C Books

Un frase diaria para cada día del año.. QUE INTERESANTE !

You have to read the signaled marvelous phrase for the day... that`s all in order to live better and happier

encontré el mejor instrumento para estar contenta y de buen animo todo el dia..
Leo una frase, entra a mi cabeza y no sale hasta por la noche...

NO SIRVE SOLAMENTE PARA PASAR BIEN UN RATO... SE TE METE A LA MENTE Y PASAS EL DIA CON TODA FELICIDAD Y SIN PENSAMIENTOS NEGATIVOS,...

¿Vieran como han diminuido las fricciones entre mi esposo y yo?

so that I can read a phrase each morning...
IT MAKES YOU FEEL SOOO GOOD !
Now, I don`t fight anymore at school... Because I keep a nice modd all day long !
IT`S GOOD FOR BAD TEMPERED KIDS LIKE ME

I've had this book for almost two years now, and I consider it (along with Liberty's classic "Programming C#" [I have both first and second editions]) one of the most useful books for helping me move from "beginner level" C# to "journeyman" mastery of what has become my favorite language and daily working tool of choice.

Liberty's books join with my books by Sells, Petzold, Gunnerson, Archer on that small shelf ... within arms reach ... which I consider essential tools to have as I work in Visual Studio.

What I find unique about "A Developer's Notebook" is :

1. Content : the sheer amount of immediately useful information and code samples. This is a book, imho, for people who've already reached initial mastery of .NET, and are ready for intermediate-advanced topics. There's more technical content, more information, "per square page" in this book than in many books on .NET and C# that are 800+ page "whoppers" :) And I do have the sense that every bit of code in this book has been "refined" to the efficient minimum without losing its "educational punch."

2. Book Design : imho the design and structure of the book are a "tour de force" of technical book design : it's in the form ... almost ... of a laboratory workbook; the "asides," or comments, in italic script font in the margin of the pages add a very useful commentary that evokes and provokes thought.

3. Immediacy : I get the feeling that Jesse is right there talking to me as he takes me through the intricacies of IEnumerable, Generic Interfaces, Delegate Covariance. Very good terse introductions to technologies like ClickOnce.

4. Technical Format : the book has a format of presenting a concept concisely, outlining the structure of the classes or methods involved, describing a practical usage scenario, and then, in a section titled "How Can I Do That ?," presenting a key code example that demonstrates the technique in use. I find this similar to what I perceive as the "experimental" method in Petzold's books, and, for me, this is a compelling way to learn.

4. Writing Style : As in JL's other books, I personally experience him as one of the clearest writers of technical expository prose I have ever read. In sections typically titled "What About," or "How Can I Learn More," for each major topic, he succinctly addresses questions that imho any intelligent developer might be asking about the limits or side-effects ... or the "gotchas" ... of the techniques presented.

I like to compare learning a programming language with learning a musical instrument. It seems to me that initial mastery of C#, like learning to play the guitar, involves a required period of just learning the general way you use the tools (the Visual Studio environment, the .NET compiler, assemblies, WinForms, Classes, Interfaces, UserControls) : until you have that initial "vocabulary," imho, you can't really "play a tune." But once you do have the initial comfort level and mastery of the tools, you are ready to start with studying simple "Etudes" which are designed to be musically satisfying in themeselves and, at the same time, help you progress in mastery. Using that analogy, I consider "A Developer's Notebook" a book of "Etudes," an excellent one !

In summary : this is one of the best technical books I've ever read. I do hope that at some point JL will do another book in this format, and structure, probing, in the same "experimental method" other topics in .NET 3.0 and 3.5 like LINQ, sophisticated uses of AppDomains and Contexts, the ability in WPF to get WinForms controls across domains, etc.

best, Bill Woodruff
dotScience

I purchased this book to get prepped for 2.0 development. As usual , Jesse delivered with additional benifits. He is a great, clear speaking, author. I needed the facts and he delivered.

Well worth owning for those of you transitioning from 1.1 to 2.0.

This is a very good "delta" book for moving to 2.0. It doesn't spend a lot of time with "object oriented programming began in 19..."-type gibberish. Instead it moves directly to some of the new features and talks to you like you know what your talking about.

Easy read.

However, the introduction says something to the effect of "this series skips the 'hello world' applications and is instead the often frantic scribblings of real developers performing real tasks" or something like that. In reality, none of the examples was terribly realistic. It was the same type of examples and 'hello world' demonstrations you would find in any other book. And the "scribblings" in the margins were often just pullouts from the text--just like any other book.

Overall - good book. But the marketing hype for the series is just that--hype.

I just borrowed this book from the library as I'm trying to cut down and only buy true reference books. I didn't have a whole lot of expectations, but this book was exactly what the doctor ordered. I knew C# for VS.NET 1.1 and am gradually migrating to 2.0 and all of it's extra features. I just wanted a book that covered the new stuff... and could come as close to just injecting the information into my brain without all of the extra fluff. This book does exactly that. If you're new to .NET don't get this book... but if you're looking for an incremental upgrade book (as I was) that is concise, full of examples, and covers the whole spectrum of VS.NET 2.0 then this is IT! That said, the title is just a bit misleading... the first chapter is about the new C# keywords and constructs, but this book covers changes with Forms, ASP.NET (Themes, Master Pages, ...) and so forth. This books has been hard to put down and I'm seriously considering buying this one to add to my reference collection. I've learned a lot from it in just the past 24 hours.

