Yule Books

This was absolutely fabulous. Erotic poetry--some of the "erotic-ness" is covered in wonderful adjectives, and poetry like this is usually not found so well written by men.

I was trained in the Balanchine technique, and although interpretations vary on what Balanchine wanted from his dancers, this book is a must have for dancers, teachers and ballet fans in general. Suki was one of the original Balanchine dancers, and it is wonderful that she put forth the effort to carry on his methods of technique and training.

Just terrific! Since there are so many schools of ballet, (Cechetti, Vaganova, french, Bournonville...),it's the first time there's a book telling you the difference between the Balanchine technique (much superior to me)and the old way of training,I found this book perfect for anyone interested in Ballet, you can learn so much by reading and the pictures are so beautiful that I framed some.Bravo!

This book shows the technique that the ballet master, George Balanchine, wanted his dancers to use to be the best dancers they could possibly be. Being a dancer, I found this book to be quite fascinating, but, you don't have to be a dancer to enjoy it. Even if you get bored with reading, the photographs will certainly captue your intrest.

This book is a comprehensive look at George Balanchine's ballet technique. Balanchine himself thought that he would be remembered more for his teaching than his choreography and Schorer does an excellent job in detailing the technique that he molded for New York City Ballet. The book covers Barre Work, Upper Body, Pointework and Related Releve, Jumps, as well as a section you rarely see covered in a technique book, Partnering. Every exercise is clearly described both in words and with a photograph, and Schorer often includes analogies and other teaching tools that she uses to get her students to understand the particular quality of a movement. This book is an invaluable source of information about ballet technique whether or not you subscribe to what is know as "Balanchine Technique."

I also highly recommend reading "Pointework," also by Schorer, as well as watching the three "Balanchine Essays" videos, where Schorer herself instructs New York City Ballet dancer Merrill Ashley and three students in the areas of Arabesque, Passe and Attitude, and Port de Bras.

This book is a very comprehensive discussion of virtually every aspect of ballet technique, including topics not usually found elsewhere. It should be kept in mind that first and foremost this is Balanchine technique as interpreted by Suki Shorer. Most of what is presented is excellent. I must tell you that among ballet professionals, including those that have worked and studied with Balanchine himself, this book is very controversial. Most tell me that he never asked for things to be done in some of the ways described in this book. To be fair, it seems that he said different things to different people for the sake of expedience, but there are some things that are really difficult to take. The most significant of these is the concept presented in this book of the use of the heels in jumping. It is claimed here that Balanchine told his dancers not to put the heels down when landing. I have never encountered any dancer, both those that worked with Balanchine as well as those who did not, who would ever do such a thing and they tell me neither did Balanchine. It is considered very dangerous to do that and a major source of injury. Other issues are changements and tendus, to mention just a few of the other points of contention. It is important to keep in mind that this book is not a Bible, it is just a mostly good discussion on one approach to a complex subject.

This book is somewhat informative but not formatted in a very likable way. Overall, it does give good information about the way that the holiday is carried out and a couple of recipes, so it is helpful but not focused.

Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide. By Dr. Christian Rätsch & Dr. Claudia Muller-Ebeling, 2003/2006.

This is by far the best book on the Christmas traditions that I've yet read. Rätsch, the famed ethnopharmacologist, has written more than 40 books in German, and I hope to see all of them one day translated to English, because I would buy every one. I have all of the English translations of their books, and they are two of my favorite authors.

Rätsch and Muller approach Christmas from a different angle than the other books on this subject - through plants. Plant drugs, plant incense, plant foods, plant rituals, etc.

They show a rich history throughout the world of the Christmas traditions and the various plants used in each region, including additional evidence regarding the links between the tale of Santa Claus and the Amanita muscaria mushroom. In their thorough presentation, they completely shatter the recent attacks on this idea by Andy Letcher in his book Shroom (pg. 137-9).

There are also some historical finds in this book that are invaluable to research and academia as a whole - especially that of Epiphanius and the 10th century manuscript that proves the correlations between the worship of Jesus and Horus.

From pg. 150-1.
"In 375 CE, Epiphanius, Biship of Constantia, described the pagan winter solstice feasts and mystery cults:

This feast was celebrated by the Greeks (I mean the pagans) on December 25--the day called Saturnalia by the Romans, Kronia in Egypt, and Kykellia by the Alexandrians. On December 25, then, a cut happens that is also a turn; and it begins to grow. This is the day when the light be3comes more (Vossen 1985, 72).

