Ford Books

This book is Great. A Must Read in my Oppion.

Two Thumbs WAY Up

Ron Hansen's book relies extensively on archival research of newspaper accounts, courtroom accounts, and memoirs, all of which contribute to this intelliegent, exceptionally well-written tale of the death of Jesse James. Focusing on the individuals involved, as opposed to the deeds of the James gang, although these are described as required by the narrative, this book develops an understanding of the personal dynamics at work in the undoing of the great Jesse James. A gripping and ultimately satisfying read, The Assassination of Jesse James is a must-read for anyone with interest in the old west.

....die by the sword. Or gun. Or treachery. That is an over simplistic way of looking at this book, but it gets the message across. There are several ways to determine if a man is a "legend"....one is that at least some people think of him as a fictional character...another is the sighting of him alive after he's dead. Jesse Woodson James was indeed real, and he did indeed die on April 3, 1882, shot from behind by a coward named Bob Ford. He was sighted "alive" as late as 1951, but that's either rubbish, or mistaking son for father. I certainly have an interest in the topic; my wife is a direct descendent of Captain George Todd, company commander of Jesse, and several of the gang, during the Civil War. Our son will be happy to tell you about it.

I suppose that this novel is more a character study than a straight history. Of course, it only claims to be a novel. Starting in 1865, we get a look at the last 17 years of Jesse, then we continue with the last 10 of Bob. We see the life of crime, the damage done, the women who stood by criminals. Jesse James certainly has brains, courage, strength of character, and even a certain nobility. Of course, he put his God-given talents to some very questionable uses. Bob Ford may have had brains, but the rest of Jesse's good points were WAY beyond him. Jesse, Bob, and all the others...Frank, Cole, both Zereldas, Dick...come to life. The author means for us to see them as real people, the mixture of good, bad, and indifferent, common to humanity; he succeeds. Still, he never attempts to fathom just why Jesse went the way he did...maybe, only God knows that.

On the whole, I can recommend this book...the writing is a bit stilted, the detail a bit too verbose...still, it's worth your time. If you REALLY want to know about Jesse, try "Jesse James Last Rebel of the Civil War" by T.J. Stiles. That book IS history, it covers cradle [and before] to grave, and is a lot better written...it even goes into motivation. Of course, there is a whole further area of speculation about Jesse's career...gold, Indians, the Masons, Albert Pike, the next Civil War...that is beyond the scope here. Overall, four stars is about right...

A tapestry of fact and fiction, recounting the last years of James' life and the entirety of Ford's. The prose in this is amazing, dense-packed and grimly poetic, an unsentimental depiction of hard lives and moments of lyrical beauty. The experience of reading the text was so thoroughly absorbing, impossible to skim through, that it almost made me overlook the feeling I had afterwards of not really having much more insight into James and Ford as characters by book's end than I did at the start.

Hansen's James is a force of nature, beyond good or evil or human judgement, a tyrant and a child, cruel and kind. "Rooms seemed hotter when he was in them, rains fell straighter, clocks slowed, sounds were amplified: his enemies would not have been much surprised if he produced horned owls from beer bottles or made candles out of his fingers." A great character, yes, but it's hard to get at the heart of such a cipher. Hansen's Ford is even more obscure - although Ford is the other half to this story and a poignant lost-boy figure, the way he's presented here is almost a cliche, an overlooked child crying for attention in a society which seems to reward infamy. All of this, by the way, is clear from the first few chapters - Hansen doesn't seem to really move beyond these ideas, never reveals more about who *he* thinks these men were.

But, you know, I can forgive a lot when the man writes like this. "No one talked as Jesse moved - it was as if his acts were miracles of invention wondrous to behold. Martha stared at Jesse as she cooked, Ida was moonstruck as she set down another dish, Charley and Wilbur grinned gregariously whenever his eyes floated near." Beautiful.

I saw the movie first and while I applauded the lush cinematography and attention to detail. The performances were great but unfortunately the overall effect was mired down in often excrutiatingly slow storytelling.

It's faithful to the book in that manner. Beautifully written with immense detail, the character study and history is frequently lost in the dense prose. It is a novel worth sinking your teeth into, but it IS a commitment of your time and attention.

I could not put this book down. The suspense that breathes through these pages kept me at the edge of my seat. I highly reccommend this book to any fan of a good suspense or horror novel.

All of us have a watched at least one movie at the theater and walked away wondering, "What was the point?" Weak characters, a meandering storyline and empty scenery never capture our interest. This often leads to an ending so predictable that you often walk out, angry that you wasted ten dollars. These are the fatal flaws that define a bad movie. Unfortunately, they are the same flaws that define a bad book.

Crystal Bay follows Gage, an English teacher who is tired of grading papers and wants to write his break out novel. To do this he plans a trip to his childhood lake house to spend some time alone and let the creativity flow. There he is confronted by a gorgeous woman who aggressively seeks to steal his youth through numerous sexual encounters. Meanwhile Gage's wife, Beth, is frantically calling because she misses him. Gage is caught between two women, and under the grip of duel jealousy, he starts to write like he never did before. So does he continue the affair in order to finish his book? Or will Beth find out the truth?

