Burton Books

A must have for anyone who desires to learn tree identification. Quite technical but has been in use since 1913.

I did not realize when I ordered this book that it was in black and white illustrations. I would have much more prefered it had colored photos of trees to help me identify them. I considered it a waste of money.

Pretty decent book, quality paper and covers, informative, a fairly good guide, I would prefer full pictures of trees, which would show the bark, even if only in black and white.If your new to trees this book could be quite helpful and useful.

I have been identifying trees since childhood, and have found this book quite useful. It is applicable not only to Michigan, but also to surrounding states (I live in Illinois).

The front of the book includes a summary of basic leaf anatomy. It includes sketches of leaf shapes and leaf margins. There is also a diagram of oak leaves as related to their immediate environment of growth (swampy, etc.). A sketch of inflorescent types is also provided.

The remainder of the book is primarily a key to tree identification. Two pages are devoted to each tree. The left open page is a description of a particular kind of tree. A moderate level of knowledge of botanical terminology is needed to fully comprehend it. The right (facing) open page contains diagrams (not photos) of leaf shapes, flowers, seeds, etc. for the tree being identified.

This is a great book both for identification and for planning which trees to plant in your yard. For each tree, not only its size, but also shade tolerance, growth rate, moisture requirements, preferred habitat & other trees that share its habitat are listed. A second book is planned to cover the shrubs & vines, which I am looking forward to.

The final chapters cover aspects of the Michigan climate including the different types of plant communities, vegetation history of Michigan from the glaciers to the present day, length of growing season for different areas, and average temperature & precipitation.

Despite ten years in the United States, I think all this hype about behavioral guides for "white liberals" smacks of reverse racism borne out of a paralyzed Academy. Everyone in a racist society is racist, we hear time and again, but does anyone really listen? As society again turns towards becoming more civil, we see the levels of racism dropping. Hence, as the need for a so-called Antiracism Guide becomes endangered, increasingly fractured, splittist academic groups see trouble where there is none. I have always expected great things of literature and criticism, and my great expectation will be the future dearth of books such as this.

I am a white liberal and I have thought about, read about, attended workshops on and led support groups on white racism. And still this book offered me something new - examples of racsim I hadn't thought of, or had heard just a little about. The whole discussion about hair was a great eye opener, as well as the discussion on music. I thought her tone had just the right amount of edge to be real without pushing me away. I recommend it to all "white liberals." You'll be able to be closer to your black friends after reading it.

....I dont think you can teach a racist how to not be a racist anymore than you can teach a lion not to be a lion. This is not to say that this book is worthless. It has a lot of truth to it in chapters like Doing Racism, Politically Correct or Plain Courtesy, The Trouble with Elvis And Larry Bird and How Black People Abet White Racism. The author's heart was in the right place but I seriously doubt you can teach a paschotic person not be a psychotic person and racists are always psychotic(and this has been proven!). Regardless of how I feel, I will still recommend this book to any open-minded person whose consciousness is above average. The truth is there in between these pages so its definetely worth checking out. Its a lot better than a lot of these secondhand books today that are written by kooks unworthy of a publishing deal.

I highly recommend this book for those who claim to understand racism in the context of this society and to understand an African-American person's perspective. I was saying "amen!" to different sections of this book. It is a great read and worth it. It challenges those who never thought they needed to be challenged, in a respectful way. AMEN to this book!!

Finally, a self help book tailored to MY needs!

And I was this | | close to seeking professional help!

This book has not only changed the way I look at life itself, but changed the way I look at [...]...oops...sorry, I'm only on the first chapter. I meant to say this book has changed the way I look at african americans, wait...I'm from Canada. This book has changed the way I look at african canadians, wait...what about Caribbean folks. Okay, I got it: This book has changed the way I look at pigment-enhanced, nappy-advanced, bling-entranced brothers from another mother!

See, I'm only on the first chapter and I'm atleast 1 to 2 times more liberal!!

But sweet merry kwanza it was so much easier to just say [...]!

Sure, I hypothesized a little and related what Burton Abbott was thinking. But what he thought wasn't entirely made up. He told his family how he felt, and they related it to me. I think the thoughts expressed in the book were close to the truth. It's still a true story.
Book too long? I purposely made it detailed and brought out every little point and possibility because I wanted to give the reader every opportunity to make up his or her mind as to whether Abbott was guilty or innocent. Any of those details could have changed the reader's judgement. Some, of course, were untrue or unrelated--but they might have been. It was not for me to judge or censor them.
The book was about a mystery--a controversial one--and it takes some intellectual thinking to separate out the details, especially at first. It's not for lazy skimming, but for digging for the true facts. The effort is worth it. The ingredients are there.
The experience did strike Abbott's mother deeply, and she did vacillate between grieving victim and fighting warrior. She had some good ideas, and some of the ideas she expressed proved invaluable.
It is true that sometimes defendants get a raw deal from prosecutors or judges. This is partly because the prosecution sometimes reaches biased conclusions, and believes the defendant is guilty and must be punished. Or it may be that the prosecutors are fighting a game to win, and refuse to acknowledge that there may be truth in the defendant's interest. Their eyes may be blinded to anything except what helps convict the prisoner, and they are good at it! Or, the evidence may be close and could go either way.
After 30 years of investigation, I came to the conclusion that Burton Abbott couldn't have done it. He wasn't there when the girl was kidnapped, but far north near Red Bluff on his way to the family cabin. Key testimony from very valuable, competent and sincere witnesses who did not know him, without an axe to grind, placed him there. But the district attorney and judge kept out this testimony, which would have been damaging to the prosecution case, and the jury never heard it.

This book offers the reader an alternative on the Abbott case from the defense aspect. I have read both books "A Shallow Grave In Trinity County" and "A Trail of Corn". I truly believe Abbott was the correct perpetrator. Burton Abbott basically had a very crappy life, especially after his lung surgery. He was sexually inadequate and had a juvenile record for sex offenses. He was a suspect in other sex related offenses and he had way too much time on his hands. He was a man who wanted to get caught, by his cavalier way of holding on to the victim, Miss Bryan's personal property as trophies of his "kill". He also frequented the same area as the victim and she caught his eye. A man full of adrenaline and testosterone in a psychosexual rush would have no problem ovecoming the victim and dragging her body up a hill despite his medical condition.
Sorry folks, to me he's as guilty as Lucifer. The fact that he was Protestant and requested a Catholic priest before his execution is telling. A Catholic priest is bound by the seal of confession and Abbott seemed so at peace afterward. Everyone suffered in this case, poor little Stephanie whose young life was so brutally extinguished, Abbott himself who died in the gas chamber and the families of all concerned. Stephanie Bryan's family especially suffered, as they internalized their grief refusing to talk about Stephanie's death and grieve together as a family. Her father Dr. Bryan suffered a fatal heart attack leaving a widow and four surviving children behind. Tragic from all aspects.

