Burton Books

First of all, this book has the greatest title ever. Guy Davenport didn't seem to like it, though; in his otherwise fantastic introduction he subtly pokes fun at it. But I find it a great choice for the collection. Burton Raffel is one of my favorite translators; his "Don Quijote" and "Gargantua and Pantagruel" translations are the only ones for me. So I was very happy to discover this, a collection of Raffel translations of ancient Greek lyric and epigrammatic poetry spanning from the 7th Century BCE to the 1st Century CE. I'm sure there are some dilettantes out there who will quibble that some of the poems are not "exactly" translated, but I'm not one of them. Raffel makes it clear in his preface that he did not want to produce a literal translation, and so much the better for the poems themselves. The effect is, rather than a stuffy tome of exact translations, a little book filled with the wit and wonder of these long-forgotten bards.

Several poets are spotlighted, most represented by a few lines of their surviving poetry. The depressing part is that the majority of their work is lost. Raffel has a brief bio for each poet in the back of the book; most of the bios state either "No reliable data" or "Such and such was a famous poet. None of his work survives." And that's the heart of it. The deeper one gets into the study of the ancient world, the more fully one understands how MUCH has been lost. It's not only sad, it's despicable. And I'm sure we all know what religious group to blame for the loss...

"Pure Pagan" is filled with lines that stick in your brain. There's Meleager, who taught his muse "to run on barbed feet," Antipater of Sidon, who in his poem to Ares claims that the god of war wants "trophies hacked by the sword," Callimachus with his nihilistic poem on the fact that there is no afterlife (yet "meat is cheap down here"), Menecrates with his poem on old age: "Old age is a debt/We like to be owed/Not one we like to collect." There are also a wealth of anonymous epigrams, no less insightful or meaningful for their anonymity.

Guy Davenport's introduction is one of the best I've read. In just a few pages he brings the ancient Greeks to life, recreating the milieu in which these poems were created and appreciated. I've read entire books on the ancient world which didn't convey the detail and enthusiasm that Davenport provides. I've yet to read his own collection of ancient Greek poetry translations, "7 Greeks," but I've already ordered it.

I first read this book on a rainy day, a bottle of wine by my side. I couldn't imagine a better atmosphere. These poets speak across the ages to us, through the centuries of change, death, and destruction, and they sound very much alive. In today's mediated, euthanized, Christian Right-ruled times, perhaps we need a "Pure Pagan" message from the depthless past more than ever.

'Pure Pagan: Seven Centuries of Greek Poems and Fragments.' Selected and Translated by Burton Raffel. Introduction by Guy Davenport. New York: The Modern Library, 2004. Hardcover. 81 pp.

Although this book certainly has some fine things in it, and although it comes with an extremely interesting Introduction by Guy Davenport, for me it seems somehow to miss the magic. There is a freshness and clarity of sensibility to these early poems, a feeling that they are coming to us from the dawn of the race, that Raffel just doesn't seem to have captured. He also seems to have missed a lot of the joy.

Vastly superior, in my opinion, are the renderings given by Kenneth Rexroth in his 'Poems from the Greek Anthology,' and there are some who feel that in this book Rexroth gave us the best poetry he ever wrote. My own copy is the Ann Arbor Paperback first edition of 1962, a superbly produced book, sewn and on high quality paper, that includes a series of powerful woodcut illustrations by Geraldine Sakall which greatly add to the impact of the poems. A new edition appeared in 1999 as 'Poems from the Greek Anthology: Expanded Edition.' Introduction by David Mulroy. Translated by Kenneth Rexroth (ISBN 0472086081), though whether it includes the original illustrations I don't know.

Three other editions that are well worth looking at by anyone interested in this early poetry are 'Greek Lyrics' by Richmond Lattimore (ISBN 0226469441) 1960; 'Greek Lyric - An Anthology in Translation' by Andrew M. Miller (ISBN 0872202917) 1996; and 'The Greek Anthology' by Peter Jay (ISBN 0140442855) 1981. This last is a huge Penguin anthology of 440 pages and contains work of varying quality by a large number of translators including Rexroth and other notables.

Fuller information about these books can be found by simply typing in the relevant ISBN number in the Amazon search box, but I think that anyone who reads them will have to agree that, despite their various excellences, Rexroth remains The King.

Simplicity can go a long way and a few well-chosen words can carry great weight. This seems to have been the idea behind Greek lyric poetry. In some cases, an entire poem is hardly more than a sentence, and that suffices. The poems are less anchored in image than idea. If the reader is looking a progenitor of modern Imagism, it isn't here. What the reader will find are philosophic musings on life, death, love and other always timely topics.

"I hate poems that go on & on", writes Callimachus, an ancient Greek whose poetry has been translated and compiled in this anthology, along with the work of other bards both familiar and obscure, and his is a credo which the Greeks seem to have lived up to admirably: the poems here represented possess an extraordinary power and descriptive beauty despite their extreme, often jarring brevity. Take the poetry of Alkaios:

Boy:

Boy:
Wine

and

Truth


Or Alkman:

The thread runs thin

The need runs hard

Hard.


Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Greek's lyrics are their timelessness and universality. The Greeks were a people evidently much preoccupied with death, and the transitory nature of all things: thus a large number of their poems and fragments are comprised of poignant elegies and "epitaphs".


Plato:

I am a drowned man's tomb/there is a farmer's.
Death waits for us all/ whether at sea or on land.

Anonymous:

"I'm dead, but waiting for you/and you'll wait for someone/the darkness waits for everyone, it makes no distinctions"

Yet the writing of the Greeks could also be marvelously comic and erotic:

A boy bent to drape flowers on his stepmothers grave/thinking that death had changed her/but the stone toppled and killed him/Stepsons! Be wary even when they're dead!

"We'll be four, each with his woman/eight's too many for one keg of wine/Go tell Aristus the keg I bought/is only half-full, a gallon short, maybe two...hurry!
They're coming at five.


Many of the Greek's poems are also heartbreakingly human.


Alkaios:

Friend's? My friends are nothing/And I weep for them, and for me.

Philodemus:

I came through the rain, soaked/dodging my husband/and now we sit and do nothing,neither talk/nor sleep as lovers ought to sleep/


As the title attests, many of these poems are "fragments": consequently their language and style is at times rough and awkward.

Again, again/pigs whip up/ muck, mud, slop, again

Yet ultimately this anthology, despite a few crude temple scrawls, is littered throughout with magnificent gems of literature, providing, without the use of annotations or footnotes of any sort, but through their own words, an incredibly fresh and fascinating glimpse into the lives of an artistic and philosophical people who, though physically vanished, will endure forever in the treasures they left behind.

This volume of Greek poetry is a great find. If you have even the slightest interest in ancient Greece, this book is indispensible. Essentially a collection of short poems--mostly epitaphs, inscriptions, and fragments of otherwise long-lost authors--Pure Pagan is moving, hilarious, and always enjoyable.

My only complaint is a very small one. In the introduction, Guy Davenport makes note of the hundreds of fragments left over from the Hellenic world--so why is this collection so short? What's here is so enjoyable I was left wanting much, much more.

Highly recommended.

This book does a great job of describing many of the obstacles faced by female athletes. It has greatly helped me redefine my athletic goals and understand what I may encounter as I continue my athletic pursuits.

This book is truly enlightening. While i know some of her claims are contestable (as all theory is), i still want to sew her thoughts into my brain so they will be available for instant access and referral. I have always been wary of our sports culture; Nelson tells me why. Nelson in no way condemns athletics or sports, but rather the sexism that has evovled around American sports culture, and the possible reasons for this evolution. Unfortunately i know that this book would not be palatable for many sports fans; for that reason it is so utterly poignant.

I discovered this book only recently and it is a remarkable work. Nelson eloquently describes many of the obstracles of sexism that remain in women's sports today. While much progress has been made, many inequities remain as she clearly reports. While this book was initially published in 1994, it is still very relevant. The disparities in the money made by elite female athletes when compared to elite male athletes remain vast and disturbing. All feminists who also love sports will love this book.

... While it does have some valid points regarding sexism in sports and sexism of male athletes, it takes things a little far. Reading for any prolonged period tends to give one a very negative view of men in general and athletes in particular. In addition, the author underestimates the strength of women, and discounts the possibility that being viewed as a sex object can be both stimulating and empowering to them. Her depiction of cheerleaders and topless dancers, among other things, were very shallow. The whole book is very one-dimensional, and seems to be written by the kind of rabid feminist that gives feminism a bad name. Not everyone out there believes that all men conspire to bring women down and subjugate them.

I'm a woman who has been puzzled and bemused for a long time by the male fixation on sports. How can a man remember the batting averages of all the players in last year's World Series, but not know the shoe size of the woman he's been married to for 10 years? Why does a man buy a newspaper, read every word of the sports section, and throw away the rest without even glancing at it? Why is a professional basketball player paid a salary that rivals (and often exceeds) that of the CEO of a major corporation, who is responsible for managing a trillion-dollar budget and thousands of employees? And why, when a local writer received a major national award, was she relegated to a few column-inches in the Local section of the paper, while the firing of a high school football coach made the front-page headlines?
Nelson's book confirmed what I'd long suspected: as women have gradually broken through one glass ceiling after another, men have retreated into sports as the last bastion of traditional masculinity. It's a world in which "girl" is used as an insult, where men are permitted to express their affection only by punching each other, and where the only females allowed on the premises are decorative servants. But for those who claim that this is harmless male bonding and dismiss its critics as man-haters, Nelson shows the darker side: high school athletes who rape with impunity, glorification of mindless violence, and perpetuation of a concept of "masculinity" defined by behavior that would make a Neanderthal blush.
While it's possible to pick holes in some of her arguments (I know female sports fans who are as ardently partisan as any man), I think Nelson's analysis is generally well done and convincing. My only criticism is that I would have appreciated more suggestions on "Where do we go from here?" But I think awareness of the problem is more than half the battle, and she's certainly done an excellent job of that! Every parent in America should read this book.

