fashionable Nihilism continues his tradition of stinging us into awareness, of stopping us in our sleepwalking and demanding that we wake up and question our benumbing assumptions, of prompting us to inquire whether we are as fully alive as we might be. Wilshire tears into the reigning analytic philosophers absorbed in technical conversations with each other. With philosophical problems nearly consuming us as a nation, Wilshire's book explodes coteries and cliques and directs our attention to the pressing world all around us.

I found this book of considerable value for understanding the philosophical situation in America today. It demonstrates very convincingly the deep differences between analytical and continental/American approaches to the field, and this is already quite informative. But it goes on from here to show that analytical philosophy is unable to assume the responsibility of pursuing a genuinely humanistic and humane thought -- and thus is unable to address the great issues of our day. At its core, it is a nihilistic enterprise that is absorbed in the play and interplay of linguistic and conceptual systems, thereby sealing itself off from the most profound ethical and political issues of the contemporary world. Despite its remarkable logical power, it becomes a self-inhibiting and self-defeating way of doing philosophy. Something else is called for, and the author points to this other direction -- inspired by American and continental philosophy -- eloquently and forcefully.

This book is a "must read" for anyone interested in the recent history of philosophy in America, or who cares about its future. Wilshire takes sure aim at a philosophy that "mangle[s] the roots of our thinking-feeling-evaluating selves." Analytical philosophy, an approach to consciousness and self that weds philosophy to the style of natural sciences, can disable self-conceptions, leaving us with nihilism. It can all too easily reduce flesh or body to lifeless matter, morph minds and imaginations into chemicals and `wiring,' and deflate sacred ceremony and myth to no more than childish mimicry and fable. Whatever happened to Socratic "care for the soul"? These elegantly crafted essays are a treat to read. Wilshire nurtures an affirmative celebration of the passion of philosophy. No one will want to miss his account -- the best I've seen -- of the battle in the late `70's between mainstream analysts and marginalized American phenomenologists and existentialists for recognition in the American Philosophical Association. Later chapters rethink Native American thought, consider Henry Bugbee, a neglected American "philosopher of intimacy,"and revisit William James' concern for `the spiritual.' Wilshire ends with a elegiac meditation on his daughter's death that bears out his philosophical spirit -- such proof as can be given that nihilism does not speak the final word.

This book explores both generational and cultural aspects of Indian families transplanted to and from the U.S. It is a delightful read on its own merits, but can also be applied to any immigrant experience. The expectations from the originating country and the dilution which occurs over time is portrayed with great understanding.

Just finished Robbie Sethi's novel FIFTY-FIFTY. Enjoyed the voyages per chapter. I felt i have just returned from a world that I am happy to know more about, especially because I am intent upon trying to open myself to what may be exotic, foreign, or so much like what i know that I am blind to sameness. What branching lineage for each chapter. What a tour de force of novelistic orchestration! Seventeen main characters interacting or ignoring or judging and showing up and disappearing. I feel my first and strongest and most lingering impression is how different the expectations are when families are internationally mobile and also realistically skeptical about how secure life and status can be where ever one lives. Of course, the novel intends to show that, but I feel for the first time I came to understand why, frankly, I have so often been intrigued by and alienated from recently arrived immigrants--and even those who have settled close to me in New York City. At least in the Punjabi heritage it was made clear how dependent relatives are and also thwarted, made proud, and confused. Felt the love affair between Natisha and Lalita was finely drawn, and the author captured the attitude and dilemma of the African-American father of Kunti's baby devastatingly accurately based on my experience. Too many young men now handle their lives just as he tried to. Captured Kenya well also, a rather schizophrenic society I was not comfortable in--and for some of the same reasons as the Kaurs and Singhs!
I thought a lot about the Indian and Pakistani students I have taught and how what is occurring at home and in their communities shapes how they may think and behave. They are often the most mysterious group in my experience--and the novel enabled me to comprehend how social and economic and cultural pressures and expectations distinguish them from many other ethnicities. I am being rather sociological in my appreciation, but that is how I was most directly impacted. Robbie Sethi can enter into other cultures so confidently and empathetically? empathically? I admire that very much. I wanted to thank her for writing FIFTY FIFTY, and I hope she reads these comments.

