Ferguson Books

This slim book is a helpful and fact-filled introduction to the history and socio-economic trends in the Caribbean basin. Its focus is on the gentle arc of islands stretching from Anguilla to Trinidad. Sugar, bananas, and oil are among the commodities that have and continue to play a role in the economic life of the region. The author gives us a brief history of the Caribbean's past reliance on the slave trade to support its agricultural economy and the sometimes bloody uprisings prior to its eventual abolition in the nineteenth century. It is the kind of information you will not find in Fodor's or most travel brochures (I write this note standing at a Curacao resort photographing an idealized mural of healthy black servants - the second I have seen today). Of greater interest to the curious North American may be the history of colonial involvement which has left its ethnic mark on the islands' culture along British, French, and Dutch lines. Anglo-Canadians will almost certainly be amused to recall that it was in the Treaty of 1763 that Britain opted to retain Canada - dismissed by Voltaire as a "few acres of snow". In exchange, the delighted French retained a dotted cluster of islands that for all its imagined similarity to paradise is extraordinarily difficult to locate on any map - Guadeloupe. The impact of tourism is tremendous in the Caribbean today and it seems only destined to grow with cheap airfares and travel 'channels' of information breathlessly promoting the regions' splendid climate and recreational amenities. While some voice reservations about the cultural or ecological impact of this recent 'invasion', others might argue that the material benefits imparted to the island economies are real, needed, benign, and re-occurring. Each island's cultural identity is a dynamic asset that can be protected but not totally controlled from change with civic planning and an eye toward promoting the preservation of local traditions. In this way tourism and local identity can evolve together. The cultural impact of tourism, the development of off-shore banking enterprises, an ever-present awareness of the United States (the CNN Effect) get little attention and are generally beyond the scope of this book. The sinister threat of the drug trade moving through the islands is noted (A vacationing Amsterdam physician tells me to read SNEEUW OVER CURACAO, J.van den Heuvel [untranslated]). These are topics that warrant serious attention. Reading Ferguson's introduction is a reasonable place to prepare for that more serious study.

This set of books is incredibly helpful when finding information on a career! I love its easy to read format and clear message. I recommend this set to everyone.

Maybe I was in a mood to read an English novel. I bought English Weather in a used bookstore in Hay-on-Wye during a week long stay in Herefordshire, England. I had read Persuasion during our week of travel and was delighted to have some of this novel also set in Bath with references to Jane Austen.

English Weather tells the story of Gregory Harris, literally from death to birth, from the perspective of eight characters in his life, ranging from an Eritrean refugee, a boxing coach, a Salvation Army children's home worker, and an old school friend turned lover. The settings of the chapters range from jail cells to manor houses, from San Francisco to eastern Turkey, from World War II to the1990s. The formats are diaries, letters, interviews, and reminiscences. It's a gimmick, but it works!

One character says, "The thing I've always liked about books is that when you're in the middle of one you can forget where you are, that you are in prison and miserable. You're somewhere else--in another country even. You find yourself crying about something that happened to people you don't even know, who are completely different to you. And while you're reading, the end is already there in your own hand waiting to happen."

English Weather did this for me--a day spent in the company of eight very different people who knew Gregory Harris. I am left wanting to know this admirable, but enigmatic man better.

But the title? Why is this novel called English Weather? I am puzzled.

I suppose it's not entirely fair to rate a book in part on one's own misperceptions, but, I'm going to anyways. When I initially bought this book I thought it was going to be a comprehensive analysis of traveling Europe by Eurail (I was preparing for a 20 day whirlwind trip with my brother at the time). What the book provides is information about good hubs from which one can make multiple day trips using the Eurail system. It also contains some good information about the locales, contact information for local tourism offices and (in my experience) very accurate time tables. Had I known what I was getting (stupid me) I'd be rating this book five stars. As it was, the book helped our trip out immensely and even convinced us to go to a few countries we weren't even planning on (with zero regrets).