I was hired for a developer job using VS.NET 2005 and I need something to get me up to speed on all the new things in C#. This book did the trick and was a delight to read. It is not a lengthy book, but, is full of straightforward advice.

This is a deeply personal, moving account of one man coming to terms with his wife's illness and her eventual death. His poetry is deeply affecting, beautiful, and poignant. I highly recommend this for anyone.

This book is considered to be one of the greatest poetic accomplishments in American history. Read it with a box of tissues.

I heard Donald Hall read passages of Whitman's Leaves of Grass at the 2005 National Book Festival on the Mall in DC. I knew nothing of him, his work, or his love of Jane Kenyon. I did know his voice rang true to the soul I possess. I can still here his voice over the sound of helicopter blades that plagued the readings in each tent. Compelled to read his work I finally gave into the need to buy one of his works and so I bought three.

"Without" is a journey of loss. Each poem is a step during the journey of Jane Kenyon's illness, passing, and Donald Hall's experience of loss. His pain, confusion, and helplessness are mirrored in every line and in every word with in the pages of "Without".

By the time I got to page nine I was crying, not for Jane Kenyon but for Donald Hall. The book doesn't show case only loss but devotion. The memories he shares of Jane are clouded with the simple things that brought him contentment and careless pleasure. How often do you see the simple things in your life and overlook the pleasure that exists in the act of observation? Donald Hall looks back on the pleasure of contentment watching his wife taste the sauce that will be served with dinner and the act of bringing in groceries. He tells us of the ravishing beauty she grew into in her 40's. Donald Hall reminds us of hope with in the pages of "Without".

girldiver:)

I wanted to read this collection of poems because I was so moved by Mr. Hall's memoir of his life with Jane Kenyon, The Best Day The Worst Day. The poems here are inspired by the same sequence of events; that is, Ms. Kenyon's death from leukemia. This unity of purpose alone, so rare in poetry collections, gives the book incredible power. Of course, this unity is not enough. Fortunately, despite the sad theme, there are a number of wonderful poems here.

I found the poems in the first half of the book--those leading up to Ms. Kenyon's death--the best. "Song for Lucy," "The Porcelain Couple," "The Ship Pounding," and, especially, "A Beard for Blue Pantry" and "Blues for Polly" very moving, filled with great images like "Jane made bread so honest/it once went blue in the pantry//overnight in a heat wave" (Pantry) and "She sang blue: soulful, erotic,/skeptical, knowing everything/turns out bad in the end." Not surprisingly, blue is a linking color here.

Mr. Hall also intersperses a poem, "Her Long Illness," throughout the first half of the book. It's a risky strategy but it works well. Some of the best lines in the book come in this poem.

I didn't feel the second half of the book, which focuses more on Mr. Hall's loneliness, stood up as well as the first. The title poem, the first of the aftermath poems, is the weakest in the book. There are some passages in the various "Letters" poems that make up most of the second half that are very nice (my favorite, from "Letter in the New Year": "If someone had told us then/you would die in nineteen years,/would it have sounded/like almost enough time?") but, for the most part, they are very uneven. I was also put off by some of the semi-profane and sexual language in some of these poems. Not that these experiences aren't appropriate but they didn't ring true with the rest of the work.

It may be that the first half has the advantage of the tension of Ms. Kenyon's illness which dissolves into a less satisfying depression and loneliness in the second half. Perhaps my knowledge of the memoir interfered somewhat with my reading of some of the poems. Still, as a whole, this is definitely an excellent collection.

In his book of poems "Without", Donald Hall weaves a lexicographic tribute to his late wife, and fellow poet, Jane Kenyon, and in turn, leaves the world a legacy of grief and honor.

I first heard of this book by listening to NPR's "This American Life" on a featured story about the couple. Donald himself read some of these poems, and I knew within a minute, I had to have this work.

As poets so meekly and admirably do, Donald Hall captures the moments of his wife's last days through her battle with leukemia. The poems are simple, attainable, and direct. He minces no words as he describes Jane's downfall. He poetry is both pure and chilling; you feel her loss, you feel her impact, you feel.

If you are considering purchasing this book, I may recommend you purchasing Jane Kenyon's final book of poetry called "Otherwise". In a sense, they are companion pieces to each other, and in reading both you hear her voice, along with his, to make it theirs.

I highly recommend this book if you have ever lost someone, or want to understand the not understandable impact of losing someone.

