Bonds Books

I've been owned by Scottish Terriers for over 30 years. One in particular, An'GUS, was my Scottie soulmate. I was lucky enough to read Carolyn Knapp's book during his lifetime. Carolyn's book describes what it means to have one particular dog as a soulmate. There is no bond like that kind of bond. Every day with that specific dog is like Christmas morning. If you are owned by a dog who seems more special than all others -- please read this book. It will lift your spirits, and remind you to treasure every moment you have with your soulmate. No matter what 'people' may say or think, it is o.k. to love a dog with all your heart. Few people love dogs that profoundly. Carolyn Knapp did, and I'm sorry that she left us so soon.

This is the best memoir an animal lover, dogs especially, will ever read. Have no fear; there is no sad ending here, only an in-depth investigation and revelation of the unique and beautiful relationships we have with the dogs and other pets in our lives.

If you want to know more about the why and how behind these incredible and often (as was the case in Knapp's book) live-saving relationships read the book shown below. I enjoyed it, too, and it provides some surprising insights and valuable, usable information from. It discusses the origin and comprehensive nature of our relationships with animals, providing scientifically sound information on the love we share and the roles we play in each other's lives: The Powerful Bond between People and Pets: Our Boundless Connections to Companion Animals (Practical and Applied Psychology)

I was delighted to read this wonderful book about our relationships with dogs. Caroline tries to distance herself from over-attachment to and anthropomorphic views (dogs as "furry people") of our canine companions, all the while remaining firmly entrenched in the camp of those who are perfectly content to live alone, single and devoted to their dogs.She reaches the agnostic and very realistic conclusion that we do not and probably never will know how and what dogs feel and think about us humans, though occasionally it seems possible to build a bridge between our two worlds. I highly recommend the book to dog owners (as well as "For the Love of A Dog" by Patricia McConnell) and commend it for its delightful sense of humor, elegant prose and valuable insights. I was also very saddened to learn a couple of weeks ago about her death due to lung cancer in 2002. Caroline died in the presence of her beloved dog Lucille (I wonder what ever happened to her) and new husband Mark.

Before Marley there was Lucille. This is a funny, informative memoir which will, alas, will empty your tear ducts. Knapp was a terrific writer and what a tragedy it is to have lost her. Especially at such a young age.

maybe like some people here says this is not a book about training, in the kind of manual to accomplish your dog to do some stuff; neither is the kind of book like the Konrad Lorenz, 'When the man find the dog' or like Desmond Morris about the same theme. And one has to be thankful for it. This book is about the core of the relation, the love and the bond, you can have with your dog. Maybe something not easily understood to the non-dog passerby, nevertheless for us the dog lovers is a tender colection of ideas and reflections on the subject. Even so, there is a research behind it, and some hard facts coming with a decent book list at the end. If sometimes lacks of discipline like some other person says here, well, i really like my love affairs without boot camp, laws and restriction, and even when my dog is perfectly trained, I really like to spoil myself letting me love her without boundaries and restraint, she fills every aspect of my life, and she makes me... human. Long live to Caroline Knapp, and now she is not here anymore, lets laugh and cry with she and lucille, and share that perfect aeternal bond with our dogs. ...And yes my dog is lying here in my bed, quite undisciplined but warm and perfect... if anyone complains, I would not change my bed with 'Amelia' for any human of any form whatsoever.... guau guau guau

The only reason I have given this book 2 stars is that it contains really lovely pictures. Beyond that, I am appalled by the content of the book.

The "trainer" advocates negative reinforcement as a training tool, which is not only an ineffective technique, it is harmful to the dog/owner bond. The proper way to effectively train an animal, whether you're teaching it to sit, stay, or not poop on your bed, is through positive reinforcement and association. "Bopping" an animal's face or shoving its nose/head down into the posture you want it to adopt is completely stupid. It's mean, it's telling the dog that you don't value it enough to refrain from physically striking it, and it doesn't *teach* the dog what you want it to do.

If you're wanting to hit your dog, or believe that negative physical contact is the best way to train a dog to sit or lie down, then this book is for you.

