Clarke Books

Reviewed by William E. Cooper for Reader Views (1/07)

I don't typically read the memoirs of other people, but found this book to be a reason to change my mind - it is an excellent read. Lyn Clarke has had some really great adventures, having essentially traveled the majority of the world. His ability to describe the journeys is very effective and clear, and very enjoyable to read. He's seen great sights, met many famous people, intentionally or not, and the story flows exceptionally well. Clarke writes from the heart and you are able to read the passion and enjoyment experienced along the way. There is humor, drama, and something for every reader. If I were to plan a world-wide journey, I think I'd follow Clarke's example of how to do it right. This book is a roadmap for doing something many of us only talk about or dream about, but never actually do. Lyn did all this through sports, work, and just traveling. I also like the fact that Lyn included photographs of himself, family, and life experiences - those experiences alone include award winning pursuits. In addition, I like the lengthy list of fascinating people he's met and the well-known places he's visited, all kept in a list easy to refer to. It adds to the story to be able to see much of what is written about.

Lyn Clarke is a person who experiences life to the fullest, who had seen and done so much, and has the gift of being able to share it in such a manner as to make this a book I'd recommend for anyone. His book describes the ride from his home in Wales to his current home in Florida, and all the scenery and adventures along the way. He is descriptive without being verbose. He clearly enjoys the stories and loves to share them. This is a person I'd love to sit down with and just chat. I expect I could learn a great deal, all the while being entertained. Here is a person who at the end of life will have few regrets. I encourage everyone to buy and read "Memoirs of a Welshman." It is well worth the time.

When you hear the term 'memoir' do you think twice about looking at it?
Well, you should pick up Lyn Clarke's memoir, Memoirs of a Welshman, and listen to all the fascintating stories this man has had - he is delightful.
You feel you are at a pub listening to him talk, and as each page is turned, you wonder what will happen or who will he see. And this man has lived quite a life! While keeping a 'normal' job, he excelled in rugby and soccer both in the UK and the States - and met many celebrities...
I have lived in Michigan around the areas that Clarke worked when he first came to America to live, so I could relate to his acclimating to the harsh weather - snows and tornadoes -
Will be picking up his next memoir - Ramblings of a Welshman - and am sure looking forward to reading it to see further adventures of this personable man with a colorful life.

Republished auto magazine road tests of all the SLs and SLCs from 1971 through 1989, with tables of specs and performance. Other books look better on the coffee table, but this is the one we can use to compare the years quickly and easily. And it's less than half the price of books not as thorough, though prettier.

A very nice collection of road tests and driving impressions of one of the most desirable Mercedes-Benz. Clarke confirms his class. Some pages are in colour.

I really enjoyed the humor and nostalgia of the 40's and 50's. The author certainly knows about what goes on in the minds of teenagers. His characters bring back many memories of this colorful era. I'm not really that much of a sports fan but still found much in the novel to hold my interest.

This is a wonderful story, a real joy to read. I could really relate to Willie Michaels ("Willie Mackerels" to his friends). Willie is a kid with a dream: He wants to become a major league baseball player. But Willie isn't a great athlete, and in his senior year of high school he finds himself playing with the Happy Valley Milk Maids, who have hit rock bottom. Willie also dreams of Trudy Trammell, but his chances of gaining Trudy's affections seem as unlikely as the Milk Maids' chances of winning a game.

The book runs the range of human emotions, but mostly it was just a lot of fun to read. Mike Clarke knows how to tell a story. His writing style is very quick and entertaining, and The Migration of Willie Mackerels is a delightful novel. I highly recommend it.

More Than One Universe is a compendium of several of Clarke's collections of short stories gathered together in one volume. As such, devotees of Clarke's work will find nothing new here, but for the uninitiated, this book is a remarkable exposition of the work of one of science fiction's bona fide masters. Although universally acclaimed for his novels (2001: A Space Odyssey, and Childhood's End among others), Clarke's short stories are also widely regarded as classics in the field, and this volume shows why. One of the mainstays of the genre is what may be called the "reading problem" story, wherein the hero is put into a desperate situation from which he (and the reader) are challenged to find a way out. Such stories have been popular since the inception of the form, largely because science fiction opens up so many new venues for the traditional Man Against Nature conflict. Clarke shows his skill at presenting these puzzles, as evidenced by "Summertime on Icarus" (where the hero is in danger of being grilled alive by the heat of the sun), "Into the Comet" (wherein a space vessel loses all visibility and instrumentation) and "Maelstrom II"(orbiting the moon without rocket power), just to pick a few examples. Of course, the real test of a science fiction writer is in how well he works outside the standard formulae, and many of these pieces were ground-breaking indeed when they were first published. Clarke predicts the collapse of Western civilization into decadence in "Patent Pending" and "I Remember Babylon", and more seriously, questions divine will in "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Star". "Before Eden" warns how easily space exploration can become a destructive, even genocidal act, while in "Superiority" he describes how a warring nation defeats itself with technological advances. Lastly, "The Sentinel" leaves one of the most memorable (and convincing) depictions of how men might learn of other intelligences in the universe. Not every one of these fifty-odd stories is a masterpiece, of course, and as with most classic s-f, there's very little room for romance -- women are a decided minority in these tales -- so readers of the female persuasion may not be too enthused. On the other hand, this very lack of sexual context makes the book entirely appropriate for even the youngest teens. This is an excellent book for a young reader just discovering science fiction, but be aware that many longtime readers will already own a lot of these stories in other collections.