A truly unbelievable book !!! This case has always fascinated me. Keith Walker does an amazing job of exploring the truths of this case, and leaves the reader amazed. Not to mention an inside look at our deplorabel justice system in the 1950's.

The mid-fifties murder of 12-year-old Stephanie Bryant in Berkeley, California, fascinated me at the time -- I was also 12 and had been born in Berkeley. From newspapers of the time, I simply did not believe Burton Abbott could have committed the crime. This well-researched book finally provides some other possibilities and brings that early case back into the limelight. Very much worth a read.

There's so much wrong with this book.

It's way too long - 756 pages of text. The author, Keith Walker, seems intent on sparing no detail, however insignificant, of Burton Abbott's trial in Alameda County for the 1955 slaying of Stephanie Bryant, whose corpse was found in an unmarked grave in Trinity County, and of the details surrounding the murder itself. Some of the more important details of the case get lost in the mish-mosh that Walker concocts, and I lost track of many of the names, dates, and places long before I finished the book.

756 pages is a more appropriate length for an encyclopedia, instead of a true-life tale of forensics/ courtroom drama. But Walker provides us with virtually no sources for any of the facts that he sets forth, and if he had, this presumably would have stretched the book out interminably further.

Without sources, we're forced to take the author's story at face value, and this is impossible in every instance because the author often "cheats" and sets forward as fact that which is clearly unknowable. The most glaring example of this is that he often does take us into the mind of the accused, Burton Abbott. The mind is that of an innocent man who is truly startled at all of the developments in the case against him, and because we see this early on in the book, a tone is set from there. Yet one need not bemoan the absence of a bibliography or source index to KNOW that the author could not possibly know what was in the mind of the accused.

The absence of source materials and the "mind-reading" device could only be acceptable if the author had intended to write a work of fiction based on the true facts of the Abbott/Bryant matter, but, as reflected in the Library of Congress/ISBN catalog reference, he appears to be passing this off as a "true crime" non-fiction book.

The book also dwells overly loud and long on the travails of Elsie Abbott, the aggrieved mother of the wrongly-accused. The slow tortuous route that she travels while awaiting her son's vindication is obviously part of this story, but to behold it as frequently as Walker imposes it on us is just too painful. Also, there is an air of unrealism about the way in which Elsie repeatedly shifts back and forth from maudlin grieving mother to whip-sharp Sherlockian detective with her own encyclopedic knowledge of the facts surrounding the case, and I suspect that Walker is using Elsie as a mouthpiece with which to describe his own impressions.

This raises the question of what exactly Walker's motivations are. I do not recognize Golden Door Press, the publisher, or any of Walker's other works described in the beginning, but I suspect that Walker's intention, at least in part, was to write an anti-death penalty book. There is an allusion to the anti-death penalty movement that was in existence in California in the 1950's. And while none of the "bleeding heart" arguments against the death penalty have ever convinced me, this book does highlight the only sensible argument against capital punishment that has ever been raised: the horrible possibility that it will cause a fatal and irreversible miscarriage of justice.

This book has caused me to revise my impression of another book on the same subject: "Shallow Grave in Trinity County" by Harry Farrell, which reads like a brief for the prosecution and made me wonder exactly why the jury deliberated for as long as it did. For all of its flaws, "A Trail of Corn" raises issues that remain inexplicably ignored or insufficiently addressed by "Shallow Grave", which was published later. These include the issue of whether Burton Abbott's slight build and sickly physical condition would have enabled him to overpower a resisting victim and ascend a steep hillside. Unless Stephanie was "walked" up the hillside while still alive, her murderer would have had to either carry or drag her corpse up the slope as well.

Some intriguing physical evidence that Stephanie was actually buried in Marin County before being unearthed and re-buried in Trinity (a notion pooh-poohed by Farrell and incompatible with the timetable justifying Burton`s guilt) is alluded to in this book. The notion that the criminal justice system is often "rigged" to favor the prosecution, that prosecutors themselves distort or disdain exculpatory evidence in order to score a "win" (and the political plums that accompany that win), and that judges hold prosecutors and defense attorneys to dual standards of conduct is less incredible to this reviewer, in his new capacity of public defender, than it once might have been.

Notwithstanding the book's length, the ending does somewhat repay reading. Elsie's (Walker's?) revelation of the candidate for alternative murder suspect is as plausible and startling in its denouement as the end of Perry Mason rerun.

Do the state of California and the county of Alameda have innocent blood on their hands? Hey, Abbott!

there is a bit of truth in all the above reviews. It has not entirely been my bible, but more a Readers Digest version; if I need a quick answer, it is the first book I grab. Yes there are a lot of mathematical mistakes or misprints in it,and that includes a good number of the worked examples, which rather defeats the purpose. Yes it is very American orientated, but it also has tables and footnotes throughout, giving useful or immediate conversions to other systems, well, metric that is, not imperial. There are a lot nicer processes about, some definitely European. But that misses the point a bit: the most fundamental problem is that the book is nearly ten years old. Therefore it is not surprising that newer processes are missing. I am desperately looking forward to a fourth edition, and I'll be the first to buy it! In the meantime I'll keep using the third. But what happened to the (Indian) paperback version, which was a lot better priced for a book of this age? Still, there is no substitute!

I first got exposed to the textbook as an undergraduate student in civil engineering. Served as an excellent in depth textbook for that level. During my masters program it was a good starting point. As a consulting engineer, I can find most of the basic and fundamental answers. The language is lucid and simple. I have read lots of books on wastewater engineering. Agreed that there are more detailed texts available on specific areas of wastewater treatment, but this textbook does a very good job of striking that balance just right of covering material in enough detail for students and the practising engineer. It is usually enough unless you are writing a masters thesis or a doctoral dissertation. This text, together with the companion textbook, Collection and Pumping of Wastewater has served me very well during my college and professional career. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a good book on wastewater treatment. I very respectfully disagree with the gentleman from Istanbul above who feels that this book is poor. When taking my PE exam, if I was to be limited to just one textbook on wastewater, I would take this one.

