California Books

This is a very interesting and readable account of scratch building a model sailing ship. I found the descriptions of the simplfications made in constructing the model to be very interesting and this increased my appeciacion for the complexity of both the model and the original vessel. The book is also very informative on what the possible pitfalls and problems one may encounter when building such a model..things that would not otherwise have occured to me. I cannot praise the fold-out line drawings enough, excellent! This book comes highly recommended!

WOW! That was the first thing I said after opening Amazon's box containing this book. The book is a substantial size, nice and thick and the binding quality is excellent. What a masterpiece. The numerous amounts of fold-outs are excellent, full of great info on the Victory. There are a number of glossy pages with lots of pictures of the original and the model HMS Victory. The figure list is very usefull as are all the other lists to make finding your way around very quick and easy. The other reviewers have accurately depicted the content; I felt that the rest needed recognition. If you are at all like me and don't mind spending the money you will understand this next statement. Buy two, one to keep safe in your bookshelf and one to wear out during its extensive use. BUY IT you will for sure enjoy all 283 pages. Michael

This is a great book, but it's meant mainly and despite the title, for the modeler of the great flagship of Lord Nelson. There are very few details relating to any of the other ships of Nelson, but the Victory is covered like no other book...

Details abound in this marvellous book by an author steeped in his subject. I felt as if he had been on the ways at the time of building and relating his opbservations, but from the viewpoint of an educating master of this complex subject. I thoroughly enjoyed every page and can use the details provided to better my own modeling skills. If you enjoy detail and want to read about it from the pen of a master of his subject, buy this book today!

I recieved this today.. it's a must for the modeler and a wonderful read even if your not. It's a bit pricey, but worth it so far. If you can find it used then make sure all of the fold out plans are intact as I feel they are a major part of what make the book so facinating.

This was a difficult book to put down. I was very anxious to finish reading it and find out what happened to the characters. They became real people to me and I found myself wondering about them after I finished to book!!! I have a much greater appreciation for art now and would recommend this book to anyone. This would make a great movie!!!!!!!

This is a fun read that later leaves you considering issues about art and its recognition by the world. Clendenen is at her best crafting descriptions of anything--masterpieces, street scenes, a handbag, the weather. She has deftly resurrected the '70s milieu and guides us, with sensual detail, through the high and low ends of the New York art scene. She is equally adept describing her characters, whom she creates with clever variety, depth, empathy and humor, weaving their worlds into an entangled but artistic plot--a lot like a great painting!

An Artful Affair is a fascinating novel about the world of artists, art critics and the auction houses of NYC. The characters are complex and the story line moves very quickly, and I found it hard to put down! The author made the art life of NYC very believable and I loved the ending- it made perfect sense. I learned a lot while enjoying a terrific read!

I read this fascinating book in three sittings. The author paints an intriguing portrait of the art world for both art aficionados and neophytes. I found myself hoping that all would end well for these affable characters, but Clendenen wisely shows the ultimate frailty of humans when money and its myriad temptations come calling.

I thoroughly enjoyed An Artful Affair. I found the topic, the descriptions of the City, and the author's knowledge of art and the art world fascinating. It's particularly timely read given the recent art heists and controversy about WWII ownership.

The characters and their lives are varied and interesting. They represesnt the whole continuum from monied collectors, who have no real right to own what they can afford, to talented, but neglected artists who fight against the pre-conceived notions of what's good art and society's hesitancy to break out of it's mold. Yet, there's nothing stereotypical about them.

I found myself able to vividly visualize the characters, their lives and the book's events. A special treat is that New York City comes alive in this book. You can almost feel the grit downtown and smell the doorman's leather shoes in the opulent places on Park Avenue.

The author presents the perspectives of characters who deal, buy, steal, love, cheat, are crushed, and succeed in the world of art. But, she never makes a judgment for the reader on who should win and who shouldn't.

Someone should make a movie from An Artful Affair. It has the right conflict, ethical issues and pace to be successful in film!

I won't rehash how good this book is, you have all 9 other reviews to do it. Just a note of caution, make sure you buy the latest edition (from 2006). Amazon still lists the one from 2002 first in the search results.

I like the GPS coordinates, and the fact that it gives directions and mileage for each trail in both directions. So you have a lot more flexibility on how you plan your outing.

this series is extremely useful. covers offroading options from beginner level to seriously advanced. each option is rated for difficulty, accompanied by maps and directions and, importantly, gps coordinates at each key junction on the route. hence one could make the trip without road signs using a gps if absolutely necessary. great photographs and good history regarding each trip make this a stimulating and priceless resource.

