Associations Books

Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation

This is an ambitious and serious work, accessible in style, and packed with information in over four hundred pages. It has three main themes, clearly defined in the introduction.
The first is the love between Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia. The details of this, so we are told, 'were and are still little known' in 1983 when this book was first published. The second is her admiration for, and championship of, James Joyce. The third is her bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, which was a key feature of the literary scene in Paris between the two World Wars.
By far the most detail is provided on her professional relationship with Joyce. Her efforts to get Ulysses published and smuggled into America, her financial and personal efforts to support the author, and the amount of time and energy she invested, are the key theme of the book.
Naturally Sylvia knew all the other familiar literary figures of the time. Hemingway and Pound are frequently mentioned, as is Gertrude Stein.
As intimated in the introduction there is less to be said about more personal relationships. In a way this seems rather a pity. The anecdotal style and recurring references to various incidents along the way give the writing a rather disjointed feel. Inevitably there is also a certain sense of déja vu particularly for anyone familiar with biographies of Hemingway for example.
The strength and the weakness of the book is the amount of text devoted to James Joyce. Joyce attracts great, but not universal, enthusiasm. The man himself seems to have had more arrogance than charm. Depending on the side of this divide which the reader favours this book will firmly hold the attention or will, in places, rather pall.

This is one of the best books that I've ever read about the 'lost generation' of Americans literary refugees in Paris. The writing is excellent, the research exhaustive and thorough with unparalleled access to Ms. Beach's 'surpressed' portions of her autobiography "Shakespeare and Company". It is readily apparent from this book that without Ms. Beach and her unflinching support, there would have been no "Ulysses" (and maybe no James Joyce). But there was so many other authors she supported and nurtured as well, as the quote from Ernest Hemingway cited above illustrates as well. This book is almost a 'must read' for those persons interested in American literature of the mid 20th century.

This one has been around for some time now and it is not the worse for wear. For those interested in our literature and literary Paris during the 1920s and 1930s, then this is one of those "must reads" (I truely hate that term, but know of no better to describe the improtance of this work at this time). The author's research is absolutely miticulous and fills in many gaps in the story of this remarkable woman. Do be warned though. Many of the names of people mentioned here are rather obscure (at this day and time) for those not immersed in the literary world. This can make the work a bit difficult to follow at times. That being said, this is a wonderful work to read to cause many of these names to become less obscure than they are now...one more of the many reasons to read this work! The book covers some of the intimate details of Beach's relationship with friends and lovers that she so well side steps in her own account of this time. Recommend this one highly. Actually, you probably should purchase this one as it is one that is a good book for reference and one you will probably want to reread.

This is quite a spectacular book, a privileged look into the most famous English language bookstore in Paris, Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare & Company. Not only is it delightful to read the history of how Sylvia's modest dream became such a huge success, but it is also fascinating to read about Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce when they were young. The language is rich and fulfilling, the photos insightful, and in the end, I really felt as if I had been part of it all, sitting in Sylvia's bookstore, hearing the rustle of pages as the day passed away.

This is one of those books where you care about the characters. Their past and future becomes important and that the characters are real people make this book all the more fasinating. A book one does want to end. But end it does with style.

Ok, I'm not giving this one 5 stars b/c I'm pictured in the book, but because it is a great visual story of the great sport of NASCAR. Since the fans are heart of NASCAR, it is essential that they have a place in this book. Scott did a fabulous job (aside from spelling my name wrong even after he verified it-typo?)
The crisp, bright pictures pull you in with each viewing.

If you love Talladega, Bristol, Lowe's Motor Speedway and all those other haunts where NASCAR is a religious experience, then you will enjoy seeing Scott Robinson's up-close and personal images of the real people who make auto racing an authentic part of life in the United States in the early twenty-first century.

Robinson's camera lens has a point of view that is at once affectionate and straightforward. He neither condescends nor fawns, but he does thoroughly document with the fervor of a true believer in NASCAR.