This book was of great necessity on the PE exam and I wouldn't have been able to do much without it. A definite must for your bookshelf.

This book contains large amount of information and therefore it may be argued that it is an important reference in the field. Unfortunately, as a textbook for undergraduate teaching, it is terrible. There are several mistakes in the solved examples. Problems at the end of each chapter are not well prepared. Solving the problems at the end of a chapter do not necessarily contribute to a better understanding of the material contained in that chapter.

A large number of equations related to the activated sludge process are presented, but they are not well connected. How these equations can be systematically used in design is neither well explained nor well exemplified. Overall, this book is not suitable for self-study without the guidance of an experienced instructor/engineer who also has practical experience in wastewater plant design and operation.

Then again, there are very few good books in this field (if any). The field of water and wastewater treatment certainly needs good authors/teachers!

The book gives the modern process engineer enough background to engineer complete waste water treatment plants. Specially the biological part is very good. Only at the physical chemical part, the information is based on installations produced in the US. The European (nicer) designes and developments are not described in the book.

Reading a Rosamunde Pilcher book in itself is an incredibly relaxing experience. The scenery she paints, is very evocative in its detail, the weather conditions appropriately accentuate the mood and the characters dance in and out in the graceful and precise rhythms of a minuet. In 'Wild Mountain Thyme', the scene is set during the winter in the beginning of February. The action starts in London where a two year child is abducted from his secure home with his grandparents by his biological father on a moment's whim. The father resumes his relationship with an old flame, who is also obliging enough to take care of the child. The couple head to Scotland on an overdue vacation and events conspire to bring together different people from different backgrounds to find love and gratification in each other, unfolding effortlessly towards the happy ending and a new beginning for everyone involved.

Read this book, for an instant, it will gladden your heart.

This novel is a favorite in my much-loved collection of Rosamunde Pilcher books.
Ms. Pilcher is one of my favorite authors because her wonderful characters (weak and strong) and descriptions of Scottish settings are so true to life.
In this story, Oliver Dobbs, a snide young egotistical playwright, kidnaps his 2-year old toddler son (whom he's been indifferent to since his birth) for his own selfish reasons. Then Oliver looks up his old girlfriend, Victoria, to help him in hiding out from the grandparents. They take off to visit a remote hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, belonging to a `friend' Oliver has only met once! Here an interesting story enfolds, complete with the most astonishing coincidence and harrowing fire scene, involving the young toddler's rescue.
I'm re-reading all my Rosamunde Pilcher books; such a treat.

I read the abridged audiobook version and may have missed some important character motivation/nuances. I am reviewing the ABRIDGED version because this is the version I read in its entirety. First off the writing is very lyrical and gorgeous in spots but someone save me from spineless ninny heroine's easily wooed with pretty words and heated glances and selfish, thoughtless nincompoop love interests.

I'd never read Rosamunde Pilcher before this and am glad I had the opportunity to try her work. This book was read by Kate Burton who does an amazingly beautiful job with the Irish brogue and made listening to the story a real pleasure. Unfortuntately, I had many "issues" with the book's heroine Victoria but I tend to prefer the type of heroines and Victoria was way too passive for my taste. Her innocence and kind-hearted acceptance of Oliver's (the love interest) horrendous behavior and attitude annoyed the heck out of me but it was somewhat understandable considering her need for love and connection. Still, I won't be actively searching out the unabridged version of this one.

Rosamunde Pilcher is one of those authors, at least for me, who never disappoints with any of her books. Like coming home from a hectic day and changing into a favorite robe and comfortable slippers, Pilcher's books take me away to a serene place filled with wonderful characters and a happy ending. And based on the popularity of her books, I imagine there are many other readers out there who also feel the same way I do.

The Shell Seekers was the first book I read by her many years ago. After gulping down this wonderful family saga, I couldn't wait to read all of her previously published titles and wondered how she had eluded me in the years before I found The Shell Seekers. Now I am saving her latest title and supposedly last book, Winter Solstice, for that proverbial rainy day. And I suspect that once I've read all of Pilcher's books, I'll simply begin to reread them once again.

Victoria Bradshaw at 18 fell hopelessly in love with London playwright Oliver Dobbs. But their romance was short lived and Victoria hasn't heard from him in years. She has finally moved on with her life when suddenly who should appear on her doorstep but Oliver with a young child in tow. As if no time had gone by, Oliver proposes that Victoria and he along with the child take a trip to Scotland. At first the reason for this trip isn't at all clear to Victoria and she is somewhat skeptical. But then Olvier is very convincing and Victoria is eventually willing to go along with his proposal. Once in Scotland, Olivers motives become painfully too clear and while Victoria sees Oliver for what he is, we as readers are also treated to Piclcher's special brand of characters and plot developments.

This was another one of Pilchers satisfying reads and one which I hoped would never end.

I really enjoy Rosamunde Pilcher's stories. Over the last few months I've been in my car quite a bit and there's absolutely nothing better to help the time pass like a Pilcher book!

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME is the story of Victoria Bradshaw who was jilted by her lover only to have him come back to her several years later. He doesn't come alone; he brings, Thomas, his two-year-old baby for Victoria to care for. Oliver Dobbs is a London playwright and the perfect prototype of a self-centered and egotistical man. Victoria is sweep off her feet for the second time in her life and goes to Scotland with Oliver to visit Roddy, his old friend. Victoria runs into John, who happens to be Roddy's nephew. She had met John before, but only very briefly at party in London. John instantly dislikes Oliver, and takes more than a casual interest in Victoria and how she's destroying her life. I had a pretty good understanding of all of the characters except Victoria. She was just too bland and weak. I think that the story would have been better had she been a little stronger.

The best part of the book is the wonderful and very poetic descriptions of Scotland and the enchanting people who live there. The author really does know how to capture the reader and transport you into a different time and place. Donada Peters did the reading of my recorded book and I can't say enough about her magnificent voice and the way she handled all of the different characters and their individual accents.

Alice in Exile is by no means a bad book, nor an excellent one. Well-written and thoroughly researched, the author attempts to delve into the life of 20-something Alice Fry as she battles with concepts of love, attachment, and eventually World War One.

The author attempts to play with the social and moral beliefs of London immediately prior to WW1. Alice is well-educated, and her beliefs tend to be slightly bohemian. Edward, her first love, falls deeply for her, sleeps with her, and proposes. His upper-class parents are dismayed at his choice, and are relieved when Edward breaks off the engagement when Alice's father, a publisher, is involved in a sexual scandal over a book he published. Heart broken and pregnant, Alice accepts a job as a governess in Russia for the lecherous Barron Rettenberg. This sets up the trials of Alice, her son, and the Ruttenberg family as they are involved in both WWI and the Russian civil war (1918-1921) that erupted during this period of time.

