Carey Books

The reviews stated below describe the book exceptionally well and I will do little to add on to them.. but I feel that this book had an emotional impact for me.. it really hit home and nails several key issues lingering in my heart. The book relates to the pains and pleasures of life and death. It details the loss of innocence and the maturing of the mind. It describes in depth how time changes people and how the aches of yearning of had-beens and what-ifs can develop and consume people. I felt a whole array of emotions when I read this book but overall, I felt it had a good, if bittersweet ending and is definately worth reading.

After I finished reading Love in the Asylum, I immediately began to search for other books by Lisa Carey. I found In the Country of the Young and was not disappointed -- in fact, I liked it even better than Love in the Asylum, which was a wonderful story.

Carey has a magnificent way with words. I'm an author, a book coach, an editor, and a voracious reader. I try to read a book a week, but sometimes, I skim things, especially if I'm reading for my book club. Carey makes me want to slow down and savor every word, or to go back and reread a page or chapter to better understand the characters, and the message.

She has depth and substance, and this book was extremely well researched. Lisa Carey also has a terrific ability to describe life's tragedies and heartaches without being gloomy or maudlin.

Seven-year-old Aisling is en route to a new life in Québec, leaving behind unimaginable hardship during the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s. She was unwanted by her parents and treated despicably; the only one who loved her was her brother, Darragh.

Aisling lands in Maine and her life intersects with that of Oisin, who has had his own share of grief and disappointment. She dies aboard ship but returns from the dead on All Hallow's Eve to heal her own wounds, and tend to Oisin's guilt and broken heart.

The fantasy elements are presented so well that I was easily able to overcome my resistance to the notion of the credibility of a ghost. Carey makes the unbelievable seem real. She has great literary talent and I would highly recommend this heartwarming tale.

Sigrid Macdonald

Forgive the pun, but Lisa Carey's "In The Country Of The Young" is a hauntingly, poignant ghost story. It is a novel that often enchants and provides a compelling read throughout. There are actually three tales interwoven here. Aislin's story: a melancholy tale of girl-child born out of wedlock to a woman of the lower-classes in Ireland, in the early 1840s - just before the potato blight. She is unwanted, unloved and lives a solitary existence, ostracized by all except her older brother, Darragh. There is Oison's story, along with that of his twin sister Nieve, beginning in the 1960s in Boston. They are the children of an Irish couple who do not love each other, and the tragedy of their dysfunctional family has an enormous impact on the two. And lastly, cohering all, is the story of Aislin and Oison in the present day on the island of Tiranogue, just off the Maine coast.

The novel opens in 1848, when an Irish "coffin ship" carrying starving immigrants, including Aislin and Darragh, crashes off the coast of Maine. One-hundred-fifty souls are rescued, one hundred are children. Aislin is one of them. However, more are lost at sea, including Darragh. The survivors are taken to the nearby island of Tir na nOg, which is Gaelic for "Country of the Young." There young Aislin, a beautiful, sensitive child, dies, calling out her brother's name.

Over a century later, the wee ghost of the girl-child Aislin makes her way to the home of artist Oison McDara. He lives as a recluse on Tiranogue, haunted by his twin sister's memory. Every year, for the last 30 years, on the night of the full moon equinox, (Halloween), Oison leaves a candle lit in his window and the door open for Nieve, his dead twin - in case she wants to come home. Aislin is drawn to the light, and perhaps, to Oislon's longing. As a boy, Oison had the gift of "sight." When Nieve died, during their teen years, he lost this ability - but now he sees Aislin, clear as day.

"In The Country Of The Young" is much more than a ghost story. It is primarily about the living, and though very sad at times, the narrative rings with life and color. Aislin has an opportunity, though brief, to live some of the life she lost when she was so young. Oison, emotionally dead for such a long time, also has another shot at life. And those whose lives they touch, are much richer for the experience.

Ms Carey's prose is lyrical, rich, often just beautiful, as is her imagery. What really makes the novel special, however, are her characters, their depth, complexity and growth. She illuminates them all. They have remained with me well after completing the book.

I highly recommend this magical, uplifting novel.
JANA

Oision takes in a little girl, who he thinks is the ghost of his twin sister. She's not. But, he cares for her until she get old enough to sleep with him and then he starts the affair. It just gave me the creeps. The book is well written and interesting, but there's something off about a guy who will sleep with a woman who was first a seven year old girl he thought was his sister.

Ewwwwwwww!

This book is an exquisite, rare treat. Her writing is described as lyrical and that word barely does her justice. I've read all of her books and they just keep getting better. She has the ability to touch you way down deep, primally deep, until you find yourself sobbing out loud. Long after the book is finished I find myself thinking of her characters and pondering her themes. I will be eagerly following the career of this talented artist.

This book was amazing. The characters are so original that no matter what they do (likable or unlikable), you are simply facinated. This debut novel hits the mark.