Five essays comprise the total of this volume, The Reinterpretation of the Renaissance, Changing Attitudes towards the State during the Renaissance, Machiavelli's Prince and More's Utopia, The Renaissance conception of the Lessions of History, and Renaissance Platonism.

This multimedia course is geared towards those who most likely have had Irish in school-- and I mean in Ireland-- years ago. It is not meant for beginners. I quote the back cover: but "at those who have studied Irish in the past and understand a great deal of the language, but have had few opportunities to use it in recent times." The "great deal" is the clincher. If you have not attained a past level of at least upper-intermediate fluency in speaking, listening, writing, and reading, you will flounder. Therefore, as one who has picked up admittedly less than "a great deal" of his smallish Irish by study outside of Ireland, I found this course more marginally but still relatively useful.

Why? It fills a niche left so far empty. It's arguably the first comprehensive multimedia learning platform oriented-- as its presenter, participants, and preparers show-- to Irish in its native habitat, as in our 21st century. (The author also wrote a useful "Teach Yourself Irish Grammar" in 2005; I review this and two other grammars, Donna Wong's "Learner's Guide to Irish," and Nollaig Mac Congáil's "Irish Grammar Book," on Amazon, as well as some of the other titles mentioned in the review you're reading.) While beginners can select from O Siadhail's formidable "Learning Irish," the Teach Yourself Irish series, or Transparent Learning's "Irish Now?" CD-ROM, to name the three usually found easily around the world, after this, what next?

The three TT videos record the 20 TV programs broadcast originally on RTE; these for learners will seem fast-paced. There's a helpful website link via RTE that explains more about the workings of the language as a refresher, as the intent of this book + video is to sharpen conversational skills and not duplicate grammatical book-learning. (Wong, Mac Congáil, and TYIG can all help the latter need.) The TT book itself is designed to be used with the videos, although it can be bought separately. The book has CD exercises that the video does not. The videos overlap with but do not duplicate most of the textbook and CD.

Here are the differences. The chapters in the book start with learner's tips, go on to dialogues, follow with activities for practice (if you don't have sufficient basic comprehension already, you need to review, as they move briskly), a glance at key phrases or idioms, a bit of grammar, a reading text, and a review. Answers to the exercises are appended.

For the videos, the dialogues are acted out--this is very helpful, as three conversations are given, one each with Munster, Connacht, and Ulster accents (and dialectal usages once in a while). This feature aids a learner's ear for the crucial differences in stress and grammar that arise and challenge you once you leave behind "caighdean" or standard "school" Irish. These differences are rapidly commented on by Sharon Ni Beolain, the affable host, but you need to understand the bulk of the basic conversation on your own first. What's explained are the more subtle points that a teacher or tutor would comment upon. There are other video features not in the text. For me, this lack of integration is a definite shortcoming of the text proper.

Why? The most glaring and frustrating instance is when you get a "soundscape" of "everyday" conversation ambiently recorded. I know immersion is the reason. But it is often hard to hear the details of what is said or likely mumbled-- and as no captions are available and no text is offered, you cannot advance much in your comprehension. The visit made by the host to native speakers is only alluded to in the text by a picture and caption; again, with only an English caption provided for the conversation, it helps comprehension to a degree, but it would have been much better if the videos had always provided both English and Irish captions that a learner could switch between for self-study. Irish captions, in fact, are rare, when I expected them to be parallel to the English option. This lack is the worst shortcoming that I found in the videos. Repeated viewings enable one to better "hear" the Irish, but for words or phrases you're still unsure about, there's no text or any way to verify or correct your mental version of what you think you're listening to.

A similar shortcoming exists with the enjoyable "reality show" that brings together six people to see if they'll divide into three couples, as they compete to find romance and to win a house in the Gaeltacht of their choice! This offers a great chance to accustom your ear to the various dialects and accents, but with only English as a caption, this falls short of its potential. I have to admit that the graphics for this currently "up-to-date" video series look surprisingly shoddy, and that in a few years the haircuts and fashions will be terribly if amusingly dated!