If, on the other hand, you are wanting to learn the best way to really bond with your dog, teach it loads of tricks and manners, and have a happy, healthy, trusting pet, stay as far away from this book as possible. Buy a book on clicker training instead. That will be money well spent.

This is a great trick traing book. I was surprised that one even existed. The graphics and photos are great and the information is helpful and works!

I am still trying many of the tricks so this will be an ongoing process. My therapy dogs will be very entertaining for quite sometime.
JMD

This book is worth every penny I paid for it. It has beautiful colored photographs of every trick with step-by-step instructions. It also provides a wide variety of tricks from the basics to the more complex agility training. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to train their dog.

I've taught my border terrier puppy about 15 tricks using this. The instructions and the pictures are great and the tips for what to do if your dog isn't getting it were always spot on. The author's methods are always gentle and she thinks of great ways to motivate dogs to learn. My favorite example: To teach a dog to fetch cut a slit in a tennis ball and let the dog watch you put a treat inside before you throw it. The dog will learn that in order to get the treat out he needs to bring the ball back to you. Totally brilliant, had my terrier, who loved to play keep away with balls, hurling the tennis ball back at me to get his treat.

This is only the second Bond book I've read recently, the other being Doctor No (James Bond Novels) (Although I've read one, One Her Majestys' secret Service, I think, many years ago). It didn't live up to my expectations. It's a short novel, but the pace is still slow, and not until the last third or so does it become suspenseful. I liked Dr. No better than this one and I would guess there are other better Bond novels.

Hugo Drax is not in the first line of 007 arch-villains, and the plot of "Moonraker" likewise is not one of the most exciting James Bond yarns in the original run of novels by Ian Fleming. Yet both manage their moments of squirmy pleasure.

Bond encounters Drax first at a posh British gaming club, to which Bond's boss M belongs. Drax is England's hero of the hour, as he's building Great Britain's first nuclear rocket. But M suspects Drax is cheating at cards, and sets Bond against him in a game that ends unhappily for the rocket builder. Bond then finds himself pulled into Drax's orbit again when murder calls at Drax's rocket base. "HELL IS HERE" warns a flashing neon sign, and so it is.

Published in 1955, this third entry in the 007 series gets off to a leisurely start. We meet Bond in a typical light day at the office, practicing at the pistol range, reading dull reports, thinking about lunch. It's an arresting portrait of a superhero struggling with ennui and a sense of purposelessness. He wonders almost forlornly if he'll make it to 45.

The entrance of Drax, a red-whiskered dynamo with a fierce temper, shakes Bond out of his rut by plunging him into that most exciting of espionage activities, high-stakes bridge. It's a masterful sequence by Fleming, in large part because he doesn't stop and explain how bridge works. Fleming goes from strength to strength introducing us to the title figure, the rocket Drax proposes to send off in a test launch that will culminate in a splashdown in the North Sea...well, according to some figures.

"There the gleaming rocket stood, beautiful, innocent, like a new toy for Cyclops," Fleming writes. "But there was a horrible smell of chemicals in the air and to Bond the Moonraker was a giant hypodermic needle ready to be plunged into the heart of England."

That's a good foretaste of the masterful build-up Fleming creates, offering a bit more mystery than the usual Bond thriller. The resolution is where the novel pulls up short. Fleming doesn't do enough to throw you off the right scent, to the point you wonder why Bond can't add up two and two. There's another damsel-in-distress car chase straight out of "Casino Royale", and even an Austin Powers-style "My Fiendish Scheme" dissertation from the villain. The Soviets put in a totally unnecessary appearance.

"Moonraker" can still be safely recommended to the Bond novice. It's a fun ride with a lot of unusual angles. Certainly it wasn't spoiled by the film of the same name, and Fleming handles the novel's locale (southern England entirely) with his usual gimlet eye. You stride with Bond inside a century-old London club, walk along the white cliffs and smell the salt air. There's even a romantic subplot with a capable British policewoman that has a resolution quite unique for the Bond series, and wonderful for the way it gives you a glimpse of Bond's deepest self.

"The gain to the winner is always less than the loss to the loser" is how Bond thinks of life. "Moonraker" gives you an idea what he means; an enjoyable one all the same.