This is one of the most impressive first novels of an author I think I may ever read. I still find it so hard to believe that with his first book -this- is the type of quality he could deliver. The story of Observatory Mansions is so weird and eccentric and crazy and unbelievable. A child who collects random items that grows into an obsessive man who can't even stand the sight of his own hands. A father who is deadly still and silent because he has found his inner stillness. Neighbors that seem to be the most exaggerated annoyances of all time, yet you still feel a bond with them as you see the world Carey unravels before you. The first page is so well written you can't help but wish to continue reading this makeshift story of love and friendships and ultimately of lose. You begin to truly care about Carey's characters even the most outlandish habits and rituals only work to enforce your feelings towards Twenty, Francis, and all the characters in the mansion.

To give a brief summary (although it will not do justice to the novel I hope it sparks someone to pick it up) Observatory Mansions is a building that was once a prized home for a wealthy family the Orme's, but now it has been turned into an apartment building one that sticks out like a sore thumb in the thriving city that has swallowed it. The building is only the first sign of out of place in the story as every tenant within the build seems to have something outrageously odd about them. You follow a changing lifestyle from the eyes of Francis Orme the last member of the original family who owned Observatory Mansions. His parents both still alive could hardly be called living. The story really begins the day the new tenant moves into the building. She seems to be the most normal of the people within the building. Ultimately Carey unwinds his majestic story into a heart tugging love story that makes you hope for the best with the characters and you just long to see them find happiness. It's considered and classified as a post modern novel and in the true nature of post modern the word carnival will tell you more about this book than any other.

Carey delivers in his first novel what many authors never accomplish. Characters with tragic flaws that become more lovable than the most heroic of people. A story that guides you through all the twist and turns patting your hand to keep you calm the whole way. You find at the end the most amazing relief when you close the book because you feel "it'll all be okay." I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys something different and loves a story full of exciting characters.

Yes,this was one dark,eccentric book. But mostly in a good way. The main charactor,Francis,is a 37 year old man-child who lives with this equally strange parents in his family's anchestral home located in an unamed English city,which,for ecomonic reasons,has been dividied into apartments. After Francis(who works as a "human statue in a nearby park and constantly wears white cotton gloves (due to a traumatic childhood)and,as a hobby, collects objects that have sentimental(or practical) value to others which he keeps in the chapel of the building beside his long-buried ancestors. The story then (through Francis)introduces the other residents of the building,among them,a woman who thinks she's a dog,an elderly lady who watches TV constantly and forgets about the world outside,as well as his formerly sadistic tutor who harbors a guilty concious over a long ago incident involving a former student.These people live in their own varingly levels of isolation until Anna Tap,a 30ish no-nonsense former costume restorer (with her own deep,dark secret) moves into one of the flats and gets each of these closed-off people to reveal themselves. She especially develops an interest in Francis and tries espeically to break through his wall of strange rituals and extreme shyness. This is not a book with "overall" appeal,with it's rather strange structure (in addition to the strangeness of the people in it) But for those who give it a chance,I think they will be glad they did..

I picked this book up after I read through the jacket and thought it might be different. Wow, was it ever! My daughter asked me how my book was once I was a few chapters in and I replied, "these are the most bizarre characters I've ever read." They were bizarre, yet compelling. I was drawn to feel sad for each of their neuroses; each had a logical reason for his or her strangeness (except we don't find out what the Porter's problem was). The novel was not entirely unpredictable, but the behavior of the characters gave you the unsettled feeling that just about anything could happen. I was happy for Francis and Anna in the end (though Francis could be cruel in his struggle to remain distant), and the symbolism of Francis' dig for freedom was profound and satisfying.

A psychiatrist could make a career doing case studies on the characters in this strange, wonderful book.

To know the story line, read the Amazon description. To know the real story, you have to live it. Unlike any book I have ever read, I was astounded at the author's ability to keep the characters "in character" throughout the book. Sustaining their personae while advancing the story shows an unusual talent.

While you can sometimes see what's coming you don't want to - it's far better to just let it happen. Carey even made the book the right length - long enough to develop the story without added filler to reach a certain length.

I will be looking forward to reading more from Edward Carey!

I loved the comedic narrative that starts off the book; it's a colorful and richly detailed black comedy that youd expect from HAWTHORN- making fun of the clash between overly zealous religious funamentalists and more earthy rural folk. As the story progresses it decends into a dramatic/tragic tone that I would compare to CHARLES BROCKDON BROWN.

then the story breaks into the second part.

THe change to the killers perspective/narrative is a huge unexpected leap that I would have to compare to RASHOMON. It describes many of the same events with such a dramatic shift of emphasis that you almost do not recognize the scenes. Some of the multi perspective breaks are funny, some are chilling.

