Burton Books

Now for the first time with the Latin completely given in translation and embodied in an all English ext. On December 5, more than 300 years ago, in his study at Christ Church, Oxford, a curious, middle aged scholar wrote the last lines of one of the most entertaining and amazing books in the world. It is a sort of literary cosmos, and ommium gatherum, a compendium of every kind that caught the fancy of the scholar who lived in an unspecialized age. Poetry, medicine, psychology, philosophy, old wives tales, philology, wars, antiquarian lore, theology, morals, history, climatology, travel, food, love, hate, ambition, pride, astrology, art, politics and a scheme for the establishment of a Utopia-all these and more are poured forth helter-skelter by the 17th century mathematician, vicar, rector, reckoner of nativities and a style abounding in quaint conceits, sly humor and not without a certain vein of on malicious satire.

The audiobook version of Anne of Green Gables is a complete delight. The audiobook will enable a whole new generation of children to enjoy the escapades of Anne Shirley and her incredible wit, imagination and zest for life.

I've always enjoyed the narration style of actress Kate Burton who performs many adult audiobooks. But there is something ever so slightly disappointing about the way she voices Anne Shirley. Burton has the appropriate amount of enthusiasm, drama, and wonder of Anne. However she doesn't sound young enough, but rather like an adult trying to sound young. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by Megan Follow's amazing performance in the PBS film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, but Burton left me wishing for a performance that sounded more age-authentic.

That being said, Burton gives Marilla the perfect amount of good intentioned orneriness, and she voices Matthew with excellent balance as a tenderhearted push over. Their increasing love for Anne is likewise developed and reflected through their voices as the book progresses. Kate Burton, in my opinion, is one of the most skilled narrators in terms of pacing. She manages to speak quickly through non essential parts of the text, yet never so fast as to lose the audience. She also slows down to believable speaking tempos when voicing dialogue. Anne of Green Gables is a must have for every young-adult reader.

Richard Francis Burton was essentially the first to produce an unexpurgated translation of this wonderful book of tales. Though Burton's English is often excessively stilted, Jack Zipes has quite handily adapted (and condensed from the original 10 volumes) this magical grouping of stories, as told by the enchanting Scheherazade, who tells the nightly tales to save her own life. A classic and must have for anyone's library.

This collection of articles, essays and interviews is rather diverse, with topics ranging from the longtime worldwide movement against capitalist globalization to more specific events revolving around the protests in Seattle. What I've come to appreciate most about the book is that it comes across rather critical of the movement with several essays detailing some of the shortcomings of the movement and its lack of organization amongst the different active groups, while at the same time not really taking away from their cause, hopefully lending to it by shedding light on what can be done in the future to be more successful.

My 18 month-old LOVES this book. The rhyming is great and the rythm makes almost like a song when you read it. There are also some surprises if you're paying attention. Look for the Ladybug on every page!

Richard Burton was a British world traveler of the Victorian era who wrote many volumes on the cultures of other countries, including many of their sexual practices. Burton also knew Hindi and Arabic, along with many other languages, and is known for writing English translations of the "Kama Sutra" and the "Arabian Nights."

This book includes some of his writings on the sexual customs of India and Africa, as well as the polygamous Mormons of Utah, in the 1800's. However, a writer named Edward Leigh also provides an ongoing narrative that comments on and provides a context for the earlier writings of Burton.

One important thing to remember before buying this book is that Burton was writing from the perspective of a 19th century British male and his writings will definitely come across to many contemporary readers as being racist and sexist. But to have a well informed historical perspective it is important to listen to voices from different historical eras, including those we may find disturbing. Whatever his prejudices, Burton was clearly a man of great intellectual curiousity who was fascinated with experiencing other cultures. The modern reader has much to learn from his writings.

Unfortunately, much of the book is made of the rather dull writings of Burton enthusiast Edward Leigh, who rarely has much to say that is insightful or informative. Still Burton's unique writings make this one worth reading.

Bilingual research literature very rarely distinguishes gender issues in second language use and relies on ungendered data or presents the masculine view as a usual default model. It was for this reason that the editors of this work gathered papers that dealt specifically with women's issue in second language use. Many cultures are represented in this volume that addresses the themes from an anthropological and ethnographic perspective. Women have often been the caretakers of indigenous languages that have fallen out of use because of colonization and changes in the social power structures. Mothers are the ones who have the greatest part in perpetrating languages through generations where the culture has become subordinate or migration or intermarriage with a member of another language group has severed connections with the maternal language community. It can also be their option not to teach their children their mother tongue. The authors include articles on the critical role of women in the survival of minority languages such as Breton and Gaelic. Power and equality are the major themes presented in the research where women under various circumstances do not have access to the privileged forms of a language and are thus limited in the social forum. One of the authors argues that women, like children, are maintained in a condition of privileged inferiority and suffer exploitation at the same time they are viewed with special regard. Bilingual women have also been considered to be both linguistically and sexually promiscuous. Historically this stereotype has a basis in the fact that often the colonizer would leave his wife at home and take up with a native woman who becomes the intermediary and language interpreter. Stereotypes of women's roles in language use are presented in such themes as: dominant and subdominant languages, women's use of them ; ambivalent or hostile attitudes towards women as translators, This book delves into issues that are rarely seen in bilingual and cross-cultural studies. The male default is usually explained and issues of gender go unreported and ignored. The information in this book is very useful because it makes the reader consider issues of gender and language use, presenting views of feminine empowerment and exploitation that are part of the researched language communities. The texts also investigate the deeper reasons for language gender differences within complex social structures and explains issues that fall below the surface of bilingual and multicultural studies. I recommend this book to all who have interest in sociolinguistics and gender studies.

The dictionary is very worth the trouble if you are studying Japanese history for any period up to the 1970s. It offers little in the way of critical analysis or commentary, but is reasonably thorough in covering all major figures and giving the essential outlines of lives and careers. For a while it was availble in digital format. This is easier to search and access than a large book, and one rarely wants to curl up with a massive dictionary of this sort in any event. Unfortunately, the CD seems no longer to be distributed.

Will O'Neil

This is a primer on modeling for biologists. It is written to reduce mathematics fears of budding biologists. But it offers plenty of interesting biology for the mathematically oriented non-biologist (I hold a physics degree), but absolutely no new maths. The book proceeds by examples which use similar techniques but which may differ considerably: exponential relationship examples include pollen grains in sediments as well as attractiveness of dung for dungflies. For the mathematically proficient, this can be bedside reading, as most the calculations can be done mentally.

For the more mathematically inclined, Karl Sigmunds's book Games of Life offers wonderful mathematics of biology.

This book is well done, with fantastic pictures and direct text. Perhaps my favorite pictures included the large groups of red knots and snow geese. The narratives on navigation and flight plans were particularly good at explaining what can be complex. The examples were from both North America and Europe, and as a North American the problems of crossing the Sahara were new to me. The maps really illustrate the points, and the map with the gnomic versus Mercator projection was a great example. A step up from the average "coffee table" picture book.