Curtis Books

I have been a trader for 23 years and there are three books I always tell people to read before I will talk to them. PPS, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, and a new one, Trend Following by Covel. They don't have the Golden Mean but they will introduce you to the ideas that will make you a better trader. Read and test before you put your money on the table. Otherwise just go to Vegas, you'll have more fun there losing your money.
PS in all the years I have been trading only two people have read the books, one is my son!! That should tell you how serious people are about making money.
Fourfman

I would check out what the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had to report before you purchase the book. I am making no claims on the effectiveness of the system, but it appears the CFTC states some of the advertised claims are inaccurate. If you search for Curtis Aronld on the web, you should run across the document that I did on the CFTC's web site.

Very good technical analysis tool for commodities futures. Exposes some of the common technical patters that are used,such as double tops and bottoms, head and shoulders,etc. Should be one of the books in your library for futures trading.

Simple and easy trend seeking method for even a beginner. But if you are already a sophisticated chartist or finding some more exciting speculation method, this one will not be for you since it is talking only about the traditional pattern break out and moving average method. However, in the medium to long trend seeking investments, there are always that 'simple is the best.'

This is a truly boring treatment of Nietzsche but I can't really blame the author; Cate has an obvious mastery of the material and writes well. The bottom line is: Nietzsche's life was not very interesting and thus makes for a dull biography. Nietzsche's accomplishments were in his ideas. As a result, the biography resorts to dwelling on minute details of N's travels and correspondence.

There is some value in the book as it helps to make connections between his personal life and the evolution of his ideas but these rewards are just not worth the effort of plowing through the book. Plus, it is not as accessible to the non-academic as the author claims it to be. The Nietzsche-neophyte will quickly become lost in the digressions into various philosophical issues.

Ultimately, the fault with this book lies with its subject matter and not the author. If you're looking for context to understand N's ideas, there are better books out there. If you're interested in his philosophy, then read his actual works (and yes, I have read them all so don't go there). Biographies of boring people seem somewhat pointless...

Not recommended.

Nietzsche was perhaps the most important thinker in modern times. He understood that Western Mankind labored under a terrible burden, a burden forged by idealistic philosophy and biblical religion which substituted a world of timeless ideals for the reality in which men and women really exist. This burden had once been a boon of sorts but with the decline of religious faith and the growth of mass society it became heavier and more inhuman. Nietzsche's own experiences, his own difficult life, especically his German ethniciity, all these contributed to his unique sensibility and genius. But Curtis Cate's decision to explain Nietzsche's unsystematic philosophy through his life is a tedious mistake and failure. In almost 600 pages we suffer every physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological onslaught faced by Nietzsche, all in the narrow and narrowminded world of German academia and Wagnerian romanticism, yet this exposure does not really do as much for our understanding as fifty pages of clear exposition of his thought would have done. Granted that Nietzsche's thought is necessarily untidy and contradictory, since it is anti-systematic and untraditional, but to expect the reader to understand it by reliving Nietzsche's life puts far too much of a burden on a writer's life. And Nietzsche's life is not really all that interesting when compared to his thought. Biography has it place -- but perhaps not so well in the discussion of a provincial professor like Nietzsche. His brain was far better than his feeble body, and his thought rose far above the petty events and puny individuals with whom he came into contact. Except for the saintly historian Jakob Burckhardt and the mystigogue of music and culture Richard Wagner, most of the people Nietzsche was condemned to know and deal with were not worth the dust on his sandalstraps. In this biography one necessarily therefore spends a lot of time with people one could well do without, like Lou Salome for example. No, biography is not the road to understanding Nietzsche.

Occasionally a book is published that daunts the reviewer's attempts to do justice to its subject--in this case, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)--and to the book's content. Curtis Cate's new biography is such a work.