I received this book at Christmas and have been pleased to keep it on the coffee table. To me the most interesting sections are not about the cars but the fans. Nice quality printing and binding. Some text but mostly its about the photography, which is very good. This will appeal to racing fans of all ages..

Outstanding coverage of the "other side" of a great subject. Very impressive that Mr. Robinson did the writing as well as the visual reporting. Nice visual rhythm page after page. He has captured some wonderful "blink-of-the-eye" moments to savor again and again. judy sawyer & chip maury send

Scott Robinson's photographs and essays provide a fresh and welcome perspective on the world of NASCAR, one that is more personal and intimate than I'd previously seen. I enjoyed his photographs tremendously, and found the essays insightful and engaging. The pictures are both vivid and warm, and anyone who has even a passing interest in auto racing and NASCAR is going to love this book!

What a wonderful compilation of educational and heartwarming stories! I have four domestic housecats myself and have oftentimes wondered what similarities or differences they might share with their close cousins. NOW I KNOW! What strikes me the most throughout the material is the responsibilty displayed by the lucky folks who own or shall I say are owned by these wonderful cats. I find it compelling that such a special relationship can evolve from these wild cats. My domestics are only a cathair away from them evolutionary wise and it was refreshing to see the same feelings that I have for mine expressed through these admirable small exotic feline owners. Kudos and I truly hope to see more future material of this nature. Thanks for the valuable product!

This book is educational and enlightening. No amount of readings will make is dull and I loved the communication beween thse owners and their cats.
Lucky animals and lucky people to have found each other and lucky are we to get to look inside their lives.

Fabulous book.
Exactly what I was interested in hearing. This book sheds light on exotic cats and the people who love them.
It was not what I was expecting.
I was expecting cute stories and funny happenings.
What I got was an emotion packed set of stories that made me laugh out loud, cry with joy, sit on the edge of my seat, cry with understanding and smile with the comfort of a purr.
I've given out many of these books as gifts and plan to give out more!

I found this book to show the true dedication,experience and committment that responsible exotic cat private owners are willing to have to give their life to the exotic cat.Shows owning an exotic cat through proper channels can be done and is more than a rewarding lifetime partnership between the responsible private owner and the exotic cat.

After reading this book,I became aware that ,indeed,there are responsible private exotic cat owners in this country,willing to share their experiences,dedication to the exotic cat,knowledge and education they have requried.
Some stories are sad,some funny but overall,show that private ownership of an exotic cat is a lifetime committment and one to be taken seriously.

I have read a number of books on gauge field theory. This one just seems to be the clearest presentation, balanced with unerstandable problems, I have ever seen. Many physics texts leave you wishing they would get to a point. Others leave you wondering what truckload of math just ran over you. This book, and its first volume, just satisfy. Each section is clear, to the point, and enjoyable. If you want to learn some field theory, just read these books. Actually, you may need a couple of basic quantum mechanics books first. But it's well worth it, to see the beauty of gauge theory.

I received my copy of Aitchison and Hey last week and have nearly finished reading the first volume. So far, the text is living up to its legend: it is very readable, well cited (so the historical context can be reconstructed) and pitched for a graduate student who has seen the topic before but is looking for the kind of "handle" on the subject that is missing in nearly all other volumes on QFT (esp so Peskin). If you are struggling with your first look at QFT, reviewing the subject or trying to get a headstart through self instruction --- this book is essential. I would strongly recommend that all physics graduate students read this text after completing the usual third semester grad course in QM that often includes a first look at relativistic QM, KG eqn, and Spinors. I would also recommend that one begin by just READING the book carefully before trying problems. Aitchison and Hey have created a very reader friendly intro to QFT and the standard model that is not watered down.

Take my advice: start reading this book in parallel with your QFT coursework or beforehand if you can. These books are worth every penny and every minute of your study time. Many mysteries are resolved! Enjoy.

Like the 2nd edition this 2 volume set is very readable. I like it's informal style, and the wealth of background material presented, as well as the hints about when to expect further discussions of a subject in succeding chapters. By far the best Quantum Field Theory book I've come across.