Within the plot is the potential for limitless drama but to my dismay it is never fully explored. If anything took center stage in this book, it would be the affair. Having been in a similar situation, I know what it feels like to draw inspiration from a tempting but damaged woman. Gage displays this conflict well by exhibiting the appropriate emotions for a man in that position. Other than that, Gage is a classic stereotype. He's an English teacher who never lived a real life but assumed that he had the ability to craft a great novel without so much as breaking a nail. Apparently, the author had the same idea because Crystal Bay takes no chances. It doesn't teach or explore any ideas at all. It doesn't compel or reflect. It doesn't chill or romance. After a sleepy and laborious read I was left wondering, "What was the point?"

In the modern marketplace, as thousands of new titles hit the shelves, every author must ask themselves a simple question: "What do I have to offer that is unique?" Brandon Ford was unable to answer that question and because of that, his book is likely to accumulate more dust than sales.

Brandon Ford has pieced together a pretty good tale of evil, lust, and undying love. His married couple Gage and Beth were well thought out and planned. They love each other completely, and it definitely shows throughout the story. Even when Gage goes away for the summer seeking inspiration for his novel, Beth supports him even though it kills her to be away from him. Gage finds inspiration fairly quickly in Amanda when they have a run in at a local dive bar. She's beautiful, outgoing, and wicked as hell. She takes Gage on a ride that leaves him bursting with inspiration for his book, but also leaves him forgetting everything about his real life back home.

Amanda needs Gage in order to get what she wants, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her immortality.

This story had a nice flow and went from scene to scene smoothly, and the points of view were believable. I was only left wishing that I knew more about Amanda, and where she got her witch craft. I understood her motives for wanting immortality, don't we all, but I felt I needed more background on her in particular. This is the only area I felt was lacking.

Crystal Lake is full of suspense, and I look forward to seeing what Brandon Ford will create next.

I read in Brandon's Blog (on MySpace) where his goal is to have a bestseller by the time he is 35 years old. (he is 26 now) Based upon this book, I think that Brandon's goal is definitely attainable!! I have no doubt that, in the future, Brandon's name will be right along side of those already Masters of the Genre.

This book was absolutely Fantastic!! (Well worth the $13.95 Price Tag!)
This is one of those books where you will want to set aside a day with no interruptions. Brandon has created characters that you instantly like (one has to wonder how much of Brandon's story is in the character of Gage) and he then sets a rapid-fire pace where the suspense does not let up. As you get further and further along in the book, you are gripping the book tighter and tighter and turning the pages faster and faster, until you arrive at the superb ending, which leaves you wanting more!!
(I certainly cannot wait to read Brandon's next novel and I really hope that one day he will again decide to visit Crystal Bay. . .)
I also hope one day to see this book made into a movie! :-)

Gage is an English teacher who has wanted to write a novel as far back as he can remember. He agrees with his wife Beth that as soon as classes are over, he will go away to his parents' summer home in Crystal Bay to pen his masterpiece. Beth reluctantly agrees, not wanting to stand in the way of her husband's dreams. On the way there, Gage stops for a bite to eat and meets a dazzling woman by the name of Amanda. A few words are exchanged, and he is on his way. Imagine his surprise when he finds out the next morning that Amanda's got a house right next to his. One thing leads to another and before he realizes what's happened, he's in bed with her. What has he done? He could be throwing away his marriage. Suddenly, the writing comes easier and words flow on the page. Then he sleeps with Amanda again as if he were spellbound by her. What is wrong with him? In the meantime, the words keep pouring out of him, but he is ridden with guilt. Amanda has her sights on him, but there is more to her than meets the eye. Will Gage be able to resist her charm and save his marriage--and finish his novel? Amanda's got plans for him and she won't--can't--take no for an answer.

Crystal Bay is Brandon Ford's debut novel and what an introduction it is! It is a far better book than the average first novel. He shows a lot of maturity and avoids many of the trappings of a first novel. There are echoes of Richard Laymon in his writing, but Brandon's voice is very much his own. His dialogue is sharp, the tension constant throughout, and the few characters we encounter are very credible. These are folks you know and you've met many times in the course of your life. Buddy the annoying neighbor who's got a crush on Beth and doesn't let a trivial detail like the fact that she's married bother him. Tina, Beth's best friend and business partner, who's still single and a party animal yet would do anything for her friend. Gage and Beth are extremely well developed and you feel and worry for them.

I kept turning the pages and telling myself "one more chapter" until my eyes were too tired to go on. The story unfolds at a very good pace, moving back and forth between Gage at the summer house and Beth back in the city. The more you see what Amanda is about, the more you want Gage to get the hell out of there. Only he can't--even when everything around him is threatening to fall apart. This mysterious muse isn't that easy to leave.

Crystal Bay is a strong debut, one which I highly recommend. If you're a fan of Laymon's twisted stories or if you've ever been tempted to get away for a few months to write a bestselling novel, then you should definitely pick up this book. It is the perfect summer read.

Alan Draven,
Author of Bitternest

I had a nice review written just a couple minutes ago and it seems to have not posted. I cannot retype it all, but I will say that I highly recommend this story! This was one of my first Christian fiction reads and this book prompted me to read more! I am a Christian, but I have been skeptical about the genre. I was not disappointed by Aisha Ford's novel. Great storyline, great character development...it was all here. It's levels above some books I have read.