Cate chronicles Nietzsche's life and works in "quantitative detail," from his birth in Ro(e)cken, Germany, on Oct. 15, 1844, until his mental collapse in Turin, Italy, in Jan. 1889, and his death in Weimar on Aug. 25, 1900. One marvels at how minutely Cate narrates the year-by-year, month-by-month, and week-by-week events in Nietzsche's life.

Cate describes Nietzsche's many friendships, from his early school years at Pforta, Wilhelm Pinder and Gustav Krug, and later with Paul Deussen, Carl von Gersdorff, Erwin Rohde, Franz Overbeck, Dr. Paul Ree, Malwida von Meysenbug, Heinrich Romundt, Albert Brenner, Heinrich Koselitz (Nietzsche's loyal disciple, whose musical pseudonym was "Peter Gast"), and, above all, his relationships with a beautiful and extremely intelligent 21-year-old Russian woman, Lou Salome, and with the Richard Wagner and Wagner's wife, Cosima.

Over a period of three years, Nietzsche made 23 visits to Tribschen, the home of Richard and Cosima Wagner near Lucerne, Switzerland. And over the period of seven years, Nietzsche wrote close to eighty letters to Cosima, the daughter of Franz LIszt.

Cate points out that Nietzsche's books are a sustained attack on metaphysical and religious beliefs. Nietzsche argued, writes Cate, that "the attention focused on otherworld fantasies had kept human beings from dealing in an honest, healthy way with the everyday realities that are of the most immediate concern to their well-being. . . . [His] whole philosophy was aimed at achieving a 'higher and nobler' degree of culture."

In a letter to his busybody sister Elisabeth, who so often, during his life and especially after his death, meddled in his affairs, Nietzsche wrote: "Do we in our research seek repose, peace, happiness? No, solely the Truth, even if it be exceedingly deterring and ugly. . . . Here men's ways diverge. If you wish to aspire to peace of soul and happiness, then believe; if you wish to be the disciple of the Truth, then search."

Against philosophical and religious "seriousness," Nietzsche wrote, "I would believe only in a god who knew how to dance. Come, [with our laughter] let us kill the spirit of gravity."

Cate shows that Nietzsche's philosophy was profoundly personal, rising as it did out of deep existential struggles: "Of all that is written I like only that which one has written with one's blood. Write in blood and you will find that blood is spirit. A book that has no fire in it deserves to be burned."

Nietzsche argued that, because of the inexorable advances of science, which, he believed, showed the world to be ungottlich, unmoralisch, and unmenschlich ("non-divine," "non-moral," and "non-human"), Europe was now plunged into a grave spiritual crisis, the crisis of nihilism.

In the opening pages of his posthumously published work, The Will to Power, Nietzsche wrote: "Nihilism stands at the door. When comes this uncanniest of all guests? . . . What does nihilism mean? That the highest values devalue themselves. The aim is lacking; 'why?' finds no answer." It is a will to nothingness, in which a hopeless despair adjudicates everything to be valueless and worthless, without goal, meaning, or purpose.

Nietzsche's central philosophical project was to "live through nihilism" to its bitter end and, hopefully, with the creation of new values, emerge on the other side. That he failed in this project seems evident, but never has a philosopher struggled so valiantly and courageously in wrestling with the demon of nihilism, of staring for a long time into the abyss.

Cate writes, "Nietzsche conceived of his mission as a thinker to be that of the herald of a new 'dawn' in philosophical thinking, the prophet of a new, more honest, less visionary morality, purged and purified of a vast accretion of moral, political, social, and metaphysical prejudices and misconceptions, which had reduced the vast majority of his contemporaries to a collective condition of sheep-like stupidity."

Georg Brandes, a Danish professor and one of Nietzsche's early admirers (he delivered a series of lectures on Nietzsche's philosophy at the University of Copenhagen) described the German philosopher's basic stance as being "aristocratic radicalism." Nietzsche responded with appreciation and hearty approval, saying that Brandes' _expression "aristocratic radicalism" was the "cleverest word" he had ever read about himself.