I've been reading all the Fleming James Bond novels in order, and so far this one is my favorite. It stands out for a couple reasons:

1) Bond never goes to outer space.

2) I won't spoil it for you, but something about the epilogue is unexpected, and sets the James Bond character of the books apart from the James Bond character of the movies. I was completely surprised, and it really rounded out the character and made him more human.

The adventure itself is fun. Tropical locale with a beautiful female companion--it's hard to get tired of stuff like that. But what I do get tired of is Bond being sent to beat some villain at gambling. He just did that in "Casino Royale," and it didn't sound like government work to me then, either.

Still, the rest of the plot is fun, and Bond's victory at the end is not without cost. Rather than portraying him as the super-spy of the movies who dashes around unscathed no matter what's going on around him, he gets pretty messed up. (And no, that's not the epilogue surprise I was talking about earlier.)

Well I was ready to hate Moonraker because of the movie. So if you hated the movie...try the book. It isn't campy with the Space Shuttle at all. It has a rocket as the object, but it really isn't about that. The beginning part of the book is about cards. I loved it. However it starts getting bogged down in the middle section and then like all Ian Fleming books it wraps up really quick. I just felt the ending was just too contrived. I liked it because I was prepared to hate it, but it's still not that great. It's the best of the first three but that's not saying much. I would recommend it just for the beginning section because it shows how James Bond thinks and rationalizes things. Plus he doesn't get the girl at all in this book.

While I always knew that many films of the James Bond series drifted into camp and outright cheesiness, I never realized how much of a disservice some of them did to the source material until I read the novels. And wow--Moonraker in particular, while one of the better '70s entries in the film series, bears no relation to the gritty homeland security thriller written by Ian Fleming.

The titular Moonraker is an missile designed by British hero Sir Hugo Drax. Drax's invention is set to thrust Britain into the forefront of the Cold War arms race--with the Moonraker, the British will be able to target any European capital with a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. When the novel begins--on Monday--the Moonraker is set to be tested in just a few days--Friday, when a missile carrying a dummy warhead will be fired into the North Sea. Security is tight on the project--British prestige is at stake.

But 007's boss has other things on his mind. Drax is a fellow member of Blades, a gambling club, and M is convinced that Drax cheats. At bridge. Since Bond is between missions at the time, M drags him along to a late-night game of bridge, where Bond outfoxes Drax to the tune of £15,000. Unbeknowst to them, the same night one of Drax's subordinates was killed by a German engineer in a murder-suicide.

Mere hours after fleecing Drax at the cardtable, Bond is sent to him as a replacement. It seems the murdered man had misgivings about the security of Drax's project, and with so much at stake and so little time on hand, the Ministry of Defense wants no mistakes. Things are not, of course, what they seem, and it soon becomes apparent that the Moonraker is in the hands of madmen.

Like the Bond film, there is a certain measure of predictability about the whole proceeding; of course Bond will live, of course he will save Britain. Unlike the film, Fleming's novel has Bond make all-too-human mistakes, get battered and bruised, and even--spoiler alert--get rejected by the girl. And the novel moves so briskly, investing each and every point of the plot with tension and suspense, that even the mystifying bridge game at the beginning is exciting. Moonraker is pure entertainment.

Highly recommended.

I just finished reading FRWL a 2nd time, with 10 yrs between readings. It's a nice contrast to the rambling texts that litter today's best seller lists. Again I enjoyed the crisp, tight prose; the delayed introduction of Bond's character; the villians and heroes; the "cultural" drama of the Cold War. It's truly an espionage tale "par excellence." I concur with other 5-star reviews -- stop reading here and pick up the book!

This is one of my favorites! Author Fleming has an interesting style all his own- he is very creative when it comes to his description of characters and gadgets. It is a little quirky and kinky in parts. That seems odd and out of place, but it is a really fun story.

Though it ends with as sharp a period as any Ian Fleming ever made, the operative punctuation in 1957's "From Russia, With Love" is found in its very title, a comma. "From Russia" is not an end but a turning, from the lighter Bond adventures Fleming penned at the start of the series toward twistier, more complex yarns.

