Berg Books

While I did not expect the contributors to this collection of essays necessarily to be Europhiles, I found little emphathy that anthropologists usually show towards their object of study, in this case the European Union, as a result of their long-term and in-depth research. One author, Marc Abélès, still speaks of a virtual Europe for what in fact is already very much reality, whether one likes it or not (and I speak here as the citizen of a European country that is not a member of the European Union). At times, the editors and several authors even strike me as Europhobic, rehashing old arguments about the problems of a unifying Europe rather than focusing on its achievements and opportunities. I thus find disappointingly little about either experiencing or imagining and building Europe in this book, and the question arises: Where is the anthropology here? Sadly, this collection of essays also lacks historical depth at either the micro or macro level. Yet a truly anthropological discussion of unifying Europe could benefit much from examining for contrast the very developments of earlier multilingual-multicultural federations such as Switzerland in 1848. Anthropologists furthermore have much to contribute by providing a broader historical context for understanding modern Europe, i.e. the development of complex societies into international conglomerates of states from an evolutionary perspective. Ultimately, this collection of essays fails in this respect as well, and does not offer any new insights into what other social scientists (economists, political scientists, sociologists, etc.) have already described and analyzed for some fifty years.

Emanuel J. Drechsel, Professor, Liberal Studies, University of Hawai'i

This was one of the worst books on dance I have ever read! Maybe it was just a bad translation but the language was clumsy and most of all, the subject matter was just not compelling or informative. Ms. Wulff seemed to focus on details of little interest and the constant references/footnotes make the reading anything but smooth. Unless someone is completely unfamiliar with the dance world, I would not recommend this book at all.

Given one star because no stars is not an option. This is a worthless piece of writing. I had to read it for class, but not recommended at all.

I bought this book thinking it would be filled with anecdotal material. I had hopes it would be a fun book about how lives have changed (for better or worse) after winning a large sum of money. It was not. Hitting the Jackpot is a treatise based on interviews of Finnish lotto winners. It reads like a textbook. There are some quotes from the winners, but basically, this book is boring. I had to force my way to the end of it. I would not buy it again, but someone interested in sociological studies might find a use for it.

You might think of buying "Slow Living" as an informative, entertaining read about an interesting concept. Don't! There's nothing entertaining about this book and any interesting information is buried in an agonisingly convoluted writing style.

You may be forced to buy this as a text for some Sociology course. I pity you. As an academic text it may have some merit, but it appears more like the work of a first year university student who cobbles together quotes and references to back up a tentative opinion.

Buy it if you want. I wish I hadn't.

Julie Berg's book inaccurately gives the impression that she interviewed Tomie dePaola. However, she never interviewed him. She took quotes from newspapers and other media. Yet, she never credited those sources. Her facts are also in error. Poorly researched. Poorly written. A poor excuse for a biography. Children deserve better. An adult would do best to consult Barbara Elleman's wonderful retrospective look at Tomie dePaola's work, TOMIE dePAOLA, HIS ART & HIS STORIES. Children should simply read Tomie dePaola's autobiographical books: the "26 Fairmount Avenue" chapter book series and his picture books, such as, THE ART LESSON and THE BABY SISTER and NANA UPSTAIRS & NANA DOWNSTAIRS. Don't encourage Julie Berg to write more biographies by buying this one.

When I saw this book listed for sale I was thrilled! I read every book I can get my hands on about others experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail. I had always wondered how a family managed such a hike and thought this book was the opportunity to learn about that. Wrong! It's a little fictional novel obviously written for young children, under 12 I would say, who know nothing about hiking or the trail. I've tried to keep reading it but I just can't do it. It's just way too syrupy in it's language and unrealistic in it's portrayal of a hiker's day. Everyone just seems too clean, too nice, too well fed. I've hiked the trail and spent enough nights on it to know the realities. If you want kids to know what's it like then take them out for a day or an overnight - - don't hand them this book with it's sickly sweet parent-child dialogue and all.

At first, this book was very good. It had many elements that I loved: humor, a little danger, and a touch of magic. I just loved the idea that Mrs. Claus spends her summers helping people who need a little magic in their disillusioned lives. I devoured it in one day, until I got to the last 100 pages. Then I stopped reading it.

Laurie moves back to her hometown to escape a stalker, and in the process, falls in love with her next-door neighbour, Jake. The problem is that he was badly hurt when his ex-wife, Amy, walked out on him and their three children, and he has vowed never to love or marry again. So what does Laurie do? She fakes a letter from Amy that says that she is fighting for custody of the kids, thereby forcing her financially strapped neighbour into marrying the rich Laurie.

I found this manipulation by Laurie to be completely disgusting. Jake stated very clearly that he never wants to get married. Okay, maybe he should just get over his hangups, but Laurie had absolutely no right to force him into marriage. If it had been the other way around, he would have been considered a complete monster, worthy of being strung up by certain tender parts of his anatomy, but because the woman strong-armed him into marriage, it's romantic? Sorry, but I don't buy it. As far as I'm concerned, Laurie was being just as bad as her stalker had behaved, yet he was vilified for his actions (as he should have been) and she wasn't.

This was the first book by Patti Berg that I tried to read, and it will be the last.