Indeed, Nietzsche's elitism exalted everything that was noble, distinguished, and excelling, and derogated all forms of mediocrity, mendacity, and anti-intellectualism, including anti-Semitism (Nietzsche was an anti-anti-Semite) and the saber-rattling stupidity of a jingoistic German nationalism.

At the very heart of Nietzsche's philosophy, writes Cate, is "resistentialism." This means that "it is not what assists Man that strengthens and ennobles him, but, quite the contrary, what resists his slothful inclinations and prejudices." His philosophy calls us grow up and become men in our thinking, rather than remaining dependent children, to reject the comfort, safety, security, and certainty of the herd and become an "free spirit" who dares to travel our own paths. "This is my way," wrote Nietzsche; "where is yours? The way doesn't exist."

A key motif of Cate's biography is his chronicling of Nietzsche's illnesses. All of his adult life, Nietzsche was plagued by debilitating migraines that often kept him bedridden for days, by acute negative reactions to metereological changes, causing him to wear dark glasses and become a wanderer throughout Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy in search of a climate conducive to his health. He suffered frequently from stomach upsets, nausea, fits of vomiting, and acute nervous seizures.

Cate's numerous accounts of Nietzsche's struggle with ill health, scattered repeatedly across hundreds of pages, are impressive in their details, impressing on the us the long, hard struggle Nietzsche to lead the semblance of a normal life. And, although Cates only hints at the idea, one wonders if Nietzsche's "yea-saying," affirmative philosophy and his embrace of "amor fati" (love of fate) was not a defense mechanism against the perennial threat of a spirit-crushing pessimism into which he could have fallen because of his prolonged suffering.

After five weeks of giving diligent attention to Cate's masterful biography, I conclude that it will take its place alongside Walter Kaufmann's Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist as one of the best--indeed, in some respects, the best--biographies of Nietzsche available in the English language. This is a distinguished volume. I recommend it most highly.

Roy E. Perry of Nolensville, Tennessee, may be reached at rperry1778@aol.com

(Note: Curt Paul Janz's excellent three-volume German biography of Nietzsche has not yet been translated into English.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Curtis Cate is the author of acclaimed biographies of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, George Sand, and Andre Malraux as well as several other books of non-fiction. He holds degrees from Harvard (History), Ecole des Langues Orientales (Russian), and Oxford (Politics and Economics). He was the European Editor for The Atlantic Monthly for eight years (1958-1965) and has written articles for the New York Times Book Review, the New York Times Magazine and the New Republic. He resides in France.

This book is criticized because it has too much biography, and not enough of Nietzsche's philosophy. And then...vice versa, too much philosophy. I have always been interested in Nietzsche the man, and this book provides the reader with a good rounded view of him. Fortunately there is an extensive amount of correspondence available to provide the biographer with the essential information necessary to construct an informative picture of both Nietzsche and those who figured prominently in his life.

No, Nietzsche did not live an "exciting" life, but that's never a criterion I use in choosing to read a biography. If it's thrills you want may I suggest reading the memoirs of, perhaps, a Navy Seal. When I finished this biography I felt I knew "Fritz". I became appreciative of the extreme difficulties he faced with perpetual ill health. I found the details of his friendship with the anti-Semitic composer Richard Wagner to be quite fascinating. And yes he did travel about a lot, and maybe, at times, his mobile meanderings aren't much more interesting than reading a railroad timetable. Yet these are facts of his life.

Whenever Nietzsche publishes a book Mr. Cate spends five or more pages discussing the philosophy contained in the book. For a book that is not touted as an "intellectual" biography I found this to be a good balance in acquainting the reader with Nietzsche's thoughts. This smattering of philosophical interpretation helps in understanding how the Nazis distorted his views, and made him a national hero (Hitler visited Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth several times). It also provides some understanding of his falling out with Richard Wagner. I am not an academic, although I have read a trifling amount of philosophy. In my opinion the philosophical sections were presented in a lucid manner, and should pose no challenge to the reader. I am assuming, of course, that anyone picking up a biography of Nietzsche has at least some interest in philosophy. The author does drop some heavy weight words on us occasionally, and these were in the biographical material. I don't think I've ever encountered the word "propadeutic" before, and this word occurs twice in the text.