THis killers perspective is brilliant; he's a realistically depicted schizophrenic serial killer that filters his agression through religious delusion. It reminds me of the movie NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, mixed with KILLER INSIDE ME. He also has a DR JEKYLE MR HYDE split personality that reminds me of FIGHT CLUB.

I have experience with schizos and have had the joy of being targeted by a psychopath... the realistic portrayal of mental illness in this book is impressive.

The depth of this novel is amazing. Visit Edinburgh on a misty night and you will see it is not set in the past.

The story of James Hogg's "Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" describes events 100 years before Hogg's own lifetime, and revolves around Robert Wringhim, a young man with a questionable paternal origin, and confused religious principles. His mother and her husband George Colwan have fathered his older half-brother George, but Robert appears to be the product of his mother's unchastity with the fanatic Revd Robert Wringhim. This minister becomes his surrogate father and mentor, and begins instilling in young Robert the conviction that those who are predestined to eternal life cannot sin, and that the reprobate are to be despised: "To the wicked all things are wicked; but to the just, all things are just and right ... How delightful to think that a justified person can do no wrong."(p9) The first third of the book purports to be an unnamed editor's narrative, recounting the conflict between the two brothers, and the eventual murder of George under dubious and mysterious circumstances.

The mystery is uncovered in the remainder of the book, which contains the alleged first-hand account of young Robert's memoirs and confessions. (Warning: plot spoilers ahead) Here Hogg excels in painting a dark and supernatural portrait of the mind of Robert, as he is overcome by demonic powers. His father's teaching becomes the breeding ground for his twisted theology. Initially Robert is fearful of unchangeable rejection by God: "I lived in a hopeless and deplorable state of mind; for I said to myself, `If my name is not written in the book of life from all eternity, it is in vain for me to presume that either vows or prayers of mine, or those of all mankind combined, can ever procure its insertion now.'" (p69) Finally Robert's father claims to have received secret revelation giving assurance of election: "he embraced me, and welcomed me into the community of the just upon earth." The assurance of acceptance by God is understood by Robert to mean "that I was now a justified person, adopted among the number of God's children - my name written in the Lamb's book of life, and that no by-past transgression, nor any future act of my own, or of other men, could be instrumental in altering the decree." (p79)

From this point Robert's memoirs become "a relation of great and terrible actions, done in the might, and by the commission of heaven." (p.79) Under the tutelage of his father, Robert's mind is already open to religious bigotry: "Seeing that God had from all eternity decided the fate of every individual that was to be born of woman, how was it in man to endeavour to save those whom their Maker had, by an unchangeable decree, doomed to destruction." (p.85) His antinomian thinking is nurtured and encouraged by a mysterious nameless companion who enters Robert's life, and becomes his mentor and friend, and encourages Robert's notion that as one of the righteous his divinely-appointed mission and task is to destroy the wicked with the sword. The things that Robert's companion "strove most to inculcate on my mind were the infallibility of the elect, and the preordination of all things that come to pass."(p87).

Although Robert perceives his companion to be a great prince with many subjects, possibly even the Czar of Russia, it gradually becomes clear that it is in fact an incarnation of the Prince of Darkness, Satan, disguised as an angel of light. (A common interpretation that it is purely psychological figment of Robert's imagination, possibly even a multiple personality, is impossible because several individuals in the novel witness him as a physical presence alongside Robert, so clearly he exists outside Robert's mind.) Robert initially seems to question the fact that Gil-Martin - the name the mysterious stranger eventually gives himself - has the unearthly ability to take appearances of others, and that he refuses to pray (p88). His corrupting influence over Robert's mind increases, until Robert finds that he is unable to account for large amounts of time, and where he is accused of doing things about which he knows nothing. Slowly he becomes cognitive of the fact that Gil-Martin not only can present himself as another person (even Robert himself), but at times controls Robert totally by entering him. Robert first suggests that he has "two souls, which take possession of my bodily frame by turns" (p132) but Gil-Martin eventually presents the truth: "I am wedded to you so closely that I feel as if I were the same person. Our essences are one, our bodies and spirits being united ... and, wherever you are, there must my presence be with you."(p158). Not only does Gil-Martin incite Robert to murderous acts against others, but eventually even against his own life, certain that his divine fate is unchangeable, "for he has me fully convinced that no act of mine can mar the eternal counsel, or in the smallest degree alter or extenuate one event which was decreed before the foundations of the world were laid." (p164). Ironically, in his post-script remarks recounting the discovery of Robert's grave 100 years later, the unnamed editor (the book was originally published anonymously, and Hogg himself appears as one of the characters) suggests a different fate for Robert, since by the act of suicide he had "committed that act for which, according to the tenets he embraced, there was no remission, and which consigned his memory and his name to everlasting detestation."(p175).