Sethi's second novel is a clever, daring, and sharply insightful panorama of a family's struggle to transcend the inevitable entropy of the family structure as a result of time, distance, and tradition. The children of Biji have, by choice or obligation, traveled disparate paths, spanning continents and generations, and through their darkly realistic struggles to satisfy both their roles as members of a family and their individual desires, we are given not only a powerful and profound lesson on culture, spirituality, and imperialism, but a carefully sharp and gripping portrayal of the universal struggles that all humans share. Unlike the conventional novel, Sethi's tale is told through a series of stories, each presenting a unique's character's perspective in his or her own voice. From the compelling story of young Rosa Gill's attempt to identify in a suburban California culture that treats "the other" as a form of boutique cataloguing, to the dark descents into self-destruction of cousins Kunti and Rajit, and even the tale of Biji herself, a political refugee and dominant head of the family, these tales intertwine in a way that is brilliant and wholly fulfilling. No stone is left unturned, and the reader is left with a mosaic of human existence that is much more than a "multicultural" tale, but a beautiful and frightening commentary on the universal struggle against loneliness, responsibility, identity, and alienation. The expansive scope at the book does, at times, create a somewhat off-putting separation between character and reader, but Sethi's ability to mold, color, and develop a versatile stock of voices is brilliant enough to bring you into a universe that crosses continents, cultures, and personalities, and shows that the deepest emotions are those that do not know such boundaries.

In her first book, THE BRIDE WORE RED, Robbie Clipper Sethi established herself as a skilled cultural translator as she explored the lives of three American women and the families of the Indian men they married. Now, with FIFTY-FIFTY, she introduces her readers to yet another Punjabi Sikh family, this one spread over four continents and struggling to adapt to their adopted lands. Told with startling compassion and insight, this novel offers a complex and realistic view of what it means to be an immigrant.

Like Sethi's first book, which was described as a "novel-in-stories," FIFTY-FIFTY is told through multiple voices, each with its own titled chapter. From the Gill family matriarch Biji to her four children to her grandchildren, they each tell their part of the family history. Although the chapters could stand alone as short stories, their real power comes from their compilation. The best chapters are "Exile," "Three Sisters," "The Curse of Life," and "Double Mind." Sethi writes with a no-nonsense style; however, the moments she chooses to reveal are lyrical. I could not help feeling for every one of these displaced individuals. By the time I finished FIFTY-FIFTY, I did not want to leave these self-exiled characters who, despite all that they have suffered, continue to harbor hope.

I highly recommend this for readers of literary fiction and those interested in cross-cultural and immigrant issues.

Lots of action that makes you read this book more than once! I hope they make a movie out of this!

This book is great. It has a lot of twists and turns. It keeps you reading right to the end. There was a couple of times where I felt bad for bad guy and thought that he was going to prove victorious over the good guy. It really is suspense filled. Read it.

John Lutz and David August did an unbelievable job at writing Final Seconds. I was blown away by the suspense and mystery of this novel. They should make more books together. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read. (Final Seconds would make a great movie!)

If you want a good, entertaining book, you could not choose a better one than this

NYC Island Hopping made easy

Flashmaps is a wonderful guide to carry with you when you are trying to find that fabulous restaurant in "The City". All of my friends love this book and have bought one for themselves.

Flashmaps '98 is a very easy to use guide. There is a special map for every subject like a college map, a hospital map, a sightseeing map and much more. Almost like a two-in-one guide.

If you want a small lightweight book that has everything about New York, this is your book. Since New York has lots of sidestreets, and you can easily get lost there, you will love the maps and directions. The shopping section even has street maps with every single store on every single street! This book is great for shopping information.

A fine addition to my Granddaughter's collection of books about the borough she calls home.