If you have not read Dr. Karl's book you are missing this summer's #1 read. His insightful, thought provoking writing style takes you inside the operating room and so much more. I was deeply moved by his experiences and his notable style of writing about them.

naturally i give this 5 stars becaue the author is my uncle but it is truely a GREAT book a must read

I was a patient of Dr. Karl's back in April 2002. I was in my mid 30's and of course scared to death of surgery. Dr. Karl was the 4th surgeon that I had consulted. Once I met him, I knew he was the surgeon for me. His understanding of what I was going through, his grace, his medical experience. I could go on and on.

When I heard he had written a book, I had to read it. As a patient of Dr. Karl's, when I was reading his book, I felt he was writing from his heart. There was no fluff in this book. Dr. Karl is a wonderful man, surgeon, person and spirit. I am sure Dr. Karl has touch so many people's lives. This book is a must read for patients and surgeons!
Tammy (Brock) Cartiglia

I was totally engrossed with this book. I have read several books recounting the life of Doctors in training and although I also found those fascinating, this one was great because it came from a different perspective.
I would sure feel much better facing a major medical need in my life with a sugeon who's understanding of the human condition is as keen as Dr. Karl's. Thanks for sharing you journey in medicine with us Dr. Karl.

A wonderful collection of stories about surgical life and how being a patient has made this surgeon a better health care provider. Karl does a terrific job of relating the hopes and fears that a surgeon has when performing his duties. The frailties and strengths of both patients and surgeons. Things that have gone right and things that haven't. The author has an obvious passion about his work and just as obvious compassion for his patients. Karl's unique writing style and skill really take the reader there. His descriptions of the feelings, moods and events are right on the mark.

Whoever appreciates Peter Drucker als author of 39 books focusing predominantly on the various subjects of management should also read his "Adventures of a Bystander". This book is a very important key to Peter Drucker's development and personality. Add his two novels "The Temptation to Do Good" AND "The Last of all Possible Worlds" and you
will discover Peter Drucker's qualities as excellent novelist. There you will find very important additions to his management thinking and practice in terms of profiles of psychological dynamics of people in action.

Drucker clearly explains how rampant inflation in post WW I Germany influenced the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler. This discussion should be required reading for every 14 year old child! I particularly liked his stories of Willem Paarboom, a sort of Dutch hedge-fund/investment manager who appeared to be a cross between a man and a raven. In his day, Herr Drucker was exposed to some truly elegant and unorthodox thinkers. He adds his own illuminating interpretations and is not afraid to engage in contrary thinking. (Especially when to do so is out of vogue) Read about Dr. Mordecai Johnson and his views on the "American Negro Problem" and you will never contemplate African slavery the same way again. I consider Drucker to be one of the brightest minds of the 20th century, and his genius is on full display here. Certainly, this is one of the most provocative and influential books that I have ever read!

(Drucker particularly liked the "sqwoosh, sqwoosh" sound when jumping in puddles.)

Not really an autobiography, not quite a memoir, part biography, of the people he has known in his life, some famous, some not. And Drucker is still alive, now 95 years old. It was a dense, fact-filled book, but always fascinating. He is an amazingly prolific, gifted, engaging writer. And what he has to say about America and The American Dream in the last pages of the book is no less true today than it was in the late 70's when it was written. He writes of Sigmund Freud (things you haven't read before), Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John L. Lewis, and Buckminster Fuller among a host of other characters. A very rewarding, thought-provoking read. Highly recommended. Especially for those of us who want to read history by the people who lived it.

Drucker's most captivating book, Adventures of a Bystander, is a dynamic memoir of the singular Americans and Europeans of Drucker's life. They include Fritz Kraemer, the historian who "invented" Henry Kissinger; Reinhold Hensch, a newspaper editor so mediocre his only career path was to become the "monster" of the Third Reich; John L. Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, and the visionary early chiefs of General Motors. (Yes, General Motors.) Most importantly, you meet Peter Drucker, whose offhand insights into the world surrounding his characters make every page of this book reward rereading. ....

Instead of the usual self-focused auto-biography, Drucker introduces us to the people that have shaped him. Some are famous (Bucky Fuller, Marshal Mcluhan) some are not (his elementary school teacher). Some are good, some evil, but they are are worth meeting, especially through Drucker's eyes. A good read.

I concur with most of the points addressed by earlier reviewers, and found this book to be one of the best about history that I've read. Many of the letters were eye-opening, detailing facets of America's history of which I was unaware. As an example, I found the letter detailing the My Lai Massacre both illuminating and horrifying. The letter from Roosevelt to 'The President of The United States in 1956' honoring the first American soldier to give his life in WWII is one of my favorites, along with the letter to the Warner Brothers from Groucho Marx that an earlier reviewer mentioned. A few additional thoughts:

1. The choices of letters from the 1990s were the weakest of any decade. I suppose that's to be expected in the days of e-mail, chatrooms, and the demise of the letter writer, but I'm sure there were better selections than one detailing the results of testing performed on the stained blue dress worn by Monica Lewinsky, or the letter to a Star Trek fan.

2. The majority of the letters related to negative aspects of the century, which while powerful to read made it a bit depressing to read more than 30-50 pages at a sitting. As the various forms of media have always realized, bad news makes for better stories than good news. I wish, however, that there would have been more letters evincing triumphs, humor, and/or optimism. Such letters were in evidence, but not in abundance.