Just finished this, down-home crime drama. At times it seems a bit elementary, but overall the book is a satisfying and enjoyable piece. I especially like how the hero isn't over the top and even smudges the line between being cop and criminal. It ended just the way it should have, the hero gets the girl, and his form of punishment is swift, certain and severe! Whatever happened to that?

Retired Dallas County deputy sheriff Manfred Eugene "Hog" Webern agrees to go undercover to break up a group of criminals that have come to be named "The Dixie Mafia." Hog left the police force under a well-publicized cloud which gives him entry and credibility with the gang who are planning the biggest heist ever. But Hog begin to wonder who are the real criminals?

Late into the field, Burton's first book "The Rogue's Game" is one of which I still think and recommend. There are a lot of characters and a complex plot. Hog has a wonderful, slightly self-deprecating and often humorous voice, but he is also strong with a solid sense of justice. I enjoyed that there was a love interest but it didn't side track the story. Burton has a true skill for creating a time and regional atmosphere that brought me firmly into the story. If you've not yet read Burton's books do yourself a favor: find them, read them, and enjoy them.

One wonders what Milton T. Burton has been doing all his life, for whatever it was, it should have been writing. This, his second novel, is even better than last year's outstanding debut, "The Rogue's Game."

This is the tale of Manfred Eugene "Hog" Webern, a retired Texas lawman. Set in 1970 Mississippi, Webern is cajoled back to duty undercover in an attempt to foil a suspected caper to be led by the notorious Jasper Sparks, the slick but deadly dandy of the so-called "Dixie Mafia", which in reality is just a loose federation of thugs and bandits working their illicit trade beneath the Mason-Dixon. Turns out Hog is operating under a cloud of suspicion himself, surrounded by innuendo that shortly before retiring, he had "turned", pocketing the money from a bust and murdering his partner. While untrue, Hog does little to dispel the rumors, and instead leverages the bad rap to gain the trust of Sparks and his motley crew. Before long, Hog finds himself in charge of personnel for the heist, and literally as thick as the proverbial thieves with the likes of such upstanding citizens as Lardass Collins, Hardhead Weller, and Slops Moline. But before it is all over, Webern is questioning just who the bad guys really are, and as the politics thicken, the bullets fly, and he begins to wonder who can be trusted.

Burton writes with an easy style and homespun wisdom - this is a man who clearly loves to write and thoroughly enjoys his craft. It is a story told with the authority of having been there/done that, colored liberally with frequent diversions off the main plot, some brutal, some humorous, all entertaining. The characters are believable and engaging - main-man Hog Webern and his crowbar subtlety will remind some of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux sidekick Cletis Purcell - while the setting, banter, and situations ring true to the Nixon-era south.

In short, if Jim Thompson or Raymond Chandler were alive and writing today, it would come out sounding a lot like Milton Burton. And if there is justice, Burton will soon be recognized as the literary talent he can rightfully way claim to. I'll be anxiously awaiting Burton number three, and hoping for a return of the Hog.

Milton Burton's books are best enjoyed while setting in a straight-backed chair -- the kind with a smooth seat that allows you to slide to the very edge, and strong arms for gripping. Burton's research and knowledge of his subject shines through on every page, as well as his wonderful sense of humor. This is a book you don't want to miss!

Joe Prentis

Tyler, Texas Author Milton T. Burton distinguished himself with the powerful debut novel "The Rogues' Game." Unlike many authors, there is no slump in his stand alone second novel just recently released titled "The Sweet And The Dead." The mystery is complex, the writing is superb, and the read is wonderful.

As the novel opens, it is the fall of 1970 and Manfred Eugene "Hog" Webern is deep undercover in Biloxi, Mississippi. Hog is a retired Dallas County Deputy Sheriff, a good man, and a damn good cop despite the word on the street. It is coincidence and nothing more that he got into some money at approximately the same time his former partner was gunned down and a couple of other nasty things happened. The word on the street is that Hog is dirty these days which makes him a perfect candidate to investigate from the inside the group dubbed the "Dixie Mafia."

Bob Wallace is a Texas Ranger and a man that Hog has worked with before more than once and a man that Hog trusts without question. Wallace tells him that Curtis Blanchard, one of the chief felony investigators for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety wants Hog to come to Mississippi, hook up with Jasper Sparks, head of the aforementioned Dixie Mafia, and gather enough evidence to bring Jasper and as many others as possible down. Hog agrees for several reasons and before long finds himself deep undercover in a twisting case that seems to know no end.

