John Books

This is an excellent book on climate change, and in particular the less seldom discussed evidence for climate change in the tropics. It will give readers a first hand account of not only the process of scientific thought but also some of the personalities and egos that are involved in cutting edge research. Lonnie Thompson is the rare scientist dedicated to a quest for the truth who is not driven by his resume. His unique mode of operation is one many scientists could learn from. The book is also full of high adventure and documents the sacrifices that are made in search of scientific data. A true adventure story. The writing style with long sentences takes some getting used to but it is still clearly written.

Thin Ice by Mark Bowen is a great story, well told. The book captures the excitement of experimental climate science and the extremely hard work that it entails. Anyone who likes books about scientific endeavors will enjoy this book. After reading it I understood the arguments about climate change much better than I used to. Unfortunately, the bottom line is pretty grim. The author is both a scientist and an alpine climber. Climbers take the loss of the glaciers very personally, and this book, while not being weepy or overly political, imparts the message that humans urgently need to confront the issue of climate change.

My son recommended and bought this book for me. At university studying environmental science he started as a sceptic on anthropogenic climate change. He read widely. This book inspired him by clearly portraying the excitement of scientific discovery. Written by a physicist it describes the career of Lonnie Thomson an ice-core specialist and his research group. He had to fight bureaucracy to get to collect and analyse ice cores from the world's tropical ice fields. They have spent more time above 22,000 feet than any others. In parts it reads like a mountaineering epic such as Annapurna. But all the heroics are clearly determined by scientific goals. It is a story of team work and the excitement of discovery. They made the connection between ancient climate change and rise and fall of civilisations from ice cores dated to a single year or even a season of a single year. This is complementary to a more detailed account of rise and fall of civilisations Collapse by Jared Dimond. Bowen, being a physicist, provides a simple clear explanation of carbon dioxide rise and its connection to climate change. This book concentrates on the science and pre-dates but underpins the latest IPCC reports on the seriousness of anthropogenic climate change. My son has converted to believer and is vigorously pursing a research career after being inspired by this book. It is a well written and gripping account of modern day science which should be widely read. Thoroughly recommended.

This is one of the best books I've picked up in years. Mark Bowen has produced a landmark piece of work. It's both extremely informative as well as being very readable.

The story centers on ice cores pulled up over the last 25+ years from the fast-disappearing glaciers on the tops of the world's highest mountains -- a grand adventure in itself -- with the results being put in the context of the current science of the greenhouse effect and global warming, the possible environmental collapse of numerous ancient civilizations (since the ice core records go back many thousands of years), with just enough on the politics of controlling carbon dioxide emissions and the way scientific research is done to keep things interesting and real.

As someone who tries to keep up with scientific developments -- as difficult as that is with the major news media being myopically focused on sensationalism and celebrity (right now it's the JonBenet Ramsey rerun...) -- I felt like I was being caught up on all the many important details and various threads of a story that I already sorta knew the larger outline and implications of.

If I had one complaint it was that the book seemed to need many more graphs than the single one it contains. Some of the subject matter is just technical enough that this would have been much better than the several paragraphs of carefully constructed words needed to convey the same idea. I suppose publishers think that it'll scare off too many customers if they see graphs in a book.

Highly recommended and deserving of much more attention than it's received (based partly on the paltry number of reviews here). Buy a copy for yourself and an additional one to give to a friend or colleague.

This is travelogue, musings, science, story-telling, and a gentle (non-polemic) argument about a critical present-day issue. The previous reviewers (especially the first two) and Bill McKibben's dust-jacket comment are good guides. Some of the author's descriptions of mountain scenery are quite beautiful. Although I always have been concerned about climate change based on the "precautionary principle" and "responsibility to future generations" ideas, this book helped me put some meat on the thin bones of my understanding. It also reached me at an emotional level, since the reader spends so much time with the scientists and get a close-up view of how they arrive at their understandings.

The book does not simply follow a chronological narrative, but branches off for visits to related topics. I found this style of organization effective and fun. (Like a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon where you frequently stop for a day to explore side canyons.)

