France Books

When I took my daughter to see her greatgrandmother in Harwichport, Cape Cod this past Christmas I read this book to them. This book demonstrates the true values of life. I found the my seven year old daughter enjoyed every word as well as our ninety three year old greatgrandmother. This is a book for all ages!!

This book was given to my Mother as a gift when my Grandmother (her mom) passed away. We were so moved by the text and the story of the beautiful young woman that we used a phrase like hers on my Grandma's tombstone. I can't remember it word for word, but I am searching desperately for more copies of this book as it has a special place in all of our hearts. It's a treasure...

When I took my daughter to see her greatgrandmother in Harwichport, Cape Cod this past Christmas I read this book to them. This book demonstrates the true values of life. I found the my seven year old daughter enjoyed every word as well as our ninety three year old greatgrandmother. This is a book for all ages!!

"A Dreamer's Heart" IS a true classic! My aunt, Frances Scarcille is extremely talented in many ways! I rate this an over all Five Stars and hope she will write another heart filling book again!

My granddaughter reads "A Dreamer's Heart" to me every night over the phone. At the age of six, she is very excited to be able to read it herself. Miss Scarcille's words bring to life the power of thoughts to change young lives and the striking illustrations amplify her story beautifully. "A Dreamer's Heart" is a true classic.

As an artist interested in Marcel Duchamp and his works, I foud this book to be very informative. It's a book that will fascinate even those who have little interest in modern art.

I wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful book to everyone who knows how to read English. Marcel Duchamp was perhaps the premier iconclast of the twentieth century, and the runners up might be Buckminster Fuller & Le Corbusier. The book is NOT a boring monograph; it is a lot of fun to read. Tompkins is a Duchamp enthusiast but manages to wade through the mythology and bull to present the reader with the rosetta stone of Duchamp's life and art. Whether you took a twentieth century art survey in college and only know Duchamp as the guy who wrote R. Mutt on an upside-down urinal or you have read any number of books about the artist you should read this book! Tompkins sucks the reader right into the mind of Duchamp on the first page with a discussion and analysis of The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even, one the the greatest and most misunderstood and unappreciated works of the last century. I was an Art History major in college and hence suffered through so many authoritative, pretentious, dry, bland, misinformed, prejudiced and yawn-inducing books that it was such a pleasure to stumble onto Tompkin's Duchamp, which is a reader's book, totally apt since Duchamp was a man's man, a genius, not a theorizing weasal. This book is important because it inspires everyone to question everything you take for granted, and enjoy puns and jokes and the lighter side of life, and that art is there for everyone, not for patrons and the elite, for you and me, and that the contrary notion is absurd.

You don't have to like modern art to enjoy this remarkable biography about the most influention and controversial artists of the twentieth century. Tompkins explores the various interpretations of the art of Marcel Duchamp, most amusing of which is that of the artist himself (he was very laissez-fair when it came to expounding upon his own art). If the reader is not a fan of modern art (least of all the Dada movement) he or she will still find pleasure in reading about the life and times of this man of extreme wit and humor. The book reads like a who's-who of the pre and post world war II art world. Dealers, artists, and collectors who filled Duchamps world are just as amusing as characters in a comical work of fiction. The day to day life of people like Peggy Guggenheim and Max Ernst, Francis Picabia and Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia, Katherine Dryer, and Andre Breton, and the ever popular and exclusive members of the surrealist group is explored in comical detail. This book can also be looked at as a crash course in twentieth art history. Duchamp is explored in the most scholarly manner, but Tompkins keeps his study on a level that makes it easy to read.

DUCHAMP: A BIOGRAPHY is a wonderful biography of the artist whom, Tompkins argues persuasively, is the most influential of our almost-completed century. That the art work must be a mental act (a 'cosa mentale,' Leonardo da Vinci had argued many years before); that to be truly creative we need to work AGAINST our esthetic expectations; that art should aspire to be 'non-retinal': these are only some of Duchamp's major perceptions included in this book. What is particularly enjoyable is the way in which Tompkins meshes DuChamps' remarkable life -- one of the most sexually attractive of men, a chess player at the highest levels, an extraordinarily charming and easy person (yet a man who, not matter how much he tried to avoid the repetitive patterns involved in 'art,' was always the consummate artist)with the works of art and 'readymades' which emerged in and from that life. Duchamp's life makes for wonderful reading. What I most recommend about the book is that it stimulates one's own thinking, challenging so much of our conventional beliefs -- in art, in convention, in the concepts of both accomplishment and genius.