Life for Sabrina Bradley is not going well. Still reeling from a recent broken engagement, Sabrina makes her way through the pain by working tirelessly at her job. She work as the assistant to Darci Oliver, the host of the talk show Daily Dose. Darci seems oblivious to her demands on Sabrina and her quirks make Sabrina's life increasingly more difficult. Darci especially turns up the heat when she notices the producer (also her ex-boyfriend), Avery is obviously attracted to Sabrina and making efforts to pursue her.


In a fit of desperation, Sabrina fills out her resolution list with the last item being, "Do not fall in love." In search of content for the show, Darci unwittingly gets her hands on Sabrina's list. With the promise of a bonus and a promotion, Darci encourages Sabrina to place herself as one of the participants on the "resolution" show. Soon the attention and pressure to keep the resolutions start to take a tole on Sabrina. In the midst of the chaos, Avery continues to pursue her and that "Do not fall in love" resolution becomes the hardest one of them all to keep!


This was second novel I have read by Aisha Ford and I love how she develops her characters. There were so many times during the read I wanted to give her advice or just pray with her. Through the humourous and often dramatic storyline, readers get a chance to see how impulsive decisions made out of pain and frustration, can truly backfire. Through Sabrina readers will be reminded of a valuable lesson which involves us letting go and letting God heal us. We need stand through out trials and wait patiently for what He has for us on the other side. Not wanting to give the ending away, I love the way things worked out for Sabrina!

Ford offers a good read. The setting and plot appear predictable but offer some juicy turns and twists. The characters are not super original but do bring something to the plate that makes them interesting enough to follow. The storyline is well written and delivers a good read go to the library and check this one out you'll have a relaxing time which is why it was given a Bronze rating..

This was my first time reading anything from the author but best believe it won't be the last. The author hit some very important facts about God, work-place, employement, relationships, etc. The two most important ones to me: be careful who you talk to in your work-place b/c they might not be who they say they are, they might end up being the one to save your job and always put God first when making a decision and you can't go wrong. Please pick this book up and enjoy every page from beginning to end.

This was a fun romantic story with lots of interesting supporting characters. At the heart of the story is Sabrina. She is a sweet, single Christian who is looking for positive changes in her life and her walk with Christ for the fast approaching New Year. One of those things she hopes will change is her frustrating relationship with her boss, talk-show host and diva extraordinaire Darci. Sabrina's convinced that Darci is standing in the way of the promotion that she deserves. In addition to a few other changes like losing weight and staying far away from distracting romantic relationships, Sabrina is sure that making these changes will lead her to the more fulfilling life she wants

The interesting twist of this story enters when Darci mistakenly gets a hold of Sabrina's New Year's resolution list. Having become suspicious that her ex and the show's producer Avery has a burgeoning interest in Sabrina, Darci decides to make a deal with Sabrina that will hold her to her resolutions and keep Sabrina away from Avery in the process. The promise of getting the promotion and financial gain that she desperately wants is just too much for Sabrina to turn away from. So she decides to participate in Darci's scheme - in front of television cameras no less as Darci decides to track the progression of Sabrina's New Year's resolution for a ratings boost on her talk show.

Sabrina's journey is fascinating - even as she starts to kick herself for swearing off romance - especially as Avery is looking better and better.

Ms. Ford's writing blends humor, drama and romance very well. The stories that develop about Darci and others only add to the interest in the main story line surrounding Sabrina, Avery and Darci.

Fast snappy chapters with neat titles. All in all, a good read. Oddly enough, not only did it win an Edgar for Best Original Paperback, it was also a finalist for the Nebula. It's a strange world.

I picked this book up because the author did a blurb on the back cover of Vellum: The Book of All Hours, and I liked that book so much I decided Ford was worth a try.

It is nothing like Vellum, let me start by saying that. It is a coherent, logical, thought-provoking and often-surprising read, a mystery of sorts with anti-heroes worth loving. It made me long to be a part of the group.

I hope more stories of these rascals are being written as we speak.

[***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad]

... rip off grieving rich people uncover a bizarre plot involving eugenics. Longer review at ImpatientReader-dot-com.

This is the story of three con men working the rich but gullible in the depression years of 1930s Long Island: it is told through the eyes of seventeen year old Diego who, along with his mentor Schell and sidekick/bodyguard Anthony, provides séances to contact their recently departed loved and not so loved ones. During a routine scam in some millionaire's mansion Schell actually does see the `ghost' of a girl gone recently missing and puts their 'normal' work schedule on hold while he and his two accomplices set out to solve the mystery of the girl's whereabouts.

Ford has conjured up a wonderful confection with echoes of Faulkner's The Reivers; evoking the time if not the place. It's a funny, sad, lyrical but above all beautifully written coming of age tale that also manages along the way a quick detour into the heart of darkness! No mean feat! This book could quite easily be read in one sitting - if you ever decide to give yourself a real treat - buy it, take the phone of the hook and lock yourself away!

Girl in the Glass drew me in from the first paragraph and kept me engrossed till the end. Few novels of late can boast of doing the same with me. Jeffrey Ford not only creates/recreates a time period and a very distinctive subculture, he tells one heck of a story utilizing this setting.