-GODLY GADFLY (April 2002)

NB: for my analysis of this book, see my review (dated April 26, 2002) of ISBN#1590170253.

I tried to like this novel because as one who believes in predestination, I thought it would show some of the opposing arguments in fictional form; it failed to do this. James Hogg merely shows us a deranged human being (nothing new there!) who murders because he feels that he is 'destined for heaven' no matter what he does. Yes, he might have been saved from the fires of hell, but it would have been by God's grace, not by his own good or evil works. Isn't this what the New Testament is all about-grace in spite of man's evil doing? Whether one is predestined or 'chooses good or evil' makes no difference in the end-what matters is who saves you from your own mortal destiny which is death. This story fails to show any unique theological and/or psychological perspective. I was dissatisfied with the author's far-fetched and anti-logical presentation of a doctrine he clearly did not understand.

Is Robert a schizophrenic to be pitied or a psychopath to be loathed?
Similar to Dostoyevsky's psychodrama, The Double, we find the exhileration of the psyche brought bare before our perusal. James Hogg's two part account of a "sinner" (a predestined and chosen one albeit) is on surface a derisive gothic narrative of the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination. The taut trance-like animated lustre it creates is exceptionally haunting. The author succeeds in invoking the sublime and supernatural within the fragile make-up of a psyche twisted and enlightened by the religious zeal it professes. If Percy Shelley found the tale as insightful as any upopn the workings of the mind it was primarily because of the tenacity of the precepts which justify the sinner's actions and provoke his behavior. A landscape of horrific charge stages a mind terrifying and a depth where foundations are dug to the root and these dragged with a vengence upon the highest peaks of a reprobates mind. Similar to the Marquis De Sade - studies on sexual allusions between the protagonist and the devil are amusing and should be dabbled into - in its use of reason to legitimize otherwise deplorable executions of conscience; this narrative strikes a balance between two accounts of the same fratricide and ensuing murders, where we are left dizzy and confused and thrown into a state of mind persecuted by truth and the mind's ability to obviate the most simple excesses as they are practiced and divined. At times we question the existence of the double, and on other occasions we are in awe of his personality and presence. The second account is of greater psychological depth and makes one confide with the mind of a murderer propelled by his faith. However we cannot but continue to query our sensibility imputing greed and a rationalizing tendency at play. The author's ambiguity make for rewarding continued readings for this is indeed a psychological analysis of exceptional powers.
Beautiful and unbelievable, wonderful and frightening. A pleasure to read and a wonder to study.
Of related study is Anthony Burgess' Enderby Trilogy, where the novel and Hogg are assimilated; the execution of the novel is very much in tune with the madness of James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner.

good stuff out of you Mister Carey, Interesting, informative, useful, entertaining, captivating, for the average dart player, and yet, for the more accomplished, Nugatory, Otiose, Idle, Empty and Hollow! I expect to hear from you....SOON!!!!

good for the absolute beginner. someone that doesn't know absolutely nothing about darts. After this book, if you want to improve your skills, you have to buy another one. But for start is good

This book can be used as a wuick guide for beginners. It gives some tips and information about the history of some of the common games. I wouldn't recommend this book though if you are really concerned about the complications of technique and style.

I guess this is a good overall view of a simple but difficult game. I got more information reading articles on the Internet. I should have gone for something more advanced or with better stories. It covers all the basic bases and if I made a contribution to the group that sponsors darts in the United States I am glad. It is about a 90 minute read - maximum. If I was of the type I would have read it and returned it but I have a conscience. If I picked it up in the store I would not have made a purchase. Lesson learned.

A writer doesn't produce a book on the subject of darts because he wants to get rich. He writes the book because he loves the game, loves the people who play it, loves the euphoria of the "kill shot," because he wants others to experience that thrill, too, and because he wants to make a noteworthy contribution to promote his chosen sport well into the future. He loves the fire, the competition, the team, the good guys, the bad guys, the camaraderie, the wins, the defeats ... all of it. Chris Carey is this kind of writer, and his book should appeal to anyone who loves darts - period - be it soft or steel-tip, the world over.

This book, however, is not just for beginners. If you've played darts for any length of time and find yourself in a rut, Carey's book is your prescription. It will not only help you think through your issues, away from the line, but it is also a resource to provide new angles to attack problems you may not have thought about before or, perhaps, have lost sight of. For this reason, chapter eight - alone - is worth the price of admission.

This book, now in its second edition, is a much-heralded resource for darts players ... and I don't make this claim lightly. I am a darts book author and player, too, and my respect for this effort is, frankly, immense. Bar none, this is the leading book in our sport, the best seller. And, there's a reason for it. Not only does Carey's love of darts shine through, he is a respected writing talent, with the blessing of the American Darts Organization, to boot. Because of these things, and the topics he has chosen to explore, this work is a "must own" for every darter's library.

