Bradford Books

This edition is an adaptation, a fact that is *not* mentioned in the item record *at all*. I ordered it, and when if FINALLY came (6 months after I ordered it), I had to return it because I prefer the real edition of a book, not some dumbed-down "retold" version to go with the TV version of the story.

In Barchester Towers you have the feeling of being in a command center during a war; everyone is in uniform; archdeacons are common, and bishops, far from rare. It is an exceedingly rare perspective of the Church of England's clerical politics, and Trollope brings it to life with Giotto-like realism. Trollope's writing is tension-filled and the protagonists' and antagonists' characters are depicted in black and white, just as their clerical garments would suggest. Barchester Towers, is a love story from start to finish, and if the reader finds the sequence of compound misunderstandings which form the basis of the plot's tension to be incredible in the extreme, Trollope would defend it as the "fog of war," which creates confusion on any battlefield.

The detail with which Trollope portrays his characters is crystal clear, yet economical: "He knows how to say a soft word in the proper place; he knows how to adapt his flattery to the ears of his hearers; he knows the wiles of the serpent, and he uses them." "Why she had chosen Paulo Neroni, a man of no birth and no property, a mere captain in the pope's guard, one who had come up to Milan either simply as an adventurer or else as a spy, a man of harsh temper and oily manners, mean in figure, swarthy in face, and so false in words as to be hourly detected, need not now be told." But it is to Mr. Slope that Trollope devotes particular attention: "If it should turn out to be really the fact that Mrs. Bold had twelve hundred a year at her own disposal, Mr. Slope would rather look upon it as a duty which he owed his religion to make himself the master of the wife and the money; as a duty too, in which some amount of self-sacrifice would be necessary." And of Mr. Harding: "He had that nice appreciation of the feelings of others which belongs of right exclusively to women." And you have to love Trollope's baptism of his characters with names which serve as labels: Farmer Subsoil, Rev. Quiverful, Dr. Fillgrave, Mrs. Lookaloft, Miss Thorne, Mr. Plomacy.

Trollope's craft is apparent throughout: "Olivia Proudie, however, was a girl of spirit; she had the blood of two peers in her veins, and, better still, she had another lover on her books; so Mr. Slope sighed in vain; and the pair soon found it convenient to establish a mutual bond of inveterate hatred." And in describing the henpecked Bishop, "If ever he thought of freedom, he did so as men think of the millennium, as of a good time which may be coming, but which nobody expects to come in their day." And our protagonist: "Mrs. Bold would have given the world not to blush, but her blood was not at her own command."

Trollope's 1857 British usage takes some acclimation, as with his liberal use of compound negatives: "...not unnecessary...quite impossible that he should now deny his love...he could not but know...he was not the last person to hear of it...her state, nevertheless, was not to be pitied...I doubt very much he won't lose his gown." Trollope's liberal sprinkling of Latin and French phrases, as with "nil admirari" and "couleur de rose," are evidence of Trollope's trust in the reader's cultural qualifications. Comic relief is less liberally sprinkled, but it is welcome when it breaks the tension, as when Mrs. Lookaloft crashes the area of Miss Thorne's lawn party reserved for the "quality," which she so ardently strove to emulate.

A significant part of Trollope's craft is also comprised of befriending the reader and confiding in us regularly: "Will anyone blame my heroine for this?" Or "You, O reader, and I, should be angry with Eleanor..." Or "The sorrows of our heroes and heroines, they are your delight, oh public! Their sorrows, or their sins, or their absurdities; not their virtues, good sense, and consequent rewards."

Barchester Towers is a masterpiece of fantasy. Trollope here rivals Austen, some forty years his senior, as a creator of misunderstood and pitiably human characters whose stars we ardently pray will cross. Unlike Austen, however, Trollope gives us the basest and vilest of antagonists, whose downfall we demand. And you, O reader, shall not be disappointed.

Where Dickens paints memorable characters with wonderful names, Trollope draws characters closer to ourselves then shows us how they think, behave, and interact.