We have two other 4-wheel drive books for northern California, but neither one comes close to this! The color pages, descriptions, and added history and nature lessons are great. We enjoy the eastern Sierra and were glad to find so many trips for that area in this book. We can't wait for the snow to melt so we can try some trips out!

This is the top dog for off road books. I've driven several of these courses in my stock Chevrolet truck with zero problems. Beautiful lay-out, great descriptions and GPS coordinates. Get this book!

I have read several other map books for off road trails, etc. and this one is by far the most comprehensive and accurate. My wife and I have used this book on a couple of trips now and the accuracy of the directions is uncanny. I also apprciate the GPS coordinates and the maps in the book itself. The fact that this book is all color is awesome too. I would definitely buy this book if you're in the market.

The idea is on the mark, if not repetitious, yet Bankei lacks humility in the recounting of his story and those he has met. It was this, I'm not sure if I should call it arrogance or simply over-confidence, that bothered me.

Essential for the library of all Zen students. And a fascinating read for anyone interested in Zen, eastern religion, traditional wisdom, or just fresh perspectives on the nature of life, death, reality and the human condition.

If you are looking for some straight talk on Zen, Bankei dishes it up raw.

Pure blood and guts Zen from page one right through to the index! Peter Haskel has done us all a great service by providing this lovely translation of the Zen teachings of this popular, no holds barred Zen master. Thank you Mr. Haskel!

Not a lot to add to what's already been said in previous reviews - besides the fact that Bankei is (or has been) grossly under-rated. He is refreshing - after the institutional Zen claptrap and posturing, which leaves us stranded in the same old gunk we hoped to extricate ourselves from. Still, I would qualify a few things. Bankei did not claim to have originated anything startlingly 'new' - with his notion of the 'Unborn Mind.'It is there in the teachings of the early Chinese masters.

Again, some worry that Bankei didn't recommend 'striving' - or didn't 'strive' himself - but, his biography makes his questing mind clear. Hakuin - for example, didn't altogether approve of Bankei. Yet Bankei might be said to have had a 'natural' koan, insofar as his deep questioning sprang from the failure of Confucian teachers (and whoever else he could find) to explain what "brightening the bright virtue" (mei-toku) actually meant.

The point is, we ought not to adopt arbitrary views about the place of a questing 'doubt' - in Zen practice.Bankei asks why we should saddle ourselves with an arbitrary 'doubt.' But that's it, the 'doubt' should not be artificial. Bankei had his own doubt, and without it - he wouldn't have been driven to dis-cover the 'Unborn Mind.' We must allow ourselves that privilege.

There are two books in English based on translations of Zen Master Bankei teachings, both pusblished in 1984. "Bankei Zen" is the title of the book written by Peter Haskel who behaved both as translator and editor under the supervision of his teacher Yoshito Hakeda. Haskel assisted the reader organizing the text and adding headings here and there to paragraphs, dialogues, anecdotes, poems. Also he added technical notes highlighting biographical and historical circumstances. These headings focus the attention of readers in their efforts to find their way throughout Bankei teachings. "The unborn" is the title of the book written by Norman Waddell, just a translator. His book becomes the forest of words. One Dharma Talk after the other and, here and there, also some highly interesting biographical and historical notes. However, Waddell produced a revised version in 2000 and included only minor changes to translations to very specific paragraphs. However no mention is made to Haskel's book on the same subject and author, similar texts. Under section III, other works in the bibliography section this reference to Hakei's book is conspicuously absent. Within the community of scholars the standard is mentioning books written by other authors on the same subject and basic source. This is not the case of Prof. Waddell at Otani University in Kyoto. His approach is below standards; competitors in the field must be mentioned after what is acceptable and recommened within the scientific and academic community. His silence is highly suspicious in the updated version of 2000 because experts in a field cannot ignore the state of the art on the subject and should not cold-shoulder the work of other experts in the same subject. Haskel's translation has been tailored to readers making their best to find out their way around a genial and easygoing Japanese Zen Master of the 17th century. Bankei is the antidote for those suffering an overdose of Dogen and Hakuin teachings and comments.

Bankei (1622-1693) is considered the third of the great Zen philosophers, along with Dogen, founder of Soto, and Hakuin, the spiritual renewer of Rinzai.