I was heartened to see Carey elected to also keep the original foreword in this revision which was written by the late, great, Tom Fleetwood (along with an informative new one from Buddy Bartoletta) because - if for no other reason - it shows his level of respect for the darting world's pioneers. And, since this work has received the blessing of a world respected steel-tip organization, I am also happy to see he has continued to discuss matters of the soft-tip variety, too, without prejudice. I emphasize this point because it makes his book truly universal in its appeal, and I applaud this ... loudly.

It looks as though each chapter has been improved, as well, but forgive that I did not go back and compare the '93 version to this one too thoroughly. The graphics that worked before were kept, but new ones were also added to help readers and players better visualize the messages Carey is conveying. It seems ridiculous, considering the volumes and volumes that have been written on darts, but I have never seen before such a well-delivered image like the new one found on page 29. That graphic, among few others, should be pasted to the underside of every eyelid that steps to the line! Had the information from this singular image been memorized by my inexperienced partners before drawing them in tournaments, it would have kept my hands from clenching together involuntarily after their successful effort at a 42, instead of the triple-16 we needed to win a match. Yeah, sure, I'm calm enough to write about it now ... lol.

Finally - while I also enjoyed Steve Brown's insight immensely - to include the pearls from Stacy Bromberg, too, is priceless for the future of women's involvement in this grand sport of ours. Bromberg is a pioneer in her own right, and an inspiration for those who will certainly follow her lead. I applaud the choice to include her thoughts in such an important, long lasting, far reaching piece of work such as this.

All told, this book is better now then when I first read it some twelve years ago. I was then, and remain - simply put - inspired by it.

many thanks for your that effort , the book is good and come to me so fast

This is probably the most comprehensive text book available for Organic Chemistry, Develops largely on the Part A of the book. So for a complete understanding you need to possess the Part A of the book. Largely covers the topic of Synthesis and Reactions which is an important part of the Graduate education in Organic Chemistry. Earlier editions of the book cover the same material and are almost as good as this one but each topic in this edition builds up with a different approach of Computational and Theoretical Chemistry.
The references provided in each chapter ensure the complete and total understanding of the subject and help in the student in research.
Overall a great book for the Graduate student in Organic Chemistry.

This book is not for introductory organic students. It is a condensed review with some explanation for a huge number of synthetically useful organic reactions. It explains exactly what it needs to, with diagrams when necessary. This book has been extremely useful in my graduate level organic classes.

This fourth edition has no big difference with the new fifth release. However, the price is only half. That is a good purchase for me.

This review is specifically meant to refer to the latest edition (5th ed.) of this book. The earlier editions were quite good, but the 5th edition completely misses the mark. Ordinarily, one would think that a book such as this would get better and better with each new edition. Not so with this book. For some reason, the 5th edition is loaded with mistakes.....many of these appear to be typesetting errors (e.g., atoms in the wrong place, pentavalent carbons, nonsense intermediates within reaction pathways, etc.). It is terribly disappointing. I do not know what happened at the publisher this time, but, in good conscience, they really should not have released this book the way it is. It does not appear to have been the authors' fault, but rather it was likely the fault of Springer (the publisher). This looks like an example of the mindless side of capitalism....large publishing companies who have already taken over much of their competition also have ridiculous deadlines to meet quarterly earnings goals, so they rush through the publication process and end up turning out garbage. The only way that these companies ultimately avoid getting into a heap of trouble with the FTC or other consumer advocate agencies is by issuing online addendums filled with corrections to the myriad of errors. Ask yourselves, is that why you want to buy a new book..... so that you have to download a 50-page corrections addendum to fix all of the errors that the publisher missed or opted not to correct in the first place? This sort of thing is happening more and more these days in the publishing industry, even with software. And the larger and larger these publishing companies become, the more we see it. I recommend that you DO NOT BUY the 5th edition of this book; it should have been recalled by the publisher, and everyone who bought it should have received a refund. However, if you really want to buy Carey and Sundberg's book, then buy the 4th edition used; you will be much happier. Apparently, Springer scaled back on qualified staff and/or hired a bunch of publishing flunkies sometime between the release of the 4th and 5th editions of this book.

I purchased this text because I am trying to redirect my career. I have a lot of marketing and public relations in my background, but technical writing is a new area. I found the text easy to read, very informative, and exceptionally helpful. The only reason I gave it four instead of five stars is that it is weighted for web writers. Writing for the web is not a function of the job I am interviewing for, so that information, while interesting, was not particularly helpful for me.

This book is a mixed bag at best, advocating practices that help keep today's technical writing mired in mediocrity. For example: always use the 2nd person; and for heaven's sake don't try to explain anything to people, just tell them what to do! Much of this reads like tips for helping non-writers get by as technical writers, and for making technical writing into a kind of non-writing.