Another difference between characters in Dickens and in Trollope is that Trollope's are more nuanced. The detestable Mrs. Proudie repels us with her prudish haughtiness but when she upholds the cause of Mrs. Quiverful she does so as much out of charity as out of principle. The odious Obadiah Slope suffers pangs of love that made me want to shake him by the collar and tell him to wake up! The good Mr. Harding is clearly in the wrong in thinking ill of his daughter Eleanor's judgment, and yet Eleanor was also at fault in thinking herself above defense. There are no white hats or black hats in Barchester, only various shades of gray.

Trollope delights in describing what all these people think, and how they express themselves. How the tone of voice is intended to undo the work of the words spoken. How truth can be spun into a spider's web as does the wonderful character of the Signora Madeline Neroni. If anyone in the novel can be called evil it is her. She manipulates people like objects for her own amusement; she's like a cat playing with a mouse which it has no intention to eat. And yet even the reader can't help falling in love with la Signora. And yet, and yet, and yet... No one is simple in Trollope's world.

Barchester Towers differs from its predecessor in the Chronicles of Barsetshire. The Warden is a classic romance tainted with a touch of tragedy all brought down to the scale of everyday life. Barchester Towers on the other hand is a sprawling pageant of people, a long chapter in a comédie humaine that follows Balzac's tradition.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) has earned his place in the pantheon of great English Victorian authors. His greatest novels are those in the
Barsetshire series dealing with the clergy and the Palliser novels concerned with politics focusing on the Palliser family.
The first novel in the Barsetshire series "The Warden"introduces us to the Rev. Septimus Harding and his charming daughters Eleanor and Susan. Harding gives up his supervision of Hiram's Hospital for elderly men as that novel concludes. His daughter Eleanor weds John Bolt the newspaperman who had criticized Harding for earning too much in a sincecure; his other daughter Susan is wed to Dr. Grantley the son of the Bishop of Barsetshire. "The Warden" introduces the characters in "Barchester Towers" which is a longer and more complicated novel.
In this novel the new Bishop has been chosen by the British government following the death of old Dr. Granley. He is Bishop Proudie the henpecked husband of one of literature's greatest shrews Mrs. Produie. The uxorious bishop must obey his dominant wife or face the consequences!
As the novel opens Dr. Grantley the scion of old Dr. Grantley is upset that he is not chosen to succeed his father as bishop. He is a member of the high church party in opposition to the evangelical wing of the Anglican church favored by the Proudies. It is time for clerical warfare to begin!
The oily chaplain to the new bishop is the Rev. Obadiah Slope who seeks advancement in the church but fights with Mrs. Proudie over who will have the wardenship of Hiram Hospital. He favors the restoration of Mr. Harding but Mrs Proudie wins out when the Rev. Quiverful, his wife and 14 children win the prize of the wardenship.
A love story is told as widow Eleanor Bold is courted by the odious Rev. Slope; Bertie Stanhope an impecunious and fatuous sculptor and the intellectual clergyman the Rev. Francis Arabin. Arabin is a favorite of the Grantley faction in the church feud with the Proudies.
The widow Neroni is Madeline, the daughter of the Rev. Stanhope, who is crippled but a bewitching temptress for all the men in the story. We also meet the Thornes who are an older brother and sister living in the country near St. Ewolds wherin is located Mr. Arabin's parish. They are hilarious!
The novel ends with the social, religious and romantic worlds in a state of calm salubrity. The novel was a bestseller in 1854 and is the bestselling and most humorous of all the Barsetshire novels. Anthony Trollope wrote about good men and women in a realistic, easy to read style which is enchanting 150 years after first being written.
I have read Barchester Towers several times and still enjoy this enchanting classic from the hand of a literary master.

(4.5 stars) Anthony Trollope does, indeed, fill the ending of this delightful social satire with all the "sweetmeats" any reader could desire. Between the introduction and conclusion are so many moments of wry humor, genuine thoughtfulness, and satisfying come-uppances that the extra sweetness at the end is actually a bonus. In this second of the Chronicles of Barsetshire, published in 1857, Trollope continues the story of Mr. Septimus Harding, the gentle and unambitious clergyman who, in The Warden (1855), resigned his appointment as warden of Hiram's Hospital for the poor and became the vicar of a small church, living frugally above a chemist's shop. His daughter Eleanor, who married reformer John Bolt at the end of The Warden, is now a widow with a small son--and considerable inheritance.