As in the first book, Milton T. Burton has created another powerful main character full of internal demons and unresolved guilt who is seeking his own form of justice. Another dark hero beset by his own failings as well as the failings of others and yet finds a particular brand of honor among some in the criminal element. Once again, through his folksy storytelling style, the author has created a main character that could be anybody and who goes quietly about his business and would never rise to your attention unless he meant for you to notice and feel his judgment.

This stand alone novel features another complex tale from what could easily have been in the hands of another writer, a simple straightforward story. A hallmark of "The Rogues' Game" was the author's ability to create so many shades of gray where one wasn't sure about character motivations until the every last word on the page. The same is true here and Hog figures out fairly soon that no one can be trusted--maybe not even himself. Nothing is as it seems and nothing is finished until the last word on the page.

The result is another entertaining highly complex novel mystery that results in a simply great read from an author that like his characters, seems to quietly go about his business. He deserves more acclaim than he is getting and his books deserve a place on your reading list.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2006

Jessica "Jessie" Wyndom lives on the family farm and has her own repair shop. It is all that she has ever wanted in life. The next thing Jessie knows she is aboard an alien spacecraft and learning a family secret. The family secret is so secret that no one in Jessie's known family even knows it exists! (You will have to read the book to understand how that can possibly be true.)

Captain Marcus Viator of the Alliance research starship "Freedom", is upset when he learns Jessie is beamed onto the ship by mistake. Jessie looks very much like his lieutenant, Veronese Qilana, who disappears about the same time Jessie appears. Scanners swear that Jessie IS Veronese, but that is impossible. Or is it? Before he can send Jessie back to Earth a Praetorium ship arrives. (They are renegades who prey on peaceful ships and "Freedom" is research, not military any more.) The captain is forced to flee with Jessie still aboard and one of his crew members missing.

Jessie wants only to return home. Until this is possible she is determined to keep busy. When her skilled mechanic ears hear an engineering problem, she meets Chief Engineer Luqett (who sounds much like "Scotty" from the original "Star Trek" show). Thus Jessie becomes a temporary crew member. Shortly thereafter, mechanical problems turn out to be sabotage and the Praetorium are not finished with them yet.

***** Science Fiction and Romance blend together flawlessly in this novel. Some of the crew watch too much Terran TV, such as Luqett sounding like Scotty. There is also a sub-plot on Earth concerning Jessie's brother, Tim. However, I cannot even touch upon a partial synopsis of it without giving out major secrets.

All-in-all, this is a fun romp through space that will give you adventure, romance, and humor. What more could you want? Excellent! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

While I enjoyed the storyline in "Switched," I just gotta say: Burton's herione, Jessie, worked my very last nerve. She was too bombastic, too sarcastic, too corny, just too, too, too ... She brought to mind a character from "Hee-Haw" (and I don't mean that in a good sense). That said, Marcus was a dream, and the secondary characters were charming and for the most part, well-written. I would have liked to see our couple end up living amongst the stars - after all, that is the inevitable end of a sci-fi romance. It kept me reading, despite Jessie's inane chatter. Gotta give Burton credit for being able to write around romance literature's most annoying heroine.

A fun, sassy, spunky book that is a Star Trekker's newest episode. It's fun, a quick read. The main character has quite
a sassy ("yeah right!") personality which is quite refreshing.
I am certainly looking forward to the next installment!

Diane Burton's "Switched" was a very fun, quick read. I am not much of a "romance" reader, but this is was different, quirky, and fun. I did get a little tired of the main character, Jessica's, constant comic book-y wisecracks and felt she could have dropped that once in a while. But, all in all, it was a good story, well written, and captured my interest. The love scenes were a nice diversion!

This is an amusing book, lightweight in both the genres it tries for - romance and science fiction - but not at all a waste of time. There are quite a few in-jokes for SF fans, several nice traditional cliches for romance fans, and a few jokes from other areas. For example, the name of our captain is Marcus Aurelius Viator. Leaving aside entirely the question of why aliens would be naming their children after Earth Romans, the name is certainly appropriate. Marcus Aurelius was, of course, the famous Stoic, Roman emperor during the 2nd century C.E., and knowing this telegraphs to the knowledgeable that our character is attempting to be a stoic person. Viator is a great name for a starship captain too, since it translates roughly as "traveller" (the latin via is a road - so this is "one who uses the roads.")

Other characters include the ship's engineer, who has watched a lot of broadcasts of ST:TOS (oh, OK: Star Trek, the original show) whenever the ship swings near earth, and decided to talk like Scotty, deliberately, to annoy the captain. An alien engineer doing Scotty is a nice touch.

The ship's security office is named Hrvibm - funny enough in spelling, funnier if you pronounce it Harvey-bem, where BEM is the traditional acronym for "Bug-eyed monster" a favorite in pulp fiction of the golden age.

There's a scene with aliens involved in a DEA raid; there's also a chase up a college bell tower which will remind you of many gothic horror novels and movies. There is a geek teenaged genius brother - our heroine at first thinks that the events that happen to her are a prank by his Trekker friends.