All in all, there's finally a choice on the market for intermediate learners, and for that RTE is to be commended. Four stars for effort; three for execution? But the lack of a total match between textbook and videos, as well as the absence for the most part of Irish captions added to not any captions in large segments does mean that you will have been expected to have a sharp ear for mastering the Irish you hear but will not be able to read-- neither on the video nor on the page.

This book is great for someone interested in an intro to how the far right has become such a major aspect throughout Europe. It has a great variety of countries which are discussed. Some moments become a bit long-winded, but overall; it's very informative about countries & aspects rarely represented to the ones you always hear about (from Greece to Britain & Germany).

Raven Delaney and Dr. Jeffery Knight, lovers who parted years before over their medical views are once again at odds. This time over a deadly virus.

"Fever Rising" has both suspense and romance. Just when the reader thinks everything is figured out, another twist evolves. "Fever Rising" makes the reader anxious to find out exactly what happens.

When the victims of the deadly epidemic start dying, everyone is under suspicion, including Raven, now an herbalist, who once treated some of the victims. However, when Dr. Jeffery also falls victim and time is ticking, Raven may have the cure. Is that enough to take a risk? Raven must make a drastic decision in order to save the life of the man she thought she could stop loving.

Ms. Ferguson combined both suspense and romance in this book. It has just the right combination of both.

Ferguson, Douglas. "The Forgotten Ones", Reverse Rapture Press, 2007.

One You Won't Forget

Amos Lassen

There are books you read and never forget and I predict that Douglas Ferguson's "The Forgotten Ones" will be one of those. He looks at time, space and religion in a way that many might shy away from and some may find heretical. I find it wonderful. It may change the way you look at religion or even think about a supreme being and you will have several hours of wonderful reading as you consider what this author has to say. Ferguson looks at myth, divine myth and explores them and the blows them up and he does so with the most erudite blasphemy I have ever read. He does so with love and writes in a style that is not only extremely readable but delicious.
It is that time when the Great God Convention is to take place and the word has leaked out that there is a possibility of a second coming. It seems that nobody really wants Jesus around and as the gods meet in Vancouver, tempers get hot and the cosmos begin to take on a new appearance. Invited to the meeting is a group of gods which includes the Africa Orishas, the Norse Aesir, the Faeries, the Greek Pantheon and the Native American Animal Elders. Of course omitted from the invitation are Lucifer and his guys and the head and board of Patriarchy, Inc.
Jesus and Mary Magdalene are preparing for the second coming and they are sure to get it right this time. They have found for themselves a young teenaged prostitute, Angela, who is to be the mother of the new Messiah and the babe is a female this time. Neither the Jesus camp nor the Great God Convention bothered to remember a female named Lilith who had been the wife of Adam and the ex-wife of Lucifer and it is she who will determine how all of this will end.
Sure, the whole idea seems a bit ridiculous and completely out somewhere but Ferguson has written a novel that is so well penned that as out of the world the idea ay be, it will hold your attention and get you thinking. It seems that since "The DaVinci Code", we are hungry for novels that deal with themes that were once considered anti-religion and the reading public has been eating them up. We have to be reminded sometimes that what we are reading is just fiction and should not be taken seriously. The fact that some people do take these writings seriously shows what a hold organized religion has on us.
Let me say that I enjoyed this book for what it is and for nothing more than a pleasurable reading experience. Those who want to see more than that have a problem that they have to deal with.
Even though the idea of the novel is completely heretical and blasphemous, it is a wonderful read and should be looked at as just that. It's an experience that no one should miss.

I enjoyed this book. I'm curious to read others in the series. This is the first one so it contains a lot of setting-things-up. It's about a man, Alex, who sees his best friend killed and learns he has the power to possess other people and become a monster. Through one of the murderers, he exacts his vengeance and is sent to a hospital for the criminally insane. That's just the first page. Things progress from there. It was very interesting.

It seems to have been drawn entirely on computer and the author has a way of showing people in 3/4 view so it looks as though they only have one eye, which I found very disturbing.