This is a copendium of some fifty-odd short stories written by Arthur C. Clarke gathered together from such previous short story collections as Expedition To Earth, Reach For Tomorrow, and Tales of Ten Worlds. Included, of course, are all of his most famous shorts... The Sentinel, The Nine Billion Names of God, The Star... etc., etc. This is a goldmine of science fiction, and anyone who calls themselves an Arthur C. Clarke, or even a science fiction fan, should have in their collection in one form or another. However, the thing is, this book is now out of print and has been replaced by the more comprehensive Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. Thus, since the stories in this collection are of high quality, and many essential, ground-breaking classics, I suggest you pick the book up if you can find it, and you don't already have them. However, since this book is rare and better collections are now out, the chances of this happening are pretty slim.

I used this book as an introduction to a the study of Christian Mystics. I found it very easy to read and very insightful about the different mystics in the Church. I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the mystics before picking up the original texts themselves.

I read this book a number of years ago and am still amazed when I think of the impact it had.

By tracing the history of immigration to America, this book reminds us all of who we are and where we come from. Almost everyone in this country comes from somewhere else. We are all immigrants. This comprehensive look at immigration delves deep into our collective soul as it describes in glorious detail the passion and vitality of immigrant life in America; where we came from and who we are.

This book is masterful in its detail and gloriously illustrated. Every American should read this book before voting. Every American should read this book before paying taxes. Every American should read this book before graduating high school. America is less than 300 years old, but our history is deep. By association, our history streaches back thousands of year, to the glories of Rome and the majesty of Jerusalem.

I appreciated this moving account of the birth of our nation through its emerging diversity and vitality. As each wave of immigration brough new color to this land, the nation grew wiser and stronger.

I highly recommend this meaningful book. I especially appreciated the section that dealt with my heritage, the section on immigration from Eastern Europe. Each reader will appreciate the section that relates to their personal history. From start to finish a well writen, well crafted book.

This book is well written and imaginatively illustrated. Elkan Presman's writing is clear, consise and a joy to read. This is a must read for everyone interested in iommigration to America, whether it is from the stance of your own personal history, or in terms of the development of the nation.

What a great book. Thank you. Thank you.

This is the classic Christams story we are all familiar with, but has been given an update with charming new illustrations. The pictures are gentle and sweet - adults will love it as much as the children!

If you like Zwerger's art, and this story, you will enjoy this book.

I bought this book for my baby girl's first Christmas. I knew I wanted "The Night Before Christmas" and I spent some time trying to decide which printing to get. This one is gorgeous! The illustrations are beautiful and there is even texture on the pages. I love it. It will be a great start to her Christmas book collection!

The cover does not do this book justice. Each page inside is glossy and beautiful. It has a somewhat raised layered effect to it. The illustrator is amazing. A wonderful book!

This lovely book is originaly written for the Prague community of the late 30 ties in order to understand, who are the chasidim, who's population was just in big decline at the time (after WWI). The author, who himself has lived with them for long time, choosed an excelent way of telling all of their stories about the holy rabis in the way they use to do so. But he still remembers that not only chasidim will read it and thus explains nicely what some of the strange words or actions mean and also compares some thoughts to those of Western philosophers. It is just a lovely little book about the richest life with God, lived in the hugest poverty of the medeival ages (but in 1910). It fills one with gray joy and i promise your eyes won't stay dray after the first few pages - but you won't be sad !!

Jiri Langer's "Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries" is an indispensible collection of stories relating to the European Chasidic communities. This text makes an excellent companion to Martin Buber's book on the Chasidic Tales. While Buber's text focuses on many of the moralistic aspects of Chasidism, Langer's helps to explain the spiritual side of the Chasidim. The tales of this book explain the very intimate relation to the divine that was such a part of the Chasidic experience. The text also explores the very tenuous position of Jews in Europe preceding the Holocaust. Langer's book, collected from his experiences after leaving his home in Prague to live among the rural Chasidic communities, was almost destroyed by the Nazis. However, a few copies were salvaged, and survive as a testament to the remarkable and enduring legacy of the pre-Holocaust Chasidim.

In general, we assume the differentiability of functions. But this is the very strict assumption and nondifferentiable phenomena are common. So if you want to drop the assumption of differentiability, I'm convinced that you have to read this book. This is one of the best books.

Of all the scientific or mathematical books that I have reviewed or even read, I would place this book at the position of number one (1) in excellence, creativity, genius, inspiration, intuition, and usefulness. It has inspired some of my own best research and I often cite it in presenting papers at conferences and publishing papers. In my opinion, Nonsmooth Analysis is one of the 20 main research areas in mathematics of the last 5 years (others include rare events/large deviations, solutions of Navier Stokes/Einstein field equations/Schrodinger equation, fractals/chaos/entropy, fuzzy sets/fuzzy logic/multivalued logic/other logics, semigroups/Clifford algebras/spacetime algebras,etc.). Perhaps the most astonishing finding of Clarke et al., book here and in their journal papers (and those of their colleagues), is that equations become inequalities and subset relationships when one goes from smooth physics to disconnected and sharp-bend physics. The latter types of physics may seem difficult to visualize at first, but think of what happens when ice suddenly changes phase to water, or water changes phase suddenly to vapor/steam. Or think of what happens when a runner or a racecar or a plane suddenly makes a 180 degree about-face (runners might be able to do this, but planes can only do it approximately at usual speeds). Ordinary physics and mathematics cannot handle these situations. Other examples are catastrophes, sudden strokes of good fortune, etc. You can see that these are often related to rare events, which I have reviewed elsehwhere. It turns out that the usual mathematics which involves equations becomes inequalities (less than, greater than, etc.) and subset relationships (A is inside B or is a subset of B) in the new situations. Clarke et. al. prove theorems quite rigorously in this area. If you have any hesitation in reading this book because of its mathematical content, hire a reputable consultant or tutor to translate the results into an approximation to ordinary English. If you don't, you'll miss out on opportunities to apply the results to your own area and maybe even your own daily life.