3. I agree with an earlier reviewer that noted the liberal bias of the letters selected. There appeared to be an inordinate amount of 'coming out' selections and letters voicing disapproval of the System. They were important letters, however, that gave me a different view of the country's past.

4. One of my favorite history-related books is A People's History of The United States by Zinn. This book of letters reminded me of that text, required in a college history class.

Overall, I strongly recommend this collection to anyone interested in the history of 20th century America.

This is a collection of over 400 letters that attempts to summarize the century using such. It's a fool's errand, of course, but this is a valiant and fascinating effort.

Some of the letters are famous ones: Einstein alerting Roosevelt to the possibility of developing a nuclear bomb, Martin Luther King writing from the Birmingham jail, and Nixon's terse letter resigning the presidency. Others are less-known but still from famous people: Mark Twain complaining caustically about the inefficiency of telegrams, Charlie Chaplin ecstatic about his first movie contract, Bill Gates trying to discourage early software piracy.

And others are from and to obscure people while still being remarkably telling: an immigrant writing to his relatives about his new life in America, a Jewish woman writing of her experiences being captured and interrogated by the Nazis, a letter left at the Vietnam War Memorial, an erstwhile Compuserve user giving up on his connection problems when confronted with technobabble in response to his request for help. It's really a fascinating read, a hodge-podge of life across the century, from mundane domestic problems to the key issues of the day. My only complaint is that there's a bit of a liberal bias, with plenty of letters describing the hardships of the downtrodden masses and not a whole lot celebrating human ingenuity and accomplishment. But perhaps that is a telling point as well, considering it's a bias that has dominated this century.

This book is a wonderful collection of stories from every year of the 20th century. The authors of the letters are famous people and ordinary citizens. These letters express every human emotion love, loss, triumph, joy, and hope. This book is a pleasure to read.

My favorite story is about a young woman writing to her best friend about her bad marriage. Her husband is physically abusive to her and her son. She yearns for the courage to escape and become an independant woman which she eventually does. Another story by a young man who actually survived the sinking of the Titanic He writes his girlfriend about his experience of getting off the ship and waiting to be rescued.

There is a letter by a woman in Hawaii to her brother in Ohio. She recounted witnessing the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War 2. She recounts going to a bomb shelter and depicts the commaraderie among the people of the time.

There is a Dear John letter addressed to Ernest Hemmingway from a nurse who cared for him while he was wounded in World War 1 He loved her but their relationship was a mere fling to her. She lets him down gently. This relationship inspired Hemingway to write the novel The Sun Also Rises. There is another letter written by a young unwed pregnant woman in the 1930's seeking advice from a doctor. Her father has no knowledge of the pregnancy and her mother is dead. She has nobody to turn to and her desperate plea for guidance is very touching.

There is another poignant letter written by the sister of a Vietnam Vet who died from lymphnoma as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. She expresses her disbelief, loss and sorrow to an anti war group. There are several stories written by expectant parents to their unborn children. Each letter is filled with anticipation and hope. Buy this book. You will never be able to put it down.

I did not expect to like this book. I had avoided reading it for some time, thinking it would be dull, pedantic, not worth the effort it might take to read it, and generally unpleasant.

I am so glad I found out I was wrong.

It's actually enthralling, well-done, and a worthwhile addition to anyone's library. I am not generally fond of ultra-personal non-fiction, or of the twentieth century in general, but _Letters of the Century_ overcame all of my doubts. The explanatory paragraphs and notes are extremely helpful; the letters are generally of medium length, diverse in subject matter, and uniformly fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.

Every library should have this treasure. I can't think of any book that is as immediately accessible or as fascinating to anyone who reads it. It's a fun way for anyone to learn about America's last 100 years. It's a great gift for a teenager who may consider American history a sleeper subject; it can help put all the facts into context. I wish I had this book when I was in high school!

It's worth picking up a copy, alot of information in there. Good thick book. Glad i bought it.

This book must have taken a life time of research and work. It is the most comprehensive and complete work on the Maya I have read. I was particulary interested in the Maya Calendar history and their methods of working the calendar.

Had this book been less than half its size readers would end up learning much more about the Maya from it. Unfortunately, there's much too much that belongs in an Archeology 101 class here and by the time you get to some discussion of the Maya, you're half asleep. Those of us who are not reading archeology for the first time will wish the author had just kept his discussion to the Maya, as the title suggests he will, and assumed we understood the basics.

Personally, I'm still looking for a book on the Maya so that as I travel from site to site in Quintanaroo, Yucatan, Guatemala and Honduras, I will have a basic understanding of the site I'm driving to. I just booked a trip that will book me in the area of Chac Mool soon. I'll see what I can find.

By far the most thorough book on the Ancient Maya I have ever seen. It covers all the history and gives a great deal of arceological information. There is also a lot of information on the religious, social, and economic life of the Maya. The book covers in great deal the history of each Mayan polity and it is very well organized. If there is anything you want to know about the Maya it will be in this book.