Unlike the gifted Hakuin, his approximate contemporary, and the peerless Dogen, who was the author of many unmatched numinous speculations on the human condition, Bankei founded no Zen sects and left no lineage. And unlike both Dogen and Hakuin, who wrote for a literate and sophisticated audience of aristocrats, priests, monks, and samurai, Bankei was a populist, who brought Zen into the lives of everyday people. His audiences consisted of farmers and tradesmen as well as the intelligentsia of early Tokugawa Japan.

The key to understanding Bankei is his idea of enlightenment through living in the "Unborn Mind." The Unborn Mind, according to Bankei, is the natural state of human consciousness prior to the imposition of those layered striations of family and social and other conventions that make up the personality. Letting go of those encrustations, Bankei taught, was the key to returning to the Unborn Mind.

Bankei, whose teaching style was highly idiosyncratic and fluidly geared toward individual audiences, reads at times like a 17th century Albert Ellis; at other times Bankei sounds like a feudal Dr. Phil as he provides commonsensical advice on a plethora of mundane subjects like the raising of children and getting along with neighbors; still other writings evidence a keenness of intellect to match Dogen and Hakuin, but with a humanity that those more esoteric philosophers simply lack. Then too, Bankei's Zen has a curiously 21st century feel with its admonition to recognize the personality as a construct. By careful selection among Bankei's writings, Peter Haskel has brought Bankei to life with a fine appreciation for the depth of the man's mind and the expansiveness of his spirit.

Like the Baal Shem Tov, who brought speculative Judaism down to the level of the toiling classes in Judaic Eastern Europe, Bankei brought Zen practice and the concept of the enlightened mind to Japan's country-dwellers. Hence, the Buddha Mind became the province of anyone who sought to find it, not just the privleged few.

One third psychologist, one third village elder, and one third Zen master, Bankei was an ultimate democrat of the human spirit.

This book is the best source of information anywhere regarding Paul's Boutique.

Highly recommended!

poured through it in a couple of days, fantastic read during probably the most 'heady' times of the Boys. enjoy!

LeRoy knocks it out of the park. This book is what all the other books in the series should be. It's packed full of interesting information about before, during and after the making of the album. It's a fun read. Quick and easy. No filler.

I am not much of a Beasties fan. Like some of their music but their voices can drive me nuts at times, truth be told. I don't even own Paul's Boutique. I only bought this book on a lark as I knew the recording techniques forged within this record was a turning point of sorts in music. When I received the text in the post, I picked it up then could not put it down until I finished the entire thing. After that I went directly back to page one and started again from the top.

The book begins in the late 80s and goes until '92 or so. Everyone the author discusses gets treated fairly, whether they deserve it or not. Delicious Vinyl is seen as a sort of west coast magnet for all things creative, though in truth they were a controversial label to say the least. Def Jam is somehow given a pass for not paying The Beasties over a million dollars in royalties after the author finds relevant quotes to show that Russell Simmons was just looking out for the group by stiffing them. The crazy thing is that everything seems so vivid, understandable and believable. It makes you long for those halcyon days when Joe Smith was CEO of Capitol Records but seemed more concerned with Magic Johnson's rebound average than any of his own recording acts. Of course, none of this makes any logical sense at all, but within the context of the book it is proven that some good things actually came out of this upside-down era in music.

Rather than blow the book by revealing some of the sorrid details within it, I will simply say that whether you dig the Beasties or not, Pauls Boutique is worth a read. It is a fascinating story. Perhaps even the great Bob Mack himself could not have told this story any better.

... and then I came here and read the unanimous 5-star reviews and agree with all of them.

There's not much I can add that wouldn't be redundant.

Except to say that "Paul's Boutique" -- one of my favorite albums -- has always kind of been shrouded in mystery. The album may be dense with information, but there's not a lot of background that I could find.

This book changes all that. It is as filled with names and details as the album is full of samples.

From Leroy's very well-reported account, we learn the backstory of the Dust Brothers and the mysterious Matt Dike (long rumored to be the main mastermind behind "Boutique") plus, a sampling of the late 80s L.A. scene from which this album emerged; we meet a host of side players like Mario C and Money Mark, and also the ill-fated exec Tim Carr (whose heart and mind, I'm convinced, where in the right place all along); there's the promotional wrangling that went on at Capitol before the release and after the record flopped; and also what was going on with the three main charcaters -- MCA, Ad Rock and Mike D -- who wanted to derail the locomotive of "License to Ill" and almost got crushed under the cattleguard.