There's a pretty good underlying theme exploring nature versus nurture - can't tell you more without giving away the plot, but it does give food for thought, and in the end both nature and nurture win out - we find that both are important.

There are a couple of annoying affectations - the word the crew calls their communicators is link, and it is italicized every time it appears, as though we wouldn't recognize what it means, as if it's really a foreign word. Sorta pointless given that this emphasis is not used for anything else on the ship, no matter how alien.

For the romance fans, we have a comedy of errors with twins - complete with clothing exchanges, etc.

The writing is not the best - this is not great literature - but it's good enough to make you snicker, and occasionally quote bits out loud to the unfortunate significant other who is trying to get to sleep.

I loved it! Dramas/mysteries are my favorite. I especially love books that run in a series. You get to know the characters like family. It has a few twist and turns, so that you don't want to put it down.

ENJOY

I thought that the books by this author were really awesome! I thought that the plots and twists were really well thought out. I enjoyed reading these books while passing time at work. This author is a good one and I highly recommend the series to anyone who likes murder mysteries!

This was a very good book. I first read it initially on the author's website. Then I subscibed to the others as he posted them one chapter at a time. I was hooked. It was real down to earth murder mystery. The characters had a real quality about them. I recommend this book highly if you like murder mysteries.

I was introduced to this author and started reading the book in Texas. I didn't get a chance to finish, so I just had to order it and finish it now. It is interesting reading so far, with lots of inter-involved characters. Cann't wait to get it and finish it.

Bicycle Shop Murder
By Robert Burton Robinson
ISBN: 978-1-84685-611-2


Are you looking for adventure, romance and murder? "Bicycle Shop Murder" has all of that. This is the first in the Greg Tenorly mystery series.

The book begins with the death of Sam Spokane, the bicycle shop owner, later in the book it is revealed that he only has a few months to live due to a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, so why would someone want him dead now?

The setting is Coreyville, Texas, a small town where everyone knows everybody. Greg Tenorly is a divorced music teacher, leads the choir at church, and is a marriage counselor, it all starts when a beautiful red head by the name of Cynthia Blockerman, vice president at First State Bank comes to see Greg. Cynthia is in her late 20's and is married to Troy Blockerman, she has come to see Greg as her marriage is in trouble, her husband drinks a lot, is abusive and she finds herself in a loveless marriage. Troy's normal routine is coming home from work, drinking beer and watching TV until he passes out in the living room. Cynthia usually sleeps in the marital bed alone, which is completely fine with her as she is afraid of Troy especially when he has been drinking.

As the story continues, Greg Tenorly finds himself being called up for jury selection and is then picked and called upon to be a juror in the murder trial of Sam Spokane. Little does Greg know what troubles lay ahead for him? The troubles all begin when one Buford Bellowin a high powered attorney in Dallas wants the black man accused of murdering Sam Spokane found innocent. Greg and Cynthia are thrown together and both their lives are in danger, there have already been several other murders relating to the murder trial, a witness for the prosecution has had a terrible accident and died, one of the jurors is murdered, and the wife of the bicycle shop is murdered. Who is committing these murders and why? Who will be the next target?

Greg and Cynthia are starting to piece together the murders and who is committing them, they think maybe a hit man or maybe 2 different hit men, after driving to Dallas to see Buford. On the way back to Coreyville, they discover they are wanted for murder, and they have a killer after them, things are going from bad to worse. Will they be murder victims or will they be found guilty of murder? You will want to find out the answer to all these questions.

Although the book has a few errors and typos, it is very well written. The characters are believable and common people that you fell as if you know them. "Bicycle Shop Murder" has enough action and intrigue to keep you turning the pages. Robert Burton Robinson has done a wonderful job of bringing murder, mayhem and romance all into one book. I am anxiously awaiting the next one in the series.

Paul Wright has been reporting on the way we treat our poverty-stricken and incarcerated criminal outcasts(the majority of whom are mentally ill)for over twenty years and every one of his books is essential reading for anyone who cares about human rights here in america, where we now have more people incarcerated than Russia or China, something of which we should be deeply ashamed. I've been to prison, I was there alongside Paul Wright and I wish more people would pay attention to the issues he high-lights, because they all point to a deep sickness in the social fabric of this country.

Consisting of an anthology of articles from the monthly journal Prison Legal News (edited by two Washington state prisoners), The Celling of America provides a timely overview of the legal, political, economic and social problems plaguing the U.S. criminal justice system. Takes a look at prison issues from an angle rarely if ever presented in the main-stream media, from prison activists to jail-house lawyers to death-row inmates.

This book presents a truly "inside" looks at prisons in the US. Short articles, mostly written by prisoners, tell the story of how prisons are run, managed, and what's at stake. For anyone interested in crime, punishment, human rights, or criticisms of China for using "prison labor" to manufacture goods, this volume provides plenty of well-articulated food for thought.