It's also one of the most captivating of Bond stories. It opens with an image of a well-built naked man lying face-down on a rose-hedged lawn. He looks dead but is very much alive, dangerously so, as we discover. Red Grant is not only powerful, he is madly homicidal, a combination that endears him to his Soviet masters. Grant's latest assignment, part of a larger operation to embarrass the British secret service, involves the killing of one of only three Britishers who hold the dread double-0 distinction and thus is kind of Grant's opposite number: 007.

"English spies we have captured speak highly of the man", one Soviet spymaster notes. "He is certainly much admired in his Service. He is said to be a lone wolf, but a very good-looking one."

To demoralize the British and reverse a string of losses, head Soviet spykiller General G. commands Bond not only be killed, but "killed with IGNOMINY". Enter Tatiana Romanova, a beautiful, mild-mannered government clerk who becomes both pawn and queen in the chess game against Bond.

The build-up is great, and once Bond enters the scene, like a matador the last to enter the bullring, Fleming kicks the story into an even higher gear. Buying the cover story that Tatiana has fallen in love with him from a file photo and wants to give him a secret Russian decoder, Bond travels to Istanbul and meets Darko Karim, the British secret service's chief Turkish ally. Fleming bathes us in atmosphere, and takes us from a gypsy catfight to a nighttime assassination to a hotel-room seduction in a classic example of "the Fleming Sweep."

"Near the airport a dog barked excitedly at an unknown human smell," Fleming writes. "Bond suddenly realized that he had come into the East where the guard-dog howls all night. For some reason the realization sent a pang of pleasure and excitement into his heart."

"From Russia, With Love" may well be Fleming at his least politically correct. Tatiana is little more than a plaything, while Darko Karim regales Bond with his un-Western notions of romancing a woman, which involves chaining her to a wall and feeding her table scraps until she falls in love with him. But this is part of "Russia's" dark charm, presenting such awful ideas so palatably in the form of Karim, one of the best characters in the 007 series with his fatalistic charm and suavity.

"Russia" comes up short only in the adventure department, with Bond little more of an active player here than he was in "Diamonds Are Forever" and getting a ludicrously detailed rundown of the enemy plot before his "liquidation". The ending is definitely improvable (and was in the subsequent screen adaptation, the best of all the Bond movies).

I'd call the earlier "Casino Royale" and later "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" the best Bond novels, but "Russia" lays down the groundwork of the entire 007 concept with unrivaled drama and passion. It can be seen today as the moment when James Bond went from diverting pulp fiction to essential cultural touchstone.

They couldn't write a book like this today. For example, the main character--Bond--doesn't even show up until page 123! The entire first third of the book is a detailed following of the villains plotting Bond's death. It's not until we get to the execution that we meet James Bond.

Be that as it may, I found it to be an interesting change of pace, and I was never bored. There is more espionage than action, but when the fighting occurs, it is quick and brutal. Fleming can make you cringe with his viscious descriptions of down-and-dirty combat.

Aside from the lengthy intro without Bond, the movie version seems to have followed the book rather closely (especially compared to some others). However, the Bond of the books is a different man than the Bond of the movies. He's fallible, and prone to getting his heart broken. This, I like. But as another reviewer mentioned, he makes some pretty serious mistakes that nearly cost him his life. It can be hard to root for him as a secret agent at times like this. Still, I do.

And, at least once in each Fleming Bond novel, there seems to be something "inappropriate" by today's standards. This is half the fun of reading them. (In "From Russia With Love," Tania asks Bond to beat her if she overeats and gets fat, and Bond readily agrees. Hilarious!)

Ian Fleming's James Bond novels are certainly not the mixed bag that the films are, but some are certainly better than others. From Russia with Love is, along with Casino Royale and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, among the best.

From Russia with Love starts off on a different foot than most of the other Bond novels. Bond himself doesn't appear until part two, 95 pages into the story. Until then, the story centers on the deadly operatives of SMERSH, Soviet Russia's spy-killing organization. It's this first part that sets up the main plot of the story--a Russian scheme not only to assassinate James Bond, but to do so in a way that will scandalize the English public and shame the Secret Service. One of the more famous Bond girls, young Tatiana Romanova is suckered into posing as "bait" for Bond, and unbeknownst to her, both she and Bond are set up to die at the hands of Irish psychopath Red Grant.