The other night, my three-year-old son couldn't sleep. I took out my daughter's copy of Flying Over Brooklyn and started to read. He was wide-eyed and smiling through the entire adventure and absolutely surprised when we reached the end, "That was a dream?" he asked. "Yes, go to sleep so you can have an adventure too," I replied. "Wow, I would if I could have dreams THAT good!" I am sure that when my children are older they will appreciate the dreamy glimpses of a world far removed from our own (Brooklyn) and the historic significance of a child's recollection of an unusual event, but for now, they simply enjoy sharing the boy's dream-come-true flight over a snow-covered city. Meanwhile, I appreciate the positive spin it gives to the words, "Bed-time!"

"This is the first childrens book I have seen written for city kids. Every city kid will appeciate this story about flying over the city and seeing the great snow storm. It is truly a child's dream.

Mr. Uhlberg's book FLYING OVER BROOKLYN should be required reading for any child who can read, or even before he has that ability. It is a lovely illustrated book that my grandchildren were delighted and fascinated by, especially when I was able to corroborate how the little boy felt. I, too, as a little boy lived through that blizzard in 1946 and that made the grandkids' eyes open wide, I guess with admiration that I had survived the ordeal. Kudos to Mr. Uhlberg. Give us more, sir!

NYC can be overwhelming even for the repeat visitor. Be prepared, and use Fodor's. What I loved about the guide is that it breaks the city down into neighborhoods. You can pick the ones you want to visit, and wander through a different one each day. I originally tried to visit NYC with a map highlighted with the sights I wanted to see. It was a wild goose chase! The suggested itineraries in Fodor's made it easier, and I wasn't harried by running all over the city.

Fodor's has done good by NYC here. This tome is packed with juicy tid-bits throughout. If you 'Need A Break?' during your walking, there are literally hundreds of highlighted cafes, corner deli's, candy shops, and bakaries for you to peruse-separated by neighborhood and borough.

This book is divided into different chapters, the first dealing mainly with Manhattan and its different neighborhoods. Want to visit the grill/movie studio owned by actor Robert De Niro? It's in here. Want to visit the former homes of any number of famous New Yorkers? Or the bar in which poet Dylan Thomas supposedly drank himself to death? The restaurants where Hemingway and others wrote? Prohibition-era speakeasy's? All these and much more are expounded upon.

There is a dizzying array of info on museums, nightclubs, music clubs, restaurants, transit systems, and tours. My wife and I have been devouring this book in the months before our trip to NYC. It has been a blast. The beginning of the book also includes some nice color photography of various key sights and Fodor's has done readers a great service by listing its 'moments not to miss' on one page (things like where to be for a great sunset or the most romantic restaurant etc.).

Also helpful are numerous itineraries for walking tours based on a 3 day or 5 day trip to NYC. The inside cover includes a checklist of items to cover in the months up to your trip (reservations, finances etc.)

After returning from our trip, my wife and I can say that this book was a MASSIVE help to us. We carried it around in our bag and stopped each day once or twice to review it as we walked around. A great resource.

Absoluetly a GREAT BOOK! From the pull out map, to the pictures this book is just jam packed with information!

It includes categories such as: The Arts, Lodging, Nightlife, Shopping, and many more. Everything you need to know about the greatest city in the world is in this book!

Perhaps one of my favorite things about this book is that it has up to the date website information. I was able to purchase many of my tickets for attractions in advance thanks to this feature which allowed me to avoid long lines.

Other great features include addresses and telephone numbers, fax numbers, admission prices, and opening hours. Never worry about not having enough $$ or arriving too late to find the attraction closed.

Use this book as your guide and you are guaranteed to have a wonderful visit to NYC!

Amazon.com Readers,

Just a note -- the building on the cover of this book is the Flatiron Building, not the WTC as another reader suggested.