The 3rd edition of that book clarified to a degree the fog left in my mind by a two-semester QFT course. The book is better suited for beginners than Peskin & Shroeder, Mandl & Show or Lahiri & Pal simply because it senses better the difficult points for beginners and tries to explain them at lower level. It focuses on the main concepts and doesn't try to `cover broad material in shortest time' or get into extreme computational technicalities totally irrelevant to beginners. The correct historical perspective of many ideas is given and the important historical papers are cited. The theory is frequently compared to the experimental results. Violin string is used as a prototype of a continuous system described by a classical field which is the first field quantized later. The book develops physical intuition showing how a scattering process can be analyzed in full QED (all fields are operators), in semiclassical approximation (all fields are operators except the EM field) or using the lowest level wavefunction approximation (all fields are treated like wave functions just like scattering in nonrelativistic QM) often getting the same result (see chapter 8). Important concepts like Feynman diagrams and Renormalization of a theory are first explored in a simple theoretical playground - a hypothetical `ABC theory' of three massive scalar fields with an interaction ABC term - and later discussed again in the case of QED with all the complications like fermions and Electromagnetic gauge field.

Topics discussed include gauge invariance principle; relativistic field equations describing free particles like Klein-Gordon and Dirac; Feynman interpretation of the negative energy solutions of Dirac eq. (no its not `antiparticle going back in time'); Dirac equation with EM field; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian densities for continuous systems; quantization of free fields like KG (real and complex scalar), Dirac and Electromagnetic field [the quantization is by postulating commutators/anticommutators, no path integrals]; Normal ordering of operators; Interaction picture for interacting fields, Time ordering of operators, Dyson expansion of the S matrix; Wick's theorem; scattering processes in QED at tree level; Ward identity; form factors for scattering from non point particle; parton model, Bjorken scaling; diagrams with loops, regularization and renormalization of ultraviolet divergences in QED.

It took me a month and a half to read the book and solve all problems (10 problems per chapter on average). The problems are exactly the ones every beginner should solve and usually revolve about filling in details from the text or proving statements in the text. Solving them is usually easy with a few exceptions and teaches you the typical computational tricks of the trade. You have to know quantum mechanics (at least have seen scattering theory) and special relativity. You have to at least have heard of Green function and contour integration in the complex plane. The book provides nice appendices about all these.

Not everything is crystal clear in that book, sometimes it took me a few days for an idea to sink in or I understood some paragraphs only after I read the whole book. Other ideas I did not understand at all. Sometimes it's hard to tell what they are trying to say although they say it several times from different angles ... The authors should work on expressing an idea in a direct succinct way once and for all instead of repeating several fuzzy versions of it. Overall that book made me understand MUCH more than a regular QFT course and I highly recommend it as a prep for such a course.

This book (2nd edition) has 15 chapters . I have just finished chapter 4 entitled QFT and I am compeled to write this review! After a year of studying of QFT informally I can report that this is the way to introduce yourself to the topic. I've been through Mandl & Shaw, Peskin & Schoeder, Ryder, Weinberg and a few others and this is heads and tails the BEST intro available. In 42 pages, Aitchison & Hey make the transistion from classical to QM and from QM to QFT as gracefully as I can conceive. For example, the transition from the discrete Lagrangian to the field Lagrangian is very explicit. One benfit of this is that the dependence of L on partial of phi wrt x is clearly motivated leading to the manifestly relativistically invariant form of L. They explicitly develop physical intuition at every step of the way - for example, this is the only book that I have found that explicitly asks the question where is QM's wavefunction in the QFT formalism? Answer - The vacuum to one-particle matrix elements of the field operators. The transistion from free fields to interacting fields is far clearer than any other treatment I've seen. I also appreciated that the problems were used to basically fill in details left out of the text. I was able to 'practice' the various kinds of manipulations that are required.

Well written, concise - thanks for sharing your experience with other soccer moms and dads!