With those pieces in place, the plot proceeds methodically from point A to point B. Fleming was never a master plotter, but that's not the point. Having all the parts set up and ready for action generates enormous suspense--when, for instance, is the serial-killing Grant going to make his inevitable and violent appearance? Even for those who have seen the film version, there's plenty here to surprise and lots of white-knuckle thriller chases, fights, bombings, and near-misses.

The book does have flaws. Bond is a bit too obtuse and more of a pawn than usual, and Tania is just a bit too wide-eyed and innocent, which I suppose is the point. But the book moves so briskly from the opening setup through the building suspense and action that one hardly has time to criticize the characters--the world is moving just as fast for them.

From Russia with Love is one of Fleming's best not only because of his signature pace and action, but because, in this novel, he takes the time to develop menacing villains and show us, before Bond ever steps onstage, just how dangerous they are. The androgynous Rosa Klebb and giant, moon-crazed Red Grant are well-developed and certainly among the best of Bond villains.

On a final note, upon reading this novel have Doctor No, the book's immediate sequel, on hand, because Fleming's ending is so abrupt and laden with ambiguity that you'll want to jump right into the next book. This is either a weakness or a strength. I'll go with strength.

Highly recommended.

This is by far Larry Bond's best work, barring his collaboration with Clancy on Red Storm Rising. The two should be featured together in a 'better together' offer. The only delimna would be deciding which to read first.

This is a war fiction classic that I rate even with Tom Clancy's "Hunt for Red October" and "Red Storm Rising." Larry Bond brings to life a real war scenario. We know from the Gulf War he was a visionary when he wrote "Red Phoenix."

Our government has a nasty habit of always leaving us one more to fight. This could become history, and it would be our fault. Excellent book. One of Bond's best.

The Bookcassette Adapter gives you balance control on your headphones and is so easy to use: Plug it into the stereo jack of your personal tapeplayer and then plug your headphones into the other side. The Bookcassette Adapter Works ONLY on Stereo Tapeplayers.

If you plan on listening to Bookcassette audio books on a stereo system where you can adjust the sound between the left and right speakers separately, such as a rack system with separate left and right speaker controls or a car stereo with a left and right balance dial, you will be able to listen to Bookcassette audio books without a problem. If you plan on listening to these audio books on a portable cassette player that does not have this capability, such as a Walkman with headphones, you will require an adapter.

As I said, it would be cheaper to buy it on the Internet, especially on eBay, instead of directly from the company (Brilliance Corporation) at 1-800-697-6797

Good if not a little (well a lot) out of date. But never the less well crafted and well written. Among the best of the late 80s techno/war fiction.

Reading Bonds that Make us Free was a transformational experience for me. The principles are so timeless and so accurate. It's a book that takes time and patience to read and, like reading any good book, you will return over and over again to its pages for insight and inspiration. I am buying this book for several of my colleagues and friends. I truly believe this is one of the most important books written in the last 50 years.

I bought this as a follow-on to "Leadership and Self-Deception" by the Arbinger Institute. Dr. Warner apparently is the author of both, but he modestly leaves his name out of Leadership and Self-Deception. "Bonds that Make Us Free" is deeper, somewhat more technical, and a bit more academic, but the message is the same. The greatest betrayal of self is to deny the opportunity to "do the right thing" in relationships with others. The Arbinger tome is a fairly short story (177pgs)about one man's discovery of the principles laid out in "Bonds that Make Us Free." It's an easy read and a good place to start if you are unsure if the "Bonds" book is where you want to go.
The issue at hand is the damage we do to ourselves when we fail to do what is right. As a Marriage and Family therapist I found "Bonds" to be a little more useful as I intend to use these principles as I work with some other therapists to develop a new, non-profit counseling center.
There is only one shortfall I could clearly identify in this book and it is Dr. Warner's unfailing belief that everyone knows "what's right" and is limited or hurt when we fail to follow through. This works well enough in the general population, but fails to take into account people to have seriously damaged consciences (or lack them altogether). I'm not talking about folks who have hurts and challenges, but those to actually lack a capacity for empathy toward others. (Anti-Social Personality Disorder) Overall though Dr. Warner's observations and recommendations are challenging and very helpful. I believe I am growing as a person because of this book. I highly recommend it.