There are 24 pages of notes and 21 pages of (about 400-500) references.

This collection of John Crowley's first three novels is in print today as Otherwise, under a different publisher but with the same contents, page layout etc.

All three novels are strong, but the gem here is Engine Summer, a rare and pricey find as a single volume. Technically it's science fiction, and of the post-apocalyptic variety, but its actual concerns are memory and storytelling, altered states, why people are different, time and loss, romantic quest, and the meaning of life. The most beautiful, moving, profound story you've never heard of.

"The World is founded on a pillar, which is founded on the Deep".

The Deep is my favourite book. Is has a strange, ethereal quality and a satisfying completeness that matches the encapsulation of the world described. I've read it at least 5 times, probably 10, limited only by having to leave a gap of a year or two between re-readings to forget the details. Fortunately I have a poor memory.

Engine Summer is also excellent, though pipped by The Deep.

Beasts I've read only once, many years ago, but remember it fondly.

If you've been put off Crowley by the unfortunate Little, Big then please try this instead.

Unfortunately, while I have Engine Summer (and Little, Big) I haven't read either yet and I've never even seen The Beasts (though I'd snap it up if I found it, probably), this is the only place on Amazon where I can write about The Deep, Crowley's famous first novel. This is one weird book, let me put it that way and not weird like mindblowingly weird but just . . . weird. I don't know, I can't explain it but the book feels like it takes place in a fever dream, there's this unreal quality about everything. The plot then. Someone has apparently constructed a giant disk in space and attached a long cord to it (so they say) and there are people on the top of the disc and they endlessly fight in this war of succession. To this mess comes a Visitor who doesn't remember why he came here or even who made him and for most of the story he serves as an observer to the events going on. The only problem I had with this was some of the characters are hard to keep straight because they aren't given proper names, you've got "Red Senlen" and "Red Senlen's Son" and Redhand and Old Redhand and Younger Redhand and Learned Redhand and King Little Black and Black Harrah and Young Harrah . . . you can see the problem. That's a fairly minor quibble though, this is a book that deserves to be tracked down and read. Crowley's writing is amazing, especially since this was his first novel, it's entirely poetic without getting long winded, with a few words he paints brilliant pictures. The premise is utterly unique in its presentation (for the record, I believe that the folks on the disc are reenacting the War of the Roses) and the plot winds along nicely, there aren't many "explosions" but you just snake along, caught up in the dream. The ending is also totally unexpected and completely fits in with the tone of the novel. This is one of the few totally satisifying books I had read, I had expected a lot out of this guy because of the reputation I had heard and he blew away everything I expected. And he only got better. My advice then, get everything you can by this guy, it might take some effort but I have a feeling it'll be worth it. Again, the fact that this brilliant author is out of print and many many many lesser lights are kept in print is beyond me. Get the word out and keep his name alive!

Crowley has got to be one of my favourite authors ever. These books are both beautiful and moving. They are always going out of print and people who own them guard them jealously, so they are even hard to get second hand. Does anyone know why he doesn't write more?

How many books in the Amazon database have been called the best novel ever written (or the best novel in its genre) by *half* of all the reviewers? ENGINE SUMMER was actually the first novel John Crowley ever completed; the ms. then sat in a draw for years while he honed his craft with THE DEEP and BEASTS. The original draft was then rewritten. You thus have a unique combination of an author's most central concerns, his fundamental, primal Tale (always in the first novel), with the skills and knowledge of a mature artist.

Civilization has fallen apart and humanity has returned to a primitive way of life. It's one of the oldest ideas in science fiction, but ENGINE SUMMER is unlike any other post-holocaust novel ever written. Rather than a harsh existence and a struggle to return to former glories, Crowley has imagined a veritable utopian existence -- in a world which knows there can be no going back. This is the long "Engine Summer" ("Indian Summer" misremembered) of the world, and winter is coming. It's a setting of unbelievable poignance.

