Personal Pages Books

I recieved my book well before the time I was told and in perfect condition. I bought the book for a course I am taking and I got it a week before it started which was plenty of time for me to look over it and get a preview.

Thanks!

Tarot For Yourself is a very different sort of Tarot book. There are many, many books on Tarot available that will discuss the cards, their general meanings, and 'how to read' the cards or interpret their meanings, and these are fine if you want simply to read about Tarot. They do not get you personally involved.

This book will get you deeply involved virtually from the first page. It is a workbook in the truest sense of the word, starting you USING the Tarot Keys from the beginning, reflecting on their meaning and symbology, forcing you to meditate on the cards and what they mean to you personally. Although there are in fact guides to divinatory meanings for each card, the reader is encouraged to develop his/her intuition and psyche through regular, daily interaction with Tarot, not simply memorize meanings assigned to the cards by others. Through 250 pages of meditation, use in multiple formats, and ever deeper involvement, the Keys become a part of the psyche of the reader.

The Tarot is a unique tool of personal spiritual development, a set of western mandalas for meditation and psychic growth. Divination, the primary reason most people buy a Tarot deck, is a distinctly secondary use for the Keys. Proper, regular work with the Keys will expand the pscyhe and personality of the aspirant for beyond expectations.

Greer's book is among the very best tools available to the student in the form of a single volume to immerse the student in Tarot. Highly recommended.

I think this book is very helpful in helping me understand tarot better. I find her writing easy to understand and the exercises very useful! I highly recommend this book.

This workbook shows you how to develop a deeper personal awareness using the Tarot Deck as a meditation and reflection tool. It is a classic for Tarotists and is a perfect book for those who want to work with the Tarot as a tool to develop personal meaning. Ms. Greer uses a variety of decks and generally leaves various card meanings and card layouts as open ended as she can so that the reader has more fluidity in these areas. For the beginner in tarot who would like to use tarot as a tool for self transformation and awareness, this is his/her best choice.

This is it. All you need. If you are wondering what book to buy to truly understand Tarot, this is where to go. No more memorizing, instead delving into your imagination and personal intuition with a great guide.

I have heard people buying their first deck and then flipping through this perfect book for learning and whining "I don't like workbooks," and thinking "If you won't do the work to understand the cards, then just memorize the deck's booklet in that little box it came in and forget ever being talented as a reader."

She covers everything, and has more books for where you may be weak for later learning. This book you can work with for your whole career. As you get better as a reader, you find more depth in each exercise as you do it years later.

I teach Tarot and when the apprenticeship is over, I have the students buy this work to continue staying in an open, self-affirming space.

This book is one of the most inspiring books I have seen for creative inspiration. If you are interested in journal writing or book making it is a "must have"! Also makes a wonderful gift !

I have my high school students complete visual journals as a part of their high school art experience and this book provides great ideas for this endeavor. I keep it in my classroom so students can brouse when they have free time and I use it as a resource for visual journal ideas/prompts. It is one of my favorite books.

I did not find this book horribly inspiring. Although many of the pages were absolutely wonderful, this book did little to excite me. I will keep it as an occasional reference...there were a couple descriptions and different techniques I may try. Not bad, not great.

Great inspirational book for students and professionals.
Excellent quality pages and photographs. Lots of good examples.

This book is very practical, and I go back to it again and again. I'm fairly new to art journaling, and this book is great because there are a LOT of examples and easy-to-understand instructions for each one. I expect to be using this book as one of my main resources for a long time. It's a book I can grow into.

Very good book about shirtmaking.I have learn a lot!It's wrote with passion,simple english (my english in't very good but I can understand almost all)and very interesting.Very good purchase.I appreciate informations about preshrinking fabrics,perfect pressing and tips about sewing techniques and specials sewing foot.Very good book. I higly recommend it.Thank you.:-)))))

I love this book. It's easy to understand, which is no small feat since "sewing directions" are often a bit oblique. And best of all, it's written by a guy who started sewing later in life as I have so his approach is mature, methodical and invested with fun. His guides to creating a custom pattern and fitting have given me the tips and details I've been looking for all in one reference source. A+++

This book provided detailed professional information on sewing techniques for creating tailored men's shirts. This book showed you how to alter patterns, create your own pattern OR copy one of your own shirts.
Very infomative. Be prepared to elevate your sewing knowlegde. This book uses "plain talk". It can be read by beginning sewers and advanced sewers.
I recommend purchasing the accomanying video for visual education.

professional shirtmaking tips for everyone interested in making one that really fits. Good tips for those afraid of all those details. very comprehensive.

I've been sewing for over 50 years, and I learned so much from this book !! Wow! Fabrication, technique, results ... worth every penny!!!

I just read the book - again. This book is one of those old time classics that every time you read it, you find something new that resonates with you. I like how the author was able to weave poetry into her content, making the message even deeper.

I found the book to be a caring and insightful journey of self. I was engrossed from beginning to end and would recommend it to anyone wanting to jumpstart life and love.

I would also like to note the author is very commanding, elegant speaker and if you have a chance to see her...do so!

Removing Your Roadblocks is the kind of book that speaks directly to the reader with universal appeal.

It takes "self help" books to a higher level!
Thank you!