Ecclesiastical controversies, many of them linked to the desire for power within the small world of the church hierarchy, still exist in Barchester, and the arrival of Mr. Slope, as chaplain to Bishop Proudie, signals fireworks. Slope, one of Trollope's most unforgettable characters, is one of the slimiest, most sycophantic, and manipulative clergyman ever to appear in English literature, and before long, he is controlling the bishop, clashing with the bishop's wife (who regards herself as co-bishop), using the unfilled wardenship of the hospital as a bargaining tool with Mr. Harding and Eleanor, alienating and even outfoxing Archdeacon Grantly, and seeking a wife with a large fortune.

Far more complex than The Warden, the novel has more fully developed characters acting from more realistic motivations. Victorian England, as we see it here, is a multileveled society which does not allow for much upward mobility, and the entrenched clergy regards itself as second only to the aristocracy. The human foibles, the back-biting, the selfishness, and the one-upsmanship which Trollope includes in his depiction of all levels of society are particularly ironic in the case of the godly churchmen, and the honest and straightforward Mr. Harding is a counterweight to them throughout the novel.

Several courtships and marriages are presented so unromantically here that it is difficult even to imagine the concept of sexuality, but the novel is witty and clever, and Trollope shows his continued development as a satirist. Not a writer of "sensation," like Wilkie Collins, or of social criticism, like Dickens, Trollope has his own quiet style, and his wry observations about his world may resonate with the present reader more than either of those other giants. n Mary Whipple

The Warden
Doctor Thorne (Barsetshire Novels)
Framley Parsonage

I am just finishing reading this book and am impressed with the approach of not dieting, changing lifestyle. This is a much better approach.

Our 'oh please?' reviewer seems suspiciously keen to push an alternative author's book. His (or her) critique is based on FatWars' deficiencies as a diet book. In this regard the anonymous reviewer is correct: if you want a diet book, Fat Wars isn't the book for you.

If, on the other hand, you want to understand your body and its complex response to the foods you put into it and the exercise (or the lack thereof) that you subject it to, and actually take advantage of nature's in-built health and fitness mechanisms, then pick this up and read it. I was recommended it by my personal trainer, and have since recommended it to many other people. It's not simple, and it's not a quick fix. But it is well researched and (more to the point) effective.

I'm not sure that I'll ever get up at 5 AM to work out, have my final meal of the day by 8pm and be in bed by 10 to take full advantage of my circadian rhythms. But I have made a number of the changes to my lifestyle which Brad King recommends, which have left me feeling fitter and healthier.

As a colleague of mine used to say: only results count. I'm happy with this book because it delivers results.

I'm sorry, Mr. King. Just because you keep repeating the phrase "this is not a diet" doesn't make it so. The first half of this book has some interesting high falutin' sounding science. If the research actually supports the information there it is worth a read. Despite that, ultimately his advice can be summed up as: Eat less and exercise more. I think we're all on board with that!

He recommends consuming five small meals a day, two of which should be protein shakes (which are no doubt available for purchase through his website). Reminds one of Ultra Slim or, even worse, Optifast. How is that NOT a diet? I don't think anyone wants a "lifestyle change" that includes drinking two liquid meals a day. He also advises a fairly strict 40-30-30 breakdown of carbs, protein and fat at every meal. And calorie counting.

Folks, moderate your intake of the foods you already KNOW you shouldn't over-indulge in and move your body 30-45 minutes a day as a minimum. Don't bother with this or any other diet book. As the old adage goes, if it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't.

There's no doubt that Brad King knows his nutrition, but this book is just too deep in biochemistry than it needs to be. One almost needs a degree in science to comprehend the first half of his book! Believe me, it is NOT an easy read! There are no real everyday meal samples to try and follow. I was very disappointed and got very little out of it. Don't bother and save your money.

I don't buy diet books. I checked this one out of the library, read it, and had to own it. The 'ah-hah' moments people talk about are geniunely enlightening. If you want meal plans, recipes, and the standard info usually included in these books, this is not for you. If you want to understand how your body got to be the way it is and how you can be in charge of changing it radically for the better, read this book. I love the concept of managing fat loss (not just weight loss) and the strategies offered to make this happen. This information has helped me reclaim my pre-pregnancy body (bodyfat is down to 24% from 38%). The book is based on science and is a scientific read to a certain extent, but it's very clearly explained. I will be living according to these principles for the rest of my life (and not in a coffee-and-Twinkies body, either)!