If I had one wish for all the adults out there who watch and coach kids playing soccer, it would be for them to understand and abide by the topics covered in the chapter "They Play to Have Fun." It might seem obvious but adults sometimes forget that everyone, especially kids, learn faster, easier, and better when they're having a good time. The entire book is full of excellent information (the best I've read) but this chapter alone makes it worth buying.

My 7-year-old son has been playing soccer for 2 years now and I'm just now getting the hang of soccer. Not having grown up with it, like most of the parents I know, I didn't even know the basics of the game. Goal has just what I needed. Information about rules, appropriate skills for each age, how to find a great coach, what to feed my kid so he doesn't tire out, how to find a camp, the best clothes to wear. This book has been a godsend. Now I know when to cheer at his games.

Youth soccer is great - for kids and families! This book put into words so many of the benefits of youth soccer. You'll be a better soccer mom or dad just because you'll be more excited about the sport and all it offers you and your child!

The information is well organized and enjoyable to read. And, like us, you may realize that you want to be more that just a soccer parent.

Last year, I signed up to be an assistant referee because they needed some help....this year I can't wait! I enjoy watching my daughters' dance recital and my son play baseball, but I LOVED being a referee on the soccer field! It was great to really be a PART of what my kids were doing.

After reading GOAL!, we both decided to start coach's training this year. Our kids are estatic that we want to do this with them, and we want to do what we can to provide a great program.

If you're not a soccer mom or dad or fan, you will be after reading this book!

I am a serious 14-year-old player. Ever since I was four or five, my parents have attended every one of my games, whether it was a scrimmage, or an important State Cup match. They would holler their lungs out, yelling instructions to me from the sidelines. At halftime they would bring over the snack for the team, and after the game they would talk to me about how I could improve. As pretty involved soccer parents, of course our bookshelf at home was full of books about soccer skills, tactics, and drills. It wasn't until about a week ago when my dad came home with Goal! The Ultimate Guide for Soccer Moms and Dads, that I had seen a soccer book designed to teach adults how to be good soccer parents. Both of my parents read the book and already I could see major improvements. There was no more hollering instructions from the sidelines, we had lots of drinks and fruit at halftime (which did help us play better), and best of all, my parents began giving encouragement rather than telling me what I did wrong. Seeing the total change in my parents, I decided that I would have to read the book also. After completing the book, I realized why my parents were acting so differently. Goal! has opened their eyes about not just soccer, but parenting also.

Wonderful photos and descriptions. I felt that I had visually rafted the Grand Canyon and since I'm going to do just that in June of '08 I'm more pumped up having seen some of the sights I'll see in person and so lets go rafting.

I recently purchased this book for my boss who when white water rafting in the Grand Canyon. He loved the book, he related to alot of the pictures and was happy to relive the moment again.

What a treat it is to read this book! Page after page of glorious photographs beckon with their beauty. The pictures capture a wide range of scenes--from the river to its vegetation, animals and canyons. A thoroughly enjoyable book to be read and reread.

This book has page after page of remarkable, vibrant photographs. From the extraordinary landscape, to the animals that inhabit the surroundings, to people running wild rapids--this book offers more than just a glimpse into the Grand Canyon. An absolute must-have for everyone-- be it nature lovers, river runners, or if you just want to admire the scenery, I can highly recommend this book!

This is a book I highly recommend to all my friends who are contemplating a trip down the Colorado in the Grand Canyon. After spending two weeks on a raft trip in the Grand Canyon, this is one of the best guides I have seen about the trip, complete with pictures.

The author posits that most Christians abandon their faith through a series of small compromises with the world, rather than through one spectacular sin. He details some of those compomises, as well as some of the ways the devil undermines us, and what we can do about it.

The author discusses at length Lot and the cities of the plain, but I am unsure how he arrives at some of his conclusions. I am no biblical scholar, so they may be perfectly valid conclusions, but I wish he had explained his reasoning. For example, the author says Abraham and Lot went their separate ways because Lot was a spiritual drag on Abraham, and relied too much on him, instead of cultivating his own relationship with God. As I read it in Genesis 18 & 19, they split up because of a scarcity of pasture for their kine. Again, the author says that Lot was attracted by the glamorous civilization of Egypt, which he preferred to rural life, and that he chose to go to Sodom because it reminded him of Egypt. I understood it was because there was much greenery in the direction of Sodom and Lot thought it would be good pasturage.