I am an executive who knows the value of reinventing oneself and one's company--and discovering this book is like finding a hidden treasure for both myself personally and for my employees!

Roadblocks is one of those rare books that allows you to shift your perspective and begin to see the possibilities ahead.

Motivational, Inspirational--Very Enjoyable!

What a fun and insightful book! I laughed and cried, and found myself seeing my life in a new and more positive light.

Treat yourself and someone you care about. Roadblocks is a magical journey!

Joseph Conrad's Under Western Eyes should be of interest to those with a particular interest in Russia, especially the period of the late 19th century. Others may find the book boring, given that it is largely devoted to dialogue rather than action and trite in that the main conflict is the inner struggle of a man with his conscience. The title refers to the fact that the story is told by an English professor of literature who comes across a diary written by the book's protagonist. The reason Conrad gives for this manner of telling the story is that, in his view, Western readers cannot comprehend the circumstances of life in imperial Russia and can only view them through the eyes of a fellow Westerner. On pages 106 and 107 he has the professor say, "for this is a Russian story for Western ears (sic), which, as I have already observed, are not attuned to certain tones of cynicism and cruelty, of moral negation, and even of moral distress already silenced at our end of Europe." I find this statement to be incredibly ethnocentric, and as events later proved, entirely wrong. He adds that Western European countries have already had their revolutions and thus are no longer able to fully understand czarist Russia. We can certainly argue with this viewpoint and in my view this literary device does more to get in the way of the story than to help explain it.

In any case, the book begins with the professor saying that he has come across a manuscript written by a Russian student at St. Petersburg University, Kirylo Sidorovitch Razumov. Razumov is impoverished and without family and sees his only chance for success in life as coming from academic success. Accordingly he largely avoids the other students and is intent on his studies. As he is in his room one evening another student, Victor Haldin, comes to see him proclaiming that he has just assassinated a prominent political figure and asks Razumov to help him to escape. Razumov, having no sympathy for Haldin's cause, is reluctant to get involved but finally agrees to go to the lodgings of a sledge driver who has agreed to drive Haldin away to safety. But when he finds the man he is drunk and Razumov cannot arouse him. After beating him in disgust he begins to walk back to his room, pondering what to do next. Fearful that if Haldin stays with him too long he will be implicated as well, Razumov decides to give him up to the authorities. Haldin is then captured and executed.

Razumov is still under suspicion and finally receives a summons to go to the office of Councillor Milukin, who, as it turns out, is the head of the bureau in charge of revolutionary investigations. After what appears to Razamov to be a kind of cat-and-mouse game he is given permission to leave. As he puts his hand on the doorknob Milukin asks him where is going to go.

At this point part one of the book ends and the scene shifts to Geneva in part two. Here we meet the mother and sister of Haldin. They see him as the hope for their future lives and are devastated when they learn of Haldin's death. The mother goes into a state of shock and stays in her room staring out the window, while the daughter, Nathalie, an idealistic, but naïve, young woman, tries to make the best of the situation. Other revolutionaries appear on the scene most notably Peter Ivanovitch, the leader of the group, Madame de S___, whose money is apparently financing their operations and Sophia Antonova, a long time revolutionary.

The Haldin women receive a letter stating that a "friend" of Haldin is coming to Geneva and Nathalie begins to believe that this person will help them. The friend, of course, is Razumov, who has apparently reached an agreement with the government agents to spy on the revolutionaries. Razumov arrives and is accepted as a fellow revolutionary and friend of Haldin. He undergoes a difficult inner struggle trying to maintain this pretense, particularly in the light of the goodness and trust Nathalie shows him. The story then progresses as a struggle by Razumov with his conscience, whether to report on the revolutionaries or to reveal the truth about himself.

The book bears some resemblance to Crime and Punishment with its psychological overtones and dialogues about good and evil, right and wrong. Much of parts two and three are devoted to conversations and it is only in the last part that there is dramatic action. I rate it as three stars because it is not as good as the best of Conrad (Lord Jim), nor is it on a level with the really good fiction of Russian writers. I could rate it at 3 and a half or even 4 as well. It can be interesting reading and thought provoking and does end in dramatic fashion.

Impoverished Russian student Kirylo Razumov doesn't have a great deal in life to look forward to. From an obscure background--and possibly illegitimate--Razumov's one dream is to write a prize essay for an upcoming examination. Pathetically, he imagines that winning the coveted silver medal granted by the Ministry of Education will lead to an illustrious career. As Razumov daydreams about the contest, a few miles away, fellow student and revolutionary Victor Haldin throws a bomb on a politician. The politician is killed and Haldin seeks refuge with Razumov until he can safely leave St. Petersburg.

Razumov's solitary ways and quiet intensity have led Haldin to the mistaken conclusion that Razumov is a reflective person with similar political leanings. Razumov, however, sees Haldin's arrival as disastrous, and angrily worries that his unwilling involvement will cause him to seen as part of a revolutionary organization with which he has no sympathy. Razumov chooses to betray Haldin to the authorities and imagines that he will somehow then be free of the entire affair.