I enjoyed this book very much, and am grateful for the insight into Nietzsche's life. One reviewer suggests that you read books of his thoughts instead of this biography. Well, I already have those, but they don't tell me much about the man who produced them. While Friedrich Nietzsche didn't live an exciting life he still was an extraordinary man. This biography got that message across to me.

this is their best work. couldnot put it down. lives with you long after the last page is turned.

Overall, this story was ok. The characters were well-drawn and covered the problems inherent with a virtual nobody having a romance with a super-mega star.

We'll suspend disbelief that somebody as seemingly perfect and probably jaded as the hunky Neil Stratton could fall in forever-kind-of-love with an unsophisticated, emotional baggage carrying, rather stick-in-the-mud minister's daughter, Kathy Carter.

Okay, Kathy wasn't all that bad. She sounds real nice, actually, and she was gorgeous, to boot. Her near obsession with her deceased husband was believable. Her insecurities and feelings of inadequacy when faced with the full impact of Neil's background, sophistication, talent, and fortune would be natural, I should think, so no complaints from me there.

However, (you knew there was a however coming) as understanding as I am of her mixed feelings, her wishywashyness was a bit wearing. Everytime she did the "theresnowayimgoingwithyou!" song and dance or the old "AndIneverwanttoseeyouagian!" , he'd just call or send flowers or whatever and she'd just turn into a little puddle at his feet, melted by the rays of his starpower, no doubt.

Okay, that was way harsh but the bit at the end where she rushes to his concert! I groaned and wondered aloud to myself "why the heck doesn't she just wait and call him after the concert?" (only I used much stronger language, of course.) I guess it was better to end the book with a grand romantic gesture than a fizzle but in this case I would have preferred the fizz.

sharon and tom curtis could write the ingredients on candy wrappers and make it interesting. always believable most certainly entertaining.

This is my second favorite book by Sharon and Tom Curtis, after The Windflower. It's wonderfully tender and funny, and the characters are fully developed, multi-faceted people. A definite keeper!

I trecked all the way from Australia up to Alaska and the Arctic Circle and that is where I met Joe and Nancy in Joy Alaska and picked up this Fascinating Book. The book is the like the people, Adventurous, Kind, Interesting and is a lesson to us all about what we can achieve if we dare to take chances and follow our dreams. Having met Joe and Nancy I could not recommend this book enough so sit down in front of the fire and do yourself a favour and immurse yourself in the story of this couragous Family and their adventures and dreams.

This story was very cute. I only wish the author would have taken the time to have it proofread and edited. It is full of incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, typos, and poor sentence structure throughout. It also lacks fluidity. She seems to intend to bring the story to the reader chronologically, however in one chapter she turns eight and in a later chapter she is seven again. Despite the difficulty I had with the writing, I was interested enough in the story to finish it.

I had the good fortune to stop at the Homestead Kids homestead in Joy,Alaska on our tour to the Artic Circle. It is everything Ms.Curtis claims. The book was filled with stories that were humorous and also scary.
Many people on the tour bus bought Homestead kid at Ms Curtis's childhood home and most of us were finished reading by the end of the tour. Old and young alike-it was amazing to hear all the response about the book from strangers. I enjoyed the book very much and so did all the other tour bus readers.

I must add that it was a hundred and ninety eight mile tour on a dirt road from Fairbanks to the Artic Circle...And it was worth every bump!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definately recommend it to someone that loves stories about homesteading or doing things the "natural way". It amazes me that these people raised as many kids as they did and still managed to find time to have fun as a family.

I would like to review this book but the problem is although I ordered it in Oct. of last year when you said it was in stock and would ship in a few days, I still have not received it. You also have it listed as available with several of your suppliers. So the low rating is for poor service.