A look at the prison industry from the inside is a nice idea, and the articles here are chock full of information one hardly hears in the mainstream media. The responses to criticisms of prison TVs and weightrooms are interesting and thought-provoking. On the other hand, many of the authors seem to believe prisoners deserve as much freedom as those outside, that they should be treated the same. While the rights of prisoners are obviously being abused, the notion that criminals shouldn't be punished for their crimes is a strange one. Also, many of the writers have an obvious socialist agenda that ruins the quality, message and objectiveness of some pieces. Overall, worth reading, and a good look at the prison industry (and other industries that use prison labor), but far from a complete or unbiased view.

History will not look kindly on today's prisons. This book outlines how companies and politicians exploit America's most vulnerable citizens, and provides information on how to stop it. The most important non-fiction title in recent memory.

I purchased an 1889 edition from a second hand bookseller and found it an excellent resource. Because it quickly started to disintegrate I purchased a new copy for everyday (amateur)use. I found Goodwin's prose very readable. I use this in preference to Smyth and Messing because Goodwin is less exhaustive, more compact, and easier (for me) to follow. Smyth and Messing appears to be an excellent reference for the professional, but has so much information I find it bewildering in comparison to Goodwin (I'm not a professional Greekist). The recent Oxford University Press Greek Grammar by James Morwood is also well worth the low price, but so concise (a great virtue) it leaves me hungry for more (a successful book). I found myself turning to Goodwin after having my curiosity peeked by Morwood, and turning to Smyth and Messing when puzzled (rarely) by Goodwin. I find it interesting that many of the same sentence examples appear in all three volumes. A fault of Goodwin is that he does not give the source of each example, unlike Morwood and Smyth-and-Messing who do. Ranked from most accessible for self-study to most complete they seem to go Morwood, then Goodwin, then Smyth and Messing. But this is an amateur's opinion. Each one is very useful in a different way. Overall I found Goodwin's older work both charming and helpful.

When I first tried to work through Goodwin's Grammar in learning ancient Greek, I was astounded at the sheer impenetrability of his system. It took me at least two weeks to find the verb "to be"! But once you get the hang of it, there's nothing like it for systematicity, thoroughness, and detail. Next to the LSJ lexicon, it's the most important volume for any student of classical Greek.

Like the reviewer below, it took me some time to get the hang of using this book--and I agree also that it was worth the effort. _Greek Grammar_ is not a textbook, and it is definitely not a good place to start if you are teaching yourself. Like other nineteenth-century grammars (Gildersleeve's Latin grammar, for example, also highly recommended), this work starts from the assumption that you already know the basics. Once you've got a fair grounding in accidence (inflections, etc.) and can read a little prose, however, you are bound to start wondering "why" about all those rules. That's where Goodwin comes in. Thorough, systematic, carefully cross-referenced with plenty of examples (all translated), this is a veritable encyclopedia of classical Greek. It demands careful study, but it repays you for it handsomely. The only two provisos I have are that the print is very fine and may be hard on tired eyes, and that some of the terminology may differ from that used in modern texts (e.g., Gavin & Betts "strong aorist" vs. Goodwin "2nd aorist"). I bought my copy when I was just starting Greek, and it sat on my shelf untouched for over a year. Now, however, I use it all the time.

As I tend to shy away from Grammar;and this book does
have an air of rigor;it sat on the shelf for quite some time.
Also,I am primarily interested in Biblical Greek;the so
called "crappy greek". However,I can handle a little Aristophones
et al from time to time.
At any rate,the book found it's way into my hands and I
decided to roll with it. Allowing for several breaks in order to
freshen up the mind and eyesight;I was able to patiently work
my way through it.
This book is based on the Attic dialect with plenty examples
of the others. This authoritative,compact book has:breadth,depth,
and mass.
Most of the time you will find clarification of definitions
and concepts when you most need them-as you are reading along.
In addition,this book is thorouhly annotated and indexed-virtualy
self referencing. There is something to be said for 19th century
scholasticism.
This 451 page book is divided into five main sections(with
a lot of little sections). They are: Part 1 - Letters,Syllables,
and Accents Part 2 - Inflection Part 3 - Formation of Words
Part 4 - Syntax Part 5 - is a brief treatment of Versification.
The Author does not call upon you to worship at his Altar;
but rather,intends to make this difficult subject accessible to
those who are willing to make the effort and take the time. Also,
makes for an excellent general reference.
Whatever works for you. Although,I still don't find the
Grammar aspect of language overly exciting;for those who want to increase thier understanding and appreciation of Greek-this one
will do it.
This book suits my purposes well-it's a keeper.