Some of the biggest leaps of faith in the novel include believing that Alice could fall for her employer. As the reader we see a side that Alice does not see--such as when he considers raping her as she sleeps--and his transformation into believing Alice to be the love of his life does not ring true. The ending is too-pat and unbelievable; and the relationships between most of the characters is not very well developed. The author perhaps spends too much time telling the reader about the characters that he doesn't take enough to develop the characters on the page so that they seem like breathing, tangible people.

The best parts of this book include the struggles of Alice during the Russian Civil War, especially considering her attachment to a landed family in Russia.

I found the first chapter or two of this novel a little confusing, the plot development was a bit vague, and the characters two dimensional....This all changed about 50 pages in, however. I ended up reading the entire thing in about 6 hours. Highly reccomended as a lazy sunday read.

I don't read much fiction, but I saw this book on Amazon and decided to pick it up. I'm glad I did, because then I couldn't put it down. The author has the rare ability to give thorough descriptions of people and places without getting heavy or dull. I majored in Literature in college, and have had a hard time finding really good writing in a novel. There are many interesting stories, but the writing itself leaves a lot to be desired. I would've enjoyed reading this even if it weren't such a gripping story, but it has that, too. I learned a lot about the Russian revolution in a painless, interesting way. Definitely worth the time to read.

On the eve of World War I at a party in Chelsea, young aristocrat Edward Cobb meets and falls in love with free-thinking liberal-minded suffragette Alice Fry. Educated at Eton and Oxford, this son of a baronet, who has just left the army to pursue a career in politics, has never met anyone like Alice. She speaks her mind, smells of cigars and doesn't mind making the first move. Despite their differences, Alice and Edward are smitten with each other and pursue a passionate affair much to the dismay of their friends and families.

When the couple becomes engaged, Edward's family draws the line and encourages him to consider his burgeoning political career and instead marry Elspeth, the far more suitable and proper young woman they have selected for him. Edward finally relents after Alice's father, a radical publisher, is taken to court for public obscenity after publishing an erotic sex manual. Heartbroken and pregnant, Alice accepts an offer to become a governess for a wealthy Russian baron and leaves the country.

When Alice's new employer, the charming and dashing Baron Rettenberg, discovers her pregnancy, he helps change her identity to conceal her shame and Alice becomes a French widow named Mademoiselle Chabon. Time passes and Alice and the baron tentatively begin to fall in love. But when the Russian Revolution forces Rettenberg to flee his manor, Alice is left alone to fend for herself and her young son. Not long after the baron's departure, Alice and her son find the danger too great and also escape.

Meanwhile, Edward's marriage to Elspeth falls apart and he sets forth in war torn Europe in search of Alice, whom he now believes to be the love of his life. In an exhilarating climax, Alice is forced to choose between the two men --- one is her first love and the father of her son, while the other is a man who loves her unconditionally but obsessively.

ALICE IN EXILE is a beautifully moving love story played out in a world ravaged by war. Meticulously researched and loaded with moral and emotional conflict, this story of lovers forced apart by differing social backgrounds and dire circumstances should appeal to fans of both the historical and the romantic.

--- Reviewed by Melissa Morgan

Alice in Exile is by no means a bad book, nor an excellent one. Well-written and thoroughly researched, the author attempts to delve into the life of 20-something Alice Fry as she battles with concepts of love, attachment, and eventually World War One.

The author attempts to play with the social and moral beliefs of London immediately prior to WW1. Alice is well-educated, and her beliefs tend to be slightly bohemian. Edward, her first love, falls deeply for her, sleeps with her, and proposes. His upper-class parents are dismayed at his choice, and are relieved when Edward breaks off the engagement when Alice's father, a publisher, is involved in a sexual scandal over a book he published. Heart broken and pregnant, Alice accepts a job as a governess in Russia for the lecherous Barron Rettenberg. This sets up the trials of Alice, her son, and the Ruttenberg family as they are involved in both WWI and the Russian civil war (1918-1921) that erupted during this period of time.

Some of the biggest leaps of faith in the novel include believing that Alice could fall for her employer. As the reader we see a side that Alice does not see--such as when he considers raping her as she sleeps--and his transformation into believing Alice to be the love of his life does not ring true. The ending is too-pat and unbelievable; and the relationships between most of the characters is not very well developed. The author perhaps spends too much time telling the reader about the characters that he doesn't take enough to develop the characters on the page so that they seem like breathing, tangible people.

The best parts of this book include the struggles of Alice during the Russian Civil War, especially considering her attachment to a landed family in Russia.

To begin with this reviewer owns index funds and most of them are Vanguard Index Funds. I have no problem with index investing but I do have a problem with this book. To begin with, guys, it`s Jason Zwieg at Money Magazine whom you quote not Jason Sweig.I know it`s a little bit picky but, hey, I put down some serious bucks for the book. Part one you proved your point. Index Funds beat most managed funds. Part two doesn`t do it. What I got was some hazy facts and figures and Burton Malkiel`s portfolio for a 30, 48 and 65 year old person. Should we be impressed? I mean he is the famous author of the book " A Random Walk Down Wall Street". Does he tell us how he thinks those portfolios did in the past---Not to my recollection. Does he tell us how he thinks they will do in the years to come? I don`t think so. And why only three different age groups---Is there something mysterious about the age 48 why not 50. Hey, how about Grandma and Grandpa age 75. Maybe we should write off 80 as you have been around too long. Richard Evans mentions 5 year rolling returns does he show me any--No---My point here is part two should be loaded with facts and figures not points on 401k plans, social security, and should I get an investment advisor. Those subjects are all fine but remeber this book is about index funds. I wonder if John Bogle really read this book. Beth kobliner author of "Get a Finacial Life" gave this book a blurb also---Sorry Beth I have life and this book needs help.

I came to this book for two good reasons. Now I come back to it regularly and I recommend it to others like me. I am an old pro in the advertising business but an amateur investor. My kids are out of school, business is thriving. I have some money to invest and no special feel for the market. This 270-page guide showed me how easy it is to build an investment program that could outperform most conventional "actively managed" mutual funds--and do it at lower risk. It is written in a conversational style, and intended for a wide range of people, from those who know little about investing to active investors.