Once brought to the attention of the sinister Councillor Mikulin, Razumov is caught in a noose of intrigue and espionage. He becomes a tool for the state as he finds himself recruited as a spy and sent to Switzerland--here he is to report back on the activities of Haldin's mother and sister, Nathalie and any revolutionary contacts Haldin may have had. Razumov isn't motivated by idealism, or politics, nonetheless, he finds himself adrift in a nest of anarchists--with no moral guide, no convictions and no desire to be involved.

"Under Western Eyes" is one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, and it's arguably Conrad's finest. It's to Conrad's credit that he ultimately creates sympathy for Razumov's character. At first, Razumov's desire to save his own hide seems despicable. But once the less-than-stellar motives of the violent anarchists are revealed, then he is seen caught between two opposing forces--a small insect about to be squashed in the political fanaticism of others. Nathalie Haldin acts as the moral centre of the novel as she refuses to become involved and used by the tainted politics of the "feminist" revolutionary Peter Ivanovitch. Ivanovitch and his decrepit, repulsive patron, Madame de S. spout fine speeches about revolution and equality while savagely and hypocritically mistreating their downtrodden servant, Tekla. Razumov is one of the few characters to recognize this servant as a fellow human being.

Once the story moves to Switzerland, the tale unfolds through the eyes of an English gentleman who admires Nathalie Haldin while remaining a perplexed observer of Russian politics. Conrad includes a few pages of commentary at the end of the novel in which he notes that "the ferocity and imbecility of an autocratic rule" creates an equivalent response--the "atrocious answer of a purely Utopian revolutionism encompassing destruction." "Under Western Eyes" is often overlooked on college curriculums in favour of the more accessible "Heart of Darkness." And that's unfortunate, as this is a marvelously complex novel--displacedhuman

...of the 20th Century written in English by a Pole! Honestly, you could remove any and all of the prepositional qualifiers from that assertion, and I'd still be willing to defend it. Under Western Eyes is a superb novel in every way - in emotional impact, in intelligence, and in narrative art - and it is very specifically a Russian novel as well as a novel about Russia. Anecdotes suggest that Conrad wrote it in response to his reading of Dostoevsky; if so, he exceeded his model in dazzling narrative acrobatics and in intelligence.

The central character, Razumov, is the most dislikable anti-hero in all fiction, so it's an amazing feat of empathy by which Conrad brings us to care about his fate. Conrad's genius as a narrator is his ability to place himself and the reader in a realm of detachment, so that every event and every character can be observed from several angles at once. The "unreliable narrator" is child's play for Conrad. I don't want to spoil any of the prismatic effect of Conrad's narrative structure by telling any more of the tale of Under Western Eyes, but I will mention that the title is not insignificant.

The Russia portrayed in this novel is a land of cynicism and naivete intertwined - hyper-emotionalism and psychological repression in equal measure - omnicompetent surveillance and hopeless myopia - ruthless bureaucracy and utter disorganization - a land in short of oxymoronic self-destruction. This is NOT, however, the Russia of Communism! The novel was written in 1911! This is Russia as it existed under the Tsarist autocracy, and everything about it clamors for revolution. It's interesting to compare Conrad's portrayal of the old regime with the nostalgic and idealized version served up by Vladimir Nabokov in his memoir "Speak, Memory." Nabokov wrote far more beautiful sentences, but Conrad saw deeper. The horror for us, post-Stalinist readers, in Conrad's depiction of the pre-revolutionary state-of-things is that we KNOW that change will not change much, that autocratic, arbitrary repression will be replaced by...more of the same.

Conrad wrote two novels aground, away from the sea - this one and The Secret Agent. They are among his best. Some readers of today seem to find Conrad's style involuted and dry, and blame it on his status as a 'second-language' writer. To my mind, they are missing the point, the complex lensing of perspective through the minds of Conrad's narrative intermediaries. This is a book to be read slowly and observantly; the effort will be rewarded.

An English teacher (the 'Western Eyes') tries to find the truth behind the autobiography of a Russian agent, for 'words are the greatest foes of reality', and 'speech has been given for the purpose of concealing our thought.'
The Russian agent betrayed a friend-terrorist and meets afterwards his sister and mother. His friend combatted autocratic despotism, the destroyer of the spirit of progress and truth, of freedom, law and justice.
This novel is Conrad's version of Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment': 'A moral spectre is infinitely more effective than any visible apparition of death.'

Conrad was a visionary: 'A violent revolution falls into the hands of narrow minded fanatics and tyrannical hypocrites. The scrupulous and the just, the noble, humane and devoted natures, the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement but it passes away from them.'
His picture of the world of revolutionary conspirators is excellent: double agents, opportunists, naive idealists, hypocrites, rogues, agitators, fanatics and cynics. 'It did not matter what it was, vanity, despair, love, hate, greed, intelligent pride, a stupid conceit, it was all one to him as long as the man could be made to serve.'

But this book has many flaws: melodramatic overreactions (attack on Ziemianitch, secret love of Razumov), high improbabilities (confession of Razumov, interventions of 'Western Eyes') or the ultimate verdict ('he was the victim of an outrage. He had confessed voluntarily.')

Joseph Conrad was an ambitious writer, but this book has not the same high standard as his masterpieces 'Heart of Darkness' and 'Lord Jim'.
A worth-while read.