For devotees of the Jackson Pollock school of tech writing (throw lots of vetted statements at the page till they stick) or of the everything-is-a-numbered-list technique, there's probably much that's heartening in this glossy example of bad desktop publishing. (Jeesh, who decreed that tech writers can't learn typography and basic functional layout, or maybe hire someone that does?)

This book is probably ok for anyone writing product assembly manuals, or documenting GUI interfaces (press this, select that... yup second person actually works pretty well there). But for software? Or for anyone struggling to articulate complex ideas or just write a reasonably compact and self-contained conceptual overview (MIA from most tech writing today), there isn't much help here. Maybe it's time we technical writers focused more on good writing per se, on the things that good technical writing shares with effective prose (clarity, precision, range of useful styles, fiction (point of view) or even poetry (compression, effective use of embedded metaphor).

So, yeah, it turns out there're so many other rich directions and ideas for tech writers to pursue. For starters, there're the old standbys: Strunk and White or Wm Zinsser's Writing Well. And any of the wonderful books on prose style by Richard Lanham or perhaps Mark Turner's Clear and Simple as the Truth (which, suprisingly enough, addresses technical writing directly, albeit briefly, offering a number of classical examples). Also just about any of Edward Tufte's books, and by the way, did you catch his 2004 interview in Technical Communications Quarterly? Posted (free) on ET's website. I think it even mentions a time when he consulted with IBM about their tech writing and tried to get them to stop using the second person, and, well...

I have been a technical writer for years. This book has made me re-think how I write technical articles. It is excellent. It has clear, concise instruction and examples. If you are planning to learn more about how to create technical writing this is the book.

This is an essential book if you find yourself writing product documentation and do not have the luxury of an editorial staff or company style guide to tell you right from wrong. It's simple and easy to read, and just tells you what you need to know, nothing more or less. You can go through the whole thing cover to cover in about 12 hours, and then you'll have a pretty good sense of how you should be structuring information. I find the examples useful (if somewhat contrived), and I agree with the book's advice in almost all cases. (I'm a professional tech writer, and I *did* have the luxury of an editor for several years! Regrettably, no more.)

Whether the book "enshrines mediocre technical writing," as someone mentioned, is debatable. The goal of product documentation is simple: Answer the user's question as fast as possible, and get the user productive as fast as possible. There's certainly a place for creativity, but one can't lose sight of the goals, and I think the book's merit is that it focuses persistently on those goals: How do you, the writer, best serve the user's interests?

It's also important to have a guide like this because if you work in a small company, other folks are going to have strong ideas about how the documentation should look. They will want to constantly be inserting feel-good "marketing" messages into the documentation, reminding customers of how wise they were for buying the product. They will have strong opinions about what "concepts" should be stressed over and over. As a writer, you represent the user's interests, and you have to be able to stand up and say "that doesn't work to the user's advantage, and we shouldn't do it like that." If you have a reference to back you up on these points, you'll be much more comfortable taking a strong stand in favor of Usability. And, in the end, that is exactly what any documentation specialist should be standing for. (Yes, I did end on a preposition.)

I've been developing retail software professionally for over 15 years and have been waiting for a book like this one. When I finally discovered the book, I was a little skeptic -- that is until I received the book.

If you are writing help, or any other technical documentation, this *is* the book for you. Coverage of the subject is just right. It's not too overloaded and it's not to light on the subject either.

The only thing missing that I wish they had was recommended templates for different types of documentation. If this book had a CD with samples, it would be worth 2 or 3 times the amount I paid for it.

I highly recommend this book.

This book shed some light to me. Mr. Bulosan's story is something I would dearly encourage Filipinos to read and identify their roots.

The story starts off written really well, and in some parts it seems redundant and rushed with alot of sentences starting off with I. i.e.

i went to the market. i saw some white men beat a filipino guy up. i didn't like what they were doing.

the stories he tells of his family in the beginning of the book are very heart breaking, but after many several chapters it gets redundant. every turn he makes is a bad one and he always ends up in a bad place. i just wondered if the book was worth finishing, and to me it isn't. it starts getting political at the end about unions and labor movements.

I first read AMERICA IS IN THE HEART as a young teenager in high school. Writer Carlos Bulosan goes the semi-autobiographical route to re-examine some of the most painful memories of his life, starting as a youth in the Philippines up to his last days on the West Coast of the United States. Carlos Bulosan, born on November 24, 1913 in Pangasinan, Philippines, came from a very poor background. His family had no choice but to work, collectively, while he and his siblings toiled in the fields of Pangasinan, and abroad in the United States, just so they could [barely] subsist on their earnings and scrap by.