Rockwell's a fine writer and his is an accessible style. His career took him many different places in the mid-20th century, so you'll be surprised at the places he ends up and the people he meets. The clear message is that he worked hard, very hard, to sustain his career. The second message is that he held a skeptical view of the notion of art as an end in itself, and relished contact with his public. The book really is about his professional career. He tucks away his private life, and perhaps this really is as it should be.
This is the kind of book that makes a good gift: everyone knows Rockwell's art, everyone has his own favorite(s), but no one knows the man behind the picture!
As noted above, the ending of the book, journaling the creation of the "family tree" painting, is a good look inside his creative process.

Often we are discouraged from finding out too much about our heroes and icons, lest we be disappointed with what we find. Rockwell, however, shines as one who is thoroughly interesting, although different from what one might imagine in his memoir/autobiography.

I suppose one might expect the celebrated illustrator (he was careful to always distinguish himself as an illustrator and not an artist) to something above the fray, laughing at the foibles of the human condition. Here we find that Rockwell was just as neurotic, and full of fancy as any of his subjects. His life, however, wasn't always a Rockwell painting. After a very unsuccessful first marriage, Rockwell found love in the arms of his second wife.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is when Rockwell takes us through a Saturday Evening Post cover from concept to painting. You couldn't imagine all the second guessing Rockwell did, even after the painting was done.

If you're more than just a casual Rockwell fan, you must read this. You may be stripped of a few illusions, but you will definitely appreciate the personality behind the brush.

This is a wonderful book about the life of Norman Rockwell as only he could have written. I enjoyed the book from start to finish and I have recommended it to all my friends. It gives you an understanding of his life and his discriptions of all the characters in his life are really fun. I have never read a book with such fun descriptions. He went through a lot of phases in his life and moved whenever he found he was lacking of ideas. If you like Norman Rockwell paintings, this book will help you enjoy the painting even more. What can I say - This book is really fun!!

I have been using this text book for my Spanish 101 and 102 at the Seattle language academy and I find it very useful. The explanations in the book are clear and are based on English grammar. The exercises are helpful in testing out your Spanish skills. I like the summary at the end which is a useful reference tool. I recommend this textbook for a beginners course.

Despite the description the book does not come with the ilrn code or the CD-ROM of the book. If you need the ilrn DO NOT! buy here. If you buy the ilrn by it self it is hundred bucks. Amazon sent me two copies because they were not smart enough to know if the book actually came with it or they didn't ship it. Wasted my time and forced me to take a 0 on my first assignment. They did provide free shipping for both returns though and took them back without question. Book is good just don't buy from amazon.

I am about to enter my second semester of Spanish in college and I think this book is simply amazing!! I love the way that it explains Spanish words, vocabulary, and grammar in a way that is easy for people who never had Spanish before to understand the language and a refresher for people who had Spanish in high school, but had forgot some basic words, vocabulary, or concepts. Anyway, each chapter does focus on a small portion of a Spanish-speaking country, but that what makes the book interesting!! It allows each student to grasp information about each particular country, enabling each person to be exposed to each country's culture. The book cannot talk about every single little detail within a particular country. If the student is interested in learning more about the country, he/she can go on the Internet and find more information about it. Personally, I love this book and think it is an excellent source for anyone taking Spanish in college.

I have been teaching with this book for 2 years and the more familiar I am with it the less I like it and the more mistakes I find on it. It was not chosen by me and I hope we'll change it soon. The textbook and workbook have plenty of mistakes even though it is a second edition.
This book claims to cover cultural elements from most Spanish speaking countries but it only sets each chapter in a different country, with very little cultural information about each place. The "encuentro cultural" section is the only cultural information in the book (apart from the video section) and most times is inaccurate or just plain boring or not interesting at all. Another problem is that many of the communication exercises are not communicative at all and not very involving for the students. Finally, I think that a book which costs more than $100 should, at least, have more pictures and color pages and it should try to make learning a language a more rewarding and fun experience.