The book tells the story of the album, and at first I thought it kind of scrimped on the background of the recording of the individual songs, but it closes with a finely detailed track-by-track examination that reveals a lot (but not nearly all) of the samples that helped make up one of the richest, coolest, bangingest records ever made.

"It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars."

- Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep

And thus began the criteria for what a private eye would look like and what his moral code would be. Raymond Chandler, author of the Philip Marlowe series of crime novels, set the bar high and generations would follow in his writing footsteps. The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely are two selections from this series and are found in this Modern Library edition. Both the Modern Library edition (which contains two of the Marlowe novels) and The Everyman's Library Edition (which contains three selections) are great buys. Both are hardcover and include more than one novel. The paperback version of THE BIG SLEEP is $10.36 for one.

For those of you who are new to Raymond Chandler, he is considered to be one of the most influential writers of crime fiction and his phenomenal creation of the detective Philip Marlowe has survived decades.

Every time a modern reader discovers a new private eye who is facing some interesting and very tough times but is able to do it with integrity and a strict moral code alongwith a "soldier's eye"; you are meeting Raymond Chandler the writer all over again. And Philip Marlowe his creation is playing a pivotal role in the background.

Raymond Chandler wrote seven detective novels but THE BIG SLEEP is probably his best. Farewell, My Lovely is a close second. He was in his fifties when he wrote these novels yet they have become an American landmark in the hard-boiled detective genre and would really launch Chandler into the icon that he is today.

The reader will discover a unified theme with strong and fully developed characters with incredible imagery and metaphors. Chandler's literary style is distinctive and very crisp. You will love these stories. If you are new to hard-boiled detective stories, this edition might be one that I would start with

In The Big Sleep, you will be introduced to the Sternwoods: General Sternwood, Vivian and Carmen and all three are interesting studies and all three as General Sternwood notes have not "any more moral sense than a cat." General Sternwood is on his deathbed and hired Philip Marlowe to check out why he was being blackmailed by one Arthur Gwynn Geiger. His two daughters, Vivian and Carmen, are quite a handful but General Sternwood feels in part responsible for his plight. As he tells Marlow, "I need not add that a man who indulges in parenthood for the first time at the age of fifty-four deserves all he gets." He describes his two daughters as being "spoiled, exacting, smart and ruthless with the younger girl as being the type who likes to pull wings off flies".

Chandler's novels do highlight crooks and morally-corrupt characters and derelicts, but they are counter-balanced by Marlowe, Bernie Ohls, and General Sternwood--all of whom possess a strong sense of honor, a consideration of what is proper and are for the most part trying to live a life above board.

FAREWELL, MY LOVELY is also set in Los Angeles. You will discover a focus on one of the deadly sins in all of the Chandler's genre. In the case of FML, the focus is on gambling. Chandler's novels always has its share of women loaded with sin and this is no exception. To top it off, Marlowe is continually dealing with derelicts and dirtbag characters galore.

There are numerous murders that take place and a tight interwoven plot which will keep you on the edge of your seat until you get to the last page.

Just as a sidebar, THE BIG SLEEP was published in 1939 there was only an advance of 5,000 copies by Alfred A. Knopf. However, Knopf knew the power and the contribution that this novel would make. They actually took out an advertisement for this book on the front cover of the Publisher's Weekly which was most unusual for a novelist's first book.

The dust jacket flaps read:

"Not since Dashiell Hammett appeared has there been a murder mystery story with the power, pace, and terrifying atmosphere of this one. And like Hammett's this is more than a "murder mystery": it is a novel of crime and character, written with uncommon skill in a tight, tense style which is irresistible."

And so it was. I would highly recommend reading these crime novels and being introduced to Philip Marlowe. THE BIG SLEEP was made into a movie starring Bogart and Bacall with the screen play being written by William Faulkner no less.

Don't miss these. I almost did.

Rating: A

Bentley/October 2007


The Big Sleep & Farewell, My Lovely (Modern Library)

Raymond Chandler, the author, is the definitive writer of the detective genre. His wise-cracking, earthy detective Philip Marlowe constantly sticks his nose into dangerous places, sometimes catching the far end of a swinging fist for his troubles. And trouble is a euphemism for his working life. His books led to the creation of several famous films with Humphrey Bogart playing Marlowe. But having seen the movies, there is no comparison to the quality of Chandler's original prose.

Here are a few witty samples full of imagery from his books:
"I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it."
"I was as empty of life as a scarecrow's pockets."
"... he looked as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food."
"He looked as nervous as a brick wall."