The main character, Allos, must relocate to the United States, to find work in various odd jobs (including the canneries of California and Washington state). He is faced with racism from all sides--Caucasians, exploitative Chinese and Japanese bosses, and just about everyone else. The darker your skin, the harder the discrimination fell on workers of the 1930s and 1940s. This came with strict laws again miscygenation. If you were Filipino, just speaking to a White woman could get you in a lot of hot water. Yet, in the face of all of this pain, Allos becomes involved as a labor organizer and demonstrator for the rights of exploited laborers. What's more, he meets and is reunited with friends and family, over the course of the story, and even finds friendship with a Caucasian woman, Mary.

AMERICA IS IN THE HEART beautifully recounts the pain that faced countless laborers who arrived in the United States to bring in income for their families, in their countries. Many of the passages read like poetry, yet remain very accessable to people for whom the concept of the plight of migrant workers is a fairly foreign concept. Great reading.

I first read this book for a Filipino History class at UCLA in 1991. I read it again this year and have appreciated it more. Age and the fact that I re-read it for pleasure this time around can make a difference.... Though I do miss the book discussion at UCLA.

What I love about "America is in the Heart" is that the book gives voice to Filipino Americans, particularly to the forgotten ones from the early part of last century. Just like the Filipino American War, only a few knows about this chapter of American History. The struggles and successes of this group of Filipino men should be heard and this book gives good account of their experiences.

This book tells the story of Allos (or Carlos) Bulosan - from his early days as a peasant child in the Phillipines to his days as an itinerant laborer and reformer for the Filipinos in America. This autobiography reflects the hard life of a persecuted nationality. With no rights to own agricultural land and the risks of being beaten for even conversing with a white women, Filipinos were despised along the West Coast and treated as criminals and monkeys. With no legal recourse or organizations, Filipino workers were often exploited by the contractors and the Chinese and Japanese who owned the gambling houses and whorehouses. This exploitation led many to drinking and violence, only to aggravate the hatred of their kind. Bulosan tells of the brutalities endured by Filipinos at the hands of the white community and of the terrors of disease and unemployment. How many times did Bulosan have to hear "You're fired!" after trying to stand up for himself and his people.

One thing that struck me about the book was the concept of meeting your siblings when you're old enough to remember it. Having grown up with my older sister always at my side, the first scene in which he firsts meets his older brother, Leon seemed very foreign to me. It brought home the point that working families didn't always have the luxury of living together. To survive, each family member had to contribute whether it was working the fields or selling goods in the market, but it meant that the whole family was not united. This family never seemed to be fully together, at least one sibling or parent was always away, trying to do their part. It was hard for me to really relate to that, although I certainly felt for them.

Another concept that I noticed was the sense of time in the book. While Carlos was in America, I never really grasped how much time was passing, and it seemed that Carlos himself didn't either. When reflecting, he often wondered at how many years it had been since he arrived in Seattle. Even after reading the book, I'm not sure exactly of the years that this autobiography covers, although I'm given a few references to historical events and figures. While years seemed to be pass by unnoticed, Carlos writes of an "acute sense of time" because he has to focus on the present just to survive. He writes, "yesterday seemed long ago and tomorrow was too far away. It was today that I lived for aimless, this hour - this moment." That to me was an interesting contrast.

Carlos also wrote of the conflicting visions of America - how it could be so cruel at times, while certain aspects could be so kind. He could not understand the country that terrorized his people, and yet contained some people so willing to help. The violence and pain Carlos experienced made him fear even himself - that he would not be able to contain his rage and would last out. He was afraid of his own brutality, even when he longed for goodness and love in the country of opportunity.

This book is filled with names and places, and it is often difficult to remember exactly who's who or what happened in which city. As Carlos travels all along the West Coast and meets a great many people. Surprisingly to me, his world seems small, as he meets most of his friends and companions multiple times during his travels. Seemingly by chance, he encounters his brothers who came to America before him. Maybe it was vastly different then, but I have a hard time imagining that continuous traveling on the coast would lead you to your family and friends as often as it did for Carlos. However, since the Filipinos were confined to certain districts, I guess it shouldn't be so surprising.

The last parts of the book relate Carlos' experience in trying to organize the Filipino labor movement, and his intellectual emergence as a writer. Throughout this section, Carlos regains his faith in America, as he meets more people fighting for his people and reads dozens of books proving that situations can get better and uneducated people can write the story of their people and their struggles. America became a part of Carlos - through it's land and his struggles and successes in it. He wanted desperately to help America grow into the country he knew it could be, and he sacrificed so much for America. His hopes were contained within America, and so America was contained within him.

What you have here is a selected anthology of primary sources throughout the ages. There is no one central theme or relationship among the selections, and I find the variety to be superb. In some cases you can read about well-known people and incidents, and in others you can see the words of 'ordinary' people who experienced 'extraordinary' events (is there really an extra-ordinary event?). This is not the kind of book that one would read cover to cover - I've owned my copy for years, and still find myself thumbing through it to select an entry that is the length that I feel like reading - for example, Marco Polo's description of Kubla Khan's park is a nice 5 minute shot, but William Howard Russell's description of the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' is chapter length. This is a solid book for anyone interested in any period of history but who isn't a snob about it.