The fantastic New Yorker art critic turns his eye towards one of his favorite artists. This book balances both a traditional historical biography of Duchamp along with a critique and examination of his art. A good read of an artist with an interesting (and pleasantly surprisingly un-tortured) life.

excellent book, all that you need to know about many things that have been hidden to us by many centuries by religion and things that shoundn't been hidden because they belong to humanity, to history, to everybody;it make you wonder how we been used and been confused century after century.

Simply excellent! tanys alfonso, west palm beach,florida.

Now this is a really heavy book, there is so much information its amazing! Lei esta version en el original ingles y luego en castellano. Poniendo religion a un lado este libro es espectacular, tiene tanta informacion que tienes que tomarte la lectura con tiempo y calma. Las posibilidades son increibles, y muy logicas si piensas abiertamente y dejando dogmas de lado. Este libro es definitivamente de esos que guardas y relees mil veces.

iT IS A VERY GOOD BOOK IF ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING SIMILAR AS A DA VINCI CODE. PLEASE READ IT AND YOU WILL SEE HOW ENGROSS YOU WILL BE.
INGRID

Excelente en forma y fondo. Està escrito para que el lector no quiera dejar de leerlo de principio de fin. Historicamente espectacular, un golpe al cristianismo donde mas le duele, en la verdad. Ya era hora de romper los mitos y desenmascarar a la iglesia y toda su farsa de los ùltimos 2000 años. Afortunadamente ya no quemam brujas porque de lo contrario los 3 historiadores que hicieron el libro estarìan en la hoguera junto a los millones de inocentes que el cristianismo ha matado durante su historia

Esta es la verdadera fuente de la cual Brown tomo su idea para "El codigo da Vinci". Aqui la historia y las especulaciones en torno al tema de la descendencia de Cristo provienen de fuentes historicas. La informacion, mas "heavy" que esa aguada que aparece en el libro de Brown, requiere de un lector con cerebro, dispuesto a detenerse de vez en cunando a pensar en lo que le estan diciendo. Apasionante.

I'm very impressed with the power of the artillery and its effects on the battlefield. Very useful for understanding some technical aspects of US Army in the WWII, related to the employment of firepower. And also a dense history.

In August, 1944, a few hundred men defended a hill near Mortain, France, against a massive German counterattack. For most of the six days and nights of fighting, the Americans were cut off from supply lines, fighting for survival without adequate food, water, medical supplies or ammunition. The massive artillery defense(much of which was launched by forward observer Robert Weiss) has been credited with making the difference in this pivotal battle of the Normandy invasion. With only one radio, powered by dying batteries, Weiss and his team brought down a rain of brutal iron that time after time turned back the German offensive. Event after event unfolds to envelop the reader in the high drama of warfare. Moments of courage and despair, heroism and terror, are interspersed with thoughtful contemplation and historical perspective rarely matched in the military annals of the Normandy invasion. Highly recommended. The Midwest Book Review.

In addition to the pride that all Americans should have in the true heros of WWII like Mr. Weiss, their teachers also deserve credit for the use of the English lanaguage. Mr. Weiss explains things that are heroic but it is the use of the language that is outstanding.

I found this book extremely useful. It is extremely readable, addresses a little known but critical battle, and also shows how U.S. artillery was used operationally. I thank Mr. Weiss for sharing his recollections with us.

Having come upon oblique references of Robert Wiess' actions as a young field artillery observer prior to buying this book, I was somewhat prepared for the tale of heroism by someone who did not see himself as a hero, but only as a young American who was doing his job. This is not a tale of bravado nor does Mr. Weiss glorify combat. War is dirty, ugly, and unremitting. His book, however, tells the story of a battalion of American infantry surrounded atop a hill near the town of Mortain, France for five days. Besieged by elite Waffen-SS troops who often had years of combat experience and superior weapons in the form of the 88mm gun and Panther tanks, the US soldiers with Lieutenant Weiss refused to give in to incredible odds. Weiss played a very significant, yet oddly enough overlooked from an official viewpoint (he only received the Silver Star) in saving an entire battalion from certain destruction. The book is simply and clearly written, yet it details the sights, sounds, and smells that Weiss experienced. A must for the serious historian and the average reader whose curiosity was peaked by Steven Spielberg's movie "Saving Private Ryan". All in all, a good read and quite affordable!