The book has two parts. The first, documents the advantages of index mutual funds and explains why they will outperform conventional funds.

Part 2 explains "The 5 Giant Steps to Wealth." Here the reader is taken through a series of simple steps that can lead to a superior investment program. Topics include financial and investment planning, blending stocks and bonds, taxes, and timing. I learned the best way to build a diversified portfolio of index funds, balanced to fit my needs.

Evans explains that managers of conventional funds start out with too many strikes against them--invasive sales charges, higher costs, higher taxes, generally higher risk, and other factors. Most basic of all, he said, is human nature: "Whenever the manager of a conventional fund selects a particular stock to buy or sell, he or she is prediciting the future. Human beings do not have that ability. The times when it seems to work are largely a matter of luck--association, not causation."

I was first drawn to this book because I recognized one of its author. I hadn't spoken with Dick Evans in 15 years, he was my boss when I first broke into advertising. He taught me how to write simply, directly and humanly for some very persnickety corporate clients. Dick taught me how to make people want to read. So I picked the book off the shelf. But I bought this book because in it I found someone who would give me some markers, a simple way to make sense, and ultimately a profit out of the tumultuous and unpredictable stock market.

Dick writes like he talks and he's a compelling speaker. He frames his arguments in concise dramatic vignettes, tells you what you're going to learn, pokes and prods you into understanding, then sums it up before moving on. You travel on step at a time. You end up covering a lot of ground standing at some inescapable conclusions and some very simple how-to directions. This is the first investors guide I ever read all the way through. I did what it said. I sleep better. I wrote Dick a note of thanks. Now I can do back to being an advertising man. Read it and reap.

What is an index mutual fund? It is simply any mutual fund that simply mimics a stock index (such as the Standard & Poor's 500, the Mid Cap 400, or an international index). Many people equate these funds with the Vanguard Index 500 Fund, which John Bogle popularized, but many others offer the Standard & Poor's 500 as an index fund . . . and there are many other indexes you can buy mutual funds for. If you want to know more about this subject, this book has excellent explanations in chapter 14.

Let me begin by saying that this book has many flaws. An outstanding book on how to be a very successful index fund investor has yet to be written. But this book goes much further in that direction than any other book I have read on the subject. If you also read Stocks for the Long Run and Common Sense on Mutual Funds, I think these will clear up the missing elements in this book. Some embarrassing typos still remain, but they are annoying rather than fatal.

The book has two parts. The first part compares indexed mutual funds to nonindexed (or actively managed) mutual funds. The second part looks at 5 steps to creating greater wealth using indexed mutual funds.

The arguments in part one basically document that indexed mutual fund returns after taxes and after expenses have been higher than almost all managed (nonindexed) mutual funds over long time period. The reasons mostly relate to higher expenses due to management fees, marketing costs, and commissions caused by more turnover of stocks for the managed funds, disadvantages of a large portfolio for buying and selling, and inefficient tax effects of high turnover in taxable accounts. The authors also look at the effects of perfect information, and how much return you get for how much risk. These arguments are well done and accurate. Two elements that were new in this book included looking at the arguments that Peter Lynch and other active managers have made against indexed mutual funds, and looking at risk versus reward.

The five step process in the second part of the book is:

(1) Get a personal financial plan (with goals stated in dollar terms)

(2) Get a personal investment plan (a strategy to meet your goals)

(3) Invest with a diversified portfolio of index funds, tailored to fit your needs

(4) Get maximum benefits from the tax laws to delay and reduce taxes

(5) Buy and hold your portfolio, after starting as soon as possible.

Each of these points is somewhat detailed with descriptions of various ways to go about it, alternative sources of advice and information, and ways to make contacts with the advice and information. More could have been done on the first category, but the latter two were well done. The reasons for these factors are better explained in most cases in Stocks for the Long Run than here.

I particularly liked the advice to create a worldwide portfolio of indexed funds. Most books on indexing miss that point. The argument is flawed here, however, in only looking backward at what would have worked best in the past. If the rest of the world continues to grow its economies faster than the United States, the best returns will probably be from being overweighted into international indexed funds to reflect the future balance of market values rather than the current one.

The main weakness of the second part is that it lacks much quantification. But if you read the Bogle and Siegel books that I suggested above, those will more than fill in the gaps for you.

You should also be aware that recent evidence suggests that Malkiel's insistence on totally efficient equity markets is coming more and more into question. Our own research at Mitchell and Company supports the growing skepticism. However, active managers have been slow to adapt to the new information about where the markets are inefficient. Eventually, new indexed products should develop to take advantage of these inefficiencies. The main weakness seems to be a preference for basing indices on the financial data that active managers prefer. That's simply our old friend the disbelief stall in action. If the measures that active managers use do not beat the averages, why should indices based on those same measures be the best way to construct an index?

Like all books on index-based investing, this one is long on the arithmetic and short on the psychology needed to be successful. Most people know how to make more money than they do in stock market investing, but do the wrong thing anyway. Until someone makes a more psychologically appealing case for indexed mutual funds, most people will continue to favor the lower-performing nonindexed funds.

I certainly want my dollars invested to yield ME the most. The authors clearly show that managed funds do not put the investor first nor do they match or beat the index funds.

One word why most financial advisors and mutual fund company advertising do not trumpet index funds - greed - from the the money they skim off the top of your investment dollars in the managed funds.

Here is a book on investing that is clear, practical and downright interesting. I've always been afraid of the market, but here, at last, is a book in simple English that makes things understandable. And it's not just information. It really is a guide for an investment strategy that has proven itself not just in this bull market but over the long haul.

A critical study of Sir Richard Burton. Most of his biographers, bowldered by the epic nature of their subject (understandably so, this is one remarkable guy), often smooth over some real contradictions in his thought, less than favorable interpretations, etc.. This author brings Richard under real scrutiny, examining his views on religion, sex, race, and his persona as a "explorer" or "impersonator"; Not much new info; just bringing to light what is usually in the background of most biographies. Perhaps a finer portrait emerges of the man- though its undeniable that some of his statements- esp about race were wildly contradicting. He tries to demonstrate how Victorian attitudes influenced who Burton was- which is obvious in a way, he knew what his countrymen would find shocking and played on it- thus building his persona as a man who flaunted social conventions, though of course in other respects- sexuality, his Stone Talk work- he didn't cater to anyone, - one thing I couldn't help noticing, and which Kennedy points out, though a compulsive, prolific author, and highly opinionated, Burton was not a particularly good writer.