I think what sets this book apart from other literature about solar energy (or renewables in general) is that it seems the author has managed to separate emotion, political bias, environmental guilt-trips, and ulterior motives from the argument he's trying to establish - that solar energy dominance is inevitable. And no wonder - the author is said to have been a fund manager and corporate buyout specialist, which require discipline from one's own emotions to be successful. He manages to do this strictly on the principle of economics and self-interest, which if you think about it, are the primary drivers for market acceptance and policies.

The book is very insightful, especially about the history of civilization and how energy figures into the picture (e.g. environmental problems forcing the Roman Empire to expand, Germany and Japan forced to make moves based on the lack of oil [I always wondered why Hitler chose to go for Russia when he nearly had Western Europe taken over and why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor when the US was mostly on the sidelines], etc.).

I felt the author never strayed from the principle of economics and self-interest to establish his arguments throughout his book. Moreover, Bradford was very meticulous in providing references for the inquisitive reader to follow up on where there may be some doubt about where certain claims came from or who said what. I'm sure such details would've detracted from the main arguments of the book had they been explicitly integrated, which is why I suspect he had put in all those annotations in the first place.

Indeed, all things considered, it's no wonder why I found Bradford's case for solar very convincing (and personally reassuring somewhat for our future).

As for criticisms, I'm sure this book may have some flaws regarding certain assumptions that were made (though the author seemed to have done his best in being worst-case for solar by being very conservative with solar numbers while being very optimistic for status quo energy), but such is the nature of predictions. Besides, if all the information was readily available to make a bullet-proof argument for solar, it would've already been done. But we all know that there are political forces (mainly from Republicans) wanting to keep the status quo to protect their wealth, and they're stopping at nothing to ensure that's the case from misinformation, delays, or even going to war!

I've read some of the critical reviews, and I question whether they're written by fossil-fuel apologists or Republican sympathizers who want us to remain dependent on some monopolizable form of energy (if not fossil fuels, then maybe nuclear, or some other centralized contrivance; all of which Bradford debunked, by the way).

But seriously, read the book and see for yourself. And if you're real skeptical, follow up on his references and annotations of which there are plenty!

This is a great read. Unlike many authors who've written about solar in relation to other forms of energy generation, Travis thoughtfully analyzes why solar will be a big part of the solution. He considers issues of changing energy costs, cleanup costs (carbon), and solar's declining costs in parallel with those. He explains why distributed generation will be increasingly important for energy delivery compbatibly with centralized generation. A compelling and thought-provoking book.

What is unique about this solar proponent is that even without the usual social/environmental arguments, the author still makes a poignant, richly data-assisted projection that the paradigm energy shift from fossil fuel to solar power will be inevitable based on economic rewards and fossil fuel supply. In addition to the economic aspects he gives an overview of the main alternative energy sources.

Great book. The problem is this technology requires fossil fuels in silicon raw materials and production. While newer solar thermal power may be better, cutting edge technology from companies like Nanosolar which use printing techniques and lighter thin surfaces for broad commercial use, will likely take lead.

The simple economics and lower capital cost make it like to dominate alternative energy options.

This is a great book. It talks about the Photovoltaics industry in a way that avoids traditional cliches. The authors approach the subject from a strictly economic point of view, preaching the inevitability of "the Solar Revolution," and supporting it with a series of logical arguments. Props to the authors.

It's always a pleasure when I take a chance on a new novelist and it pays off as well as it did here. Val McDermid is, I now know, one of our best writers and I won't hesitate to buy any book in the future with her name on the cover. In The Torment of Others, you'll get everything you want from a thriller and more : intelligent characters, gripping imagery, a powerful plot, clever pacing and just entertainment all round. The lead characters Jordan and Hill are very much individuals whose personalities and concerns are so well described that we almost feel that we know them; the key point is that we can easily believe in them. The side-plot of their 'relationship' is actually intriguing, dealt with subtle aplomb by their creator and cleverly left unfinished within the context of this story so that we can carry on where they left off in the next one. The main story line of this book is quite daringly graphic in its description without being gory for its own sake. It just leaves you wondering "Jeez, what a way to go"...and I'm not a woman! This is a writer of high intellect, vivid imagination and the bringing together of those rare skills makes for very enjoyable reading. Call me a fan.