This book teaches that the self any of us doubts, feels ashamed of or guilty about is not who we really are, but a fear-driven phantasm - and the destruction that self doubt causes may leave one feeling hopeless. Bonds That Make us Free helps in overriding discouragement. Falsely created images about ourselves can be overriden by truth. Very helpful in discovering who we really are.

I would suggest everybody read this book. It has changed the way I think about all aspects of all my relationships. I am a changed person, for the better and have this book to thank. It gives good incite on every aspect of your relationships.

This book is the absolutely BEST book ever written by a non-prophet. God just may concure!

Es un libro excelente para entender como funciona el dinero y los mercados de capitales, partiendo desde lo más sencillo hasta lo más complejo. Excelente para principiantes, intermedios y para profesores.

If a picture is worth, as is said, a thousand words, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Money and Investing is worth many times its purchase price.

The book takes a very basic approach at explaining the components of the investment world. Taken together, the components explained represent a comprehensive view of what is a very complex and broad topic.

One reading doesn't do this book justice, though. Read over and over, however, this book will earn a place on any serious investment student's bookshelf as a resource to return to for a periodic refresher or for clarification.

Bumped to the side by The Wall Street Journal in favor of Dave Kansas' The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investment Guidebook, Kenneth & Virginia Morris' book lives on as The Standard and Poors Guide to Money and Investing. Where Dave Kansas' book is complete and chock full of words, the Morris' still succeed at conveying the basics in a way that will forever add value.

Just finished reading it. Wow, what a mind trip. Fast shipment too!

I cant believe that I went through college without taking business or econ classes (except for political economy). This is a way for me to catch up.
I like this book because it is easy to read and understand. So easy even an elementary school kid could understand....ok maybe junior high.
Eventually I would hope to read the Intelligent Investor.

This book is excellent for learning the basic concepts in investing and finance. If you would like to iniciate in this area, i recommend this book as an entry door with the basics.

I bought this for my Grandaughter and she loves it. I think the fact that it is such a large book is nice as well.

If You Give A Moose a Muffin
By Laura Joffe Numeroff
Illustrated by Felicia Bond

"If you give a moose a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it."

You should know better than to feed a moose. Don't you know one muffin will never fill him up? When a moose comes over to play, the fun could last all day!
You and your children will love the antics of the moose, and the little boy who tries to feed him.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)

I bought three of these "If You Give...." books at the same time, and they are hysterical. My four year old grandson loves them and my daughter and I laughed as we read them. I'm so glad I found these.

My daughter wrote me to tell me that the grandchildren made her read this book three times in a row and that my youngest grandson fell asleep holding the book! She said that they loved it--and that they laughed and laughed! High praise for any book!

This is another cute story that was sent in great condition. Love the variety with each story presented by the author.

Being an avid fan of chess, David Shenk provides an engaging book on a difficult and dry topic. Even if you barely understand the game, masterful storytelling (suspense, even) make the book difficult to put down.

Shenk takes us through the history of chess, how an obscure board game in ancient India, Persia, and Egypt was used to train nobles before it arrived in Europe for the very same purpose. There's a fascinating bit how Muslims, Christians, and Jews have understood chess at different moments in history, how chess may have inspired Western philosophers to grant us free speech and liberty, and possibly even used chess as an occult gateway into the divine! It's not just a game, and the alternating chapters on analyzing one of the earliest modern games of chess lets you appreciate the BEAUTY of the game.

Finally, It's a great read on the Kindle, the pictures remarkably don't get in the way (other chess books are awful on the Kindle, with chess diagrams frustratingly cut in half across two pages).

Despite the subtitle, this is less a "history of chess" than a survey of its subtitular impacts upon "art, science, and the human brain." It works better as a series of interconnected chapters on chronologically arranged topics rather than as a comprehensive study. Shenk argues that the game encouraged medieval acceptance of free will over fate, and skill over chance. He tries to trace this admittedly ambitious thesis through the spread of the game from sixth century Persia to the West and then globally.