Every character in this book comes to life. Antony in particular is a character that will live for a long time in my memory. I sometimes find myself in situations where I would not mind having an Antony handy.

The butterfly motif here would shame even Nabakov.

All in all, I find myself not wanting to say too much to ruin this book for you. I will say this--you should read Girl in the Glass. You will not be disappointed.

I give this book a full recommendation.

It's a great book with TONS of Information and in Wonderful condition which I received in a very timely manner and MY HUSBAND LOVED IT!

This is a review of the condition of the book - not the content of the book.

I purchased this because I enjoy biographies of iconic American figures - and at 7.99 this book is hard to pass up so I figured I would add it to m y collection.

This book came wrapped in celephane as a new book would - with a tight binding and inexpensive material for binder cover. The pages at the end of the book did not line up as the same width along the edge where you open the book. It looks like a 100 year old library book where pages could be falling out.

The paper quality for a hardcover book is also below what one would expect. Most of my paperbacks have a better quality more durable paper than this book does.

I guess I'll chalk this up to " You get what you pay for " but If I paid full price for this book - I'd definitely send it back for anohter copy.

I'll try and update the content review of this book later after I read the book. But I'm currently reading another title.

How interesting. Henry Ford was the Bill Gates of his day and changed America forever. But he was kind of a nutcase!

This book gets bogged down occassionally by too much information on his social positions. And he sometimes repeats himself. But all-in-all it was a good read and an eye-opener about one of the men who made the American Century. I would recommend it.

Here was this supreme industrial genius, Henry Ford, with a dark side which was hard to understand. Do read the two professional reviews above. They cover some very good ground about this book between them. Beware that, like many overly-highbrow reviewers, both are guilty of the "but" syndrome: they will tell you that Henry Ford was the premier genius of the 20th century, BUT his personality wrecked a lot of things. That implied "but," as any negotiator or linguist will tell you, says that the reviewer didn't mean any of the good stuff before the "but." That's unfair. Reading this quite lengthy book cannot help but let the reader conclude that Ford muscled this country into the modern age we all have now.

The author often brings in Ford's own version of what a modern society ought to be. This is interesting, but not key to U.S. history. It is surprising that this very detailed book does not seem to distinguish the differing importance between: Ford's gifts to manufacturing technology and philosophy - decisive; and his wishes about how people should act in a society - irrelevant. The book makes this point indirectly many times, although the author seems not to catch on himself.

The only really troublesome aspect of "People's Tycoon" is the wandering too freely through time in telling the Ford story. Like many histories in print, the author follows a thread of thought through years, then comes back to other threads of thought (think back to some of our confusing 6th grade history books). If this drives you crazy, then pick another biography of Ford. This may not cause a problem for many readers, but it is understandable that it could be for some, and this is a cautionary note. For example, as Henry Ford lost his intellect slowly through the decades, one might want to know if these losses were happening at the same time as, say, when he was shamefully ranting about races and cultures, or about his misunderstandings with son Edsel Ford. Still, this large work is well researched, and very well worth the time.

While the facts are presented in a more or less historical fashion (Watts jumps from one year to the next and then back again with dizzying speed) the author continually and exhaustively repeats himself. He resorts to quoting newspapers of the day (make that ALL of the newspapers of the day) to reinforce his already over-stated and rambling views. In fact, one wonders how much of this book was actually written by the author. Three out of four paragraphs on every page are nothing more than quotes from newspaper articles. The title of the book should be something along the line of, "Henry Ford -- According to the Newspapers -- With a Smattering of Left Wing Collegiate Opinion Thrown-In for Good Measure."
A long-winded, anti-corporate, pro-Marxist-Unionist perspective by a college professor obviously hoping for PBS to turn this voluminous sleeping pill into an equally borish mini-series.

Anyone who has read "My Life and Work" will understand exactly what is wrong with our country today. There are three ways to create wealth--grow it, mine it, or make it--and activities like flipping houses or trading carbon credits do not qualify.

Ford developed what is now known as the Toyota production system, and readers will see a very explicit description of just in time manufacturing (and its benefits) in "My Life and Work."

Ford also summarized effective labor relations in one sentence: "It ought to be the employer's ambition, as leader, to pay better wages than any similar line of business, and it ought to be the workman's ambition to make this possible."

In reading the book I keep thinking what Henry was saying in 1922 could be said today. War profiteering, patriotism, interest rates, bureaucracy, education are all topics that sound so familiar in today's news. Henry had it right then in lots of ways and I think a lot of what he put forth it could be used in today's society.

"A manufacturer is not through with his customer when a sale is
completed. He has then only started".

"Even as late as 1910 and 1911 the owner of an automobile was
regarded as essentially a rich man whose money ought to be taken away
from him. We met that situation squarely and at the very beginning. We
would not have our distribution blocked by stupid, greedy men."

You will read dozens of frases like this, reminding us that great ideias can become lost in time, that stupid people can if fact take control of our companies, media and what not, and we can slowly drift into oblivion.

An eye opener.