This author just keeps doing it. How she can write book after gripping book and sound fresh, suspenseful and compelling is a wonder in today's crime fiction scene. Just read it!

... and this title is no exception. The continution of the Tony and Carol saga. I highly recommend!

I read WIRE IN THE BLOOD and loved it and just finished TORMENT and will have to get everything by McDermid.

This novel is VERY gruesome but the characters and "secondary cases" are so interesting and well-written that you really can't help turning the pages.

Good stuff-- but creepy!

I had not read any of Val McDermid's work before this. It seems that a lot has transpired in previous novels that were alluded to time and again, so if there is a novel that proceeds this, you might want to check out that one before starting in on `The Torment of Others'. That aside, I was immediately brought into McDermid's world as a reader. The characters Tony Hill and Carol Jordan have so many demons that are being exorcised that this does not read as though it were just another in a long line of sequels.

There are two mysteries unfolding here. Carol is found at the start of the book taking control of an elite crime fighting force and these are the two first cases that fall under her sphere. Both of these stories are complex enough that you will be left guessing and not quite sure as to where things are going until near the end. Along the way several other side characters are introduced. I think that the plurithura of first person characters that stride through this novel was a bit of a drawback. In my opinion, the fact that McDermid mines not two, but at least six (that I can recall off the top of my head) points of view is a real momentum killer. You never really get to the point where you are on the edge of your seat with this book. I always felt like a disengaged viewer lording over this unfolding event rather than as an immediate participant.

The mood that I gleamed from this book... the over all aura... was sort of like a Patricia Cornwell novel. If you have not read her yet, you are in for a treat. I would highly recommend her work and suggest that you start with her first novel. Otherwise, this book is worth reading, though by no means the best of this genre that I have come across.

This book is good for one reason, it contains brief history of world art and many illustration and photos of its work. It is also in correct order as art evolute. However, I wish it just came in one form of book rather two spread books in one cheap case. It was not necessary, I do not want to loose one book, over the other. Its hard to read when there are two books split.

Thanks! this book in a great condition for a great price I highly recommend it.

This book was great! The major ancient civilizations were covered. The photos and drawings are fantastic. Lacking are the non-European civilizations (such as African art) in the amount of information provided. Some civilizations are a mere one or two paragraphs in length before a new topic is introduced.

I brought this book for an art history class I'm taking. I like the format of the book. I also have found it easy to read and not boring.

I had to buy this book for an Art History class and I find it to be very informative, considering I had no education in the evolution of art. Would recommend for anyone interested in seeing how art evolved into what it is today.

I wish my instructor never recommended this book. Again, so many questions and no explanations of the answers. The questions may give you an idea of what you're in for, but it makes for a lousy study guide. The NCA review book is much better since it includes axplanations...even if you're not actually taking the NCA exam, I found that review book more valuable then the a,b,c, and d that ASCP gives you.

If you want lots of questions to practice with than you will love having this, however wrong and right answers are not explained. I used the study cards more often and the online practice questions were of more use.

Very good book in question and answer format. The only draw back is that it does not explain the answers.

These may be the right kind of questions needed to be studied... but this book is not very conducive to studying because there are no justifications of the answers... partially helpful, but cumbersome to learn from.

This book is full of real exam questions from the Board certification exam, however there are no explanations for any of the answers. Works well for a practice exam situation, but if you want something to really help you study i suggest "Clinical Laboratory Science Review, A Bottom Line Approach"

There is simply too much that is not discussed for this to be a truly effective book, including most of DC and Marvel's non-superhero output, so that their war, western, and romance comics are neglected and the horror boom of the 1970s is largely ignored. The many superhero comics of the 60s that were published by companies other than DC and Marvel are also overlooked. Harvey and Gold Key are barely mentioned and to read this book, you would think that Charlton only printed war comics.

A scholarly yet extremely readable and enjoyable account of the history of comics and how they fit into and reflect American culture since the 1930's. Mr. Wright's account of Frederic "Seduction of the Innocent" Wertham and his attacks on the comic book industry in the late 1940's and early 1950's is the most thoughtful and even-handed I have ever read. This book belongs alongside Gerard Jones' wonderful Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book as the best overall histories of the comics ever written. It's very informative and highly entertaining, a truly terrific read.