When I first discovered that a new Burton biography by a professor of history was soon to be published I had high expectations. Upon receipt of Professor Kennedy's Burton biography titled The Highly Civilized Man, I started digesting his work. The asserted themes of the work included 1) placing Burton and his work in context with the larger issues and challenges of Victorian times, and 2) using Burton to better understand the nature of changes beginning to percolate socially due to the interaction of Victorian England with its colonial enterprises. Indeed, as far as I know, this approach is pioneering and insightful. As I continued reading to about page 90, I thought Professor Kennedy's effort was well done, and the book would be another jewel to adorn the crown of Burton research, along with the work of Mary Lovell. I am of the opinion Professor Kennedy succeeded in achieving both this stated objectives. From this standpoint, his book is a success.

The observations of Burton as a harbinger bridging the transition from the Victorian Era to the Modern Era reflect the type of insights one expects from a biographer trained in the rigors of academic scholarship. I enjoyed the in depth academic analysis of Burton from the standpoint of concepts of relativism as applied to notions of cultural difference. Professor Kennedy has also highlighted the role played by Burton in the early development of anthropology as an academic discipline. Social/Cultural Anthropology's primary research methodology is called participant/observation. Certainly, this approach was an inherent part of Burton's nature, and the scope of his anthropological observations were derived by this research approach. I was also glad to see that Professor Kennedy gave particular attention to discussing Burton's Stone Talk and his Kasidah. The earlier biographies did not devote much attention to either of these important works.

As long as Kennedy stayed focused on academic based scholarship he avoided the pitfalls that plagued the earlier biographies that predated Lovell's Rage to Live. Unfortunately, the book digressed into complicated histories that are not fully recounted. Yet, Professor Kennedy felt compelled to make several definitive conclusions sorely lacking the professional level of scholarship a professor should be required to meet. The outcome of Kennedy's failures is a setback in Burton scholarship. Given the effort to place Burton in context, the irony is that the book with notable examples omits necessary context to understand and evaluate some of the Professor's conclusion. For example, the recounted history of Burton firing over the head of a crowd of Greek Orthodox Christians fails to acknowledge that Burton resorted to this solution after trying less violent alternatives, and after he and fellow members of his party were injured by rocks thrown at them. The key point is that Burton used a hierarchy of options to confront unstable situations. This point also relates to the absurd conclusion that Richard and Isabel were role-playing in the desert, and that there is a hidden psychology to uncover. The decision to have Isabel act as Richard's son was an attempt to protect her from rape and death, and to give Richard an option before resorting to lethal force. The Burtons took their personal safety serious as illustrated by their habit of carrying two revolvers and three Bowie knives when traveling.



Professor Kennedy has a mildly obsessive theme about people Burton did not know going into the desert for homosexual interludes that randomly pops up in the book. He includes a discussion of Burton and several earlier biographers who speculated about Burton's sexuality. But Kennedy failed to note those writers assumed Richard and Isabel had a loveless and sexless marriage, and they used outmoded, almost now quaint, modes of Freudian analysis. The illusion of the Burton's loveless marriage was gutted by the original sources brought to light by Ms. Lovell. Professor Kennedy fails to point out the deficiencies of Brodie and Mclynn concerning their analysis of Burton and sexuality. The deficiencies in The Highly Civilized Man about the question of Burton's sexual interests are too numerous to address in a short review nor are the issues he raised concerning Damascus, Crowley and others. Kennedy's treatment of Burton in Damascus is a travesty. Not once does the professor inform the reader that all segments of society in Damascus worked to bring Burton back from his recall. The Damascus treatment is lacking in necessary detail and skewered to the degree that the discussion should have been deleted form the book. It is also one of the examples where Kennedy included information that is extraneous to accomplishing his two professed themes.

The book appears to have been written with segments produced using an academic analysis methodology with other portions written in an almost stream of consciousness with points lacking critical evaluation. Moreover, there are instances of contradiction. This leads one to conclude the work was not scrutinized properly before going to press. The Kasidah analysis includes a conclusion that Burton believed there is no God or afterlife, yet in the chapter titled the Afterlife, Kennedy indicates Burton may have concluded there is continuing life. In fact, towards the end of the Kasidah and towards the end of note 2, Burton makes it plain he has a positive view on a continuing future life. It is not a life however with the attributes of anyone's religious acculturation. The chapter on the afterlife in large part is one of the commendable aspects of this biography.

All of the hallmarks of a work that will withstand the centuries are present in this work if only the good professor would later reissue it, and correct the many deficiencies and expand the themes of Burton as harbinger, Burton as catalyst, Burton as a pioneering mystic and Burton as scribe in the manner of Thoth, the Ancient Egyptian principle of wisdom.

One of the most remarkable men who ever lived was Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton. He was a poet, explorer, linguist, soldier, and translator, with remarkable accomplishments in each of these fields. The best biography of this astonishing and energetic man is still _The Devil Drives_ by Fawn Brodie, but in _The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and the Victorian World_ (Harvard), Dane Kennedy has written something else. His book covers aspects of this multi-faceted man who was busy all his life making his own legend, but who is revealed here as "very much a man of his time, a product of nineteenth-century Britain and its imperial encounter with the world." Kennedy traces the sources of the intellect behind Burton's many efforts, even his famous physical feats such as his pilgrimage in disguise to Mecca or his role in finding the source of the Nile. Among other things, Burton was, as the chapter headings here classify him, an Orientalist, a relativist, a racist, and a sexologist, and Kennedy has taken a useful look at all these roles.

The different chapters with their themes cover Burton's life in a more-or-less chronological way. Burton had a genius for languages and would eventually become fluent in perhaps a couple of dozen of them. His first foreign assignment was to the British East India Company, and although Burton sought glory in battle, his contribution was really to increase the knowledge of the land, the language, and the people. He took his capacity for imitation of other cultures to its most famous exercise in making the hajj in 1853. As Kennedy points out, there was no reason for any disguise; he could have simply have asserted his belief in Islam (a freethinker, he always did value the societal strengths of Islam, and he considered Christian missionaries to be on a misconceived quest) and joined the flood of foreigners in the pilgrimage. But this would not serve his purposes. A convert to Islam (no matter of what degree of sincerity, or how loosely attached to the Church of England) would be outcast from respectable society, preventing him from becoming a national hero and limiting sales of his great _Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah_. Burton's racism was a product of his time, and of his travels in Africa; he respected African cultures, even if he felt Negroes to be inferior and incapable of improvement. Kennedy makes the case that Burton had a relativist conception of culture, but such relativism did not encompass any struggle for improvement of political rights. Burton's value of other cultures included his view of their acceptance of sexuality, an acceptance he found lacking in his own country. Kennedy explains that with publication of his translations of the _Kama Sutra_, _The Perfumed Garden_, and especially _The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night_, Burton intended to subvert his nation's "purity forces." While Burton wrote that the _Nights_ was not fit for women to read, he filled it with strong and independent female characters who exhibited the sort of sexual desire women were supposed to keep hidden. Burton wanted to change British sexual morality, and his views would have grated against the current "just say no" philosophy. "Shall we ever understand," he sighed, "that ignorance is not innocence?"