An expansion and refinement of the author's Ph.D. dissertation on the diplomacy of Gouverneur Morris during very troubled times in Paris.

Gouverneur Morris was an intelligent man of solid good sense, with an obvious love for life. Dr. Miller, as befits one holding a law degree, writes as an advocate for the historical reputation of this important figure from our country's early days. In my opinion, she wins her case.

Anyone interested in the diplomatic efforts of our country in its infancy will enjoy this book.

I hope that the talented Dr. Miller will continue writing graceful books on equally interesting subjects.

This well-written and lively book should go a long way in restoring Gouverneur Morris to his rightful place among the Founding Fathers. The prickly Morris has had a pretty bad press over the years, but Envoy to the Terror provides a vigorous, in places brilliant, and ultimately convincing defense of Morris' conduct. Miller shows how Morris energetically defended America's interests under extraordinarily difficult circumstances and successfully disproves charges made both at the time and by later historians that his term as minister to France was a failure.

We learn to see our future by looking at our past, and contemporary French and American relations--as they relate to French censure for America's enlarging foreign policy and the U.S. zeal for "democratization" of the larger world--can be viewed in greater focus by narrowing in on the history of our two countries during the French Revolution and the French `Terror' that followed it. The American diplomat pivotal to this period-the only one on whom Washington could depend for analysis of what was happening abroad-was Gouverneur Morris, today one of the lesser known founding fathers, who as United States Minister to France from 1789-92, during the height of the atrocities taking place there, turned out to be profoundly perspicacious in seeing the terrible future of this, one of America's first adventures in `democracy building,' and its unpredictable, and sometimes terrible results. In Dr. Melanie Miller's insightful revisiting of the historical record of relations between the United States and France during this fateful and terrible period, as set down in her recent biography of Gouverneur Morris, Envoy to the Terror, Dr. Miller tells us much that is relevant to French and American relations today.

Gouverneur Morris may be the virtually unknown, underrated key to understanding the American Revolution, and this exciting new book tells his story from a fresh viewpoint. Thorough-going scholarship combines with bright and lively prose to bring Morris to life and set the record straight on his role in the establishment of the American Experiment. Dr. Miller shows that the conventional view of Morris has been much too limited and is due for thorough revision. This study is much more thorough than the recent popularizing biography of Morris by Richard Brookhiser. If you liked that book, which acknowledges Miller's ground-breaking research, you should read this one to learn the whole story. This book is invaluable for serious students of the Revolutionary period.

Gouverneur Morris has been a long underrated yet instrumental figure during important times. He took a critical part in the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, and he played as crucial a role as his predecessor, Thomas Jefferson, in his position as U.S. ambassador to France during the Terror, when French and American citizens alike sought his intervention, hoping to avoid losing their heads by guillotine. The author provides plausible explanations for this strange obscurity. Melanie Randolph Miller does much to humanize Morris's daily life, times and dilemmas, not to mention the big and small events of the French revolutionary era, deftly weaving into her text original and previously unknown sources, such as his own meticulously kept diaries, letters to and from his mistress, Adele Filleul, comtesse of Flahaut and other paramours, and urgent communications with key protagonists: the falling and fallen royal couple, Danton, Robespierre and the Girondins, among many others. The author's prose is brilliantly precise, enhanced by a dry and intelligent wit, and I agree with reviewers that the book is written with "the discipline of a historian but a novelist's eye," "a page turner." I admit that I found myself dragging my heels as I read along because, truth be told, I didn't really want to finish. In the final stretch, I stayed up way past my bedtime, skimming excitedly to learn what happened in the end, even though of course I already knew. I recommend Envoy to the Terror to anyone with more than a passing interest in the events of revolutionary Paris.