I read about this book while doing some research into Lean management. Taiichi Ohno, "father" of the Toyota Production System noted that he learned many lean principles from Henry Ford. After finishing this book, I would recommend that EVERY CEO in this country be REQUIRED to read it. It is a wonderfully clear description of management and leadership principles that all companies should embrace. Mr. Ford is clear on the purpose of a company - to build products and provide services that meet the needs of its customers. If we do this, as he notes, the money will follow. We get it backwards so often these days - we think the purpose of a company is to make money or increase its share price.

As opposed to most business books where one idea is promoted and beaten to death, Mr. Ford's book is full of good ideas on all aspects of managing a business. It's a delightfully refreshing read!

This is a book every business executive should read at least twice.
The wisdom of one the greatest entrepreneurs and practical thinkers of our time is lasting.
Exellent book. Fords thinking is focused and joyful reading

This is really a wonderful scientific biography. Wheeler has an engaging, easy-going style that doesn't sacrifice detail and scholarly accuracy for readibility. It's almost like having a fireside chat with the great physicist about the entire history of 20th century physics. Wheeler's career spanned almost the entire 20th century and he worked in many areas, from atomic and radiation physics to nuclear physics, quantum theory, black holes and gravitation. He even made a brief foray into sociology when he attended a conference and spoke on "National Survival and Human Development," in which he emphasized the importance of a country developing the full capabilities of all citizens.

In addition to learning about his own distinguished career, you meet just about every other important physicist and/or mathematician or had anything to do with physics (such as Carson Mark, who I didn't know about before, who Wheeler spoke highly of), and his account is full of interesting personal details about famous and non-famous physicists alike. Wheeler met or knew other great scientists like Einstein, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, Hans Bethe, Oppenheimer, Stanislaw Ulam, John von Neumann, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Lawrence, Isidore Rabi, Leo Szilard, Carl Bohm, and many others too numerous to mention.

In addition to the above famous names, I also learned something about many other names, both famous and not so famous, that I didn't know much about before, and Wheeler often briefly mentions what each scientist's contribution was about, especially when it influenced his own thinking.

Wheeler provides some important insights about himself. For example, he commented on how much of his own productivity was due to the deadlines and time pressure he was under most of his career. Many of us have the impression that brilliant minds like Wheeler (much of it fostered by the public's stereotype of Einstein) create their amazing intellectual achievements in a world divorced from reality and the mundane aspects of everyday life, but Wheeler says that it was often all the deadlines he had to meet that was responsible for much of his best work. He was always having to meet deadlines for papers, class lectures, various reports, talks he was invited to give, and so on throughout the course of his career, and he said he was often spurred to work harder because of them, and often did his best work under the pressure of having to prepare a lecture or talk at the last minute.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable, readable, and interesting biography about one of the great scientists of our time.

By the way, just a personal note here. I'm not a physicist myself (actually, I'm a neurobiologist by training), but I'm the grand-nephew of physicist Ernest Lawrence, who won the 1939 Nobel prize for his invention of the first atom smasher or cyclotron, and who Wheeler met briefly when he was considering a move from Princeton to U.C. Berkeley.

This book is a kind of autobiography concentrating in the scientific career of J.A. Wheeler. Wheeler has devoted his scientific life to Quantum Theory,General Relativity (he has a very famous co-authored monograph, Gravitation) and has tried to bridge the gap between these two key physics theories, specially studying black holes, term that he coined.

He also devised the delayed choice experiment that is a refinement of the double slit experiment and shows how quirky is Quantum Mechanics, i.e. Nature, at its fundamental level. In his last years he has also reflected on the big "philosophical" questions:How come existence? How come the quantum? He has ventured that information is the fundamental ingredient of everything: It from bit (or rather It from qubit).

The book starts with the very interesting history of the Manhattan project, although perhaps it is the last chapter that I most enjoyed. Wheeler is a great teacher and he can explain difficult matters in a very clear way. This last chapter deals with time. He sets a sci-fi scenario (fiction only from a technical point of view) in which people travel at near light speed. Of course, when they come back to Earth, parents are younger than children that stayed at home and all the clocks have different hours. Can you image what would the chaos be in a society like ours where universal time is so important in our daily lives? For Wheeler, time is an emergent property, such as temperature or entropy.

Another thing he explains well is the reality of virtual particles. Without them we could not reconcile the predicted and the observed value of the electron's magnetic moment. The book is only outdated in his belief in the Big Crunch.

Wheeler was a student of Bohr and has had a lot of famous students, most notably Dick Feynman.

This highly readable book is a history of XXth century physics full of anecdotes, such as the French not liking the name meson which would be pronounced like "maison" (house)in French.

The physics is fine but this is an autobiography. What kind of a man is Wheeler? I got the impression he spent as much time avoiding offending anybody important as he did on physics. He sounds like an amiable sycophant.

Having noticed over the years that Prof. John Archibald Wheeler's name turns up in an amazing variety of physics-related articles and anecdotes, I was particularly primed to read his autobiography. The book doesn't follow a simple from-birth chronology, but rather begins with Wheeler teaching at Princeton and volunteering to meet the ship carrying his mentor, Niels Bohr, at a New York City dock in January of 1939. From that pivotal moment at the brink of World War II, Wheeler fills out his story by reaching back to childhood and forward to his long career in teaching, research, and national service. We learn of his brother Joe, whose body lay in a foxhole on an Italian hillside until it was reduced to bones. Wheeler reminds us that if the Manhattan Project had geared up one year earlier, the lives of his brother and many others might have been spared.