Kennedy makes the case that not only was Burton remarkable in the many aspects of his efforts, he was eager to "advance the larger epistemological quest to understand, explain, and classify difference." He thus informed Victorian debates on race, religion, and sexuality, debates that are continuing into our own contentious times. Burton is a compelling character, and these essays on different features of his career and interests are filled with important insights about him and about the times of which he was a product.

Nineteenth century Western colonialism and imperialism including the Industrial revolution changed Western values and social perceptions and mores, but more so, our awareness of the world as a whole, in terms of defining ourselves against difference. The Victorian influence towards modernism is far greater than historians first realized. One of the most romantic and pivotal figures of the Victorian age was Sir Captain Richard Burton. In Kennedy's critical biographical overview of the man's life and thought, unlike most of the numerous biographies to date, attempts to represent and reinterpret Burton's life and thought in the context of the Victorian era. By doing this, he proposes, we come to understand this highly complex genius in terms of the historical values of the time.

Kennedy outlines Burton's numerous accomplishments as a prolific writer, linguist, (twenty-five languages and many dialects) explorer, archaeologist, spy, amateur physician, translator, artist, poet, expert swordsman and sexologist. He wrote over twenty-five travel volumes containing his many adventures, and translated the Kumar Sutra and The Arabian Nights which is the most often read an quoted in present time. Similar to many of his contemporaries, his studies of Orientalism and African cultures were done in the spirit of difference, or the `other'. Kennedy's thesis is that Burton was a product of the Victorian age but an important precursor to modernism.

As the 19th century has a virtual endless list of incredible men and women, according to Kennedy, what set Burton apart, was "...restless determination to extend the reach of his experience to ever more pockets of humanity and to draw insights from those increasingly varied encounters in order to advance the larger epistemological quest to understand, explain, and classify difference." (p.270) Burton's vast written work, his copious notes and observations reveals this holy quest, his unwavering pursuit of hidden knowledge and knowledge of the `other', strange cultures and bizarre religions until his death in 1895.

The author devotes most of his analysis on Burton's works as a sexologist. Burton's many erotic translations, promoting his notion that Victorian repression of sexual matters and desire is tremendously unhealthy, paved the way for future sexologists to study the subject within a scientific framework. His controversial translations and writings also revealed a sexual hypocrisy that the Victorian age is infamously known for. Rather than study sex on moral grounds, Burton proposed a relativist position, attributing different climates around the world to certain sexual behaviours. We know this to be nonsense, however, including this premise, Burton achieved distance from the moral position, giving his subject a form of objectivity.

Dane Kennedy's approach to Burton is a fresh perspective of the man. He was an individual that accomplished more in one lifetime than many, but he was a man of his times, attempting to define the identity of western culture during a period of vast change. Despite over one hundred years since his death, even a critical appraisal of his life and work, does not in any way lessen his accomplishment nor profound influence in the Romantic age towards modernism.

A Highly Civilized man is a fresh and well-written account of an icon of the Romantic-Victorian age.

A thoughtful book which most of the time attaches its arguments firmly to sources, scrupulously researched. A little verbose at times, tending to fall prey to the current academic fashion of attaching a superfluity of labels (particularly those ending in -ist) to its subject. Certainly there's the intention to 'de-mythologize' Burton and expose him to some quite valid criticisms, as well as plaudits. Kennedy reminds us that J.L. Burckhardt, not Burton, was the first European to travel on the Hajj in disguise. He suggests that in Burton's day, such disguise would only really have been necessary to enter the holiest places; simply because Burton could have professed conversion to Islam. I'm uncomfortable on those occasions when Kennedy states speculation as fact, for example (p63): 'Burton saw an opportunity to tap into this rich vein of curiosity by undertaking the pilgrimage to Mecca and exposing the city and its Muslim faithful to the scrutiny of his Christian Countrymen'. And then, later: "It must be understood, however, that Burton's decision to undertake a hajj in an "Oriental" disguise was directed as much at a British audience as it was at the Muslims with whom he associated during the journey." Although the facts are suggestive that this may be true, no proof is given - that would be very hard to do.

Kennedy concludes (p92) "There is little doubt that Burton too was attracted to impersonation precisely because it provided a way of transgressing against the codes and conventions that governed society, challenging the psychic shackles imposed by civilization." This conclusion could be a little superficial: we might also add that his daily dress of grotesque beard; eyes sometimes ringed with kohl; the brandishing of iron cane, pistol or navaja and his frequent adoption of a truly wicked and fearsome persona ("to shock"), could well have been a part of the same charade - whose ultimate purpose was to divert attention away from self. Did Burton suffer from some profound insecurity and a distaste for who he really was? Was he truly the "Sheep in wolf's clothing" that W.S. Blunt claims? The book had perhaps an opportunity to take this further.

The point is raised that, far from hacking their way through virgin African forest - unexplored territory - as is the general impression (my own, anyway), Burton and Speke took advantage of well-trodden arteries which had been used for slave and ivory traffic by Arab traders for generations - affording themselves of the supply infrastructure and information sources already in place to tend these parties. Wielding what must surely be humour, Kennedy observes that Burton was faced with insurmountable difficulties in the use of disguise on his African expeditions.

The subject of race and Burton's undeniable racism threads its way unceasingly through this book. Kennedy uses the word `troubling' numerous times when confronting it. He employs an early 21st century scrutiny to pass clear judgment on a latter 19th century culture - perhaps unconsciously setting relativism aside.

In 1633, Galileo Galilei was forced to abjure and recant his prior assertion of "...having held and believed that the sun is the center of the world and immovable, and that the earth is not the center and moves." Although we are dumbfounded by this today, we shouldn't be. There are dogmas in place in 2006 which no historian or anthropologist dares to contradict - on pain of professional suicide and even jail in a few countries. These dogmas touch upon versions of history enforced by law and statements upon the subject of race that are officially held to be modern heresies. Thus when judging Burton by the measures of our day with regard to racial matters and, then, reversing the scrutiny and weighing this book's criticisms by my own unfashionable standards; I, as a reader, am forced to conclude that neither one of them has the right of it. I am hit on the nose by the consequences of relativism!