Joseph Conrad had famously hard feelings for the Russians, occupiers of his Polish homeland. In "Under Western Eyes" (1911), Conrad employs tough love in depicting the Russian character, hopelessly divided between reckless radicalism and reactionary reasonlessness, between devotion and despair.

Razumov is a college student in St. Petersberg content to labor under the Czarist system, under which he hopes to advance through study. Fate intervenes in the form of a fellow student, Victor Haldin, fresh from blowing up a secret police chief, who thinks Razumov is the man to aid his escape. Razumov is horrified instead, not at the murderous nature of the act but what it could mean to Razumov's future. Will he turn Haldin in, or try and get him out of the city?

The introduction of my Penguin edition notes a popular criticism of "Under Western Eyes" is that its characters "exist only for the sake of the ideas." That's a problem of much of Conrad's fiction, and after the very taut and thrilling first part is over, we are treated to a number of garden-path colloquies in Geneva that slow things down considerably. But the ideas Conrad deals with, about Russia's political and philosophical underpinnings, are often fascinating and certainly to the point, especially considering the novel was written as the real Russia stood ready to implode from the strife depicted here.

Conrad tended to view revolutionaries with cynical remove, especially when they employed violence as a means to an end, yet many of the revolutionaries we meet here are a more sympathetic lot than the nihilistic goons of "The Secret Agent." "You have either to rot or to burn," explains Sophia Antonovna, a genuinely good character who supports the revolution. She's not one to wither quietly while there's injustice to be fought.

Razumov might disagree. It's not that he believes in the system, just the futility of fighting it. "The exceptional could not prevail against the material contacts which make one day resemble another," he tells himself. "Tomorrow would be like yesterday." But as he is pushed into the world of revolution despite himself, he finds himself doubting more and more the shaky pillars of his prior existence.

It's not clear to me which point-of-view Conrad held; likely he saw the merits of every ideology depicted here, a relativism that made him doubtful of any one solution. Certainly "Under Western Eyes" is about as even-handed a book about revolutionary struggle as you might care to read, compelling, deep, and quotable from first page to last. One wishes that Conrad could have sustained the dramatic force of the Part First in the latter three-fourths of the novel, but what you get is one of Conrad's most important books.

Those thinking novels about Russians are reflexively depressing and opaque are not going to have their minds changed here, but they will enjoy the chance at seeing one of the world's most complicated nations through the prism of one of literature's most discerning, eloquent minds.

Harry Lorayne, the master of `Memory Power' says : Memory is an essential food for success. Memory boost the confidence for success. And at the age seventy plus, Harry has superb memory powers and those who have seen him on televion in action or read his books are sure to exclaim "Oh gosh! This is the Something! Memorising the names of a hundred strangers and than recognizing their faces and telling them their names just perfectly is real cool Memory! Who says "When you become old, you start losing memory" Harry just proves it wrong.Harry Lorayne's techniques increase performances as he says that every moment is precious and it counts. Sometimes, you don't remember the name of a person even though you sense it just beyond the grasp of your memory. You might not remember the name of a movie and such tip of the tongue which tots out incidents keep happening quite often. The best remedy for such flaws would be to stop fretting about it and take it lightly. Soon the memory is back normal again. Many times, we forget the keys and our minds go blank as we keep thinking and trying to locate it. It creates an annoying situation.Memory isn't fading but it's probably you didn't give the memory system the information it required. Harry Lorayne's techniques boost brain cells to activate, enhance powers of concentration, observation, be confident and makes a person alert and alive. You can test your Memory skills and get the tips and tricks to memorize in general, remembering names, telephone numbers, faces, classnotes, multiplication tables, music scores or just about anything. That's the Whizz Master of Memory Power Harry Lorayne with 'Page a Minute' Memory Book. Good and practically sound.

What can I say in simple words?
Another unique step by step guide which helps you to start use your memory. The great memory you already have. Harry proves that by teaching you how to take advantage of it.
Easy to understand techniques and explanations in this unique... Harry's style.
You work at your own pace. Author (like in other books) gives you a chance to work the way you like.
As a memory developmnent specialist I can say, that what Harry teaches is nuts and bolts of what you really need to improve your memory. Even single technique from this book can help you a lot.
But to be honest- you have to start and pracice!
I love that book and other books of this great author.

This book is filled with a good number of memory improvement tricks and techniques that are presented in a conversational style and kept to roughly a single page in length.

In addition to showing you various techniques, the author subtly weaves in ways that improve your observation skills, helps you form creative associations, and that causes you to remember.

There are little exercises through out the book, but they are just that - samples. There's nothing boring or done by rote. As you're reading along, several pages later (which could days later), the author indirectly tests you, validating that if you even try the technique, you get high return with minimal effort. Simply practicing seems to improve your memory even more.

Instead of spending money on all those mega-memory courses, this book will get you there in shorter time and in a much more entertaining manner.

I have read other of Harry Lorayne's books and they have all been valuable.

But this one is unique in that it gives a page by page plan to learn the techniques. You can go through it at your own pace and it's presented in an easy to understand way. You can spend as much time as necessary with each page. You can finish reading it understanding the mechanics of memory a lot better, and even a surface practicing of the techniques will help a lot.