This is by far the most comprehensive book about the ancient Maya. There are several excellent shorter ones; this is the go-to book for thorough reference. It has become almost as "classic" as Maya civilization. Sharer reminisces about being "hooked on" Maya studies by the third edition (by Morley and Brainerd, 1956); so was I, back when it was newly minted. How much has changed since. Scholars can now read Maya. We now can match written history, sculptured portrayals, and archaeological findings to identify the actual skeletons of some of the greatest and most famous Maya kings, such as Yax K'uk' Mo' of Palenque. We have entire dynastic lists covering centuries, for many of the major cities. We can use bone chemistry to find out what the Maya ate. All of this was almost beyond the wildest dreams of the 1950s.
The Maya turn out to have been as brilliant, original and creative as anyone ever thought, a truly homemade civilization, one of the few in a tropical forest environment. They are said to have "collapsed" due to ecological maladjustment, but this book notes that modern research shows the civilization lasted well over 1,000 years before the "collapse" around 900 AD, and it was a fairly local phenomenon. This local collapse was due to drought, warfare, and some ecological overshoot--too many people doing too much (including burning too many trees to make lime for stucco and cement). The Maya kept on. They took on the Spanish and often won. The last independent state held out till 1697, and Maya continued holding out in remote backlands; in 1846 the Mexican Maya rebelled again, and created an independent state, finally reconquered after 1900 and turned into the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. As for what has happened since, suffice it to say that 3 days ago I saw an election sign painted in huge letters on a wall in central Quintana Roo: "PRESERVE YOUR PRIDE IN BEING MAYA!"
There are very few errors in this book, but some need correcting in the 7th edition. Most are in the very early sections, and are often left over from previous editions. Page 5, 16th-century Europeans are said to be "secure in the knowledge that they alone represented civilized life...." No, they revered China, and knew plenty about India, Persia and Arabia. P. 9, coffee is said to have come "soon" with the Europeans; not till the 19th century, at least as a major crop. 23, Nahuatl loanwords reflecting rise of central Mexico in the Postclassic: Well, a lot of those Nahuatl loanwords came with the Spanish (who had Nahuatl soldiers with them). Page 33, caiman: The book confuses the animal called "caiman" in English, an alligator-like creature not found within hundreds of miles of Mayaland, with the crocodile, which is called "caiman" in Mexican Spanish; also, pythons are claimed as native to Mayaland! The nearest they get is Africa; evidently "boa constrictors" are meant. Then nothing till page 640, where a typo (apparently two decimal places missed) has given us a preposterous yield figure for beans (in the table at the top of the page). The yields of maize are also pretty high, though not ridiculous. There are a few other errors in the book, but nothing of consequence that I can pick up.
The book uses the "new" transcription system for Maya languages, but sometimes slips and uses the "old" system, and sometimes mixes them up in the same word (e.g. "dz'onot" on p. 52). One related annoyance--not Sharer's fault; alas, it is becoming standard--is respelling "Yucatec" in the new transcription system. "Yucatec" is a SPANISH word, with no excuse in Maya, and should not be respelled. (For the record, the Spanish coined "Yucatec" from a misunderstood Maya phrase and a Nahuatl ending. They also popularized some Nahuatl ethnic names for Maya peoples. These names, like Huastec and Aguacatec, should be spelled in whatever system in now standard for Nahuatl--not in a Maya system. Better yet, they should be replaced with the actual Mayan names, like Teenek for Huastec.)
The one place I would respectfully disagree with this book is on ancient Maya population. Sharer has "tens of millions" of Maya in the 700s AD and around then. On the basis of some years of field experience with (mostly modern) Maya agriculture, I don't think this is possible. Granted that the old myth of purely-swidden agriculture is long dead, "tens of millions" would require agricultural intensity of a sort found, in preindustrial times, only in the wet-rice lands of east and southeast Asia. Mayaland is small, and only some of it is at all fertile. Sharer's evidence is a couple of surveys showing high densities of settlement in particularly favored areas; not only are they atypical, there is no guarantee the houses discovered were all occupied at once. I would guess the peak total for Mayaland was between 5 and 10 million; at least, the agriculture I know would support that many, if it had some additional intensification of the sort well documented. Beyond that, all is speculative.
One more thought. The Maya were supposed to be "peaceful" back in my student days. Then, with reading the Classic Period texts, scholars found they were pretty warlike. This led to some exaggeration the other way. Fortunately, Sharer is far too careful and comprehensive a scholar to fall for either the "peaceful" or the "warlike" view. The "warlike" view was justified by the big monuments in the Maya city squares. These commemorated wars and victories, just as do those in town squares in the midwestern US. Alas, we lack the ordinary writings--the equivalent of midwestern newspapers, with their record of marriages, births, corn and hog prices, store openings, and the like. Surely the Maya had their equivalents. What interests me here is the incredibly long life spans of Maya kings. Many lived, and even reigned, for 50, 60, even 70 years. Compare that with the Roman or Chinese emperors or the kings of France. Clearly, Mayaland in its glory days was a pretty peaceful, healthy place--though, indeed, not the paradise dreamed by romantic archaeologists of the early 20th century!
The ancient Maya are still a pretty mysterious lot in many ways, and there is a huge amount to learn. We had better do it soon. Sharer provides a long, excellent, very disturbing account of the looting that has destroyed much of the Maya heritage and will destroy all of it (at least in Guatemala) if a massive effort isn't mounted soon.
On the other hand, nothing is more heartening than the number of Maya who are becoming archaeologists and ethnographers, and studying their own past. More power to them.