He's at his best with metaphors, as these illuminate the game for newcomers like me. Shenk delves into the symbolic nature of chess, and his own images assist our understanding. He uses Jenny Adams' research from the Middle Ages in her book "Power Play," examining the formative period for the game, to emphasize how pieces could be seen as a miniaturization of society, from peasants to royals. Shenk agrees with Adams about how this conception paralled the creation of an individual self related to the community, moving about in a pattern that left nothing to caprice and all to control.

Speaking of images, Shenk deploys them well. The spread of chess was as if "the game had been shot out of Arabia like a shotgun shell, scattering similar but distinct fragments all across the Continent." (57) He compares water molecules changing from water to ice with one movement of a pawn affecting a game's outcome. He thinks about how near-death experiences allow one to glimpse the beyond in a fashion resembling chess players who can skim "close enough to infinity" for them "to peer over the ledge and envision the fall." (70) The middlegame seems like you're away from the beach, finally enjoying the "high, crashing, erratic ocean waves. Is that a life raft headed your way, or a saw-toothed shark?" (105) Developing one's pieces may be as crucial as vaccinating a youngster, for while if you neglect this action, fatality "isn't certain," one "can expect to face serious trouble."

He explains that he wrote this book after taking up chess as an adult after a brief stint as a youngster, but he still lacks the requisite ambition that, he tells us, makes a chess "genius," rather than any innate brilliance. Practice 20,000 hours at anything, Shenk reasons, and you will achieve success! "It wasn't so much that I minded losing; I just got tired of my own mediocrity, and realized that I preferred to stay up nights trying to write a better book about chess than studying to be a better player. For whatever reason, my drive was to understand the relentless drive of others to play masterful chess." (135)

He sums it up as a combination of a battle between two forces, each socially stratified, competing to dominate a "finite piece of geography," interacting dynamically and in complex manner, as "each army manipulated by a player," with "wits rather than brawn," and using short-term tactics along with long-term strategy, "in a game that could never truly be mastered." (73) The alliance of tactics with strategy, Shenk finds, separates-- at least for now-- Kasparov from Deep Blue. Humans still, if tenously, thrive in unpredictable variations on strategy that a processing intelligence system appears not yet to have mastered.

Near the conclusion, Shenk has an epiphany in a NYC classroom as he watches a master coach a school team. Shenk wonders if teaching chess could help us respond to the blasts of consumer-driven manipulation, political chicanery, and ideological rhetoric we're subjected to daily. Instead of retreating back to comforting beliefs, he muses, we should nourish our enlightened sense of skepticism. Chess makes us think for ourselves. We learn to deal with abstraction, navigate complexity, and expand our mental horizons.

While this narrative lacks the personal touch and the extended travelogue with its byways and idiosyncracies featured in J.C. Hallman's engaging "The Chess Artist" (also reviewed by me recently on Amazon as is the rather too-similar later work by Paul Hoffman, "The King's Gambit"), "The Immortal Game" succeeds by brevity. Shenk, nevertheless, may prove too rapidly paced a guide into the realms he glimpses. For a longer entry into the tournament world, you may want to try Paul Hoffman's book, partially about his relationship with his father as analyzed through the filter of high-level competition.

Intriguingly, Shenk's own great-great grandfather. Samuel Rosenthal, was one of the best French masters of the later 19c. I'd have wished for more about him; the hurried, two-page coda, both in the German visit and the brief encounter with his ggg-father's portrait in a London chess pub, does not satisfy the reader finishing this work. You want to learn more about the German town, his ancestor, and his European talk that appears to have condensed his book's thesis.

Often in this book, Shenk moves too quickly. I can see why he favors the Romantic game with its parries and attacks. Complex ideas rush past you as they intersect with chess, although such a format, usually with terse chapters, does seem suited more to a quick scan than any in-depth study of the many subjects he necessarily touches upon.

I liked the interspersion of the "The Immortal Game" between Anderssen & Kieseritzky on June 21, 1851, as this helps beginners follow the pieces, learn notation in an entertaining manner, and comprehend a bit of Romantic strategy at its best. However, the subsequent shifts of chess theory into the positional or scientific, the hypermodern, and the New Synthesis in turn earn only cursory attention. Likewise, I did not fully figure out why he includes the Kasparov vs. Deep Junior moves that he's diagrammed, as these two moves gain only momentary attention and insufficient elaboration.