In Egypt, Kykellia is called "the rite of Isis." Like the smudging nights, this is a twelve-day feast. It begins with a torch procession in honor of the birth of Horus, the son of Isis: "The birth of the new sun is the intended meaning, and that was connected with the announcement of the sowing [of wheat] in the earth, freshly fertilized (with dung) and flooded by the Nile" (Vossen 1985, 72f). The sowing was done on December 27, during the feast celebrating the ascension of Horus to the throne. [...]"

This reference to Epiphanius has actually been lost to most of academia since its discovery in 1859. In fact, Rätsch's citation to Vossen goes back 4 centuries earlier than the more widely known versions of Epiphanius. As George Robert Stow Mead in 1906 related:

"And here it will be of interest to turn to a curious statement of Epiphanius; it is missing in all editions of this Father prior to that of Dindorf (Leipzig, 1859), which was based on the very early (tenth century) Codex Marcianus 125, all previous editions being printed from a severely censured and bowdlerized fourteenth century MS"

Why am I mentioning this? Because it shows the overall high level of scholarship in Rätsch's and Muller's work. Their research is impeccable.

As a follow up to this book, I also recommend reading Dr. Patrick Harding's book, Christmas Unwrapped. His book goes into more detail of some of the important calendar aspects that are also important to understand. He also covers more of the angles on the Amanita mushroom / shaman relationship.

My only complaint with Pagan Christmas is that it would have been nice to have the chemical composition of each plant included someplace, like in the margin, so that we can also see if there is any chemical foundation to many of these plant's myths and tales.

Buy this book, buy all of their books. 5 Stars!

An incredible book full of revelations. After getting my first 'Ratsch-book' I have been seeking out publications which he authored or co-authored. I have not been disappointed!

"the author's approach sound rather "anti-Christmas" as if the book is some sort of an indictment against Christmas due to its many pagan origins." - If you (not you but general "you") are a christian, the thought of Christ's birthday being set on a date that is not only NOT his birthday but also has a basis in paganism is disconcerting. the marketing of a religious holiday is sacrilegious and we do it all the time. (look at easter!)this is a common problem. christmas is a personal and spritual time for all to get together w/ their families, celebrate their way, and compare the year; not to "help" our economy by buying chinese crap at exhorbiant prices just to have them fall apart before new years!

"I am amazed how well Christian faith adjusted and adapted to fit the needs of so many different cultures and people...Christian faith as we know today is a product of many "adjust and adapt" concepts used by leaders of the Christianity through passage of time." - Christians didn't just "adjust and adapt" they purposely used pagan rituals mixed in with their rituals and beliefs for the ease of conversion and control of the poor and lower casts. using the fear of god and the familiarity of paganism is how kings kept the "lowly peasants" under heel. i'm surprised everyone doesn't know that one!

BTW: this is a great book for comparative theologists and curiosity seekers alike.

First, this book is written by two German anthropologists and was only recently translated into English. The research is very thorough and objective. I'm sure someone would argue with this assertation, but I don't think I'd want dispute anthropologists who study ethnobotany and art history as well. They are more qualified than I am.

Second, the book is not really a how-to book as far as rituals and such. This is more about the traditions and symbolism which we believe to be Christian and part of Christmas observance. Imagine telling someone that Santa Claus is really the personification of a hallucinogenic mushroom, the fly agaric, often used in shamanic religious practices. St. Nicholas' sack has pagan symbolism. The Christmas tree was the Christian church's response to the pagans who worshipped the living tree, so cutting down and killing the tree would be the ultimate insult. Plants and recipes involving particular spices are also mentioned in here. The living evergreen wreath is exceptionally symbolic as the circle of life and the wheel of the year. Buying gifts and decorating like mad is a new phenomenon during the Christmas season as is evident in poems, stories, and sayings from as late as the early 1900s.

I believe this book would be educational and would benefit almost any reader. Pagans and Christians should all read this book. Some extremists wouldn't like it as it is in direct conflict with their beliefs.

I say buy the book or borrow it from a library for its educational value. If it had been available in English, I would have bought it sooner. I've been looking for a book like this for years.

Life on the Wire is an excellent book for anyone interested in living up to his/ her potential. It is powerfully narrated replete with examples and anecdotes. It is one of the greatest biographies i have read. Althought it lacks the actor's deep secrets or rather the actor's key learnings as a human being and as a profesisonal actor, the book certainly increases the desire of the reader to read more. Al Pacino is a genius that the book fails to truly capture entirely. Quality of the pages is poor and some grammatical errors are scatterred throughout. Nonetheless, a good read indeed.