Chandler's stories move fast and contain a lot of action, just like his protagonist. Marlowe's character is a bit of a blue-collar cynic, an occasional ladies' man, a rebel, and a steadfast (but sometimes puzzlingly) honest man. Marlowe is just an average guy who just happens to solve cases involving the rich and beautiful (and their dirty little secrets) in mid-twentieth century LA. And I suppose Marlowe's fast-talking, action-oriented character is one most of us average guys could identify with, which accounts for the success of his books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - I don't usually like reading fiction - and highly recommend it. Chandler really is a pleasure to read. Why couldn't we have read something like this just once in my high school English lit classes!?

I've always believed that Chandler was one of the great prose stylists of the 20th century. Read these two novels and try to disagree with me.

Nearly seventy years after it was published, The Big Sleep is still an interesting detective story with an intriguing style. This was Raymond Chandler's first published novel and it made him a celebrity. In an old interview I read somewhere, Chandler said he was going against the grain of the then-popular British detective novels that climaxed with the gathering of all the suspects into a single room while the detective revealed his brilliant solution to the crime. He meant Philip Marlow to be a more realistic and gritty detective. He succeeded. Marlow became America's favorite private eye, both in print and on the silver screen.

As I read the book, two thoughts came to me. First, the Chandler style has been copied and parodied so much, that you can easily forget that this was the original. The second is that although the novel was written at the time as a modern story, it now reads like someone wrote it today as period literature. This adds to the book's charm, sort of like the Chinatown or The Sting.

Raymond Chandler goes in and out of fashion, but if you want to curl up with a good mystery written by one of the masters, you can't go wrong with The Big Sleep.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

Seeing as how "The Big Sleep" and "Farewell, My Lovely" are the first two Philip Marlowe detective novels that Raymond Chandler wrote (published in 1939 and 1940, respectively), this is a grand place for a Chandler novice to begin pursuing the morally decrepit alleys and boulevards of the rich and not-so-rich in Los Angeles.

One thing you should note is that Chandler held the conventional detective stories (think: Agatha Christie) in disdain. Ergo, any attempt of mine to barf back the plots to you is a waste of time. They are so complex that you often forget exactly what happened shortly after you finish reading the books themselves...which doesn't detract from their quality whatsoever mind you. It's been told often enough that after their publication, Chandler often didn't even know what was going on in his own novels!

Suffice to say that both books concern murder among the wealthy elites in L.A. during Chandler's life--a time when the city was a lot smaller than its present size, and more hostile to outsiders--particularly to people of color. "The Big Sleep" concerns a disappearance and a reclusive millionaire and his two daughters (one is a mentally deranged nymphomaniac; the other is a bit more sensible, but no less shady) and the lengths he'll go to protect them. While this isn't the best Marlowe novel, this is probably the best place to start. Plus, it got made into a pretty good movie starring Bogie and Bacall.

"Farewell, My Lovely" is perhaps the most politically incorrect of the Marlowe books. It starts off with a murder at a bar in South Central L.A. and extends its tentacles into jewel heists and gambling rings where it is difficult to ascertain exactly who is doing what to whom. In Chandler's L.A., nothing is what it seems.

The story itself is engrossing, however, you must prepare yourself for Marlowe dropping the "N" word at least once, and his mockery of an American Indian for speaking in pidgeon English. Remember that this was 1940 and was 25 years before the Watts riots began to put an end to the white-dominated old boys network that used to rule L.A. That in itself makes it an interesting look at the mentality of the powers at be (the wealthy, the LAPD) and see how much has changed since Chandler's day...and how much hasn't.

My personal favorite of Chandler's books is "The Long Goodbye"--the second-to-last Marlowe novel that was published in 1954. I would rank both of these books below that one, but "Farewell, My Lovely" is a close second, while "The Big Sleep" is an auspicious debut for the hard-boiled, cynical, yet romantic ...

For those who are willing to take more than a passive interest in the works of Raymond Chandler, this two-book set is an excellent place to start. Furthermore, for those who are merely casual Chandler fans, this set is great because these two books are among his best (and it looks nice on your bookshelf too!)

Blue Nude tells us a thought provoking story that reads like a beautiful painting whose brush strokes evoke poetry, memory and drama. This novel weaves its way forward and backward through time and ultimately lands us in the present, perched and ready for new beginnings.