Wheeler's remarkable character pervades the book and helps make it unique and interesting. In a profession legendary for strong intellects and egos, he has achieved and maintained a pomposity coefficient of zero. His judgments of other people are unfailingly generous, but also astute enough to be interesting and revealing. He provides candid firsthand impressions of legendary figures such as Bohr, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Teller, Ulam, Heisenberg, Fermi, Szilard and Feynman . We also learn about many less well-known colleagues, friends and students whom he finds memorable for various reasons. In contrast to the eminent-scientist stereotype, Wheeler has always enjoyed teaching undergraduates and is genuinely interested in the problems and aspirations of the young people entrusted to his care.

Like the brilliant George Gamow, Wheeler has a talent for explaining difficult concepts and illustrating them with whimsically inventive diagrams. The book's autobiographical threads are interwoven with a rich tapestry of subtle but plainly-spoken physical insights on dozens of topics, some arcane enough to leave even the author slightly bemused. I believe anyone interested in physics will find a personal revelation or two among Wheeler's lucid, informal scientific explanations. There are touches of Gamowesque humor too, such as his theory that the fates somehow conspired to entangle him with a string of Hungarian emigres.

The title concepts of the book -- Geons, Black Holes and Quantum Foam -- were all named by Wheeler himself. He began his career at the minute scale of particle physics, moved on to the grand sweep of relativistic cosmology, and finally circled back to the hyperminuteness of quantum foam. Of course there is nothing really disjointed about such a journey, since connections among the nested scales of nature constitute one of the grand unifying themes of physics.

Physicists often compare themselves to blind men feeling an elephant -- each guessing at the nature of the beast by describing the small part that they can touch. If true, then no man has come closer to feeling the Whole Elephant than John Archibald Wheeler. Wheeler's energetic career touched virtually every significant modern physicist -- Bohr, Fermi, Einstein, Teller, Oppenheimer, Feynman and many others -- a dazzling list that includes the most luminous minds of the last century. Wheeler may have missed winning a Nobel prize only because he was willing to sacrifice the best slice of his career to secretly help develop the fission and later fusion bombs for America. After leaving what he calls the "everything is particles" phase of his career, Wheeler entered "everything is fields" -- inventing the term "black hole" and describing the properties of these amazing objects long before anybody else ever took them seriously. Some ideas such as "geons" -- self sustained loops of light held together by their own gravitational attraction -- may still await discovery. Finally, in "everything is information" he explores ways in which information theory may be the most underlying unifying principle of reality. Part biography, part history and part speculation, this rambling story portrays a uniquely American explorer on a voyage through the amazing landscape of 20th century physics. The book is packed with photographs and profiles of the world's smartest men, fascinating anecdotes and meticulous historical details -- and shows that even at the age of 87, John Wheeler can still get excited talking about the unsolved mysteries that pervade our universe.

--Auralgo

If you are into the Networking Engineering no mater novice or expert, this is a fascinating textbook on the subject, covering all major Network and Communications Technologies. This is a voluminous book, interesting and perfectly descriptive, from which you will be benefitted from studying, your target being from just gaining knowlegge on the subject, to pursuing a CCIE exam...

A handbook or manual literally means, "In ones own hand". Providing you have a large hand, the fourth edition of Internetworking Technologies Handbook is an overview of at least 52 major protocols in 59 chapters and two appendices.

The topology of the book is advantageous for an academic textbook, as well as a general reference. Instructors of networking courses should consider it for a class on networking in general, or as a supplement to any course since it is a book that will benefit the student through out there study of networking.
The book is a bargain if one plans to pursue numerous networking certifications, since there is at least one chapter that would supplement the preparation for almost any exam.

If one reads through the entire book she/he will find that some of the information is dated, yet some is clearly recent. For example in chapters on security recent virus attacks are mentioned. The reader will also note that the handbook is a smorgasbord of a broad assortment of technologies. It is unlikely that any reader would not find several topics that they were previously unfamiliar with.

The main benefit of a book in this day of instant information via the Internet is the organization and summation of many (emphasize many in this case) different references. This handbook provides quick answers to many topics. In some cases the list of references alone is several pages long. You certainly won't learn enough about any of these technologies to design, install, or administer them from this book alone. But you will get a good understanding of how they work.

This book is not an "easy read", but it's very informative. With over 1,000 pages of in-depth networking technologies, you would think a book like this would put you into "Snoozeville" immediately; but, surprisingly, I found it to be well-written and easy-to-understand. The smaller chapter sizes helps you learn in bite-sized chunks.

Eventhough I'm not going for my Cisco certifications right away, this book helped answer many networking questions I had while studying for my MCSE tests.