As a lifelong fan on Al Pacino, I purchased this book and could not put it down. It gives you private insight into a very private man and details the trials that he endured to get to where he is now. A must have for any Pacino fan!

Al Pacino: A Life on the Wire is a great book! I am very impressed because even though Al Pacino went through a lot of hard times in his life, he made it. He is a real fighter, and he has proven that people should never give up; they must follow their dreams. Yule presented Al Pacino's life in general in an easy-to-follow way, and the reader can understand things well about Al Pacino as a person. I especially like Al's sense of humor, his passion for his job, and his attitude towards marriage. Al is definitely a free spirit and an accomplished actor!

In response to the Kirkus Review of Life on the Wire: The book does not report that Al Pacino's mother left him at three. She died when Pacino was 22 years old. Pacino's father left the family when Pacino was 3. The book clearly states these facts.

This is a extremely well written book..andrew yule does a great job on this book which i can imagine was not too easy judging by how private al pacino is..al pacino is one of if not my favorite actor and i thought i knew about him but after reading this i feel like i really came way seeing al pacino in another light.

the book can be perceived as not a true bio by some as it doesn't go real deep into al's life...it mainly explores and reveals his work..but then you will find that al pacino's life is "the work"..al pacino is the definition of what a actor is..and you will see that after reading this book..the author yule is given access to lots of sources and it is a authorized bio..as he gives lots and lots of great quotes from marty bergman,charlie laughton,and pacino himself...which are great.

how it goes it is will basically go in order by all the work he's done and it will tell stories about what happened behind the scenes it will give quotes of all the people involved and will show what happened..then afterwards it will always show you what "professional" critics wrote about the work..which i think is a good idea..it sheds light into how the work was perceived at the time...

and what i really took to heart from this book is how much critics are scum..not that the author portrayed them as this..i just can't believe how much critics have without mercy assaulted and attacked pacino...pacino gives his blood to his work...he gives everything...he immerses himself so deeply into his characters that it is almost scary...and sometimes he will put so much work in and so much sweat and then you see these critics sitting on their fat butts just bashing his work..these talentless nobodies destroying all pacino has done..and it is really sad and really angers me..i have really never payed that much attention to "critics" but now i see just how disgusting these people are...to spit on someones art is shameful.

you will learn alot from this book..about al pacino and dustin hoffman and their quiet rivalry of sorts...you will learn about john cazale and james hayden who's careers and lives were ended too short..and you will learn alot about pacino and his work.

i highly reccommend this great book by andrew yule if you are a pacino fan or if you are just an actor or like acting..this should be in every actor's library as an example of what a true actor is.

I started to use the book three month ago because I'm researching in spray techniques. It's amazing how in just one book I could find lots of information related with my research; it could take me more time to collect it. The book has excellent theoretical explanations supported with a very good number of industrial examples. It is still being useful for me in a study of scale removal in oilwell tubing using spray technique.
Rafael Sucre
Venezuela

I started to use this book three moth ago, because I was looking for information related with atomization. It is amazing how in one book I could find all the information related with the topic, otherwise it would take me more time to find all this information separately. The book has excellent theoretical explanations and a very good number of industrial aplications.
The book still being useful for me in a investigation of scale removal in a oilwell tubing using high pressure sprays.
Rafael Sucre.
Venezuela

The book has opened my horizon, being from Middle East and living abroad as an engineer researcher, I have found it particularly interesting with the up to date information. Wealth of information and excellent selection of images.
Well done authors and the publisher.

I am studying Aerospace Technology at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. During my internship at the DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V.) in Lampoldshausen, Germany, I had to work on a survey of the current status of injection technology. To produce a comprehensive overview I had to do a lot of research in order to collect all kinds literature dealing with atomization or injection. So I came across this book. At first I was amazed by the good introduction to the topic of sprays and their appliance in industry. I especially like the many examples that are given throughout the book. The great number of figures used greatly improves understanding. As I went on with my reading I became more and more disappointed about the poor language quality. I am not a native speaker of the English language myself and I understand how hard it can be to write in a language different from one's own, but I find the legebility is greatly reduced by the high count of grammatical mistakes. Another drawback is the very poor quality of the images used in this book. In quite a few of them I find it hard to identify what is shown on the pictures. These vitiations prevent the book from getting a five-star rating and do not justify the price by any means. I hope the next edition will correct them because the book as a whole is still a very goog approach at the topic of atomization.