Rush That Speaks, an adolescent boy, finds himself in a strange place. An unfamiliar woman asks him to tell his story. Since Rush's ambition has always been to become a "saint" -- someone who tells the story of their life in a special way -- he is happy to comply. Where is Rush? Who is the woman? As Rush tells his remarkable tale, the special (and unbearably poignant) circumstance of that telling gradually becomes clear to the reader. ENGINE SUMMER is ultimately a story *about* Story, about the human ability to be moved by tales like this and about our desire to know what happens next. I would say more, but I don't want to even hint at what is going on here.

THE DEEP retells the story of the English Civil War in a unique setting which seems to be genre fantasy but turns out to be something very different. At the time it was published, I thought it was flawed but showed extraordinary promise. That promise was fulfilled in BEASTS, a novel I thought was the best sf novel of its year and one (I'm very proud to say!) I cited, in print, as evidence of Crowley's greatness before ENGINE SUMMER and LITTLE, BIG were ever published. You'll notice I made no attempt to summarize its plot. It's like that.

The book grabs one's attention from the first pages. Having known John Atkinson since he moved to Gwynn's Island in Mathews County, Virgina, I can't imagine that earlier in life he couldn't read or write. He worked hard on the book and did well.

I had trouble putting the book down. John is an excellent writer. I tried to follow his story and compare it to what my life was like in that time period. His success reflects that in spite of our past we can be whoever we want to be. He is an admirable example of something good that has come from Glen Allen. jht

A fourteen year old boy faces too many trials...the reader must decide which is the worst...an abusive father...or the public school system that rejects and does not understand a learning disability that labels Johnnyboy as stupid. This coming of age novel follows a young boy in search of those opportunities that can disprove this fallacy as well as help him become a man. Reminiscent of characters such as Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield, Johnnyboy (Timekeeper) begins his journey across country is search of identity and self. He encounters numerous personalities, rare adventures, and a dog named "Check" that becomes the only family he has. This is a rare book that offers an emotional glimpse into the world of dyslexia, abuse, and human nature during the mid-twentieth century.

Timekeeper by Jon Atkinson is a must read for all those born between 1940
and 1970 and grew-up in a lower to middle class environment. Johnnyboy will bring back memories of various kids in your childhood that were overwhelmed by our public education system and vice versa. As you follow Johnnyboy across the country running from a disfunctional father and an educational system that simply did not know how to recognize his incredible God given talents. As he moves across the country at 14 years
old you see how intelligent he is relative to survival,and his mechanical abilities and knowledge of cars and other crafts with his hands. If you happened to grow up in a rural area you will love his discriptives. It is a SAD but wonderful trip back in our lives for those us that grew-up during World War II and the 25 years after. Simply a Great Book. I can't wait until the sequel.

Timekeeper is the gift name given our struggling young man by his Indian mentor, but it's Check the dog who taught him life's lessons. In exchange for his companionship and protection Check demanded respect for his own needs and attitudes.

John Atkinson does belong with J.D. Salinger and other coming of age authors because he's that talented, but his very special experiences and traumas have a plateau all their own. You'll be better for knowing them and for discovering this great new talent.

Good book, just a bit all over the place because it is a collection of articles that the author altered to fit into book form. I wish the author would come out with a more comprehensive book on the subject. He seems to focus on healing relationships much.
I also disagree somewhat with meditative psychologists, saying that meditation is about transcending the self completely. I would argue that a component of meditation is better/nonverbal understanding of one's psycholoy as a whole. Also with my Zen experience, we try not to focus on talking about in great lenghts, what exactly we are doing when sitting, because it isn't about expecting something.
But I'll say kudos to this author. It was from reading him and Charlotte Beck that got me to search out a psychotherapist that understands the meditative disciplines. Meditation may be the grounds toward psychological wholeness, but the complicated western mind needs psychological.
I've always wondered why some so called masters are still neurotic.