Within the past year, I bought a Fodor's guide to New York City. The guide I bought was the 2001 edition (not too much different from the 2002 edition), because I wanted to see what it said about the famous and not so famous places in New York City. I am a resident of NYC, and I have been for my whole life, which is one reason I wanted to see a travel book, about it. I read about Grand Central Station, the American Museum of Natural History (which I live very close to), and the buildings along Central Park West. One building I would like to see some information about in the Fodor's guides is the El Dorado, further up Central Park West than the Dakota, San Remo and Beresford (three very famous buildings, but not necessarily more worthy of attention than the El Dorado). Most reviewers might think that the El Dorado is too far uptown to be fashionable, but there are some famous people living in that building who may disagree. The building is a fine example of art deco design, and was made a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Since I am a resident of this great city, it was very interesting for me to actually buy a travel guide and read it as a tourist would. Fodor's is always very comprehensive with their reviews.

I didn't read the restaurant reviews, but some restaurants that I have liked going to for a while include Merchants NY, on Columbus Avenue between 85th and 86th streets, Neo (a bit pricey, but a great Japanese restaurant) on 84th and Broadway, and Zocalo (a Mexican restaurant) on the Dining Concourse level of Grand Central Station. Write some follow-up reviews of this Fodor's Title and let me know how you like these restaurants! Enjoy your trip to the greatest city on earth!

All the Best,

--Daniel

I bought this for my best friend, who is a teacher...she absolutely loved it and said it was wonderful book.

IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY PRIVILEDGE TO WALK THROUGH THE HORROR OF 9/11 WITH THESE COURAGEOUS TEACHERS. IN TELLING THEIR VERY PERSONAL STORIES WITH HUMILITY AND HUMANITY, THEY GAVE OF THEMSELVES, OPENLY AND GENEROUSLY, AND, LET US INTO THEIR LIVES ON THAT UNIMAGINABLE DAY.

WE ALL THOUGHT ABOUT THE NYC SCHOOL CHILDREN THAT DAY. WE ALL WONDERED ABOUT THE TEACHERS WHO WERE IN CHARGE. WE WANTED TO KNOW WHEN AND HOW THEY FOUND OUT, WHAT EACH TEACHER SAID , HOW THEY FELT, WHO THEY CALLED, HOW THEY KEPT THEIR COOL WITH THE CHILDREN.... HOW THEY SHOWED UP AS LEADERS IN THE FACE OF THE GRAVEST TRAGEDY. AND, IN THE AFTERMATH, HOW THEY CAME TO AN INNER PLACE OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE; HOPE THAT CONTINUES TODAY.

THE STORIES ARE STIRRING. THE VOICES NEED TO BE HEARD. THE READINGS WILL TOUCH YOUR HEART, WILL MOVE YOU TO TEARS, AND WILL LEAVE YOU WITH PROFOUND RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR OUR TEACHERS... AND A DEEP SENSE OF GRATITUDE FOR EVERY DAY.

This book eloquently recounts the stories of the 9/11 tragedy and its aftermath from the perspective of the New York City teachers who were on the job that fateful day. It is powerfully written, a testament to their hope and strength and shared humanity. The writing was so compelling that I wanted to read it all at once, but emotionally I needed to go slowly, to let each chapter sink in. It is one of the most powerful pieces of writing that I have ever read.

What would you do if you had been a teacher or administrator in a New York City school on September 11th, 2001?

None of us can be sure how we would have responded to such a challenge. But the 17 teachers who wrote this book, do. Their very personal memoirs have inspired me as a teacher, and as a grandparent of young children who have already asked: "Can something like that happen again?"

Reading these teachers' well-earned words is like sitting around a kitchen table with a group of smart, dedicated, and exerienced teachers, and hearing them share t heir struggles with the greatest educational challenge of our time: sustaining the hopes of the next generation.

Patricia Lent, a 2nd-3rd grade teacher, reports one of her students saying: "I'll never forget that on that day you held my hand and you didn't let go."

"I couldn't let what had happened destroy what was left that was good," writes Debbie Almontaser.

Voices from the classroom are all too rare in the literature of education and pedagogy. This book is exhilarting to read and an authentic source of hope and help for parents, teachers, and students.

Ronald Gross