Pero si nos hundimos emocionalmente, NUESTRO MUNDO PERSONAL VA A RESENTIR LAS CONSECUENCIAS !
ESTE LIBRO, HERMOSO DESDE SU DISEÑO HORIZONTAL Y MUY BIEN ESCRITO Y PENSADO, TE ELEVA SOBRE LA SUPERFICIE CONTAMINADA Y TE CONDUCE A DIMENSIONES HERMOSAS DE ESTIMA PARA TI MISMO:Si:PORQUE ERES UN LUCHADOR

TODO LO BUENO EN LA VIDA... ¡Es la falta de autoestima y amor a nosotros mismos!
Eso es lo que nos pesa en el corazon como si fueran cadenas..
LIBERATE... ESTE LIBRO TIENE LA LLAVE !
Te enseña cuanto vales !
FABULOSO !

Eso es lo que hace este inolvidable libro !
Te da estimacion para ti mismo y hace que te sientas feliz con el mundo que te rodea

y te estimas, con todos tus dones, NO PUEDES AMAR A NADIE...
Y NADIE PUEDE AMARTE!
Eso es lo que hace este libro: Te enseña A AMARTE Y A ESTIMARTE EN TODO LO QUE VALES!
Y TE DEMUESTRA QUE VALES MUCHISIMO !

QUE REALMENTE TE HACE VALORARTE A TI MISMO !

This book keeps your interest for the whole 180 pages. I bought the book because when I saw the cover it caught my interest. I was very pleased to find out that the book was even better than the cover looked. The text in the book is such that it makes for easy reading. While the story is an autobiography of a girl who spent 12 years in the hospital as a child, it also tells of her life as an adult. The author tells about her life and the treatment she received while she was in the hospital. When I realized that the 12 years the author was in the hospital , is how long it normally takes to begin school and graduate from high school it amazed me. I remember going off to camp for 5 days during the summer, when I was a child, and how I missed my family, especially my mother. This made me wonder how the author survived those 12 years away from home. This author has survived many losses and the way she survived is amazing. The author also tells about the many miracles in her life.

This book is very inspirational, informative, and interesting. I enjoyed this book and the authors writing style. The Baby's Cross, by C. Gale Perkins, is a great book. The book is suitable for all ages and would be a great book for anyone to read. I definitely will recommend this book, and plan to buy copies for gifts.

This story was so riveting that I read it from cover to cover in one sitting. It was fascinating to learn what day-to-day life was like for a child who endured 12 years in a sanatorium as a ward of the state. The incredible revelation at the end of the story wrenched my soul. If you have ever faced or think you will someday face obstacles in your life, read Gale's story and draw courage.

The Baby's Cross is a true story of courage, faith and perseverance despite all obstacles. I cannot imagine going through isolation, countless operations, pain and enormous losses of friends and loved ones at such a young age and coming through it all with such determination! Gale Perkins truly does have the 'heart of a clown' and an inner thread of courage that helped her survive. Love and faith prevented her spirit from being broken. There is also a great lesson in here on the importance of forgiveness. This really is a ten star book, and then some!
Chrissy K. McVay
author of 'Souls of the North Wind'

"The Baby's Cross" was recommended to me by a close friend of mine. She said it was a fantastic autobiography; she had even became very good friends with the author, C. Gale Perkins, after reading it.
As I began to read the book, I immediately saw and appreciated the large print letters; it made it a lot easier to read. I was shocked to find that Gale had spent the best days of her life in a hospital, from the age of 3 until 15. I know, I couldn't have handled going into a hospital setting, at those times, with out my family, and at the age of 3! It made Gale a stronger person, I could see throughout the book.
She faced many challenges, as her life unfolded, never being able to be in the "outside" world and in a car, and never eating a home-cooked meal until the age of 14.
Gale had endured many surgeries, scary nights, and losses of loved ones at that hospital. She had dealt with things, most kids now days couldn't even begin to imagine.
Gale said she had found her faith in God in the book. I knew as the book continued that God was always with her. He got her through the hard times, and was there for all the miracles she experienced.
I was very pleased when I finished this book, C. Gale Perkins, shared her life story with me, as if she was really holding a conversation with me. This well written book deserved the rating it got. This is the type of book I think Oprah would enjoy reading. It's a very touching story, and I'm very glad I read it.

"The Baby's Cross" is an autobiography of the life of C. Gale Perkins, written in a light, conversational type of style that moves at a pleasant pace.

The cover picture depicts young Gale's life, tied to a crib in a body cast after she was thought to have contracted tuberculosis, like so many others in the 1930's.