Burton had good and bad to say about everybody - and an awful lot of the bad is directed at white Victorian society (which is nowhere labeled `racism'). The scientist in Burton (and he was a very good one I think) brought out his objectivity; the human being railed mightily and emotionally against slights, insults and injustices; some the consequence of his own misguided actions; some dead on target. I think Kennedy walks into the pitfall of early 21st century political correctness: time and again he is so troubled by negative remarks made concerning a particular race, yet seems to accept those that are positive without demur. In true critique, must we not take exception to all such generalizations? Burton made `hurtful' observations on colour and physiognomy which, I predict, in future times, will be done in the painless language of DNA base-pairs.

Certainly Kennedy cites instances where Burton takes relativistic stands, such as (p155): "There is more of equality between the savage and the civilizee - the difference being one of quantity, not of quality - than the latter will admit. For every man is everywhere commensurate with man". Kennedy then asks "How can these remarks be reconciled with Burton's insistence on the innate inferiority of the African?" Having raised the idea that the contradictions could be ascribed to "an undisciplined and volatile mind", Kennedy points out that such a conclusion would cause us to:

"... miss what may have been Burton's most intriguing contribution to Victorian conception of race. His understanding of race as a closed space defined by difference serves a double purpose: it supports the standard racists' contention that biology is destiny, but it also ventures the view that races have their own systems of beliefs and behaviour, each incommensurate with the other and implicitly standing against a universalist standard of values."

Doesn't that take rather a lot of words to say (without any of the promised reconciliation) that Burton was inconsistent: giving the Victorians a fresh new viewpoint on race while at the same time reinforcing their old prejudices?

The chapter entitled "The Sexologist" thoroughly covers a lot of well-trodden ground; over-trodden one might say. On homosexuality, Kennedy is of the opinion that Burton had probably actually indulged and cites a rather telling letter of Swinburn's in support, yet, knowing this was rather likely (even close to certain), so what? What more can be written about Burton? The answer is evident here: very little. This, by the way, is not a criticism of the book.

The final chapter "The Afterlife" is for me one of the more interesting. Kennedy speculates on Burton's spiritual beliefs and brings out his agnosticism as well as his horror of annihilation at death. In "A Glance at the Passion Play" (I quote the full context which Kennedy doesn't), Burton says (p165), on Spiritualism, " it satisfies a real want, a crave which is to millions - a part only of our kind but numbering millions - the bread of moral life." He then offers a `Spiritualist's Decalogue' of which Kennedy quotes article VI "Death, physically considered, dissolves a certain organic unity; it is not, however, annihilation, but change."

This was an astute selection by Kennedy and brings us closer to an understanding of Burton's spirituality.

This bio skillfully covers Bernstein's background, his philosophy, his methods of viewing and performing music. Bernstein was a man of conflict, always wishing to compose (indeed, he wanted to be remembered not as a conductor, primarily, but as a composer) but knew he had to remain with conducting in order to earn his living. And Bernstein was a splendid composer .. I personally think his Candide and West Side Story are masterpieces without peer, and his orchestral works are incredibly daring and far sighted for their time. Bernstein, though a genius, was all too human. He struggled endlessly with his sexuality, yet remained entirely devoted to his wife and children. Burton thoroughly explores Bernstein's many friendships with those in the music world, the most touching being his involvements with Copland and Mitropoulous. Both recognized Bernstein's genius, and were also painfully aware of his inner conflicts and fragile ego, and strove to uplift and encourage him so that he might make his true mark in the arts. The photos in this book are splendid, and Burton's writing is crisp and engaging. You will come away from this book with a renewed respect and enthusiasm for Bernstein the man and the musician.

I guess this is a really technical look at the composer's life without much backstage drama, because in leafing through the index, there's no mention of Carol Lawrence, Chita Rivera or Larry Kert, the famous cast members of the original production of "West Side Story." A short chapter is devoted to the musical, but without comments either from or on its legendary cast? Bizarre.

Call me shallow, but I don't want to read something that dry.

If you are interested in Bernstein, this is the biography to read. It neither raises him up too high nor tears him apart. Much of it deals with Bernstein's inner turmoil and how that impacted his relationships. Bernstein's humanity comes through very strongly. An enjoyable read, good pictures too.

I agree along with many that this is the definitive Bernstein biography. I have read it on and off for over a year now, and have gone back to particular sections not only to refresh my memory but to re-read Burton's fluid writing. An inspirational book about an all-around genius and the whirlwind tour of a life he lived. The book motivated me to delve into Berstein's life even further (quite costly y'know... with all the recordings, Norton Lectures, Young People's Concerts, various other video performances, writings, etc.)

It took me about 2 months to finish reading it, not because it wasn't a page-turner, but because it was a long book and also I'd been busy. It was actually a great page-turner. I could read on and on for 5-7 hours without a break.

Bernstein's personal letters to his friends and colleagues, including Aaron Copland, his thesis at Harvard, etc. were all very inspiring to read. There were quite a bit of poems he wrote also. The positive and negative sides of the great man were also well delivered without getting vulgar.
I really appreciated the author's knowledge about music and the classical music world and system.

The book makes you feel like you're living the life closely with the great man and gets you intellectually, musically, emotionally involved. You experience with him every success and failure Bernstein went through.
His talents were beyond human in some way, yet he was a man just like you and me. Sometimes his talents were greater than he as a man, and as a result the world occasionally saw him fall apart. The book is honest about his failures and misbehaviours without being accusatory. It makes you want to forgive the man for the wrongs he'd done. The burden he was carrying as genius was more than an ordinary man could bear.

The book also covers the Jewish culture, politics, world events, how Bernstein and his genius contributed to the world and American history, etc. in relations to his achievements.
There are enough interviews with his friends and family, reviews on Bernstein's works, letters etc. but the author uses his own narratives to tell us about the man, which is, I think, why this book is more solid and readable. Only, I wish there were more photographs. But oh well, you can't ask for everything.

Great, inspiring book. I might read it again.

It's quite true, as one reviewer said, that Burton Mack's prose is in places needlessly impenetrable. But press on! His analysis of the Gospel of Mark is brilliant, and in its way, revolutionary. It certainly enhanced my appreciation for