This monumental assemblage of first-hand accounts is as nearly perfect a portrait of human brilliance as, perhaps, can be wrought by the hand of man.

It is flawed only by the inexplicable absence of material related to late-20th Century North America, a vacuum all the more mysterious owing to the wealth of offerings from this time and place. The prospective contributors are many and prolific - where, for example, is Anthony de Fex's heartwrending journal of his imprisonment in the Western heart of darkness, and his inspiring escape to freedom in Iran? Carey, or his successors, are long overdue with a new edition of this stupendous collection.

Although I have an aunt who is a lawyer, and she assures me an eye-witness account is too-often fraught with factual errors, in my mind there is nothing else to match reading information written by someone who was directly THERE to see, hear, feel or touch the event being described. I've owned this book for years and still never get tired of referring to it. Want to read what a contemporary resident of the city has to say about a plague that brought Athens to a standstill in 330 BC? There's one in here. How about the death of Socrates? It's covered, and so is the moon landing in 1969, along with Pliny's description of Vesuvius' eruption that buried Pompeii. There are events great and small, reporters famous and forgotten, incidents trivial and earth-changing. You can find written descriptions of primitive surgeries, learn what a dinner date with Attila the Hun was like, and wince at the beheadings of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Louis XVI of France. In this book there are about four-hundred events covered from a first-hand perspective, and I found virtually all of them engrossing. I know of no other collection that brings so many noteworthy anecdotes into one volume. It's well worth the price and the reading-time put into it.

A neat compilation of eyewitness acounts of some of the most fascinating characaters and events in human history (Like Attila the Hun). If you aren't a history buff before reading this book, you will be afterward.

I have a few favorte pieces in here myself: Walt Whitman's account of Lincoln's assasination, (He says the lilacs were in bloom early that year, and so lilacs always remind him of that day . . . )

Pliny's accont of Mount Vesuvious' eruption (he was teenager doing his homework that day when the saw the ash cloud. His Uncle was in charge of some navy vessels, so Uncle organsized a resuce operation. Later, Pliny and his mom fled in the pitch black of ash). He says at the end of his riviting account something like, "So friend, if you are bored to tears with all this detail, remember it is your own fault becuase you asked for this letter." Thank God for that friend.

Also a meeting with Queen Elizabeth. Not much happens, but he describes her awesome and powerful presence, and all the jewels and attendents. You can see she is a true queen, not just an old maid in a fancy costume.

This book is too wonderful.

wow! Was very surprised at all the ideas in this book. Very good instructions and visual aids. I am having a lot of fun making bracelets with my daughters.

I was really astonished at how many different ways to briad was presented in this book. I wanted it for just 1 braid, but it shows you how to make trim and everything. It is much more useful than I had expected.

A book like this can be used for decades. It's rich textures and colors make you want to create the braids. I love experimenting with designs like this to see how I can apply them. Wonderful.

Interesting book, a lot of interesting projects, with instructions. Do not think it is really suitable for a beginner, but some projects are possible for early projects. Recommend this simply for research and familiarity with possiblities of creative weaving.

This is without doubt the best braiding book I've ever found, though admittedly the title is slightly misleading. When it says "200" there are actually about 50 different types of braids and the rest are variations based on color/color position in the braid. While this may sound disappointing it is actually incredibly helpful. Every braid has detailed instructions and diagrams, helpful tips and colored pictures showing what the finished product will look like when different colors are used in different positions. This book not only shows you how to braid but makes it quick and easy to find the perfect braid for your project. The book also includes detailed sections on starting and ending your braid, as well as making tassles. I purchased this book to make my own handfasting chord and it is PERFECT, but I will also be using it to make my own trim and curtain tiebacks. I recommend getting the spiral copy of this book so you can have it open for reference while you braid.

This text has been very helpful to me and goes wonderfully with the Organic Chemistry book!

This is a definite must! It provides the solutions to practice problems throughout the book. It helps to assess your understanding of the material!

Wow. I have never seen a solutions manual as amazing as this one! There are answers and explinations to every question in the book.. This means not just odds, not just evens, but both! On top of that, it also has answers and explinations on all example problems throughout the chapters! As if that weren't enough, they also have tests at the end of each chapter and a "final exam" at the end of the book to test your knowledge of the information. It is the MOST in depth solutions manual I have ever seen. Definitely spend your money on this. It's more than worth it!

This book is excellent. It gives step by step details as of to how the answers were achieved. Also, after each chapter there is a self test that you can take to boost your Organic Chem. IQ. I recommend this book to anyone who is serious about learning Organic Chemistry.

It is the best solution manual I've ever used. It has all the answers and test samples. It's best.