Internetworking Technologies Handbook, 4th Ed. (ISBN 1-58705-119-2) is a well written book compiled from the contributions of top networking engineers at Cisco Systems. The book is well laid out and meticulously works its way from the very basics and early beginnings of networking topologies and standards right up to the most current technologies in use today such as VoIP. This edition has added such recent networking topics such as QoS, EAP, and VoIP. This book easily tackles the most complicated topics and puts them into terms that are quite simple to grasp and understand in surprising detail for the novice, as well as the expert. Anyone who is involved in networking from day to day will find this resource invaluable in its explanation of each protocol and technology.
The book is broken into nine Parts that focus on different aspects of networking technology such as Lan Protocols, Wan Technologies, Bridging and Switching, and Routing Protocols. Every Part is then composed of several chapters focusing on individual topics. Each chapter within winds it way though the topic presenting it so that the reader understands the topic. It also provides Cisco design details and examples to assist the reader in any real world applications of the topic. Finally, each chapter ends with a summary and review questions that identify the most important topics of the chapter and test your grasp of them. Also provided are references for further reading on items discussed in each chapter.
Throughout the book detailed diagrams are provided to give a clear picture of what is being discussed. Each diagram is simply presented and not cluttered with unnecessary detail that sometimes accompanies technology books.
Personally, this book was able to really pull together all the little extras that I may find on my CCIE written test I am currently preparing for. There are many different books out there that will help you in preparing for the written test, but they tend to focus strictly on the test, such as a study guide, and less on giving an overall picture of networking so that the reader is both ready for the test and ready for applying their knowledge in the real world. I find that this type of book, one that assists in obtaining a certification and still teach real world fundamentals, is invaluable.
Whether you are a novice just starting out in networking or a well seasoned network engineer preparing for the dreaded CCIE written exam, this book is more than capable in providing the information needed to be successful. And best of all, it is written by the very people who understanding internetworking, Cisco Systems!
As I own many titles written on many different networking and computer topics, I would have to rank this book as 5 out of 5 in terms of content, format, and execution. I would highly recommend this book to anyone involved in network design and implementation and especially to anyone who is about to embark on the CCIE exam.

This book concisely and succintly explains all Internetworking (LAN ,WAN) concepts in a way useful to the novice and also serves as a ready reference to the experienced professional. The print is also pleasing to the eye. However this compendium is a collection of all the Cisco Tutorials on the website.ALso many technologies are dealt with at a cursory level and the treatment could have been more in depth. But to sum up,a good buy.

This manual is great for any piece of writing. It is very helpful even when editing or proofreading. You won't regret having bought this book.

My daughter used the 4th edition in high school English class and loved it so much that she wanted the next version for college. It seems easy to use and a good reference.

I purchased this book for an English course three years ago. Unfortunately, sometime in the last year or so, I lost it. I actually had to buy it again because I keep going to the bookshelf to reference it, and then remember it's not there. This book is just as useful in my everyday life as it once was in college. You probably need it too.

This book (or something like it) is a must for an author's reference library.

It talks about the writing process: how to get started, writing drafts, editing. It talks about structuring sentences, punctuation, mechanics, etc.

It's got red tab dividers, so you can easily consult the book.

A good handbook to have.

It is a good handbook for writing. It is brief, to the point and easy to follow. Great tips for research and becoming an improved writer.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that until recently I had never heard of this book. However, I saw it on Harold Bloom's list of books comprising the "Western Canon" and, since I like Collins, I decided to read it. What I find! I am at a loss to understand why this book is not better known, because in this book Collins truly rivals Dickens in plot development and characterization. "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White" are classics, but "No Name" is better. Yet it is almost unknown, and I understand that for a long time it was out of print.

The less you know about this book the better. This is because it is one of the most ingeniously plotted books I have ever read, so it is best to be taken by surprise with the plot twists. Suffice it to say that it is about two sisters in a well to do Victorian household who discover, after both their parents die in fairly short order, that they are illegitimate and have no rights of inheritance. Norah, the older sister, passively accepts her fate and finds work as a governess, but Magdalen, the younger sister and the book's central character, becomes obsessed with revenge and with getting back the fortune which is rightfully hers. In this she is assisted by a charming rogue named Horatio Wragge. Read the book and see what happens! I think you'll agree that it is one of the best reads of your life.

Wilkie Collins, best know for "The Moonstone" (which I have read and loved) and "The Woman in White" (which I have not read yet) is at his best in "No Name". I do not compare it to the "Moonstone" for the "Moonstone" is a great mystery for which the reader must wait to the end for it to be revealed. "No Name" is not a mystery but one great chessmatch, that oddly enough is not played by Magdalen and Noel Vanstone. It is played by the wonderful character of Captain Wragge and Mrs. Lecount. Reading and seeing the game as it is played out is one great ride.

Although many, at the time the book was published, were shocked at the ending. I found it to be very good. It was shocking to those at the time that Wilkie would allow a woman who had done the things Magdalen had done to find happiness. As a reader, I was very much glad that she did find it (one litte bit of the ending revealed) for she deserved it (in my opinion).

In the beginning of the book, I came to very much like Magdalen and wished her success in her quest to regain her rightful inheritance - although I knew what she was doing was wrong. I also found that I very much liked Captain Wragge, for all of his "moral agriculturalism", he had a soft spot for Magdalen which came through in the story. For her part, Magdalen, trying her best to be unemotional and strong, kept her soft side when it came to Mrs. Wragge (even though she was her downfall).