Appropriately titled, from a poem written about her during the hospital stay by the prematurely deceased mother Gale hardly knew, "The Baby's Cross" that Gale lived, actually began at birth.

Born prematurely and not expected to live, confined to an institution from age three until the age of 15, many surgeries -including one that paralyzed her, doctors telling the young, frightened child she would not live past the age of 16 - and the many losses of loved ones were but a part of the wood that formed Gale's cross.

Perhaps worse than the physical, was the mental/emotional torments that hounded young Gale. Here was a child - a baby - at the mercy of loneliness and fear, typical of any in her situation, in a day and time when feelings were to be repressed, especially those belonging to children and especially those existing in a busy, structured hospital setting. The reigning philosophy was to ignore, stifle and even cover-up the truth of what one didn't find acceptable. One line from "The Baby's Cross" makes this perfectly clear, said after the death of Gale's most important friend in the institution: "I then stopped crying quickly; this was something that we all learned at the hospital."

Like a good fictional book, this true story gives a surprising twist near its ending, explaining the real reason Gale was kept in the hospital for 12 years.

The main reason I rate this book well is in the telling of how this high-spirited life turned the negatives into positives, a quality evidenced to me from the beginning, in how Gale handled the re-telling of what could have been overwhelmingly oppressive memories. It is a story of overcoming obstacles in order to see more clearly, a story of faith and the resulting miracles and a story of strength enabling one to find triumph through all.

It is also a story that serves as a reminder to stop and appreciate the many blessings most often taken for granted. (Imagine an American, not having that first car-ride until being in the "outside world" at the age of 14 or never having known the smells of food cooking until age 14, etc.)

"The Baby's Cross" is an enjoyable book to read and I personally liked the larger-than-standard print size of its words.

I own the original French version of this book: "Peau noire masques blancs"! Franz Fanon addressed very well the racial issues encounted by previously colonized civilizations like the French island of Martinique. But Martinique is just an example. The truth is raw, but it's the truth, and there is still a long way for the freedom of the mind.

Frantz Fanon was a contemporary writer of the 1950's. Born in Martinique, he studied psychiatry and medicine in France as a young man after volunteering his services in World War II. He had an educational background in post colonial studies including racism and colonization. At the age of 27 he published "Black Skin, White Masks" which played a vital role in civil rights and Black consciousness movements throughout its time. Fanon's analysis of the Black psyche, "Black Skin, White Masks", was amazingly interesting and educational. It gave me a fresh perspective to what it means to live as the minority, as a person of color in a White world. This is a wonderful review of how the French of different backgrounds interacted with each other. There are also a few downfalls in understanding "Black Skin, White Masks". This book is hard to follow because it jumps around quite a bit, making various points throughout the same train of thought. There are many topics covered, one of the most thoroughly explored being romantic love between interracial couples. It also explores the use of language and the importance of knowing one's familial, racial, and cultural history.
One of the topics Fanon concentrates on is the Black man and his goals in life. To understand what Black men go through, one has to first understand the history of the particular Black man he is talking about which is born in an island off of France then moves to France and faces the culture shock of entering a country where the language and customs are different. Here the Black man goes from being comfortable and part of a larger entity to being the minority. At this stage the Black man feels he is worthless because of the history of the relationship of Blacks and Whites, where the Black man has led a forced life of servitude and abuse which has caused him to believe that he is inferior to the White man. The White man's racism has created the White man's feeling of superiority which correlates with the Black man's feeling of inferiority. Because of this inferiority complex the Black man has an overpowering need to prove himself equal to the White man. Fanon goes on to argue that the Black man's goal is to prove to Whites, Blacks and himself that he is an intelligent, good, and worthy of pursuing happiness individual. One of the most detailed examples was how the Black man attempts to get closer to being White by having any relationship, be it friendship or romantic (preferably sexual), with a White person other than a master/slave association. As an example Fanon tells a story of a young mulatto woman who marries a White man and in a split second goes from being the slave to being the master. Yet there are other cases when the Black man succeeds and he is not only rejected by Whites, he is repudiated by Blacks.
Another theme was that of language and what happens to a Black person when he arrives to France. The Black man has to learn how to speak French as it is spoken in France in order to become "whiter", for example, an educated Black man is no longer seen as Black because Blacks are savages while the intellectual is civilized. Yet there have been many cases where despite the success of the Black man, Whites refuse to accept them as equals and show it by speaking to them in pidgin or as children. There is also the struggle of remaining part of the Black community after assimilating into the White world. After learning to speak French, he returns home as white in the eyes of other Black people. The Black man must be able to code change in order to survive in both worlds.
Antillean education is looked at carefully in this book. Fanon compares the children of France with those of Martinique. As French children learn about their culture and their ancestors, Martinique children learn of the ancestors of others. Fanon proposes that the Black Martinique children should learn about Black history as a separate section in order to build self esteem and confidence. Children need to learn that there have been others in similar situations that have pulled through and made it despite discrimination and hate. If the educational system increases the Martinique children's knowledge and understanding of their own heritage and history, they will be able to make connections with their own ancestors and their amazing accomplishments. This would thus curb ideas of inferiority.
There was a contrast between Blacks and Whites that kept the world as it was. In order for there to be white, there has to be black. In order for there to be a slave there has to be a master. In order for one group of peoples to be superior another group has to be inferior, and this is the case with Whites and Blacks. As a result, whatever one group is the other is the opposite. Here arise a series of stereotypes that support how people think of these two groups. Whites are intelligent, progressive, civil people while Blacks are primitive savages in need of taming. Since Blacks are savages they cannot control their emotional and sexual needs hence in contrast Whites are not sexual and have the ability to suppress their emotions. From this Fanon argues that a subtle jealousy was born; the White man envied the Black man's sexual freedom.
As I read this book I could not help but think of my students and how they embody many of the same believes as Black men in the 1950's. The children I teach Mathematics to are people of color, either Latino or Black. I spend much of my day listening to them speak among themselves about various topics and have picked up on certain ideas that reflect that of past colonized populations. Although there is this total rejection of anything and everything that is White, there is also an underlining want to be White (perhaps mainstream is a better word). For example, I have heard my students discuss accents and the implication that those who have one are in some way less intelligent than those who speak like Americans. Students have also expressed in happiness that they do not speak their parent's native tongue, typically Spanish, which is an indication that they are closer to being white than those who's first language is not English. Another disturbing behavior I have noticed is the animosity towards Whites. It seems my students have been programmed to be hostile towards White people, especially peers. They constantly refer to Whites in derogatory terms; for example, when one of my mentors (an older White woman) spend a period in my classroom the students were flustered and after she left referred to her as "the white b*$^%" as opposed to "the lady who was just here". At the same time they insult each other by using terms that are associated with being Black such as insulting the wideness of their nose and/or thickness of their lips. I find this to be an interesting contradiction and would like to explore it further in hopes of understanding the contemporary adolescent.
As a teacher I found this book to be very helpful in understanding why our children of color behave the way they do and why they consistently fail in a system designed for children who are not exposed to the gruesome situations the students in the South Bronx (where I teach) go through on a daily basis. These children could very well have an inferiority complex which they will have to overcome before being able to succeed in this White man's world.