The eyewitness series is excellent. I own several of these books and we have used them on three different vacations to Europe. The book introduces you to Paris with background and historical information. A summary of seasonal happenings, weather, art, architecture and regional food information. The short essays are occpanied by pictures, maps, photos and graphic representations. It makes the book easy to read and a quick reference for planning daily activities while on vacation. The main section of the book has a break down of "regions" or areas. Each section starts with a map and locations of sights. You can then reference the specific site descriptions, which also include business hours and contact information. The back of the book list hotel and restuarant information. These books are an invaluable resource for planning a vacation itenenary. Also, they make an good refernce tool during your stay. The only negative I have found to these books is they are somewhat heavy to carry in your shoulder bag or packback all day long.

This guide is wonderful - I have never flown anywhere before and was very nervous about going to Paris, but after having this book for a week now I feel MUCH more confident! I am always opening it to look up more info - Theres so much in it I can't imagine how all that stuff can be in Paris!! I researched quite a few travel guides to Paris before buying this one and I am SO glad I chose this guide... it has detailed descriptions of each region, each monument, each street! Even comes with a menu card to help you figure out what you're about to order! haha... It gives detailed walking tours, bus routes, best times and price differences for visiting museums,... The very best part of this book though is the PICTURES!! There are pictures of everything and THAT makes it the best for me... What else can I say - if you're going to Paris - BUY THIS BOOK!

Dorling Kindersley makes the best travel guides hands down. They are extremely well illustrated, have extensive and detailed maps (thank god, because I tend to get lost very easily), up to date information on hotels (rates, rooms etc), restaurants (costs and reservation policies), and sites to see.

The travel guides have wonderful pictures, well researched histories and facts about France and more specifically Paris, what wines to look for and taste (not just by region and vineyard but also by year), sample dishes that one should try, detailed walking tours, information on famous art (there is a great section on the Louvre and all how to speed thru if you only have a limited amount of time).

The guide covers customs, money changing, travel information - you name it! Most importantly, it shares with you the best places to shop (and there are SO many in Paris), where to get good deals and SOOO much more. The book give you wonderful ideas on how to see the city in a limited time or really enjoy it if you are there for more than a few days. The book also covers things to do that many tourists might over look as well as telling you what is worth your while and what to skip. The guide also has great ideas for day trips beyond the city itself.

This is one of the best guides available on the market. It is perfect if you are planning to go to a few cities in a limited time or for more in depth information when planning a longer trip. We always lend this out to people before they plan a trip and everyone else has agreed it is top of the line.

I purchased numerous guide books before our trip to Paris, but the Eyewitness book was the only one I took with me. It is so comprehensive in its coverage of Paris, it was only book I needed. In it's handsome leather case, I felt comfortable refering to it on the bus and metro because it wasn't obviously a guide book. It didn't shout "tourist!" to everyone around me as I consulted it. Do not depend on the maps, however. Invest in a Michelin map of Paris; it's worth it.

I purchased this before taking a spur-of-the-moment trip to Paris with my boyfriend, based on its excellent reviews on Amazon. I was not dissapointed!

This guide provided an incredible wealth of information about everything Paris -- from sights to see, places to eat, and things to do. Almost every site is accompanied with a nicely written description, map, and full-color photograph.

Here are a few notes: 1.) The information (allbeit interesting and informative) is about the touristy stuff. If you're interested in going to visit lesser-known sites, you may want to get a supplemental guide. 2.) Make sure to look up every place you go/have gone. I was surprised to found out that many of the seemingly understated little cafes we visited have long, rich histories, which the book very colorfully described. 3.) The restaurant guide, while good, is not entirely complete. If your visit will center on the French culinary experience,you may want to do a little additional research beyond the confines of this book. 4.) This leather bound special addition also contains 4 laminated, easy-reference information cards (menu reference sheet, address finder, Metro map) and a full-size city map, all of which were incredibly helpful and can not be purchased separately. 5.) The section about customs is good, as it contained valuable information on topics such as tipping and using the bathroom. (Interesting Fact: In many restaurants you have to *pay* to use the ladies room -- even if you have already purchased a meal or snack. Make sure to carry a handful of 2 Franc pieces with you at all times.) 6.) The book, though helpful, weighs a ton. Be prepared -- or beg one of your travel mates to carry it for you!

Bon voyage!

I am very pleased with this book and I think it gives a load of information for a very reasonable price.