Most folks who join a Buddhist center in the West likely have a combination of psychological pain and spiritual angst, and it is often difficult to sort out which is which. There are many Western Buddhists with years of meditation practice under their belts, but who nevertheless feel anxious about their so-called negative emotions and who, in some part of their minds, hold doubts about their worthiness as human beings. Unfortunately, these folks are wary of psychotherapy and labor under the delusion that more meditation, more community service, and a stricter adherence to the Buddhist precepts will "cure" this state of affairs. It won't. As John Welwood points out in *Toward a Psychology of Awakening*, most Westerners have grown up in modern societies in which obtaining stable, meaningful work, engaging in significant long-term relationships and belonging to supportive communities are tasks that were much easier achieved by their grandparents than by themselves. Thus, meditation practice in and of itself is never sufficient to attain wholeness. Welwood shows us that it is only by acknowledging our wounds and fully opening to being present with ourselves will we begin the slow task of integrating ourselves with our experience--a task which in many cases will necessitate psychotherapy. This book complements Rob Preece's *The Wisdom of Imperfection* and Harvey B. Aronson's *Buddhist Practice on Western Ground* very nicely.

The author integrates Western Psychology & Eastern Spirituality (Tantric Buddhism) in a highly readable book--p. xix: "I have chosen to discuss East & West, psychotherapy, meditation, Buddhist psychology in broad terms, without focusing on the different schools & perspectives w/i these traditions." He has a lyrical style; provides good analogies (Buber's egg to chicken story p. 248), balances opposites, & relates the 2 paths/domains into "psycho-spiritual development." This book is personal, inspired by p. xv "Witnessing the contradiction where spiritual teachers & students who clearly had developed a certain level of genuine spiritual insight & awareness nevertheless remained stuck in unwholesome personality patterns-was both troubling & revealing," demonstrating pp. 11-2: "spiritual bypassing" = "to use spiritual practices to bypass or avoid dealing with certain personal or emotional `unfinished business'...trying to use spirituality to shore up developmental deficiencies." He states that p. 24: "personality is a frozen form of our true nature" & p. 231: "Intimate relationship as a path of awakening." Per Tantric Buddhism's "love affair between absolute & relative truth," he asserts the need to integrate realizations to actualize them--we need to grow up (psychologically) as well as wake up (spiritually), avoiding codependence while pursuing selflessness. Thus, he differentiates between soul work & spiritual work, stating that the West is pioneering new possibilities through the personal (individuation) & the interpersonal (e.g. intimate relationships). He has fine observations On Thoughts: p. 31: "Our thoughts act as a kind of glue that holds our identity structure together" & p. 190: we get "hijacked by our thoughts" On Love: p. 251: "Unconditional love does not imply that a relationship must take a particular form. We may love someone deeply, yet still be unable to live with that person" & p. 253 (quoting) "Unconditional love & support can be damaging to the development of a child's self-esteem" & On Healing: p. 145: "The full presence of our being is healing in & of itself."

But some neologisms are redundant: unfolding, Horizontal/Vertical shifts, & chaos resemble Kuhn's paradigms & the unfreezing/freezing process; "Moment of World Collapse" resembles St. John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul. Despite a Sources section, some quotes only give the author. IMHO he has a pro-feeling/anti-thinking bias--his assertions on thoughts also apply to emotions, seems sight-oriented (persons perceive more with one sense than others), & often refers to people's p. 183 "basic goodness" (cf. M. Scott Peck's "People of the Lie"). His differencing of "submit" & "surrender" isn't in Websters, he fails to note that complementary psychological & spiritual work resembles a yin-yang balancing, & his "meditation" means Shamatha, not Vipashyana. He says p. 293, Part I, Intro., note 1: "strictly speaking there is no Eastern "Psychology" in the Western sense of the term: the objective study of psyche, self, & behavior as they develop through time," agreeing with Jung & profusely uses Jung's term "individuation," but seems p. 63 to confuse unknowable with unknown, ignores Jung's synchronicity & Self, & decries Western psychology's p. 95 determinism. His knowledge of Jung seems limited. He's correct regarding Jung's defining consciousness only by the ego, but Jung's ego-inclusive Self could IMHO become conscious like Castaneda's 2nd Attention. While I didn't find much new in this work, its presentation & insight greatly overshadow its relatively minor deficiencies.

TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF AWAKENING is a dense book that describes the path of spiritual transformation from both an Eastern and Western perspective. Its primary value lies in trying to synthesize these two ways of looking at reality and describes in detail how each path informs the other.

Many paradigms both East and West aren't necessarily integrative for many modern people. This book is an attempt to provide a more holistic worldview that reconciles psychology with Buddhist insights into human nature, love and transformation.

There is also a good section on relationship as a path. I think this is an important area to address because something arises in intersubjective experience that has emergent qualities that transcend each individual. In other words, things like love, compassion and community. We can only be fully human when we are fully engaged with others in a conscious manner. This book discusses these issues and does a great job of it.

Many people won't find this book an easy read. It contains a lot of material and it explores many ideas in-depth. It also attempts to synthesize a lot of material in a brief space. However, if you have a deep interest in psychology or Buddhism, you will discover a treasure trove of good information and innovative ways of bringing it together.

If you are not very familiar with Western Psychology or Buddhism, but have a deep interest in personal and spiritual growth, you will still get a lot out of this book. However, you may find it a slower read and will undoubtedly have to take time to assimilate all of the concepts. It will be well worth the effort, but this isn't a superficial bedtime story.

Overall, I give this book my highest recommendation. It is original, well-organized, and well thought out. It is an important contribution in the area of psychological and spiritual growth and the relationship between them.

This was one of the first spiritually inclined books i've ever read and was rather hard to get my head around some of the information. Along with the big words :), however i stuck with it and this book really has helped me loads and its one of those books which i keep going back to and reading again.

I ordered this book with some skepticism as i did not want to be drawm into another dreary account of the significance of the temples. I was pleasantly surprised to find this book very readable and throught provoking. Granted that throughout the book you are subject to the author's bias in interpretation (which he is forthright about) but it is an excellent way to add depth to a visit to the temples and as a starting point for further research if one so desires. Personally for me being a hindu, it was fascinating to discover the similarities between ancient egypt and our own vedic past which I am ashamed to admit I was rather clueless about!!

I used this guide when I travelled to Egypt in '87 and it served me well. I would have missed so many interesting sites if I had to relie on most travel books and tour guides for information on what I could and should see. I continue to use the book for info in my continuing studies on Ancient Egypt. Thank you Anthony West for your tireless efforts to bring to new light the many wonders of this astonishing place.

Now in a updated and expanded new edition, John West's The Traveler's Key To Ancient Egypt continues to be the definitive guide to all of the sacred places of ancient Egypt. The ideal traveler's guidebook is enhanced with maps, diagrams, and photos to accompany the history and spiritual significance of Egypt's art, architecture, mythology, religion, and ritual practices. From the Pyramids of Giza to the Valley of the Kings, this traveler's guide reveals the hidden meaning of monuments, ancient city sites, as well as new research on the dating of the Sphinx. Travel tips include tour information, Nile cruises, what to bring and what to wear, shopping advice, as well as information on money, hotels, and restaurants. If you are planning a trip to the Land of the Pharaohs, beginning with a thorough perusal of John West's The Traveler's Key To Ancient Egypt!

This book is essential for any traveller to Egypt with a mind that is even slightly ajar, let alone open.

West gives an alternative account of the meaning of the monuments and antiquities to be seen in Egypt, more esoteric (though certainly not more difficult to understand) than that which is usually presented in guide books. He points out the details which brought him to the conclusion that the Giza Sphinx is in fact closer to 13,000 years old than the 4,500 years old that has been traditionally believed, and has a different viewpoint to the orthodox school in many cases. He presents both sides of the argument, and gives the information necessary to make up one's own mind based on observation of what is actually there to be seen.

On my first visit to Egypt, my companions and I felt rather sorry for tourists in groups with official guides, because they seemed to be missing out on at least half of the story, and in many cases the whole point.