Of course, systematic practice will work even better.

Some of Lorayne's other books present more detailed information, but this one is a good, solid presentation of memory improvement and is maybe one of the easiest ones to begin to put into practice for immediate improvement.

It is especially good for people who have had no prior exposure to memory improvement and would like to have some practical advice that they can implement right away.

Try it! You won't be disappointed.

I originally read this book many (many) years ago and had lost track of it and wanted to re-read. So, I did the most natural thing to do -- find it on Amazon. And, as they say, the rest is history. Received it and enjoyed it the second time around. Amazon and their partners in products have not disappointed me yet -- (knock on wood).

Romola was engrossing and, of course, very well-written. I'm even inspired to find out more about a historical period that's not really one of my favorites.

Romola is constantly called Eliot's weakest novel, with even serious critics reluctant to praise it. However, it was seen in the 19th century as Eliot's masterpiece. Some of the blame for the novel going out of fashion must rest with F.R. Leavis who said that "few will want to read Romola a second time, and few can ever have got through it once without some groans." If Leavis, viewed as one of the great literary minds, thinks this, then more average readers like us are bound to be put off.

True, the start of Romola is bogged down in detail, but it is introduced by a wonderful, stirring and majestic 'Proem' which sees the Angel of the Dawn sweeping across the Earth and loftily states how humanity is the same now as it was when Romola is set. After this, the notes are best ignored - consult them separately, and concentrate on getting into the book. It is a stirring and sometimes hard read, and moves one with awe at what Eliot has created - you really feel you are experiencing Florence in the 15th century. There is one scene that stands out for me - the haunting and almost surreal episode where Romola drifts by boat to an apparent coastal haven. Images of peace and life are reversed disturbingly.

So ignore Leavis and the dissenters. If you've read another Eliot, you'll like it. If you haven't, maybe start with something else, but come back, for it's a rewarding read

Given the majority of Eliot readers begin with Middlemarch, I found myself in the unique position of not only beginning with Romola, but also on a subject that I find most interesting. That of Renaissance Italy. Beginning at the death of the great Lorenzo di Medici in '92 I read this great novel twice. Once quickly as any other Twenty-First century paperback; the second, slowly, with more respect for the intellectual scope within the pages.
After the first attempt I was mildly disappointed. I came away with no true sense of the whole that is fifteenth century Florence and a bewilderment at the inconsistent central characterisation of Tito Melema and his golden-haired wife, Romola. The supporting actors were brilliant, from Fra Girolama's fantatical Catholicism to Bratti's salesmanship. But I was left disappointed, believing in the superficality of Tito, the maddening naivety of Tessa, and the almost puritanical martyrdom of Romola.
So I re-read it. Slowly.
It is now extremely clear why this great work of english literature is, as Eliot herself puts it, a "book of mine which I more thoroughly feel that I swear by every sentence as having been written with my best blood".
Each scene is mesmerically depicted, the infintesimal attention to details and Eliot's total control of her subject matter shines through.
Renaissance Florence wasn't so well depicted by its contemporaries.
From Tito's waking at the Loggia de' Cerchi to his final fall at the Ponte Vecchio his character moves through a full range as you would expect from a man in his early twenties. His child-like mesmerism coupled with his Greek tutorage gives rise to a cherubic man whom Florence loves. His fatal flaw is his desire for love and a single terrible lie he gives that, like Murphy's Law, evolves into a a stigma that alters his very persona. What is all the more damaging is that you truly believe he is unaware of the pain he causes. He is truly egocentric, in an almost blameless way. For Romola, you cold argue the opposite. Indeed she is potentially more culpable. Her fierce intellectualism is offset by a descent into a world of religious supersition, a world where religion is used as a political tool. Throughout she has the knowledge of where her actions will take her and a terrible sense of duty and restrains her. From the beginning, with the story we hear so often of Tito's escape from drowning, to his final near drowning at the hands of the mob, to his strangulation by his father there is a certain bitter justice until all that he leaves is his proud and world-scarred wife Romola and the innocence that he preserved with Tessa. Tito's move from innocent 'hero' to startled villain is an excerise in human failings. Yet it is not a sufficient single human tragedy, as Eliot says, "Florence was busy with greater affairs, and the preparation of a deeper tragedy".
In many respects `Romola' is Eliot's King Lear. The parallels are many, including Baldessare's depiction. There is no Edgar, nor Edmund but the Fool is here in many guises. In taking one of Shakespeare's finest themes, Eliot has given true life to fifteenth century Florence and it is, perhaps, best encapsulated by Romola's final statement to Tessa's son, Lillo:
"There was a man to whom I was very near... who made almost everyone fond of him, for he ws young, and clever, and beautiful...I believe, when I first knew him, he never thought of anything cruel or base. But because he tried to slip away from everything that was unpleasant, and cared for nothing else so much as his own safety, he came at last to commit some of the basest deeds - such as make men infamous."
So, Eliot's `Romola'. Read it, delight in it because it truly is, as the author can rightly claim, one of the finest works in english literature.