If you have a passion for comics or for American culture this is really a great book. It's a lot bigger than I thought. It's also a lot more fun then I thought. It isn't a dry read at all. Engaging and interesting, I would recommend this to anyone.

Wright has a brisk style and his story from the origins of Superhero comic books in 1938 to the mid 1990s decline due to an overheated market, is familiar enough. He certainly has read a lot of comics and it shows. As the reviews here suggest this book has become a standard history of comic books and American culture. Since I write on comics myself my comments may seem snippy, but they come from an engagement with Wright's work and the wish he had done just a little more given the good work he has produced. My reservation about the book is that too much of Wright's argument is about the way comic books reflected American culture and too little suggests ways comic books may have shaped American culture. For instance, Wright thinks comic books worthy of study in that they offer "a fun-house mirror of life" (xiv). That statement is true enough, but any product of a society offers some way of understanding that society. With comics (and indeed most goods and services, literature and so on) I think scholars can delve a little deeper and try to understand the ways they might have helped shape societies.

I don't know that I can write this review without injecting it with ample amount of gushing praise, but I will try.

I teach media and communications at the college level and have been studying pop culture and its effect on society for over 20 years.

That said, this book was only on the periphery of my attention for some time. It took me seeing it was used as a text for a course a fellow instructor at Penn State to buy it and read it.

To say "I couldn't put it down" is cliche, but I honestly could NOT resist reading this book. I often read several books at a time, but this book demanded my constant attention.

While it covers the same ground as many histories of comic books do (in particular Men of Tomorrow), and while many comic fans who have studied their favorite medium's past will already be familiar with many of the points Wright brings up in Comic Book Nation, this book is never less than entertaining and enlightening.

What makes it a bit different from other histories is not so much that Wright is a comic lover, but that he lets that love shine through.

He makes no aplogies when comics made him (and probably many of his reader) cringe and also praises creators, creations, and comics where praise is needed.

He also offers the most balanced account of the oft-discussed Seduction of the Innocent era of comic books I have read to date.

This book is a joy.

This short book covers numerous quantitative and qualitative studies that reveal specific characteristics of personalities driven by materialistic and consumerist desires. On variables ranging from personal relationships, self-worth and aspiration, social productivity, parenting, etc. the results are consistently clear: persons driven by external, materialist ends are less happy and more destructive to our web of relationships and our social structures. The book concludes with a few constructive ideas for how to reverse the damage of materialism in order to re-construct a value base that is more conducive to self worth and a better social environment overall.

But even in light of this it is clear from the book that changing the pattern of self-indulgent consumerism in order to pursue a more stable and fructuous value base for ourselves and our society, it takes a lot of energy to go upstream against the myriad of media, government, and social incentives that our liberal consumerist societies reinforce. Altruism is not reinforced as much as self-gratification and there are systemic problems that erect barriers to performing, in biblical language, love of neighbor and self much less God, that need to be change from the inside out.

This is an eye-opening and short volume that deserves attention. Of the many titles that reflect consumerism and its psychological affects, this is the most concise and clearly articulated.

In this excellent book, Kasser compellingly argues, with plenty of empirical data as support, that materialism is a serious detriment to society. While many of his claims may seem obvious, he definitely surprised me with several of the findings; it is especially chilling, for example, to be directly confronted with studies concerning the effect of advertisement on our values and happiness. This is an essential read for anyone who intends on leading a happy life.

I am still reading this book, but I am so enjoying it. This book explains the reasons that we as a country and a culture are becoming more and more discontent and unhappy. Our materialistic ideas and concepts, largely due to the media, TV, movies, commercialism are so polluted and distorted by the idealogy that we need more and more "stuff" and things to be happy......this of course never works!! Highly recommend this book....to anyone who will listen!!

The High Cost of Materialism is an interesting subject, but the author isn't up to the challenge he sets for himself. The Preface and Introduction are excellent. Both are succinct expressions of the problems that a market-driven economy creates within an individual looking for happiness.
But the method the author uses to accomplish his goal is falls short.