Frantz Fanon was a black man born in the French colony and island of Martinique. He trained as a doctor specialising in psychiatry. He was deeply concerned about the impact of colonialism on the people of colour, particularly how it humiliated them, destroyed their culture, values and dignity. This led him to get involved in the Algerian war of independence in the 1950s.

The book "Black Skin, White Masks" was written almost fifty years ago. This was during the time when decolonisation of the African continent and elsewhere was gathering momentum.

To adequately capture and assimilate Fanon's thinking of the question of colonialism and racism and their impact on the coloured people, one also needs to read Fanon's other great works: "The Wretched of the Earth" and "Dying Colonialism". Here one can see his anger and the background to his conclusion that it was only through violence that people of colour could liberate themselves from colonialism, particularly from mental bondage and inferiority complex that accompanied colonial subjugation.

In "Black Skin, White Masks", Fanon develops his thesis about the impact of inferiority complex of subjugated peoples and the alienation of some of them from their kind resulting in their wish to identified with the colonialists or imitate the European. There are a number of celebrated and classic cases of coloured people who have tried various formulas to change the colour of their skins, the tone of their voices or their names so that they sound more civilised (European).

Fanon's ideas about how the coloured people can liberate themselves (physically and mentally) influenced many leaders of revolutionary movements that were fighting colonialism. Some organisations in the USA, such as the Nation of Islam, appear to embrace a lot of Fanon's ideas and thinking.

The book is recommended reading for those who wish to understand the impact of colonialism on the colonised around the world and their different reactions to this menace.

If you want to understand racial identity, you should read Fanon's approach. The most influential author on ethnicity and colonization in the twentieth century.

Fanon really draws you in with this book. One feels involved with Fanon's fight not just against racism and colonization, but also his own self evaluation and struggle within himself to accept himself for who he is.

Among other things, what struck me the most was the way Fanon showed that minorities do not feel inferior because they were thrust in the midst of a majority. Considering that South Africa has minority white population and yet the black population there took on the brunt of racism and that had nothing to do with the minority subjugation.

Another line of thought that Fanon brings about is the domination of the colonized language. In Martinique, the average middle class family would insist children to speak French like the French would and not the commonly spoken Creole. The Martinican returning from France was expected to uphold that standard and speak proper French. If he reverted to his old ways of speaking, it was looked down upon. Fanon shows that the black man of Martinique maintains locked in his own cultural impositions and unless that is shed it would make it difficult for him to rise out of it.

Fanon brings about how the psychological impact of colonization through language, culture and history plays on the black man. Fanon delves into studies done by others and compares or rejects ideas put forth by them either with by presenting his own experiences or a generalistic view of the colonized Martinique land.

Fanon digresses frequently from topics of discussion and jumps around wildly in some of the chapters. But overall the book is well written and makes you think and begs you to put your own experience and thought into it.