I was particularly impressed with West's analysis of the architecture of the Temple of Luxor, based on the work of Schwaller de Lubicz, and once it was pointed out how the whole building maps onto a plan of the human skeleton, I found it very difficult to refute.

Whilst I did not always agree with his conclusions on every occasion, it cannot be disputed that West has raised thoroughly pertinent questions which conventional Egyptology has either glibly brushed under the carpet or failed to address at all.

If you want a guide book with more than the basic superficial run of the mill tourist info this book is for you.

Lots of maps, tips and explanations of the deeper meaning behind the sites you're visiting.

I'm bringing this book with me on my trip!

I truly enjoyed this book. Noel Piper has filled this book with her family's God-centered traditions. She had given plenty of ideas on how to do the same in any family. I'm keeping it handy so I can grab it anytime for some inspiration on making our family less self-centered and more God-centered.

This book is so well written and has so many great ideas and thoughts about traditions in our family lives. It has sent me on a journey this past year to make traditions in our daily lives. She talks about why traditions in our families are important, what they are and some examples from her family's traditions. I highly recommend this book!

wonderful book for every home--give as a wedding gift, anniversary gift, Christmas gift or any time you need something that others will treasure.

I'm a new mom and relatively new to the marriage thing as well. As we discuss how we want to raise our family, what traditions from our own backgrounds we want to blend, and most of all, our desire to exemplify our love for God to our children, it has been easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. Noel Piper hits the nail on the head, the truth that our children can't "inherit" Christ from us but that the traditions we pass on can point them to a true knowledge of him. Instead of empty habits, we want to be intentional about our everyday and "especially" traditions, teaching our kids what we believe and why. Thank you, Pipers!

An incredibly insightful book filled with godly-wisdom. I'm greatful for having such sound advice on how to establish daily traditions and "especially" traditions as my husband and i begin our family. Noel does an incredible job at looking at how traditions can be used to point our children and our childrens children towards a passionate life of in pursuit of God. This is going up there with Gary Thomas' "Sacred Marriage" as my recomended reading for newly weds looking to start off their family and marriage with solid Biblical principles as their foundation. Thank you Noel.

This is an excellent book with clear photos of different parts of trees in its stated regional area.Maps are very good also and easy to see. I know what I am talking about since I have all the field guides available thru Peterson, Audubon,etc for North American coverage. Coverage of species native and introduced is thorough. This makes identifying them easier by narrowing your choices .Too big for field work,but good notes taken in the field with your significant other helping you with smaller regional guides and camera phones in tow will suffice when you get back to your home or motel.You can sip a glass of red wine together and share the day's fun in the Natural world!

This is a great book to help with the identification of tree specimens that you find in our northern forests. Beautifully illustrated, with pictures of leaves (and fall color), flowers, fruits, and the bark of both mature and young trees, Farrar really provides horticultural enthusiasts with all the tools they need to make correct identifications (in most cases, of course). In addition to the pictures, other botanical information is provided such as max heights, growth rates, silhouettes, reproductive information, ranges, etc.

My only small complaint with the text is that the ranges for several species are incomplete, covering only the areas in Canada and the very northernmost United States. Many species have a much broader native habitat, and it's often necessary to reference a second text for that information. Other than that; however, it is a great text that even includes "quick recognition" tips for most species. Farrar gives us a valuable resource for horticulture lovers and woodsmen of the north.

This book is just about as complete as everyone else that has reviewed says. I really only wanted North American trees and that is precicely what I got. A very fine book that is well organized with abundant photos, drawings and discriptions. I am just a novice so the more complete of a book the better. The only thing I wish is that I had an old beat up one to take into the woods.

There is no one book that will satisfy all your tree needs, but this one comes closest. Though it is Canada-centric, it should be useful no matter where in the US you may live. The pictures and line drawings are excellent, but most importantly they are consistent throughout. The "Quick Recognition" bits are a wonderful feature.
It is organized as an identification book but I use it more as an encyclopedia and wish it was organized alphabetically by genus. This is a book you read, then go for a walk, then read again. Highly recommended to everyone.