This is a new reprint of Goodwin's original version. My question is why did they not reprint the 'Goodwin and Gulick' edition Greek Grammar? I now own both books. A quick over view suggest the the 'Goodwin and Gulick' edition may be better than this original.
I have not compared these books in great detail, but I would at this point recommend buying a good used copy of the 'Goodwin and Gulick' edition first. It is cheaper, it is more up to date (albeit still circa 1930, it is hardcover in a nice binding, and it has a type set and lay-out which is a bit more user friendly. Also, if you decide to buy the reprint of the 'Goodwin' grammar, buy the Macmillian press hardcover edition. I own a 1963 hardcover, it has a great binding and is much better than the the new soft cover I bought for my friend; the contents are exactly the same. I may be missing something about the Gulick edition; if so, someone please weigh in.

While no self-help book on any subject provides a comprehensive list of advice or has all the answers to your problems, this book does a pretty good job at helping women to understand their man better. Even to help single women understand men better in general. I quite liked this book. It was easy to read and follow, much of the advice was sound and made sense, and a lot of the tips are quite easy to apply. I read certain passages to my husband, who just nodded his head as if to say he totally agreed with what the book said. Every man is different, but this book does offer a pretty good general overview of how most men feel about certain points within a relationship. Reading it will definitely help any woman hoping to improve her love life.

Most books on dating and relationships aimed at us women seem to be about how to get a guy, how to find a guy, how to meet a man. I liked this book because it was more aimed at women already in a relationship and what she can do to keep the relationship good. We women always want men to understand us, but we need to have a better understanding of them as well. Relationships are a two-way street.

At first glance you might be inclined to think that this book could be totally angled in favor of men and how to please them. It does offer heaps of tips and solid advice on how to please your man so he will stay, but it's not biased at all really. Much of the advice works in favor of the woman too. Being more tolerant and understanding of him makes him more tolerant and understanding of his woman too. I know, I'm living proof. There was a certain something my husband and I used to argue about regularly, and I didn't know why. After reading this book I learnt what it was, stopped unintentionally doing what I was doing to irk him and we stopped arguing about that same thing over and over.

If you are in a relationship, or hope to be, read this book. It's well worth it.

I recently read another book by this author about attracting men. It helped to renew my self-confidence (among other things) and I did end up meeting a new man I like.

My last relationship was a bit of a disaster. My ex-boyfriend and I used to argue almost constantly in the end. He wasn't perfect, but I realized afterward that neither was I.

Not wanting to repeat any mistakes I might have made in that relationship with my new partner, I decided to read another book by this same author about how to keep a man. Reading books on this subject from a male perspective is extremely eye-opening. Understanding how men think and feel, and what they want and expect is equally as vital as knowing that about yourself. How To Keep Your Man is full of great advice that makes a lot of sense. I couldn't really find much to criticise about this book. It's unbiased, the viewpoints are fair, and it all made quite a lot of sense.

While this book doesn't provides the answers to everything (what book does), it was definitely worth reading and absorbing, and I plan to keep this one on my bookshelf to refer to in future if I need to.

I recently read this book because my partner and I were having a few problems. I chose it because of the title and that it was written by a male author. I figured that would be helpful. And it was.

How To Keep Your Man really did offer some good advice on how to get along better with your male partner. It explains how men think in a lot of situations, why they sometimes don't respond to us women how we would like, and generally what men expect in a relationship.

I didn't agree with everything the book said, but most of the advice was solid and worth considering. I applied a few tips from the book that were relevant to the issues I was having with my partner and I did get a much more positive response from him. That is why I think this book was worth purchasing. Well written and easy to follow advice.

I am generally not a good reader with books, unless they really get me in. Certainly this one has.

How To Keep Your Man is full of helpful tips and advice, and my recommendation is to definitely read this one. Once I started reading it I didn't want to put it down. It taught me more about how a man thinks and feels in a relationship. What he responds positively to and what he reacts negatively to. A few of my girlfriends are now reading this book as well, and even one of their partners.

Congratulations, Darren G. Burton. One of the most helpful, insightful and interesting books I have read. It has certainly given me a greater understanding of my partner and put a lot of my relationship issues into perspective!

Also recommended reading.

Man Magnet: How to Be the Best Woman You Can Be in Order to Get the Best Man

The book provides a great reference model ("Lean Extended Enterprise Reference Model-LEERM") for understanding the strucure and framework for assisting companies, their customers, and suppliers in transitioning to a total value stream conversion to lean. Unfortuately most books on the subject of lean only address the application of specific lean tools (Kanban, SMED, etc.) and do not provide the strucured methodology necessary for aligning the total organization. The Lean Extended Enterprise Model outlined in the book identifies Panels of Value Stream Integration; (1) Strategic Journey Panel, (2) Best Practices and Principles Panel, (3) Implementation Panel,(4) Methodologies, Tools,and Enabling Technologoes Panel. Additionally the book provides a formal performance measurement tool to support the Lean Extended Enterprise Reference Model. The termed used to define this model by the authors is "Lean Extended Enterprise Assessment Process-LEEAP". Seven major evaluation areas are identified in detail; (1) Leadership, (2) Customer and market focus. (3) Uniform improvement infrastructure, (4) Value stream processes, (5) Extended enterprise integration, (6) organizational learning, and (7) Performance measurement. This book is a must read reference for those companies who are serious about implementing Lean throughout the entire Supply Chain.