He does recapitulate the Immortal Game at the end, along with a few other legendary games, with some comments of his own. The appendices helpfully list his print and electronic sources, although a spot check revealed an endnote slightly off from its pagination; his final excerpt, from an article in Tikkun magazine, even though it inspired him to write this book, is not cited in the documentation.

Still, it's an instructive introduction, suited for novices like me, and doubtless more advanced devotees of this 1400-year-old pursuit. There's a need for a popular introduction such as this to explain chess to those who may not want to learn how to play so much as how to appreciate how the game's evolved, represented, and influenced. Certainly, finishing this short and accessible overview, one will want to find out much more about chess.

The Immortal Game (330 pps)
by David Shenk

"Think of a virus so advanced it infects not the blood, but the thoughts. But of its human host. Liver and spleen are spared; instead this bug infiltrates the frontal lobes of the brain, domination such prime cognitive functions as problem solving, abstract reasoning, time motor skills and, most notably, agenda setting. It directs thoughts, actions, and even dreams. This virus comes to dominate not only the body, but the mind."

So begins David Shenk's The Immortal Game. The game of course is chess. If you have never played, never wanted to and have no interest in it; then neither this review nor the volume itself will hold any interest for you. Good bye - see you next time.

However, if you are intrigued by the game, and the fact that after four moves there are 10 to the power of 120 possible moves (that is one with 120 zeros or one thousand trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion), then this slim volume will captivate you. Certainly the information about the trillion, trillion stuff, made me feel better about my own game; now I know why my computer keeps thrashing me with morbid regularity.

Shenk's book is supported on two planks. One is the fact that his great grandfather, Samuel Rosenthal was a `legendary chess master', and two, the friendly game between the German Adolf Anderssen and the Estonian Lionel Kieseritzky in London on June 21st 1851 known as the Immortal Game.

Samuel Rosenthal was born at Suwtki, Poland 7 September 1837, and died, almost exactly 65 years later at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He became a law student and moved from Warsaw to Paris during the Polish revolution in 1864. He settled in Paris as a chess professional and writer.

The actual immortal game between Anderssen and Kieseritsky, was a `warm-up' for the London International Tournament. Anderssen won; and walked away with the tournament, clutching the equivalent of half a million dollars in today's money. The tournament was propitious for Anderssen in another sense: he went on to be the leading player in the world until 1866 (save for a couple of years when he wasn't trying).

Kieseritsky's life by contrast, ended two years later in a Paris mental hospital: very dead and very broke. It is said that not a single person attended the interring.

Subtitling the chapters as move numbers in the Anderssen/Kieseritsky game, Shenk takes the reader on an extravaganza of chess history. From its origins in Persia in the fifth century, to an aid to education in today's America, Shenk misses nothing. There are answers here to all our "...I always wondered about that".

Shenk's sources and notes are comprehensive and copious, as are his appendices. However, I thought Appendix I, pointless. If a reader didn't know the rules of chess, I doubt they would stay with Shenk for 244 pages. That said, appendix II and III are worth the purchase price of the book alone.

If you love chess, you must buy this book. If you only know the moves - but enjoy the game, you must buy it. For everyone else - you should buy it too. Who knows, there could be a Grand Master lurking within you just waiting to come out.
End

For anyone that enjoys, likes, or loves the game of Chess, THIS IS A MUST READ. It provide a full history and evolution of Chess while walking you through one of the most famous games of Chess.

This book was excellent in detailing the development of the ancient game of chess. It begins with ancient Persian roots as a Islamic game which traveled throughout the known world influencing kings and countries. The book is more than a history lesson, it is a lesson into the dynamic effect of chess on culture, science, and human reasoning. The history is told through interesting anecdotes. Throughout the book, the author details the moves of the "immortal game." This is one of the most famous games in history. It was a 1800's century battle of tactics. It was the romantic style of chess perfected. The book details the four historic periods of chess and the style of play in each. Also, the book quickly highlights some of the movement changing players throughout history. This book was an excellent read for those who love this "game of kings."