A very remarkable book written in the 13th century. Many secrets were reviled when Marco returned. And may interesting explanations of things like the origin of cinnamon.

Marco writes well enough of his travels and you feel that you are there. You can actually follow the trail if you have a map. He describes the flora and fauna of each region and describes the economics and industry of the region.

Example: "The women of the superior class are in like manner free from superfluous hairs; their skins are fare, and they are well formed."

It is interesting to see how little has changed from Marco Polo's 13th century and now.

Marco Polo purportedly spent 17 years travelling to the courts of Kublai Khan and, as an emissary for Kublai Khan, then throughout the Far East. Whether it actually happened or not is up for debate. I went into this text with an open mindset and have accepted that Marco Polo did indeed go on this trip with his father and uncle, but not to the extent as surmised. Instead he travelled and added stories he collected from traders and others to fill in gaps or points of interest to him. The book is broken into four sections now. Part One is his trip to the Great Khan's courts in Cathay (China). Part Two is his travels throughout the provinces of Cathay. Part Three concerns going to Japan, Southern India, and the Islands of the Indian Sea (Java, etc). Part Four is travelling into the 'northern countries' (Russia, etc).

In general, Polo gives very brief descriptions of most regions, accounting for their religious beliefs, money used, fealty to the Great Khan Kublai. There's some intriguing customs (visitors will be taken into a home and the man of the house leaves until they are gone but the visitor has full access to the household including the wives, daughters, sisters, nieces), talks of cannibalism, dress, unfamiliar animals they encountered, and contributes to the whole messy history of Prestor John. It does get repetitive and dry after a while. Polo's talk of Kublai Khan is almost obsessive and he was obviously completely enamoured of this new culture. Overall, it was fascinating to read although I had to push myself through some parts due to repetitive descriptions. Any history buff should read this story about one of the purported most well-travelled explorers ever, not to mention he was possibly the biggest best-selling authors before the printing press was invented.

Imagine a very boring person went through something fascinating. This person came up to you, started to talk about this incredible journey of theirs, but talking in this monotonous voice without changing pitch or showing excitement at any moment.

That's essentially what "Travels of Marco Polo" is. It's an INCREDIBLY interesting book and a fascinating tale, but can it possible be said in a more dry and flat way? There is no energetic spark that makes this adventure jump off the page. Perhaps this is due to the times, but I suspect the translation is a bit literal and bland as well. The writing never changes tone, even in parts that are clearly exciting and amazing. All the facts are there, but the reader is forced to put too much energy just to make it interesting.

Marco Polo had a most fascinating journey. Any history buff should snatch this book off the shelves (unless they decide to read the even longer, more annoying records that I'm sure can be found floating around), and anyone interesting in Marco Polo should as well. It may be dull at times, but it's still incredible, fascinating, and a riveting tale.

Recommended to heavier, more able readers.

I believe I got what I paid for. There were much better books of great detail, but they cost much more. I would suggest saving your money until you can buy a much more comprehensive book. The reading and information provided in the book was light and was gone over very fast. I question some of the facts contained there in.

It has been a pleasure to revisit the travels of Marco Polo. I was transfixed by these stories of travel and adventure when I was a child, and never questioned the veracity of the narrative. I know today that the narrative has been corrupted over the centuries, that "The Travels" can scarcely be used as an historical reference, and that a more tantalizing and complete manuscript has probably been lost to the ages. Still, there are glimpses and insights within the narrative that could only have come from first-hand experience, and these describe an enormous, exotic world that titillates even today, while readers in the 13th and 14th centuries must have been enthralled.

I was most keen this time around to Polo's descriptions of the cultures and wildlife he encountered, of the whales and lions and leopards and bears--he even describes a white bear, and the people who hunted it were surely of the group often called Eskimos. He describes dog-sledding in the far north and the cannibalistic practices of the people of Java far to the south, both of which are extant in our current era. There are also the fascinating observations of the Mongol Empire, of that group of nomadic people who somehow rose up, like an event in an Isaac Asimov novel, to conquer much of the known world.

Somewhat depressingly, though, are Polo's observations of the tensions that existed between the Islamic and Christian worlds, tensions rooted in the competition for hegemony over trade in the Far East. Seven hundred years later, these tensions are still acting themselves out.

This translation by Ronald Latham from 1958 includes an introduction that puts Marco Polo's life in context with events and includes footnotes to help the reader make sense of the myriad manuscripts that make up the travels of Marco Polo. This is a somewhat dry read; even Latham comments on the paucity of skill employed by Polo's chronicler. Once I put my mind in context with the narrative, however, I was able to roll with the repetition and sycophancy and enjoy the text.