I found Requiem to be quite humorous and shocking
at the same time. It shows the lighter side of people's bad
times and a world that's full of sex and violence. This book
isn't for the easily insulted and closeminded...

I embarked on reading this book because the publisher and a newspaper reviewer called it "darkly comic," and I was seeking relief from serious literature. The author appears to have made great effort to be funny, but the resulting humor is bitter and cynical. Here's an example of the humor, from a chapter in verse by a Modern Prophet: "and the Lord sent frogs. A Plague of Frogs! ... And the Pharaoh called in his magicians to give an expert opinion and the magicians said, `We can do that.' And so saying the magicians created even more frogs. A frog for a frog, so to speak, One magic frog for every frog of God."

I found the book funny, from time to time, and some objects of the author's derision perhaps deserved skewering, such as the disemboweled Congressman roasted as a human sacrifice. More often, the humor was misplaced and offensive. I do not like parodies of the Bible. Much of the book concerned a Modern Prophet observing human society and finding it wanting. Nearly as offensive to me were the many chapters on the lives of great classical composers which portrayed these men as ordinary, small-minded, and miserable, apart from their musical genius. Internet pornography is another constant theme, and here the humor gets pretty foul-mouthed. There appears to be little in human society that White holds in high regard and considers worth preserving. I am not sufficiently in sympathy with White's negative vision to appreciate the efforts at humor.

requiem is one of the strangest books i have ever read. the main character the so called "modern prophet" basically goes around collecting interviewing murderers, madmen and others in an attempt at i'm not quite sure. when i had finished it i was scared. this book is not for the faint of heart, in fact this book is not for anyone, the world isn't ready for this book so go away and save your precious sanity
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

Curtis White's Requiem is one of those rare works that causes you to stop and rethink the possibilities of the modern novel--a difficult feat in this post-everything world. In a way, the structure, based around Mozart's final work of the same name, functions as a balance (or maybe ballast) to the sytlistically disparate sections. These pieces, however, are fused by intent, so collage together to create a whole work that is impressively unified in aim (just as well (if not better) than White's last remarkable novel, Memories of My Father Watching TV). And in the end, Requiem does what a great novel should, it makes you mull over those things which you had forgotten you should have been examining all along.
Very lush and full of dogs, it is also hilarious.

"These Are the Ties that Bind" is about an underdog with ambition who works hard to overcome the odds people seem to have...they bet against her making something of herself.

Rivers seems to be a writer of truth...she is a painter of real life experiences in this epic story of Courtney Braxon. This story has some drama...and some suspense...with a pinch of sarcastic humor...and finally, no romance!!! Most of the chick stories, and real life experiences of books written for women and about women does not have to always be about romance. I can say that this book is 101 College Expectations for Women...lol.The book goes through the do's and don'ts about what to expect from college life. The book is soo short...but, sooo entertaining! Buy this book...you will not be disappointed.

Author Curtis Rivers has created an inspirational tale in her novella, "These Are the Ties that Bind."

The story is that of a thirteen-year old girl, Courtney Braxon, and her experiences growing up in a small town in Texas. Unlike some teens whose family and friends nurture and support their dreams, Courtney is like many other pubescent girls who feel ostracized and demeaned by adults and peers. But this young lady has grit and determination, successfully navigating the journey to adulthood.

While the basis and intent of the story is worth telling, the pieces and parts, the story structure could be better assembled for ease of reading and understanding.

Curtis Rivers exhibits a perceptive insight into human behavior in her writing skills in the future, she may be a force to be reckoned with.

These Are The Ties That Bind is the story of Curtis Rivers who in her short life has concentrated on writing, and who struggled and succeeded with her education. Raised in a small town in Texas, she had a mind for greater things, and her ambition and determination are made clear in her writing. Authentically portrayed, her adventures will resonate with many readers. The book is too short and one hopes for a longer story next time!

