Farrell Books

David Krell's avant-garde biography of the great philosopher is borderline incomprehensible as it is steeped in an impenetrable post-modern litany of obscurantist literary techniques. However, the novel is truly ambitious, as Krell attempts to tell the Nietzsche's story from the point of view of his late insanity. The result is extraordinarily unreadable and esoteric. Perhaps the one notable achievement of the work is that Krell has reproduced many of Nietzsche's original letters to friends and family and all of his medical documents recorded during his years in mental institutions. The reader is provided with a rich insight into the poor man's regression. Still, one is left with a broken storyline, undeveloped characters and scenarios, and prose that is entirely too derivative of Joyce's Ulysses.

A professor of Nietzsche studies has done a most elaborate thing, he has written a novel pertaining to the last ten years of Friedrich Nietzsche's life when Nietzsche was mad. The novel of Nietzsche's breakdown speaks in Fritz's own allegedly lunatic voice and that of his mother and others. It draws upon the biographical information of the life imagining his circumstances in those last ten years. Surprisingly, the effect is lively and interesting since the book is the creation of a Nietzsche scholar.

How anyone finished this book is beyond me. Stream-of-consciousness modernism became a literary cliche many decades ago, but it still survives to provide swanky intellectual cover for authors like Krell, who are unable to tell a compelling story. The flouting of sexual taboo is another tedious literary cliche, yet Krell attempts to use it as his meal ticket, with ridiculous effect: see his speculations about young Nietzsche sitting on his father's lap during a piano lesson and feeling an erection in Daddy's pants. Is this "novel" vile or simply ludicrous? Don't waste your time or money trying to decide which.

Krell is a major translator of Heidegger who, in addition, have contributed to fine books of interpretation on Heidegger as well as Nietzsche. Krell's previous Nietzsche-outing, "Infectious Nietzsche," is a bold, inventive and challenging look at Nietzsche and the discourse surrounding body, health, and disease.

In this fictional biography, Krell once again tackles Nietzsche, covering the last years of the philosopher's life as his body and mind became ravaged by syphillis. By combining Joycean literary techniques with snippets of Nietzsche's actual letters, Krell attempts to give voice to the impossible: madness.

At the hands of any other writer, such a project would be an utter disaster (and not in any good sense) but with Krell's depth of philosophical as well as philological understanding of Nietzsche as well as the languages and the cultures that meant so much to him, this book is surprisingly poignant, stirring and haunting.

The letters which range the entirety of Nietzsche's sane life, from adolescence to the very final scribblings before madness overtook him (some such letters have stains of lunacy), reveal a tender and fragile Nietzsche, that his own persistent metaphors of laughter, dance, and war often betray. These letters also reveal the inner core of Nietzsche: his passion for life despite the ailments and personal shortcomings--why he came to write such good books.

In the end, Krell's Nietzsche is not unlike the Nietzsche of 'Ecce Homo,' the half-mad self-invented alter ego of his former self. In dissolving the very boundaries between philosophy and fiction, Krell may have paid the ultimate tribute to the legacy of Nietzsche: for what is a biography about Nietzsche anyway, but perhaps a profound work of art?

I agree with the author of the "Ugh" review. What's charming about people who find one another continuously irritating, because they certainly are - and who, to keep the plot going, do dumb, dumber and yet even dumber things?

Being a fan of Dick Francis, I love a good mystery especially if it has to do with horses. This is the first of Ms. Bannister's books I have read, and I'm happy I borrowed it from the library rather than buying it.

First off, as a mystery, this book is awful. I guessed the entire plot a good couple of hundred pages before her characters did, which is not good in any book, let alone a mystery novel. Her characters are either mean, or complete push-overs. This bichromatic view of characters is carried over into many other aspects of the book as well in an annoying black or white rigidity.