This is an excellent book that I have purchased for key leaders in my organization. It does a great job of linking Value Stream Mapping to Lean Concepts.

The book does a good job by meeting its objectives. It provides guidence for the executive that's trying to fit everything into the process from strategic planning to execution.

What I would thought would bring to me some new concept or ideas to continue to move in the Lean Enterprise direction and conversion, is however a "summary" of all the different available tools, with nothing new about them. Unfortunately not written for those of you who have already started to implement Lean approches in Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Product Development, or else. Good for the ones looking at the different options and trying to see what can be the whole picture...

Being a "real world" lean practitioner and having gone through the many trappings in "going lean," I found T. Burton and S. Boeder's book, "The Lean Extended Enterprise" to be one of the most practical and usefull text on the market. These authors have blended the best of academics, case histories, lean tools, and industrial science to provide a road map to navigate a lean implimentation. I.e., not only on the shop floor, but across the enterprise. This helps preclude the sub-optimiztion syndrome and lack of work organization and syncronization that many of us have experienced while attempting to go "lean."

Recursive Partitioning in the Health Sciences is one of the few statistical texts specifically written with the epidemiologist as a target end user, similar in genre to Schlesselman's Case Control Studies. The subject matter is relatively new in the field of epidemiology and as such needs to be related contextually to more traditional statistical approaches. The authors accomplish this by incorporating introductory chapters on methods corresponding to those being addressed by the nonparametric methods of recursive partitioning and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). Additionally, they compare results between these tried and true statistical methods and recursive partitioning and MARS with many illustrative examples. This last is a strength of this book. Examples of each topic under discussion are carefully considered in a stepwise manner. The book is nicely balanced in terms of theoretic background and practical applications, with the writing generally intelligible to the non-statistician. The book has provided our group with background material to allow utilization of recursive partitioning in our research. As the technique of recursive partitioning becomes recognized and subsequently applied in the epidemiological field, this book may well become a classic.

Recursive Partitioning in the Health Sciences is one of the few statistical texts specifically written with the epidemiologist as a target end user, similar in genre to Schlesselman's Case Control Studies. The subject matter is relatively new in the field of epidemiology and as such needs to be related contextually to more traditional statistical approaches. The authors accomplish this by incorporating introductory chapters on methods corresponding to those being addressed by the nonparametric methods of recursive partitioning and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). Additionally, they compare results between these tried and true statistical methods and recursive partitioning and MARS with many illustrative examples. This last is a strength of this book. Examples of each topic under discussion are carefully considered in a stepwise manner. The book is nicely balanced in terms of theoretic background and practical applications, with the writing generally intelligible to the non-statistician. The book has provided our group with background material to allow utilization of recursive partitioning in our research. As the technique of recursive partitioning becomes recognized and subsequently applied in the epidemiological field, this book may well become a classic.

Zhang and Singer have done a splendid job of explaining recursive partitioning, a topic that should be of great interest to anyone who wants to make sense of data in which there are many potentially important variables contributing to some outcome or variable of interest. One should not be put off by the "... in the Health Sciences" part of the book's title; the potential audience of readers who can benefit from reading it is much greater than this implies (I'm an ecologist, for example). Why? First, because the topics covered have wide applicability in many fields; and second, because the writing is exceptionally clear and easy to follow. If you are able to use a typical introductory text on multiple regression, for example, you should have no difficulty getting a lot out of Zhang and Singer. If you are able to handle a mathematically rigorous approach to statistics but are new to the topics covered here, this book will provide an excellent starting place before you jump into the many references to the recent literature provided by the authors.

Brieman, Olshen, Friedman and Stone introduced CART in their 1984 book. It is an effective methodology and software tool for constructin classification and regression trees. The procedure is also referred to as recursive partitioning. There has been a great deal of research over the past 16 on this topic and the authors cover the basics and the new material well. New ideas include survival trees and adaptive splines (including MARS). It provides interesting applications to health science problems. Th authors compare tree based methods to logistic regression. This is a notable successor to the CART text.

Brieman, Olshen, Friedman and Stone introduced CART in their 1984 book. It is an effective methodology and software tool for constructin classification and regression trees. The procedure is also referred to as recursive partitioning.

There has been a great deal of research over the past 16 on this topic and the authors cover the basics and the new material well. New ideas include survival trees and adaptive splines (including MARS). It provides interesting applications to health science problems. Th authors compare tree based methods to logistic regression. This is a notable successor to the CART text.

It is a little more difficult to read then CART. CART was motivated by biomedical problems but the book covered other applications in business and pattern recognition as well. This texts puts an emphasis on the important medical applications.