All in all, this was a very good book that kept my interest through the 700 pages. For those of you that liked the "Moonstone" and the "Woman in White", "No Name" will no disappoint and I recommend it to anyone that enjoys Wilkie's style of writing.

P.S. I did not write too much about the story line for I did not want to give too much of it away.

This is the best-plotted book I have ever read. The intricacies of the ingenious cat-and-mouse game kept me unable to put the book down (despite its length, and my general impatience as a slow reader). Unlike other books I've read by Collins, this one is also extremely funny, largely because of one character who is an incredible rascal and scoundrel. This is really one of the most enjoyable novels I've ever found.

4 1/2 stars, but I rounded up.

No Name is the story and portrait of Magdalen Vanstone... or as Wilkie introduces his novel in the preface, "Here is one more book that depicts the struggle of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we have all known." It's a fairly accurate description as throughout the course of the story, we see the evolution of the character of our heroine; we see her heading down a shady path, but yet somehow from a 21st century perspective, Magdalen manages to make it seem not so immoral. Often times I see her trying to act as morally as she can in the unmoral situations she chooses to involve herself in. Part of No Name's strength, arises from the deftness in which Collins creates Magdalen. She posseses such an enormous range in character and emotion that if No Name were ever to be made into a movie, actresses would vie to have her role.

When Magdalen and her sister's inheritance are taken away due to unexpected familial circumstances, Magdalen resolutely follows a reckless path of revenge. While not exactly your Victorian equivalent of your "Kill Bill," the novel seems closer in spirit to Alexander Dumas's novel: The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course it doesn't have the swashbuckling quality of Dumas's novel as there are no fight scenes to the death. Collins's novel is set in a domestic scene with a female protagonist and the action is far tamer. It is equally gripping though because it's the chase of the revenge that's the fun part; the deceit and swindling involved, the careful measuring of your enemy's abilities that is part of charm. Collins was genius to embroil a female in a revenge type of plot and I'm just amazed at how much free agency Collins bestows upon Magdalen - a female living in Victorian times. He completely cuts her off from the ties of society and gives her free reign.

While I was reading, I felt that the novel could be loosely separated into 3 quite different parts - each with it's own distinct pacing and mood. It goes quite well with the divisions of the triple-decker novel they had long ago. I'm not spoiling much because the novel covers such massive ground, but the first part covers the idyllic times of the Vanstone family and we come to see how the inheritance is stripped from the Vanstone daughters. The second part (the best and my favorite) follows Magdalen as she pursues her revenge with the superior help of the rogue Captain Wragge, a self-proclaimed, "moral agriculturist" (I'll leave you to discover what he means by it). Wragge is one of Collins' best creations (he even beats out Count Fosco in my mind). A short, brown eyed, green eyed creature with enormous talents and verbal abilities, he is very resourceful, calculates very well, and is able to adapt quickly to whatever is needed in each situation. One of the highlights of No Name resides in Wragge's chronicle describing Magdalen's progress. The other crowning achievement is the cat and mouse game played between Captain Wragge and Madame Lecount (the housekeeper and keeper of the interest of Magdalen's victim). Both are directors of people and there is a large amount of plotting and counter-plotting that goes on that keeps the pages turning. It is here that No Name rivals that of The Woman in White, and if Collins had continued to write in this vein, No Name could have been on an equal footing to Woman in White.

However it is in the third part -dealing with the fallout of the revenge- that No Name becomes more flawed. I would say especially so in the ending. Quite a lot of Victorians found the ending distasteful, but the modern reader might find it a little dissatisfying for a completely different reason.

As No Name was delivered right after Collins's magnum opus, The Woman in White, there was a possibility of being in its shadow. However, Collins more than safely overcomes such a hurdle. He's crafted an entirely different story. Although in a way, I almost see No Name as an inverse of Woman in White. Think of a story looking and rooting from the side of Sir Percieval and Count Fosco--the nefarious plotting to take away an inheritance--and in a way, it is the story of Madgalen and Captain Wragge. Of course our sympathies are on completely different sides and this is due to the strength of Collins's characterizations. But that said, the books feel almost nothing alike.

In the end, although not as tightly plotted as The Woman in White and a bit more flawed, No Name is more ambitious, covers more ground, more character development, a lot more stories, introduces way more secondary characters, and is pretty amazing as a whole. It's a massive novel in which Collins fleshes out so many people (and for Collins that usually means, so many people to like) and Collins is able to accomplish a measurable change and growth in the character of Magdalen. The more I reflect on the novel, the better it gets for me, and the more amazed I am at all that Wilkie attempted and accomplished.

I recommend reading the Oxford World's Classics edition for its excellent introduction by Virginia Blain. It hits spot-on about everything that is good and bad about the novel as well as going into the themes of acting and of plotting (both human plotting and writer plotting).

Engrossing, densely textured read.
Could claim greatness on the basis of the Wragges and Madame alone, but also contains one of the most original heroines in Victorian fiction,and draws a fascinating portrait of venality, social corruption and hypocrisy -- at times, it reminded me of both 'Pere Goriot' and 'Les Miserables'.
And it's full of those little concrete details that make nineteenth century fiction so deliciously materialistic. Don't miss out on the Oriental Cashmere Robe!