Funny how Eliot's least-loved novel today was the author's personal favorite and her best seller during her lifetime. How did it slide into relative obscurity? Partly because Eliot's acknowleged forte is her depiction of rural life in Victorian England, whereas this novel is set in a large Italian city (Florence) during the Renasaissance. Also, the novel does bog down a bit in its own scholarliness, as nearly every reviewer has mentioned. Still, the innumerable references to prominent Florentines can be glossed over without losing much. As for the urban setting, Eliot's Florence is every bit as vivid as Dickens' London, or Dostoevsky's St. Petersburg. And, of course, every page is filled with Eliot's trademark wisdom.
For anyone who cares about great books, all seven of Eliot's novels are absolutely mandatory. So, by all means start with "Adam Bede" or "Middlemarch", but don't neglect "Romola."
A word about the Konneman edition: I love the compact format (It fits easily into a briefcase or purse), the lovely cover art and the high-quality cloth binding. Be advised, however, that it is loaded with typos, some of them hilarious. It's still a good buy, however.

When one starts reading a Victorian novelist, one prepares before hand to face a certain amount of wooden, heavy-handed moralizing, as every great narrative of the epoch is fraught with the opposition between the calls of pleasure and the calls of duty, between seeking for one's private advantage and sticking to one's role, with the writer making the latter to win overwhelming. This novel is no different, in that it's the dutiful Romola that has the upper hand over her nice and debauched husband Tito Melena in the end. However, the novel being set in late Renaissance Italy- a country with which George Eliot had an enduring love affair - it captures the atmosphere of the time and place in such a beautiful way that this enormous, throughly reserched historical novel has such a flowing, luxurious style that takes an almost liquid quality, like a fresh, transparent scream flowing along a summer Mediterranean landscape. Also, in the person of Savonarola, Eliot menaged to introduce the figure of the idealist turned evil through his attachment to his call. In short: a gorgeous novel. Loved it!

This book is aimed at teaching someone who is ALREADY exposed to VB.NET how to create database driven Websites using VB.NET, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET. It takes a database neutral approach and you could use almost any database in using this book. If you are new to VB.NET but have a good understanding of another programming language, you will still be able to follow this book.

The book does not skip any steps in explaining how to use these three technologies on a Web project. It is very detailed in its explanations and has a lot of sample code that works! You have to download this sample code from their website (which is a good thing as you will have code that has been thoroughly debugged). Any problems I had using the code in this book had to do with Visual Studio.NET 2003 related problems. But once I fixed those issues, I had no trouble using the sample code. A lot of examples can be used immediately in almost any Web project you may be currently working on.

In the initial stages of learning these technologies, I was lucky enough to find this book and spent a lot of time reading THIS book only and to date, I have covered more than 70% of the book. I couldn't skip any sections as they are so well written and well connected (the various topics). This type of thorough treatment of a subject in the IT world is rare and it got me thinking if it is to do with the authors or the publisher. I have already decided to check out more books by the publisher first.

The thing I like the most about this book is the excellent explanations they give on how ASP.NET, VB.NET, and ADO.NET really work. They are very detailed and the explanations make sense! That combined with the practical nature of this book (tons of code) make it a very valuable find. By the time you are done with this book, you should have no trouble creating a database driven website. You still need 'ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook' by The ASP Alliance to create a complex website. But this book will give you the confidence you need to consider yourself a decent web developer in using .NET technologies. You can then go to the next level.

If you are frustrated trying to find a good book on using VB.NET to design websites, you won't be disappointed with this book. I found only a few books on .NET that I really like and this book made the Top 3 of that list. Enjoy using this book to master ASP.NET, VB.NET, and ADO.NET for the Web!

Over a year ago I posted in an ASP.NET forum complaining about the lack of good books utilizing the VS.NET IDE as a teaching tool.

Well, there are several titles out there now. But few good ones. From my post it was evident that I wasn't rerally willing to learn a language but try to wing the point and click way.

So one of the authors of this book just plain told me to go and learn a language like VB and then get her book.

Thast was both a harsh comment and a hard sell!

Apparently that is what I needed. I did realize that in no way my pretty lofty programming goals could be met with peripheral knowledge of .Net. I have a doctoral degree but programming really gave me a hard time getting started.

I would get to about page 200 of your average 6-700 page computer tome and stall in a sea of poor definitions and convoluted moronic explanations we are all familiar with and dread.

Which 2 year old wants a description of a cat as a feline quadripede domesticated mammal (that is a 3 letter word with that raises 4 hums?) Unfortunately, geek literature is plastered with that.

So I would go on to the next title. Finally I broke down and bought this book too and it hit home.

I now own more than 3 dozen programming books. I don't even program VB.Net any more but I still go back to the Torkelson/Patterson title the most because of the excellent examples, clear explanations and solid practices.

Some people just have the knack to teach properly! It is a talent, like all human endeavors not equally distributed, so getting your start from an effective communicator is key.

If VB.NET is your lingo this book will parley it to you the best!

Cudos!

I'm very disappointed with this title, so much talk where not necessary, examples that not directly related to the subject in hand, chapters introductions as if author is writing an article in a newspaper not for a professional developers, Authors seem to know their stuff very well but there is a difference between knowing the material and authoring a book, clearly they doesn't have that talent. I can't dare to compare this book to Jeff Prosise masterpiece "Programming Microsoft .NET", but I found O'Reilly's Programming ASP.NET book a much organized and useful book, don't waste your time and money on this one!