I was fortunate enough to read this book very early in '06 and to receive a siged hardcover as Elizabeth was making her book signing rounds on the East Coast in New York and cross country. The reviews posted previous to this one express many eloquent words that all indicate that this writing, by Rosner, is a different flair than the "Speed of Light" which I have read many times. "Blue Nude" is as much a piece of artwork as the picture it illustrates on its front cover. One could frame the text as the words do paint a marvelous portrait that comes to its ending much too quickly as it is hard to put down. However, when relating Rosner's story to a photograhic artist who devotes his life to the study of both light and form, in Alexandria, during a posh fine art show something he said made great sense. After purchasing a start to collecting his work, he turned to me, smiled, and said, "Rosner's artist has just begun and there is more in him to tell". I agree. It is my hope that Elizabeth Rosner can dig deeper within herself and grace us with a sequel. I am absolutely confident that she is capable of even more like this one!

This is a beautiful book! The way Merav and Danzig dance with one another is a perfect metaphor for the larger theme: how any two peoples with a very troubled past can approach reconciliation. The reader can tell that Ms. Rosner is a poet. The book is lyrical, and written with compassion and restraint.

On a day when I needed to rejuvenate myself, I headed up a mountain between San Francisco and rural Marin County, the settings of Elizabeth Rosner's new book Blue Nude. I have my dog and the book in tow and settle into finishing this fine description of two divergent souls who meet on a creative journey. What I found so compelling in finishing this book is that it took me into a creative trance, usually only achieved when intimately involved in my own creative process. As an analytical type, I found myself not studying the writing or the characters, but instead being swept away by the accumulation of their experiences that result in art.

In Ms. Rosner's first book, The Speed of Light, I was captivated by the experience of feeling the second-hand smoke of genocide, seen through the eyes of children of Holocaust survivors. It also gave us a more fresh and raw view of man against man, and the inhumanity that unfortunately is experienced by many peoples throughout the world. Blue Nude continues in this vein and explores characters not just for their own experience, but also the experience that have shaped the people that have shaped them. And Ms. Rosner doles out this information in a way that keeps us curious and expectant, while not feeling that any of it is predicable.

I thoroughly enjoyed both books, not just for the story and the characters, but for the feelings they invoked in me while reading. These books are thought provoking beyond their last pages.

Bestselling author and poet Elizabeth Rosner's second novel (following THE SPEED OF LIGHT) is a rousing tour-de-force --- a window into the artistic lives of two strangers whose pasts, presents and futures are irrevocably intertwined. With delicate yet persistent hands, Rosner explores a multilayered landscape of loss, unrequited desire, passion and isolationism, and weaves a dark and textured story out of what she finds. Her characters are larger than life at times --- bursting with their own specific energies, passions and identities, and righteous in their attempts to make meaning out of the world around them. Yet, they are also nameless receptacles of the universal experience --- mere forms chasing the same questions that have been chased and debated for centuries.

BLUE NUDE is the story of the complex union between two artists in San Francisco --- the elder and once-prominent German painter turned professor, Danzig, and Merav, a youthful Israeli beauty and former art student who makes a living working as a nude model. The two have deep and guarded pasts, both dating back to lives in foreign countries, separate yet intricately connected. Although they are many years apart in both age and experience, their sordid histories haunt their present lives and profoundly influence their decisions, actions and relationships.

Danzig was born immediately following World War II, to an abusive father who played a major role (hinted at, but never explicitly named) in the destruction of the Jews during the war; a painfully submissive mother who did nothing to stand between her violent husband, his post-occupation sullied reputation, and his undeserving offspring; and a depressed and guilt-ridden sister who took her own life when Danzig was seven years old. As he grew older, Danzig became increasingly aware of the events that shaped his upbringing and was disgusted by his father's vulgarity, his mother's lack of self-esteem and inability to protect herself or her children, and his sister's resignation to what she viewed as life's insurmountable injustices. He found solace in painting, however, and eventually left home permanently to relocate to San Francisco in order to explore his art more freely.

Also an expatriate, Merav spent her childhood on a kibbutz in Tel-Aviv and lived with her mother Isabelle and her grandmother Esther, who miraculously survived persecution by the Germans. She learned how to explore herself and life's richness through painting and discovered at a young age the beauty of expression without words. Her neighbor, Yossi, was her best friend, confidant and eventual lover, and taught her that passion could be contained or exchanged in a single touch. They both served their two-year stint in the Israeli army, traveling the vast desert learning (or, in her case, trying not to learn) to kill. Tragically, he was killed after the bus he was on exploded because of an undetected bomb --- an incident that broke her heart (especially because he had just informed her that he was about to marry someone else) and pushed her to move away from a country riddled with death to one where she could begin anew.