Secondly, as a book that deals with horses, Ms. Bannister has some disparaging opinions of both horses and horse-people. At the beginning of chapter 15, she talks about how most horse people are good with horses and bad with people, because they are used to "retaliating" when a horse kicks rather than trying to figure out why it kicked. Then she goes on to say that if you're the type of horse-person that tries to find out why it kicked rather than just immediately punishing the horse (I'm not saying punishment isn't a useful tool, but it needs to be deserved first, and in order to find out if it's deserved, the trainer needs ot look at why the horse kicked), you inevitably let the horse get away with whatever it wants to. This is indicative of a very close-minded, oldworld view of horsemanship, and horse-people in general, and I'm appalled that she would write a fiction work centered around horses and yet have nothing good to say about either them or the people that partner with them.

In Dimmock, England, Finder Brodie Farrell provides driving lessons to her friend schoolteacher Daniel Hood. However, they barely are in the car when a girl runs into their vehicle. Half hysterical, she accuses driver Daniel of trying to kill her, which seems odd to Brodie as the pedestrian raced out of nowhere into their car. The girl flees into the night leaving behind two bewildered people.

Brodie mentions this incident to her boyfriend Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon, but he is preoccupied as a new designer drug Scram is inundating Dimmock. He must find the manufacturing plant/lab to shut it down before more deaths occur. His prime concern is to find the Scram factory and stop the drug at its source before more people die. When the girl who hit the car turns up in Dimmock General Hospital from a Scram overdose, Jack visits her to see what she knows. She is Alison Barker, a former show jumper until the death of her father, who allegedly committed suicide but she insists was murdered and that the culprits are coming for her. While Daniel accepts her word Jack thinks she lies; Brodie decides to learn the truth one way or another.

Brodie's sixth mystery is a terrific mystery that focuses on the illegal designer drug industry that makes billions on the backs of teens and young adults. Brodie's investigation is more professional than amateur as her work as a professional finder is similar to that of a private investigator. Jo Bannister provides a delightful mystery enhanced by the romantic triangle.

Harriet Klausner

Brodie Farrell is giving driving lessons to her friend Daniel Hood when a woman in black runs out in front of the car. The mysterious woman disappears and then turns up in the hospital loaded with the new designer drug Scram. Alison Barker claims she knows nothing about it and someone must have given it to her in attempt to kill her. Her father, she claims, did not commit suicide but was murdered. The police are trying to locate the source of the Scram and neutralize the first lab in the country before it spreads. The police dismiss concerns about any danger to Allison, claiming she is not psychologically stable. Their interest in Allison is only as a source to locate the new Scram lab in Dimmock. Brodie and Daniel, however, investigate her claims. The path leads to big money and high stakes equestrian circles --- and danger.

REQUIEM FOR A DEALER resembles a police mystery based on the characters and a slightly hard edge tone. Brodie Farrell, a professional finder and Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon are more seasoned to the hard realities of the crime world than the amateur sleuths found in cozy mysteries. Daniel Hood is a good man, a man of honor, providing a nice contrast to some of the other harder-edged characters. Readers are likely to guess easily the direction in which the investigation heads but may find an unexpected twist or two at the end. The puzzle here lies not so much in who committed the possible crime but how to catch them. The history of the horse business in England intrigues since it varies from the US horse world, although this aspect leaves the reader wishing the author had developed this aspect of her novel more than one paragraph.

While REQUIEM FOR A DEALER may not present a suspenseful race to the identity of the culprit, it provided an entertaining and distracting read. This book would be a good choice for the beach or busy times of the year when one wants to relax with a book but may have to stop and start reading or be distracted. The mystery is easy to follow and remember.

This item states that it is a "looseleaf questionnaire with user guide" It is NOT in looseleaf format, (no holes or binder) it was just pages wrapped in saran like wrap. Also there is NO user guide. I even tired re-ordering it and got the same product. That is why it is cheaper on Amazon because it is not as it is being represented.

a fabulous tool to include parents in evaluation and screening their own child. Helps with the denile factor.

I must agree to disagree with Mr. Chan. I have studied the battle of Singapore for almost 38 years, and this is simply the most outstanding of the recent studies on the battle of Singapore, both tactically, operationally and strategically. I believe this to be true even though the last few years have seen several great histories published on the battle (Alan Warren, Colin Smith). This is a great addition to any library on the Battle of Singapore!