The book (together with vol.2) is overfilled with all kinds of garments you can imagine and for each sort of garment there are always many styles.

It is not directly a drafting book, it does not tell you how to draft your own bodice etc. by using your measurements, but the method of using the patterns and the enlarging rulers is very close to that and, as I think, it might produce a very good substitution for a custom-drafted dress with saving a lot of your time and being very simple to do. It is something between custom drafting and pre-sized patterns, because you create the garments by using your bust and back length measurement, which are the two most important measurements for making a garment suited to your proportions and it will probably need only little easy modifications like adding/substracting from waist and hip width and maybe some changes for the front length. But all possible and most frequent modifications are very well explained in the book.

It is all written in such a way that even with no or little knowledge of drafting, you'll be able to produce a probably very well fitted garments.

For a drafting professional, it's a good help when doing things like skirts, especially draped overskirts and all garments creating a shape or silhouette that is hard to figure out. Even if you won't use the patterns for enlarging and draft the things yourself, you can very well keep to the shape of the patterns as you can see, unlike in so many pattern books, NUMBERS.

I think this book has the best ratio of the price and the information given of all costume book I've come through. It's a pity that there are no such books for earlier periods:-(

This is a great book for seamstresses with some experience(I think it would be too hard for beginners.It would be good if you have some comprehenesion on sizing(drafting patterns yourself for example)but that isn't even necessary.I think it would be easier though:)

Frances Grimble gives clear instructions for changing patterns to size and even to different body shapes(large bust, short back etc.
You do need to take some time for this, but well, you'll have an authentic pattern in your hands, how great is that?;)And there are so many in this book! I was having a very hard time finding real historical patterns in The Netherlands(so far found one french journal from 1902)and I feel like a kid in a candystore now.:)I <3 this book already.

You can make a complete outfit, from undergarments to overgarments.

If you have some sewing experience and you love this period it is really a great book!



Amazon's service is excellent too. It didn't take very long for the item to arrive(from US to the Netherlands)(with one step faster shipping, expidited?)it was even a lot faster then the estimated arrival time.

This book is wonderful. I believe I own every book Frances Grimble has written and anxiously await more. The variety of patterns is amazing and allows the experienced sewer to create their own designs from various components, like sleeves and collars. This sure beats trying to decipher the patterns in an original 1890's issue of Harpers!

This book contains patterns for the following:
corsets, hoopskirts and bustles (some)
underclothing and negligee wear (quite a few)
day and evening skirts (only about four)
day bodices (quite a few)
evening bodices (some)
overskirts (some)
polonaises (some)
day dresses (quite a few)

some = around ten
quite a few = over 20

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes victorian costuming. It not only works as a pattern book, but as a source book, having lots of pictures you can use for reference. Even if you just look through it, it really can help you understand the styles of that era.

The pictures and descriptions within the book are an excellent reference if you are researching and intending on recreating one of these beautiful designs. Advanced knowledge of sewing skills is a must for those who wish to recreate these (definantly not for the novice sewer). Frances Grimble, you've done it again. Please keep them coming. I will buy every book you put out.

I can add little to the other positive reviews here but that I was deeply touched by the beauty and sensitivity of this short novel. It is simply something I will always remember and I envy the reader who discovers it.

Fields of glory is the most beautifully written book I have read in more than a decade--maybe ever. Virtually every page, every paragraph, is wonderfully crafted. How I wish I could read it in French, although I can't imagine that it could be any better. Mr. Rouaud is a genious.

This gentle book floats you through the life of a French family between the wars, as seen through the eyes of children. Human foibles are observed with a naive humour, and events are often described without the full understanding of the narrator. Much of the subject matter could be overpowering, but the depiction in this book is beautiful.

In what begins as reminisces by the narrator of a seemingly eccentric family the author slowly unravels the reasons behind each of the characters' actions. This masterpiece of writing develops into a powerful study of aging and childhood memories, and of the long lasting impact of World War I from one generation to another, even when the succeeding generations aren't aware of it.

By the end of this book I felt that I knew the family members intimately. This is beautifully done. The story unravels the lives of family members through the memories of a child, tracing their tragedy back to the ultimate tragedy of war. In some ways this book is very French but the feelings are universal and I strongly recommend it.