Every attempt I've made to identify a tree with this book has been successful. Worth every penny.

I like to travel and to observe the cities, landscapes, the plants and animals and the human inhabitants of the countries I go to. So does Levy-Strauss, and he is a fantastic observer, much more sharp-eyed than I could ever hope to be, and a highly entertaining writer. In this classic he talks about a wide range of observations from a number of corners of the world, but mainly about South America.
The book deals with Levi-Strauss' time as a teacher in Brazil and his trips into the South American hinterland; his escape from Nazi-occupied France; His later expeditions to visit remote tribes in the Amazon; and an assortment of observations about such diverse topics as the frustration of the traveler to never encounter the true, pristine state of a culture, the Indian caste system and the division of public and private space in different parts of the world. The book is full of fascinating anecdotes: My favorite one is how a native chief from observing Levy-Strauss grasped the social importance of writing, but not its role in information storage and transmission. He bluffed to impress his underlings and drew freshly invented line configurations on a paper. This leads Levy-Strauss to observe that from the invention of writing to its universal knowledge a few millennia passed, during which it did not serve to liberate the masses, but to control them. Such wide-ranging philosophical associations are frequent and were very enjoyable to me. The book is, however, definitely not only a collection of anecdotes, but in parts a very detailed description of the life of some of the native tribes he visited in the Amazon. Drawings of artifacts, patterns used in body-painting and photographs supplement the text. We are given both anthropological descriptions of the lifes of these peoples, their social organization, attitudes and material culture, as well as Levy-Strauss' personal experiences when living among them, sometimes his friendships with members of these tribes. Of course these people were strongly affected by the contact with European civilization, often to the worse. We also learn about these developments. There isn't really much direct explanation about his theoretical approaches to anthropology. This is the kind of book which made me wish that I could have been an expedition member of Levy-Strauss' team. Highly recommended.

I often review works which I have read long ago. Upon beginning to write about them I invariably discover how much time I gave to something which seemed so worthwhile at the time, and which I have almost completely forgotten. I then ordinarily do some catch- up learning about the book. And my review becomes an amalgalm of distant past and most recent present impression. And meanwhile the heart of the book is forever unknown to me and lost. And my review is only a minor tracing an impression both of the book itself and what of my mind knew when reading through it.
This certainly applies to my reading of this particular work, ,the one work of Levi- Strauss which I remember reading with any degree of real understanding and pleasure. His making of a life and career as an anthropologist which are a good part of the first part of the work interested me then.
The long travelogue and explorations into Amerindian society and mind, interested me less.
I understand though that the real voyage is into and along with the mind of Levi- Strauss itself, a mind much more complicated than I was ordinarily used to meeting and ingesting .
I do remember however the somewhat majestic tone, the tone of restrained sadness of quiet mourning which seemed to go through the work as Levi- Strauss met with worlds being lost and deterorating , in part through their meetings with the very kind of Western mind he himself exemplified. It is the mind destroying the object in the process of knowing it , as the Western explorers of these tribal societies transformed them out of their own natural state by meeting with them.
For Levi- Strauss and this I remember, the ' primitive mind' is not ' primitive at all' and may be in its linguistic complexity and social structure far more intricate than the ' civilized ' as it were sophisticated worlds we believe we live in.
I read this work as a way of being acquainted with a great mind, a mind which to my mind proved to be quite elusive and even distant.
But clearly the exploration made by Levi- Strauss of his own inner and external worlds is one which calls to the curious human mind and heart in its quest for understanding ' of the other'
Montaigne took a trip in the Brazilian jungle in the twentieth
century, looked in the mirror and saw the face of Levi- Strauss.

One way to gauge who's in among fashionable academics is to read the catalog for the "Writers and Readers' Documentary Comic Book" series. Sartre has an entry, and so does Derrida, and Lacan. Thirty years ago, you would have expected to find an entry in this index for Claude Levi-Strauss. No more. Translations of his principal works appear to persist in print, but the sales numbers are look low, and he seems almost to have disappeared from the trendy book reviews and such. This is perhaps a matter for at least idle curiosity: Levi-Strauss is surely no more abstruse than his magisterial contemporaries - but no less so; one is perfectly willing to be relieved the obligation of ever picking him up again.