This book is great. Very informative and helpful. Very good quality when shipped. Shipping was fast. Great overall.

I feel that this a great book. One thing thats great is that the chapters are short enough to get through, especially for those that use the book for college.

Probably the best introduction into the vast field of linguistics. George Yule covers all parts of language studies; and his book is highly readable (actually entertaining) to boot. Highly recommended for undergraduate classes or as an introductory book in general.

This book makes a very good introductory to linguistics. It is easy to read. The concepts are clearly explained.

From a student who has studied linguistics in the past, George Yule's book is almost a complete waste of time. He brings up interesting points, describes them, and drops them just as quickly without making any sort of progress. The book has precious few examples of the concepts he is discussing, and his discussion of the concepts themselves is muddy and incomplete. For a much clearer way to learn lingustics, check out Edward Finnegan's "Language: Its Strucuture and Use". There are many other books out there that do a much better job of presenting the theories in linguistics.

This book is all you could ask for in terms of an easy introduction to pragmatics. It is concise, simple, well-planned, clear, and full of useful examples.

Slightly over a hundred pages, this is an ideal read if you're looking for basic knowledge on pragmatics in general. I know no better book for that.

Highly recommended. In addition, this was the reference book in one my classes on pragmatics, so if university teachers consider it good enough for their classes, you can consider it good enough for yourself. And good enough, it sure is.

George Yule's "Pragmatics" is a great little introduction on the topic of English pragmatics, but that is all it is. It is a brief insight into some of the key concepts of the field and one that I found very useful. For this reason, I would recommend it.

However, it is a very short book, and those with more experience, (or any experience at all, for that matter), would probably prefer something more substantial. It is really a whirlwind tour of pragmatics and nothing more.

That said, I found it very readable and easily understood. It was certainly not all that taxing on the reading skills, and the main concepts and definitions were well explained.

This is a good book to start with, and I recommend it for a launching point to further reading.

The series in which appeared this book is designed to give a large-scale view of different areas of language. It should be used as an introduction to more specific ... introductions. The titles in the series are all divided into four sections: Survey, Readings, References and Glossary.

The Survey of Pragmatics contains nine chapters, each of roughly 10 pages: 1) Definitions and background; 2) Deixis and Reference; 3) Reference and inference; 4) Presupposition and entailment; 5)Cooperation and implicature; 6) Speech acts and events; 7)Politeness and interaction; 8) Conversation and preference structure; 9) Discourse and culture.

The Readings are one-page texts extracted from the specialized literature and are followed by a couple of questions. The References help the reader providing him with a selection of titles for every chapter of the Survey. The proposed books are classified in terms of difficulty, from introductory to advanced level. Technical terms are in bold and are explained once more in the Glossary at the back of the book.

I think the author has succeeded in giving a bird's view of several fields of pragmatics. Of course, the discussion is somewhat condensed and could, at least at some points, be clearer or give some more details. But one should be aware of the difficulty of explaining a lot of stuff to people with no assumed prior knowledge of the subject and having only 90 pages at one's disposal! Nonetheless, I missed formal definitions of technical terms in the Survey. The author often gives them only indirectly, and the reader must extract them himself from the text. Sincerely, I did not find the Readings useful at all and I would have wished to find more titles and more details in the comments under each of them in the References.

While I find this book enjoyable because it is about my favorite breed, I feel that a lot more photos of the different point colors could have been included. Also, a little more information on the different "types" of Siamese, such as applehead, classic, or wedge would have been interesting. The author implies that exhibitors are breeding problems within the breed by breeding for a "wedge" type, but neglects to say what type of problems and I came away with the impression that she does not approve of the show standard for Siamese. Several good photos of show type Siamese are included however. Overall it is a good book which perhaps just needs to be updated.

If you are interested in the life and death of 1980's slain Playboy Playmate of the Year, Dorothy Stratten, more than half of this book is devoted to her. Not only does it include the important role she played in Bogdanovich's life, but it is a descriptive "biography within a biography". I highly recommend this book on that account, even more so than Bogdanovich's biography of her, "The Killing of the Unicorn." The reason being that Andrew Yule uses unbiased evidence to describe the cirucumstanses of her incredibly amazing, but tragically short life. It also gives the LAPD account of her gruesome murder, which according to Mr. Yule is not accurate in the "Killing of the Unicorn". If you saw the recent television biography of Dorothy Stratten and you want to know more, I cannot recommend this book enough.