I am disappointed in purchasing this book. I think that there will be a lot of information but Information on defence of Singapore and British army and Commonwealth armies is not enought. It is military history but not enought and not new military information on this.

I frequently read books in combination. For example, this one and The Productivity Imperative: Wealth and Poverty in the Global Economy, both edited by Diana Farrell who wrote an introduction to each and is also among the contributors. The material was generated by those associated with the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) - of which Farrell serves as Director -- and its "Critical Trends in Economics and Management" initiatives.

As Farrell explains, the material in this volume consists of 10 MGI articles that demonstrate the case against three misconceptions about productivity growth in economies around the world. (They are best revealed within context in the narrative.) The collection of articles "also presents guidelines for policies regarding these three areas [i.e. capital investment in IT, the importance of productivity in service industries, and the impact of tax evasion and illegal business practices] that will raise productivity more reliably, by promoting investment focused on productive innovation, encouraging greater competition and growth within service sectors, and by effectively and fairly curbing the informal economy."

The articles are arranged in three sections: "IT spending and productivity growth: the real relationship," "The impact of productivity in services on growth," and "How the informal economy stifles competition in emerging markets." I especially appreciate the provision of an "Ideas in Brief" section with each article that identifies a few issues. For example, preceding Martin Neil Baily and Diana Farrell's "A road map for European economic reform" (Chapter 3): "Many Europeans believe that regulatory reforms to make their product and labor markets more competitive will entail eliminating their social safety nets. As alternatives to reform, some advocate protectionist policies, others more investment in R&D." Preceding Thomas Dohrmann and Lenny T. Mendonca's article, "Boosting government productivity" (Chapter 5):"In the developed world, the state commands a large share of the economy, so improving the perf0ormance of government departments can generate hundreds of billions of dollars of value." And preceding Joe Capp, Heinz-Peter Elstrodt, and William B. Jones, Jr.'s article, "Reining in Brazil's informal economy (Chapter 9): "Brazil's onerous bureaucracy is partly to blame: burdensome regulations, high taxes, and weak enforcement conspire to encourage evasion because the benefits outweigh the relatively small possibility and cost of being caught."

Obviously, it remains for each reader to determine the relevance and value of each article in relation to her or his own needs and interests. To me, one of the greatest values of the collection of articles is that all manner of key issues are addressed with rigor as their authors identify what the key barriers to global prosperity and then suggest how to overcome them.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to read C. K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, Kenichi Ohmae's The Next Global Stage, Stuart L. Hart's Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems, and The 86 Percent Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the Next 50 Years, co-authored by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga.

Growth is on the top of every CEO's agenda making this book look very attractive. However, this book is a collection of previously published materials from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). While each piece is individually good, the book lacks a cohesive argument or discussion of the set of tools so they don't meet the readers expectation based on the title.

The articles which are all interesting are not of particular immediate interest to the reader, for example only two of the articles were of high value to me. These are good. However that was 2 articles out of 11 in the book.

Here are the eleven articles:

The new real economy
Getting IT spending right the first time
A road map for European Economic reform
Domestic services: the hidden key to growth
Boosting government productivity
Beyond cheap labor: lessons for developing economies
Don't blame trade for U.S. job losses
The hidden danger of the informal economy
Reining in Brazil's informal economy
The cost of the gray market in Turkey
Regulation that is good for competition

It is important to note that most, if not all of these articles are available for free from McKinsey's web site. Accessing their web site provides not only the articles but access to other materials that are not in the book -- for a price that you cannot beat. While I understand the marketing value of making these articles available via a book, people should know that they may be unnecessarily are paying for the binding and dust cover rather than some paper and toner to print these out.

Again I cannot stress this enough, the work is good. It's just the packaging that is the issue.

Although the blurb and even the title mention C# 2008, my impression is that the book is based on C# v1, and some of the additional features of v2 and v3 were added, but those without much depth.