First of all, the author tries to make the claim that "If a person is aware of the effect of materialism in their life, they will probably become happy." This claim is weak at best. There are many people who are happy accumulating stuff. (I don't happen to be one of them, but I don't claim to represent all consumers in the world).

2nd, the author uses questionaires to determine what makes people happy.
He develops an 'Aspiration Index' with questions like:
1) 'Your image will be one others find appealing'
2) 'You will be famous'.
There are 15 of these questions.

He gives this questionaire to 350 people. And then he assumes these responses are an accurate portrayal of all consumers.
But, the sampling technique is terrible. I'm surprised the colleagues who reviewed this article didn't point this out.
For the 350 people, he chooses ONLY
(a) college students
(b) from one or two universities.

Holy cow! A book on the psychological effects
of materialism, seen through the eyes of college students.
What subset of America is represented by "18-22 years olds in University"?
To me, that makes all the conclusions based on his questionairre responses invalid, or spurious at best.

The book sets up many arguments of why people find materialism frustrating, and then refutes each of these. Sometimes finding some psychological 'causes'. But these arguments are created in his head, and the refutation is just the same.

In the final chapter, the author proposes his 'solutions' for an individual to take so he/she's less impacted by a Materialistic society.
Now, this is interesting, because it assumes a person can choose to not be affected by their own society. A cultural anthropologist would argue against this assumption.

Here are a couple of the 'solutions'.
#3: "Get off the materialistic treadmill".
#4: "Ask yourself why you really want the money, looks or fame."

My reaction to these 'solutions' was to realize, they won't help me.

A major problem with this whole book is, it assumes the individual can remove himself/herself from the way society judges others, without any negative feedback. To me, materialism exists because it's a groupthink type
of phenomenon. I'm often judged by what i wear and drive. Just because i know others are negatively judging me by what i own, and not acting warmly because i don't own what they've been told is 'good', doesn't mean i can control the situation or other people's responses. Yes, i can make my own choices. But my choices are then judged by others. And this judgment by others is what causes conformity. And the conformity is the driving motivator for a materialistic society.

So, i commend the author for taking up the subject. And i felt he wrote an excellent problem statement. But his research to find the causes, and his attempt to postulate a conclusion, left me feeling his whole approach is nothing more than wishful thinking.

I feel this book might better be entitled, the High Price of Possessiveness, since many of the external (extrinsic) motivators that cause personal dissatisfaction are in fact immaterial, such as image and status. The author is a bit loose about what comprises materialism -- image yes, but power no.

Unlike most books on this topic, the author provides real data from replicated psychological experiments, instead of relying on moralizing, criticism, and ungrounded theory (he does however, sometimes insert such unempirical arguments in the mix.) This data presents some amazing insights, and everyone would benefit from becoming aware of what these data show about our sense of subjective well being. The author does a good job of showing how preoccupation with consumer goods and status are highly correlated with personal dissatisfaction. But it doesn't follow that having a preoccupation with external motivations means that consumption or materialism is bad, and that being interested in things condemns one to unhappiness.

The actual data showing these effects is rarely presented in the book, but the one occasion the author shows his own data is enlightening. While the author chooses to focus attention on on what he calls materialism, the critical variable in happiness is actually the extent to which one pursues activities involving unrewarded intrinsic motivation. If one is motivated by both non-material as well as material pursuits, the author's data show one is not less happy than if one forgoes material pursuits. On the other side, if one doesn't pursue active non-rewarded recreation (i.e, only watch TV), you will be less happy if you try to give up material interests than if you have an interest in them (you would be very depressed.)

The author suggests -- without much justification -- that materialism prevents the pursuit of intrinsically motivated activities. This lead him to advocate "voluntary simplicity." Here he abandons science and starts moralizing. He notes rightly that our expectations of what's 'normal' rise as we have more possessions, so our satisfaction remains constant. He notes that we no longer consider a hot shower a luxury, though it was at one time. But he never addresses how a reduction in possessions affects satisfaction. What evidence I have seen suggests that people react differently to status reduction. The author's answer is people can compensate by increasing non-rewarded activities. But even non-rewarded activities such as recycling can be dissatisfying if one introjects feeling of guilt that one isn't doing one's best.

This book can be a great start to a reasonable debate on values and satisfaction, but don't expect tips on how to live contentedly.