I waited almost 20 years to track down this book. My advice to you, Reader, is don't wait a single minute. "Footsteps" is delightful from multiple vantage points. Holmes is a fine, empathic writer who reveals the inner workings of the process of biography. He is also an insightful travel writer with a strong sense of place. While I greatly enjoyed his chapter on Robert Louis Stevenson, I was fascinated by his treatment of Gerard de Nerval. This is one literary byway that should not be missed.

Richard Holmes is a man profoundly obsessed with other people's lives. This book reflects the process of how the author struggled to come to terms with the mysterious past which is flitting away from us. It is also a book which tries to answer the question "Why should it matter?"

Whether hunting for the Shelleys in Italy or pursuing Stevenson in the Cevennes, Holmes manages to convey the feeling that it does matter, that these people had their share in shaping European culture and literature.

However, there is a price to be paid if one aims to bring ghosts back to life. The author is ever balancing on the fine edge of cutting himself off from the present, of falling into the abyss of the past and never wake up again, and he is painfully aware of this.

Holmes seems to conceive of biography as a temporary annihilation of his own self in order to grasp the world that his subjects moved in. The literary outcome is a great and full picture. On a personal level, it is trauma.

This book will (if it is not already) be a classic for anyone remotely interested in reading or writing biography.

This is the kind of book at which Holmes, in my view, excels. I'm not that particularly fond of his painstaking mammoth biographies of Shelley and Coleridge because, well, they're too run-of-the-mill and not all that much fun to read.-In other words, just the opposite of books like this one. This type of book, where the relationship between Holmes and the author he is writing about is constantly in play add a mystery and a haunted quality inherent in the time elapsed between Holmes' time and the author's that keeps the readers attention constantly transfixed (or, at least, this reader's). As Holmes himself puts it, "The material surfaces of life are continually breaking down, sloughing off, changing, almost as fast as human skin." Examples: The passage on Shelley's view of the double, the "ghost of the living person" the view of which signified the shadow world invading this one; Shelley's view that this is what was happening to him just before he drowned himself is the most affecting passage I've read on Shelley's end, and together with the photograph of the Casa Magni, which I'd never actually seen, and whose setting Mary Shelley said caused them to be in touch with the unreal sent shivers up my spine. It's not to be missed.-The section on Nerval was also interesting, as were the others. Curiously, the same sort of thing seems to have affected Nerval "...Here began for me what I shall call the overflowing of dreams into real life." Both sections are excellent and Holmes' speculation that "Nerval's whole work was a form of suicide note" seems right on the mark. The other sections are intriguing as well, but these two haunted me the most. In a moment of brave self-exposure where Holmes is following Shelley's footsteps in Rome, he recounts a dinner where they toasted Shelley as a fellow-exile and his name "rang to the roof." Holmes writes, "I sat there looking at my plate dangerously close to tears. I...determined to write a book for people like them too, who would never read it, people who have lost most things except hope."-You've succeeded Mr Holmes.

Beginning with a journey tracing Stevenson's walking tour in France, Holmes shows himself to be both a remarkable adventurer and writer. The thing that comes out clearly when he discovers the ruins of a bridge crossed by Stevenson is that the past is the past. And while it has an impact on the world today, it is gone. If you only read it for the first essay, it is well worth the money. The other essays explore other themes that affect biographers. A superb book that should be read by anyone interested in the mysrerious relationship between biographer and subject.

I read this the spring it came out, the spring I learned that once again there would be no summer vacation, no breaking free of the time zone. As much as a book can stand in for actual experience, this did, and I got a rollicking review of Romantic figures in the bargain. Holmes obviously conducts meticulous research, but he writes it up in a style that has the sweep of a fine novel. He is a master at marrying study and action.

Forgive me if I gush, but Jacques Vallee is my all time favorite "ufologist." His book REVELATIONS helped to see that there was a real mystery to the phenomenon and that there were those like himself who deplored the abuse of hypnosis in the service of "abduction research" and the fascination with "crashed saucer" tales and government conspiracies.