In the prologue, the author uses the example of a man going out for a beer with his non-Christian friends as a compromise. I could not tell if the author was advocating teetotalism or warning against the dangers of excessive drinking. Alternately, he could have been warning against the dangers of bad company, if the friends were inclined to bawdiness or making disparaging remarks about religion.

Finally, although this is very subjective, I felt the author spent too much time on the "larger" sexual sins, and hardly any time on the truly insidious and gradual sins such as pride, envy, bad company, anger.

In brief, while there was some good stuff here, I got much more out of The Screwtape Letters, which also discusses the nature of temptation but in a more balanced way.

I received a free copy from BGEA and have purchased 2 copies since then. This is a great book that absolutely outlines how easy it is to fall into the trap of compromise. It is a must read for teenagers and adults alike. I wish I had read this when I was a young woman. I have given all my copies away and am really interested in obtaining another written copy.

I read this book a few years ago and til today I still remember the impact that it made in my life. I recommended it to 2 other friends then and we all felt that this is a good book to read. And I am still looking around to buy more copies of it to share with my other friends now !

Sometimes we may not even be aware that we have landed ourselves into compromising situations and this book brings up these examples that you would be familar with and how to deal with it when you are placed in the same compromising position. If you can identify yourself being caught in compromising situations, then perhaps this book can help provide you with the insights from the way the bible will teach us to handle it.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions or at least with thousands of tiny compromises. Not too long ago in a church not too far away from where I live, a pastor was forced to resign and was eventually arrested for embezeling church funds. I know of people who are Christians, but are constantly swearing, getting into trouble, bickering, brawling, etc. How many times do you do something you know is wrong then look back afterwards and wonder, how could I have fallen so low? These are some of the troubling issues that Greg Laurie examines in THE GREAT COMPROMISE.

The thesis is quite simple. People don't fall out of a relationship with God all at once. It happens slowly over time; week by week, day by day, moment by moment. Each day we are faced with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of decisions. In each one of those decisions we can choose to press out the best of that decision and give our utmost for His highest or we can choose less than the best and compromise. Oh, it won't hurt if I travel twenty-five miles over the speed limit, everyone else is going thiry miles over. I really feel terrible today, but I'm going to act like everything is dandy. This one little lie won't hurt, after all I'm not hurting anyone. The scenarios are endless, but the consequences are the same. Slowly but surely we make little compromises that end up leading us to fall away from God. Laurie explores some of those decisions and scenarios and gives Biblically-based advice on what we can do to keep from making the Great Compromise.

Greg Laurie is a person who delivers the message of the gospel, and the word of God, straight from the Bible. He does it with humor, with compassion, and as a true servant of God, not misrepresenting scripture in any way. I could barely put this great book down, in spite of the fact I found myself convicted up one side and down the other from time to time. But then, as Christians, this is one way we grow. I recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to strengthen their Christian walk, an excellent guide for all of us.

This is so easy to fit into my busy schedule. I expected to see huge rules and regulatios and do's and mostly don'ts. But I found that it seemed to be written just for me. It is so easy to incoporate into my life and so easy to keep in mind. Great book. Highly recommended -- especially if you are struggling to keep your weight down.

I used to be an overweight kid who used to eat lots of fast food all the time.
I bought this book. and have been using this book for a while. I have lost lots of weight and have changed my eating habits too!
it changed my entire life!

This book was recommended by my endocrinologist. It explains everything in an easy to read and understand manner. Just where I had questions was an answer that appeared to be waiting for me!!

This book works! The advice is sound and simple. Put it to the test and you will note be disappointed. Through daily excersize and cutting back on portion size, I have lost over 25 pounds!