In a way, their chance meeting in his classroom in San Francisco --- he, the art teacher, and she, the substitute nude model --- serves as the gateway to their mutually independent yet intertwined rebirth, and infuses life into the deeper, humming themes that resonate throughout BLUE NUDE. Later, as she poses for him, exposed and naked in his studio, he is finally able to move past and through his wrecked childhood, the damaging and ill-fated affairs with two previous models, and resulting period of maddening artistic blockage, to a space ripe with inspiration, confidence and inner peace. She, too, transcends the consequences of her upbringing, Yossi's death, and failed marriage to a photographer who loved her only as a sum of photographable body parts, and walks willingly into a future alive with hope. "She does not want to live as if about to be annihilated. She will not accept that as the truth." Neither will he. Life begets Art begets Life.

BLUE NUDE is an exquisite and quietly beautiful story, told by a writer with surefire talent, grace and profound insight into human frailty. Elizabeth Rosner's knack for waxing poetic is witnessed on every page --- her sentences, deliciously thick with implication and symbolism; her characters, flawed yet persistent, each grappling with life's choices in his or her own way. There are a number of captivating moments that readers will relish and languish on, as they burrow through chapters that jump back and forth in time in each character's life, and shift from perspective to perspective. Of course, the ubiquitous relationship between Art, Truth and Life pulsates throughout these well-drawn pages, offering up many burning and delightfully unanswerable questions so vital to the human experience. Stunning.

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

This is a truly fasinating account of what really took place on Alcatraz. It not only told about the inmates but about the families of the guards that actually lived on the island. Having grown up in San Francisco during the time that the author writes about, I remember the "rock" as always being this quasi mysterious island that seemed to be so close to the mainland and yet held some of the worst criminals. I thouroughly enjoyed getting an inside look at Alcatraz from the eyes of someone who actually lived there.

Barbara Birchim, author of Is Anybody Listening? A True Story About POW/MIAs In The Vietnam War

I think it was a great book. I would reccomend it to everyone. People of all ages would love this book and could probably get more into knowing about Alcatraz.

I got this book from Mrs. Babyak herself while visiting Alcatraz. I always believed or had hoped (based on "Escape from Alcatraz") that Frank Morris and company made it. The facts show they did not.

One thing is for sure is that they got off the island. After that it is pretty certain that they drowned. Mrs. Babyak pointed out to me that some folks still commit suicide of the Golden Gate Bridge quite frequently yet their bodies are never discovered. This is the result of certain factors, such as the cold water will make a lifeless body not so buoyant.

Also, because of the confining of the prisoners to small cells in which they only had one hour a day to get out of them, you can imagine how sore they must have been doing all they did just to get out. Mrs. Babyak makes a strong case of this and other reasons convincingly that in all probability they drowned in the Bay that night.

The attempt reminds me of what people are willing to do when any chance of hope dissipates in one's life. Men will pay any price. I still kinda wished that they made it but the odds are against it.

i think that this is a good book i would reccomend it to all.

While I do think this is a good read with plenty of information, I can name two faults. First, the author uses italics to guess what the people are saying. They are not quotes, but her thoughts of what could have been said. This is a flaw in accuracy because you have to remind yourself that, while it could have been said, it also could not have been said. Secondly, the book was sloppily written. I found numerous spelling mistakes and typos. Overlooking those, it was a good read.

This is the book to have if you fly fish or ty flies. Thats all that needs to be said!!!

Gary LaFontaine's Caddisflies is the classic study of the caddis. Clear, comprehensive, thoroughly researched and well illustrated. All you could want to know and more about the subject. Relevant to any fly-tier or fly-fisher.

this book is the most extensive book written on the caddis fly. it should be part of every fly fishers library.

Not necessarily the best writing per se, but if you ever wondered: Can a fly-fishing book put forward the synopsis of a novel insight into fly-fishing that does both: (1) helps you catch fish, and concurrently (2) could stand alone as a novel scientific study of trout behavior?

The only book that I have ever read that can answer "yes" is this book.

I would love to hear about other books, maybe Gordon or Hewitt have something out there from the early 1900s (???), but for sure this book is the most original contribution to American fly-fishing in the past 30 years.