This book takes us to his beginnings. Starting in the late 1950s, just before the ascendancy of De Gaulle and the establishment of the Fifth Republic, when he is an astronomy student and aspiring Science Fiction writer and ends in the immediate aftermath of the publication of PASSPORT TO MAGONIA. Along the way we have a first hand account of the "ufo controversy in america" and elsewhere. Additionally, there are reflections on a convention-bound France, where Vallee has to struggle against senior astronomers serene indifference to computers. Reflection on the US: like de Tocqueville, young Vallee looks upon this country with a mixture of admiration and horror. Here and there, there are insights into the looming computer revolution that would explode in the 1970's and 1980's. Vallee is in France in 1968 and records his take on the student uprising of May and June.

And then of course, there are the accounts of love. Like the entry where Vallee writes that he and his lover have just torn the bed and now he lies in the full flush of "jouissance" thinking "why do i need a vow, when I can still taste in on my lips" (DAMN! Those french know how to live!)

Yes there's a lot to get out of this book than just UFO's. But that is the main topic. We see the defining moment for Vallee when he tracks an anomalous object only to have the senior astronomer summarily tear up the print out. We see Vallee's burgeoning fascination with the subject and his passion that science find an explanation, first corresponding with Aime Michel, then making contact with J.Allen Hynek, Project Blue Book's consultant and at the time still a "skeptic."

The insight into Hynek is probably the most important part of the book. We see the role that Vallee plays in encouraging Hynek to admit that there are unexplained cases. Vallee is there when Hynek gets new of the "Soccoro landing" and sees Hynek in the aftermath of the "marsh gas" fiasco. Vallee's admiration for Hynek is obviousk, but there are also other detail. Hynek's love of the limelight and his pride at having little fringe benefits from the air force like his own jeep and driver. We find out that Hynek was an Anthroposophist (a disciple of Rudolf Steiner) and we see him at his most gullible when he brings back "film proof" of psychic surgery (Vallee & Co. are less than impressed).

Besides Hynek, there is correspondence with John Keel in the full grip of paranoia while dealing with strange happenings in the Ohio River Valley, a brief in encounter with Al Bielek (he of future "montauk project" fame) trying to pass himself off as a government spook, an account of origin, trouble history, and anticlimatic ending of the Condon Committee. But most importantly is the "paradigm shift" that Vallee undergoes as a result of studying the phenomenon from a cautious advocate of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (EHT) to a proponent of thinking in terms of Extra-Dimensional Entities and paying close attention to Psycho-Social factors and parallels with folklore and mythology and the backlash he suffers (and continues to suffer) from the "believers" who make up the rank and file of the UFO subculture.

As an added bonus the paperback edition includes the text of the "Pentacle Memorandum" written at the time of the Robertson Committee.

In sum, a first hand history of the UFO phenomenon in the 1960's. When read in conjunction with Jim Moseley's SHOCKINGLY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH and Patrick Huyghe's SWAMP GAS TIMES one can get a very full picture of "UFO history" of the last 50 years.

This is my favorite journal since reading "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau.

Jacques Vallee is a legend in Ufology (study of unidentified flying objects). More than that, he's a true scientist, which is a rarity in "the field". This book takes you through some pivotal moments in UFO history.

You'll learn a lot in this book, not just UFOs, but the meaning of science itself.

Certainly an essential book for anyone studying UFOs... or the possibility of alien life. (Are we alone in the universe?)

On a side note, this books is pricless for all the little tidbits and reflections on Allen Hynek, "The Galileo of Ufology".

This dazzling diary offers a glimpse into the mind of a scientist who seems to challenge every preconception and established piety... Replete with profoundly insightful, often devastating observations. Publishers Weekly, 6 July 1992

What picture of the author emerges? I find that the qualities that come through most clearly are Vallee's love of people, his intense curiosity, and his willingness to march to his own drum... Vallee's book will be a valuable resource in providing first-hand insight into the early development of the UFO controversy.

Jacques Vallee is a respected scientist and an entertaining writer who just happens to be interested in UFO's. His concepts of the 'why' are illuminating, as is his frustration at the handling of the issue by those on all sides.

If you are interested in whats "out there" read and learn. If you on the other hand scoff at all mentions of aliens and such, and consider man to be the center and grandest part of the universe, read this man's books with an open mind and you might begin to doubt some long held beliefs. Vallee is quick to dismiss frauds and charlatians, and focus on the real issues. Arresting stuff.