For example, astonishingly, the book does not even mention generics, one of the most important features of C# v2. The book should have included a chapter on the DotNet framework and CLI, another gaping omission.
Other aspects that should have at least been mentioned include threading, partial classes, reflection, and perhaps more on the role of XML.

This is unfortunate, as what is there holds much promise.

This book almost mirrors the Second Edition with the major difference manifesting itself as the addition of a Chapter 14 which explains how to access data in a C# program using LINQ within Visual Studio 2008's C# IDE. It reviews the fundamentals of relational databases and database structures, concentrating on how to create SQL queries.

Not nearly as well written as Professional Software Testing with Visual Studio 2005 Team System by tom Arnold, Dominic Hopton, Andy Leonard, & Mike Frost, which had email contacts for the authors who would reply to email questions or concerns about how something was written in the book. Joyce Farrell's book has no such offering.

This work book is an excellent tool for those wishing to engage themselves in the study of biblical Greek from a conservative, time tested and approved orthodox approach.

The one star rating reflects my severe disappointment with this workbook.

First of all, I bought it under the assumption that it would have numerous exercises for the student along the lines of the workbook for Wheelock's Latin. However, most of the workbook consists of paradigms - a completed paradigm on one side of a page, and blank paradigms for the student to fill in on the other side of the page. For the most part, that's it. Notably lacking are any extra Greek sentences for the student to translate! Other than saving some time by providing paradigms in a ready-to-photocopy format, neither the student nor the instructor will find much benefit from this workbook.

Second, this workbook applies to the older, first edition of Machen. The fact that it completes incomplete paradigms in the first edition has been largely rendered moot by the superb second edition of Machen (updated by Dan McCartney). The second edition also expands the number of sentences to translate, both Greek-to-English and English-to-Greek. Ironically, this workbook was copyrighted in August, 2003, and a mere two months later, in October, 2003, the second edition of Machen came out. Unfortunately, the author did not seem to know that the second edition was coming out.

Third, the back cover says that the workbook "provides a comprehensive review in the Appendix for use during second year translation and additional grammatical study." However, these objectives can just as easily be achieved by using a laminated Greek grammar study guide and the student's own collected and collated notes and flash cards. I find no use for the large Appendix at all.

In summary, the workbook's complete lack of additional prepared sentences for translation, the general lack of study materials and exercises beyond paradigms, its out-datedness, and its superfluousness earn one, lonesome star. With all due respect to the author, however useful it was for him, it has been of no use to me.

I am a RNA-chemist and I bought this book from amazon.com to get help for my day-to-day research. The moment I had my first glance at this book I was frustrated. This book has described fairly old methods but no contemporary techniques. This book is not even descrided the techniques in an advanced manner which is expected for a book based on so specific field. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has atleast the basic working knowledge of molecular biology.

This book is exactly what it claims to be--a laboratory guide. It provides methods that are clear, but also explains the reasons for the methods. For example: when is an RNA probe better than a DNA probe and why; when nonisotopic labels can be used effectively. Although there is not a chapter on in situ hybridization, I found the section on probes very helpful. There is also a handy glossary at the end and a primer on RNA at the beginning of the book. Dr Farrell realizes the reader maybe new to the field and so doesn't leave out the basics. However, I believe this book will be helpful to all but the most knowledgable molecular biolgists.

The words compelling, thrilling, suspenseful, wonderful - are words that can apply to all of Jo Bannister's books. I think she is a wonderful author who draws you in by your heart strings and does not let you go until the last page has been read. Bannister is very accomplished at holding your interest with her words of description and guiding you thru the ranges of all the emotions. She is an author who gives her characters depth, frailty, strengths, faults - in other words the characters become very real to the reader and that is something that not many authors can do consistently. Jo Bannister is an author that shouldn't be passed by.

Made a mistake buying this book, as well as the others by Jo Bannister. I do not recommend it.
Linda Sheean

I liked this book. Each chapter jumps from present day to past events leading to this unknown horrible event that you are reminded of in every chapter but you don't know what it is. I liked the book but I only gave it 3 stars b/cs I didn't like the ending.