As LaFontaine states midway through the book, "The study of caddisflies is the graduate school of an angler's education." His book clearly mirrors both the diversity and complexity of its subject matter - caddisflies. LaFontaine mastery of the bug and how to present it to trout in it's varying life stages is apparent. But the crowning achievement in these pages is the bridge LaFontaine builds between this insect's world and the mind of the angler. It's a bridge every angler must eventually cross in order to master the complex interaction between these bugs and feeding trout. I couldn't really come up with the number of days and the river miles you would need to wade in order to gain the knowledge Lafontaine distills onto paper... but a lifetime wouldn't be a stretch here (wearing out many pairs of wading boots along the way).

The writing takes a no-nonsense approach, but you feel his excitement and willingness to share the insight he has gained with the reader. The expression "doing one's homework" comes to mind when reading Caddisflies. Lafontaine spent ten years of intensive study (and of course fly-fishing) to develop the material and support his observations. As he put it: "It was not writing that took so long... The subject, however, proved to be so fascinating that it deserved much more than just a rehash of the past literature or a smattering of untested opinions."

Lafontaine structures the content into two parts: (1) Tying and Fishing Caddisfly Imitations and (2) The Biology of Caddisflies. The first part of the book is likely as comprehensive and authoritative treatment of tying and fishing caddisfly patterns you'll find published today. Even if you don't seat behind the vise tying these flies, the chapters offer as much "why" as they do "how" (i.e., the thinking behind using a particular material, color, shape).

The second half focuses on the biology of these amazing insects with well over 1200 species of caddisflies in North America. Lafontaine highlights a key attribute leading to their bio-diversity today: "Caddisflies basically owe their diversification in the aquatic world to the ability to make silk. This is the evolutionary tactic, a wonderfully functional tool, that has been used in so many ways to solve problems of dislodgement, food gathering, respiration, and protection." A comprehensive listing of each caddisfly genera provides a great reference. To aid the angler, Lafontanie uses the listing to emphasize the species which are more likely to force a trout into selective feeding.

After reading Caddisflies, I'm not ready to claim I've completed the caddis "graduate school of angling." That claim may come after a couple more readings and application on the water. I can say for certain that my appreciation and understanding of caddisflies has gone up dramatically.

I read this book when it first came out. Then with our Iraqi fiasco in mind I read it again and was overwhelmed by the fact that the same hubris laden micalculated assumptions of a cearly incompetent cabal of idiots in power once again has sent Americans to early graves for nothing. Choosing War is never a good choice!!

In Choosing War, Mr. Logevall presents a very cogent and deeply reasoned assessment of America's entry into the futile and eventually tragic landscape of an Americanized war in Vietnam. There are so many commonly held beliefs about the necessity of America's involvement there was to prevent the spread of Communism, that it is refreshing, but painful, to read about how and why America went so wrong - and how many chances we had to change direction. It is most infuriating to see the steady drumbeat of the military generals and like-minded advisors twisting and subverting the information coming out of Vietnam that was shifted to show that American military might was making a positive and meaningful difference in pursuit of our goals for a non-communist South, knowing full well this was not the case. As in JFK and Vietnam [by John Newman], it paints a frightening picture of how at the mercy of others are the president's choices.
A most interesting and prescient comment occurs in the final chapter and paragraph of the book that equates lessons unlearned from Vietnam allowing similar mindsets to erupt, engaging America in a similarly foolish military incursion in a foreign country whose population and conditions we also don't understand.
A very well written, well researched and easily readable book.

This book is well written, well argued, and fascinating. It's especially timely now as we try to understand the forces that led us into the Iraq war. My students liked it too.

As the war in Vietnam escalated in 1994 and 95, I was a young naïve supporter of the war simply because I believed that whatever it took to stop and fight communism was justified. My first doubts about the justification of this war came when I would hear the causality figures at the end of each week on the nightly news. I can remember these figures e.g. 946 VC killed in the fighting this week; 94 Americans died. I simply did not believe that anyone knew how many VC were killed, and questioned the figures reported including those of American causalities. As things developed, I began to reassess my thoughts about the American involvement in this war. I read McNamara's "In Retrospect," Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie," Stanley Karnow's "Vietnam: A History," But it was Fredrik Logevall's "Choosing War," that really gave me the insight to this conflict. It's the most enlightening account of the American involvement in Vietnam I've read to date. Last year I visted Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon). This is in itself was more of education than any of the books. It's my recommendation to all who are interested in the American involvement in Vietnam, to read this detailed and comprehensive account.

Not only is Professor Logevall an excellent historian...he is an excellent teacher as well! I have taken one of his classes at UC Santa Barbara; they are the best and most popular classes on campus.