I found myself plowing through this book because it is filled with interesting facts about the post-punk scene in the Manchester area of England...the days when aspiring artists could walk into record label offices and be "found" instead of "made". However, it is a difficult read due the challenge of distinguishing who is sharing their point of view and when. The cast of characters (real life characters) is diverse and ever changing, so it is hard to follow who is sharing their story and in what `person' the story is being told. Ian's wife wrote her own portrayal of events (which I haven't read yet), but this book is missing her perspective. Even if Deborah Curtis didn't have a close relationship with Ian at the time of his demise, her input is clearly missing and it would have helped with some of the emotional gaps. We do get a lot of information from Annik Honore, the woman who participated in Ian's emotional love affair, but they had sporadic contact, over less than a year's time, so it's hard to tell how well Annik knew Ian. Did anyone `know' him for that matter? I came away from this book feeling like no one knew this man. So, the enigma lives on. I still recommend this book, but I'm still left wondering.

I have to agree that the book is a real pain to read because the writing is so lousy. I'm glad to finally have such a detailed account not only of the story of Joy Division but the whole Manchester scene in general. The information is good, but I just can't deal with the sub-standard writing.

An unfortunate strike against an otherwise interesting book.

3 stars for new info contained in the book, but damn, the book was annoying to read because of grammatical errors and sloppy writing.
What ever happened to editors who are supposed to catch this stuff?

here are the reviews found at Amazon.UK where the book is in circulation. Can't wait for this one.

5 stars.
This book takes you from the minutae of a child's life to an absolute monster of a tradegy.The the strength of this book
lies in the publication of the letters between Curtis and Honore and Mr.Middles identification of the many variables of epilepsy,fame,marital breakdown,love,art and business that broke a young and very talented guy. A great book.
Oh,and the depiction of Martin Hannet as somekind of MadHatter is brilliant...a real genius.

5 stars

This is an excellent biography featuring a lot of new information notably from Ian's family and from those who knew him intimately towards the end of his short life. Featuring photos from the Curtis family album, information about his childhood - right through to extracts from letters between Ian Curtis and Annik Honore.

Highly recommended and equally as important as Deborah Curtis's "Touching From A Distance".

If you want to know the real story of Ian Curtis - the one behind the myth - this book is for you.

I needed it for a class and thought of you first.

This book is very touchy feely and not really what I was looking for to change business as usual in my child development center. Ideas are all over the road and doesn't really have a plan to success.

I read the other reviews, and, though they range from great to bad, they are all correct, depending on what you are looking for. I was required to buy this book for a class, and was pleasantly surprised to find it quite readable. There are many ideas in it for pulling existing staff together and creating a cohesive community for your center. Other ideas include actually changing the physical environment of the center to make it more child-friendly. While being a tad politically correct, most of these ideas are well thought out.
If, however, you are looking for the nuts and bolts of running a daycare, such as budgeting, hiring staff, ordering supplies, and producing meals for the children, you will be greatly disappointed, as none of this exists. The authors even state as much in the first chapter (and often thereafter!).
So, if you are ready for an attitude or vision change at your daycare, or just want some great ideas and encouragement for the normal, everyday running of your place, this is a GREAT book. If you want to know HOW to run a daycare, this book isn't for you.

During the past two years,I have often gone back to this book for support and suggestions. As a new director, I have found many helpful ideas for training and handling staff. One of the best suggestions was the reading of children's books at staff meetings. I have read these books or had staff read them. I often wish that there was a longer list of appropriate books to read to staff. At this time,I need to refer again to the community and parent relationships sections. It is an excellent book for new directors and experienced directors that are ready for the challenge of taking on new ideas. When starting my first year as director, my staff created a mission/vision statement for our preschool. We spent 2 days sharing our memories of childhood and our expectations and philosophies of early childhood education before we finalized this statement. A year later we reviewed it, which we will do annually. Thank you to these authors for this wonderful first step that helped to pull my staff together, something we all constantly and continually strive to do.