This is an excellent book. I bought thios book to asisst with my Diploma in Professional Counselling. I find that a lot of counsellors etc refer to this book. It was an excellent process to buy through Amazon, very quick. Teresa

Thank you. The book is in very good condition. I wish it had included the cd rom, but I will get by without it.

This book arrived during the exact time period that was quoted and in the exact condition that was expected. The book was wrapped and packaged securely.

I was very pleased at how quickly I received my shipment. It arrived sooner than the estimated arrival dates. The order was also in great condition.

Thank You Amazon

This book did not arrive on time and when it did arrive was in a horrible condition. I was in the process of requesting a refund when the book arrived.

As the unpublished auhor of two novels I have read dozens of books about writing and publishing. Most either regurgitate tiresome old addages ( write everyday; use rejection as a motivator) or worse are filled with false hope and flowery descriptions of how to raise your craft to the level of great literature (usually written by other frustrated authors who have either not been able to publish fiction or who have published but not sold well).

This book is written witht he insight of two seasoned veterans of the publishing business who share their experience and knowledge with anyone willing to read. We learn about the ins and outs of the best seller list and are given a strong dose of realism about our chances af making the list or of getting published in the first place. Realistic but not discouraging the authors are carefully temper our enthusiasm so that we an absorb the information in a way that we can make useful.

In the end this book gives many clues to how to be the excption and crack the best seller list while preparing us for the long road that we must travel to have a chance. Write a good book and be persistant in our efforts in getting published are the themes that stand out the most after reading this book and if we as writers do that then we should be satisfied in our efforts regardless of our comercial success

"The Making of a Bestseller" is like getting a front row seat in a panel interview with various bestselling writers, their editors and agents, and a few publishers. Newbies get great insight about how the publishing industry operates. The best parts of this book are, to me, the reflections shared by authors about their experience when they "made it big." In a lot of ways, "The Making of a Bestseller" responds to those who are curious about what it's like to be in the heart of the action.

Given the cover price of "The Making of A Bestseller," however, I was expecting more than just pearls of wisdom. The title gave me the impression that the book would reveal the process, the specific strategies used by publishers in the packaging and marketing of a particular bestselling book. Or, at least, practical knowledge one would need to navigate the industry. Yes, one would be able to spot a tip here and a gem of advice there, but it's not the true focus of the book.

So the three stars is really about the cover price vis-a-vis its contents. The information the book holds is top quality, but not enough to justify the expense.

Dee Power and Brian Hill have put together a fascinating look at bestselling authors and what it takes. They interview a number of bestselling authors, booksellers and editors about what made the difference for a book to become a bestseller. Here's a few quotes from the book:

"Now we know: The "secret bestseller sauce" is made up of this key ingredient--a great book." p. 88 Then on the next page: "in our survey, agents on average said they accept 2 out of 1,000 submissions. A senior editor with a top publishing house told us she accepts 1 out of 100 submissions that she receives from agents. If we combine the two, it means that there is a 1 out of 50,000 chance of a new book by an unknown author making it from the author's word processor to successfully attracting an agent, and then on to the contract stage with a publisher."

See what I mean about realism into the pages of this book?

Yet the tone is not discouraging but informative and helpful to stimulate would-be authors to excellence in their writing, in their pitches to editors and in their promotion efforts. I learned a great deal from this book and recommend it.

Brian and Dee's book is like having a one-on-one conversation with today's top fiction and non-fiction writers.

What questions would you want to ask them?
...How do you stay focused?
...What quality is present in all "good writing"?
...What is the life of an author truly like?
...How did you get into writing?
...Where do you get your ideas?

Chances are good that whatever your question Brian and Dee asked it.

The Making of a Bestseller is a book that you can pick-up, read for a few minutes, and get something out of it. If you want a book that delivers a step-by-step marketing strategy this is not the book for you. However if you want to get a glimpse into the mindset of today's top authors buy this book.

You'll feel like you just had a scintillating dinner conversation with some of the top players in the publishing industry. This book is firmly grounded in reality and offers so much more than a pseudo-"sure-fire formula" for hitting bestseller lists-- it offers real insight into the ways success flourishes. This is a book you'll want to read again and again to glean new pieces of wisdom each time.

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