Jo Ann Hattner (national media spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association), Ann M. Coulston (1998-99 past president of the American Dietetic Association); and Mike Goodkind (former Associated Press writer and editor at the Stanford University Medical Center for more than twenty years) successfully collaborated to write Help! My Underwear Is Shrinking!, which is a quite straightforward, "reader friendly" instructional guide especially intended for diabetics on the critically important subject of weight-management and good nutrition. Personal testimony; advice on working exercise into one's daily routine; tips, tricks, and techniques for maintaining healthy eating habits in all social settings, and much, much more fill the pages of this excellent guide which is very highly recommended reading for anyone with diabetes or a family history of diabetes.

This is by far the most useful book I have ever found for developing successful software strategies. Brush has analyzed the works of the leading strategic thinkers: Porter, Mintzberg, Hamel, Ansoff and on and on (the book's bibliography is ten pages of leading writers and practioners) and then applied them using her long career as a high-tech practitioner. (A good combo of theory and practice.) The book is complete with templates and step by step instructions that has made my formerly dreaded regular exercise of reviewing and developing new product and marketing strategies a greatly simplified task.

High-Tech Strategies in the Internet Era is a must for anyone in High-Tech or anyone who uses technology a key source of differentiation to compete. It is extremely thorough and provides complete checklists for setting-up and implementing strategy. In today's fast-paced marketplace it can be the difference between survival and failure.

High-Tech Strategies In The Internet Era is a basic, A to Z, introduction and instruction book on the high-tech strategy process that a business must master in today's computerized and Internet-linked marketing and business environment. Kathleen Brush lays down a step-by-step guide by which any company can achieve a successful, fixed yet flexible course in today's high-technology, Internet communications era. Readers will learn that partners play a critical role in the Internet era; that industry selection is the key to success; that management must learn to live with an empowered workforce; that the role of marketing communications has greatly increased as a factor in the success or failure of a business enterprise; that high-tech strategies are, by necessity, global strategies; and that strategy is the essence of commercial survival in today's global, Internet oriented marketplace. High-Tech Strategies In The Internet Era is essential, invaluable, highly accessible reading for aspiring business entrepreneurs, corporate managers, industry analysts and investors.

An opus in the sense that it took some degree of creativity to skirt the customary publishing procedures . . . way to go, Dr. Kathy!

High-Tech Strategies in the Internet Era is a must for anyone in High-Tech or anyone who uses technology a key source of differentiation to compete. It is extremely thorough and provides complete checklists for setting-up and implementing strategy. In today's fast-paced marketplace it can be the difference between survival and failure.

As an interim CEO of software firms, I see the the problems created by no strategy or poor strategy. This book gives a thorough mthodology to avoid having someone like me take over a company.

this is one of the best cookbooks I own. The seafood section is tops! She has opened my eyes to Jamaican food and I'm planning a trip next year to visit the island. Anyone can cook her food, this gets 5 thumbs up from me.

I love this book because it's very different from any other cookbook I've bought. I have made many recipes and all turned out great! My favorite would be the jerk,festivals,codfish balls and broiled salmon, so far. Oh, made the chocolate cheescake and I have to say, the best ever! One thing author makes a mistake she says to add melted chocolate but no melted chocolate in the ingredients but that' okay, I figured it out myself and when I tasted it I was in heaven..

My fiancé and I love to experiment with new foods, and new tastes. We have so far tried the Oxtail, Coconut Chicken, and the Curry chicken recipes, and all I have to say is... Wow, are these recipes easy to follow, and the wonderful combination of spices are just perfect. If you are looking to make your taste buds dance, this is the perfect cook book to get.

I have to tell you that this cookbook was so refreshing. She gives step by step detail and the fact that she is not a cook is very appealing because it gives me hope that I can make her recipes. I have tried the crab salad in papaya, so easy and really tasty. My daughter made the chocolate cake and she was so happy that it actually came out, she is only 16.

Yes Beef Patties is where it's at, and trust me for me to actually make them, and they came out tasting better then the frozen patties, anyone can do it. I love beef patties, and the best thing is these ones are the best patties I've ever eaten... I still can't believe I made them myself. Can't wait to try the rest of the recipes!