This is a good book, in fact, it's one of the best ASP.NET/VB.NET books I have read. However, it doesn't offer anything new or fresh or different.

If you're going to buy just one ASP.NET book, get this one. If you're looking for an advanced book, keep looking.

I can't believe the recent two less-than-stellar reviews of this book, because I found this book to be absolutely top-notch.

I moved from VB6 to VB.NET (Windows programming) not too long ago, but I had never done any Web programming. Someone had recommended ASP.NET Unleashed. It has lots of little code examples, but they're chock full of response.write's (yuck!). It also assumes you'll be using notepad as your code editor (double-yuck!).

In contrast, Programming the Web with Visual Basic .NET is a complete tutorial that explains how to develop Web applications and services the right way. It uses Code Behind exclusively, gives great tips for designing usable Web pages, and takes you through the Visual Studio way of developing ASP.NET applications.

The sample code is useful and interesting. I especially appreciated the chapter that shows how to use the .NET trace features to understand exactly how the Web page processing sequence and control tree works. I also loved the examples on using resource files to localize pages for international users and on developing a "breadcrumb" custom control (and why you need breadcrumb links).

The database chapter on ADO.NET was exactly what I needed to understand the Visual Studio tools for handling the disconnected datasets used in scalable Web applications. The examples tied together well and were fun too. What with Lizzy the milk cow running off with the bull next door, Daisy and MooMoo joining them, Bossy getting depressed... Along with learning to do database deletes and updates, I was treated to a regular dairy farm soap opera. :-)

Each chapter added greatly to my knowledge, and the final chapter cemented it with a surprisingly thorough start-to-finish Web site development project. I say "surprisingly" because most books' single-chapter, "start to finish" projects don't cover nearly as much ground as this one did.

Although this book seems to be written mainly for experienced VB programmers, I would also highly recommend it for experienced ASP programmers who want to learn ASP.NET (as long as they learn some VB.NET first -- this book doesn't try to teach that too -- it expects that you'll start with a basic understanding of VB.NET). The reason I recommend it for ASP programmers is that this book will teach them the Code Behind way of coding, rather than perpetrating the response.write way they had to code in previous versions of ASP.

Greg's book is one of the best ASP.NET beginning development books that I have ever read. I have purchased a total of 68 books on ASP.NET, ADO.NET, C#, and VB.NET; this is 1 of 5 that I still keep at my desk at work for reference. This book contains web applications and topics including the following:

Forums
Editable Datagrids
Product Catalog
Web Services
Mobile Applications
Sessions Variables
Sending Email
Shopping Cart
Database Connectivity
Logins
Cookies

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Pick this book up today; it is a wise investment, especially for a beginner who desires to own a book that covers VB.NET, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET together.

All in all i think this is a pretty good book. I can see how some might object to the way its pumped up to so many pages, though. At first it reminded me of the times you had to write a 10 page term paper and had had only 5 pages of material. Each code snippet appears twice. First in its entirety and then each and every line is repeated individually along with a comment , double-spaced. But I soon got over this because I found i was able to follow it very easily. Examples that build on previous ones are also repeated like this from scratch. Another thing to note is that you will learn the ASP.NET *CODE* not VS.NET. Most of the book doesn't even touch the VS.NET IDE. But because the examples are explained so clearly, you can learn alot just by reading instead of pointing and clicking.

All in all i think this is a pretty good book. I can see how some might object to the way it is pumped up to so many pages, though. At first it reminded me of the times you had to write a 10 page term paper and had had only 5 pages of material. Each code snippet appears twice. First, in its entirety and then each and every line is repeated individually along with a comment , double-spaced. Each control attribute is on its own line. Examples that build on previous ones are also repeated like this from scratch. BUT I soon got over this because I found i was able to follow the examples very easily. Another thing to note is that you will learn the ASP.NET *CODE* not VS.NET. Most of the book doesn't even touch the VS.NET IDE. But because the examples are explained so clearly, you can actually learn a lot just by reading instead of pointing and clicking and copying code.

Your previous ASP book has helped me to become a confident Web application developer using classic ASP. Suddenly when I had to move to .NET environment, I thought I was smart by purchasing books from other authors, just for change. I was wrong!. I will always be loyal to you Greg.

I have several ASP.NET books and this one is the best.
It is written pretty concisely, it has a lot of examples and its sample applications are useful in the real life. Chapters on IIS and Security are especially applicable for web development, though Part 3 which deals with working either could use more information on ADO.Net. Overall it is an excellent book for ASP.Net Development

Stegner once again reveals his writing prowess, This time in a self-indulgent adventure to haunts of his youth.

I have some qualms about this work, however. In particular, I was not so keen on those parts where Stegner relied heavily on book-based history that never directly touched his own life. To be frank, his writing in these parts surprisingly got a bit stodgy.

His thought on sense of place and belonging, however, are remarkable, hitting me right between the eyes. Indeed, he had me wistfully recalling my own childhood in what seemed a remote area of the world with the archaeological junk heap and all. In measuring his boyhood to my own, I noted how little times had changed in that interval of 60-70 years and how much has changed for kids in the last 40. It had me wondering how my own sons lives would be different were it not for the MAFIA (mother's against fun in America).

Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Wallace Stegner grew up on the prairie frontiers of North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Montana, and in the mountains of Utah. As is indicated by the subtitle, this volume combines history, a memoir, and historical fiction. Readers who have spent significant time on the snow swept northern steppes may find a small part of themselves, and of this land, in Wolf Willow. ...
"On those miraculously beautiful and murderously cold nights glittering with the green and blue darts from a sky like polished dark metal, when the moon had gone down, leaving the hollow heavens to the stars and the overflowing cold light of the Aurora, he thought he had moments of the clearest vision ... In every direction ... the snow spread; here and there the implacable plain glinted back a spark - the beam of a cold star reflected in a crystal of ice." (The scene evokes in me a powerful memory, as I recall often standing alone on just such "murderously cold" snow blanketed prairies and gazing into those "miraculously beautiful" night skies.)

This wonderful collection of essays and fiction about the last Western frontier is both romance and anti-romance. Writing in the 1950s, Stegner captures the breath-taking beauty of the unbroken plains of southwest Saskatchewan and the excitement of its settlment at the turn of the century. Part memoir, the book recounts the years of his boyhood in a small town along the Whitemud River in 1914-1919, the summers spent on the family's homestead 50 miles away along the Canadian-U.S border. His book is also an account of the loss of that Eden and the failed promise of agricultural development in this semi-arid region with thin top soil.

Stegner is a gifted, intelligent writer, able to turn the people and events of history into compelling reading. The opening section of the book describes the experience of being on the plains and specifically in the area where Stegner was a boy. And it lays out the geography of that land -- a distant range of hills, the river, the coulees, the town -- which the book will return to again and again.

The following section evokes the period of frontier Canada's early exploration, the emergence of the metis culture, the destruction of the buffalo herds, the introduction of rangeland cattle, and then wave upon wave of settlement pushing the last of the plains Indians westward and northward. A chapter is devoted to the surveying of the boundary along the Canada-U.S. border; another chapter describes the founding of the Mounted Police and its purely Canadian style of bringing law and order to the wild west.

The middle section of the book is a novella and a short story about the winter of 1906-1907. In the longer piece, eight men rounding up cattle are caught on the open plains in an early blizzard. Stegner builds the drama and the peril of their situation artfully and convincingly. The final section of the book returns to Stegner's memories of the town and the homestead, ending with his family's departure for Montana.

Stegner lived at a time and in a place where a person born in the 20th century could still experience something of the sweep of history that transformed the American plains. I've read many books about the West, and because of his depth of thought, his gifts as a writer, and his unflinching eye, Stegner's work ranks for me among the best. I heartily recommend this book.

This book has no right to be so absorbing. Though the topic of this forgotten book by Wallace Stegner reeks of self-indulgence-- A writer returns to where he grew up, reminisces about his youth and the history of the frontier town his transient childhood most identified as home and concludes with a 100-page fictionalized account of a the terrible winter of 1906-- he manages to tie his past inexorably to ours, linking his nostalgia for his youth with our own, and exploring the promise and inevitable waste of the American Dream lived out on our frontiers.

Stegner, like Proust, experiences an "ancient, unbearable recognition" spurred by a return to the sites, sounds, and most importantly, smells of his childhood. He dreams of this period and is "haunted, on awakening, by a sense of meanings just withheld, and by a profound nostalgic melancholy." Everyone has some awareness of a deep meaning lurking in our past that has not, or cannot, be fully interpreted.

Perhaps the best part of the book is section three, the novella length exposition on the hope and danger of the high plains that does a superb job of creating looming dread as the winter drops hard on the land. Near the end of section three, Stegner expounds on what it is to be an American pursuing the Dream:

"How does one know what wilderness has meant to Americans unless he has shared the guilt of wastefully and ignorantly tampering with it in the name of progress? One who has lived the dream, the temporary fulfillment, and the disappointment has had the full course.... The vein of melancholy in the North American mind may be owing to many causes, but it is surely not weakened by the perception that the fulfillment of the American Dream means inevitably the death of the noble savagery and freedom of the wild. Any who has lived on a frontier knows the inescapable ambivalence of the old-fashioned American conscience, for he has first renewed himself in Eden and then set about converting it into the lamentable modern world."

Part history and part dreamy reminiscence, this book is an account of a boy growing up in Southwest Saskatchewan in the early part of the 20th Century. The central portion of the book is pure history, and the long chapters on cowboys are particularly challenging because they require an intimate knowledge of cowboy terminology. Stegner does not mince words about the difficulties of life on the plains--extremes of heat and cold, wind, hostile topography, lack of cultural amenities--the result of which is that most who grew up there moved elsewhere. But he also shows a passionate attachment for the country of his childhood. The narrative often seems rambling because, like James Michener, the author tries to incorporate so much besides history--including the biology and geology of the nearby Cypress Hills, the biologically diverse area nearby--and even his poetic musings have elements of fact, as when he describes the wind, or the gophers, or his swimming hole, or his school, or his family's homestead, or the problems involved in the town's incorporation.