With one exception. In style and temperament, Tristes Tropiques is so different from almost everything else Levi-Strauss wrote that it is hard to believe it is written by the same man. Oh, the primitive tribes are there, and a brief personal intellectual history, that offers a bow to Freud, and Bergeson, and Saussure. In my own copy, which I first read about 1980, I even have a pencilled notation "structuralism" - this at page 375 (Pocket Books edition, 1977). But there is almost none of the portentous vacuity that you had to cope with in the so-called "serious" works.

What you get instead is Levi Strauss the raconteur, full of travelers' tales. He dines on roasted parrot, flamed with whisky. The termites make the earth rumble. Virgins are made to spit in pots of corn, to provoke fermentation - but "as the delicious drink, at once nutritious and refreshing, was consumed that very evening, the process of fermentation was not very advanced." You almost expect the anthropophagi and the men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders, that you meet in the Voyages of Sir John Mandeville, Knight.

Laced through it all, you get a kind of austere sadness which is either (a) a tragic view of life; or (b) a kind of self-indulgent posturing, depending on your temperament for skepticism. "Every effort to understand," he says, "destroys the object studied in favor of another object of a different nature." Or: "Anthropology could with advantage be changed into 'entropology', as the name of the discipline concerned with the study of the highest manifestations of [a] process of disintegration."

Well, call me anything the like, they say, as long as you call me for dinner. It might even be an elaborate con. But so, for that matter, might the stories of Herodotus were you get the same mix of the eclectic and the tolerant, the surreal and the sly. Herodotus, we may note, is one of the first great works of Western literature. Let's hope that Levi-Strauss is not one of the last.

This is Levi-Strauss most readable book, and it is a fantastic introduction to the "why" behind his interest in structuralism. There are hints of the various methods and approaches that he uses in later works, but this book shows why he was to develop structuralism in later works. The writing is clever and eloquent, and various conclusions he made about cultural diversity address contemporary concerns in a highly articulate and responsible manner. Read this book before delving into the other writings of one of the 20th Century's most important anthropologists.

Tristes Tropiques, surely one of the great books of the twentieth century, is Levi-Strauss at his intoxicating, idea-overloaded best and an elegy for a world that colonialism and then globalisation have doen their rational best to annihilate.

Levi-Strauss, like most thinkers who come up with new ways of describing the world-- those who Richard Rorty calls "inventors of philosophical vocabularies"-- has of course been mis-read and his ideas mis-applied, as we see with the much-hyped "creation" and then "demise" of "structural anthropology." The real pleasure of this book, which mixes fascinating accounts of Levi-Strauss' travels in Brazil in the '30s with autobiography, and adds chapters on the Maya and ancient Hindu (Indian) civilisations, is in its sheer mass of artfully arranged detail and its endless, provocative play of ideas.

Levi-Strauss stays conversational, descriptive and straightforward, avoiding academic jargon and obscure references. He assumes you know the basics about people like Freud, Marx, Darwin and the Buddha, and then shows you a trip through largely non-industrial societies which unfolds from anthropological description into deep philosophical speculation on the meaning of society and life.

In Brazil, Levi-Strauss watches an illiterate but canny chieftain use his anthropological fieldnotes to intimidate his illiterate tribesmen subordinates, and speculates on the parallel origins of writing and slavery. In Matto Grosso, he meets a butcher fascinated with elephants, since "he could not imagine so much meat in one place." On the banks of the Amazon, a non-industrial tribe is dying, hypnotically lost in the symbolic intricacies of an ancient social system that makes its citizens inbreed. In India, Levi-Strauss watches Islam and Hinduism-- the "locker room" and "mother" religions-- wage symbolic and then real war post-Independence.

The book starts as anthropology, turns into philosophy, and ultimately becomes a critique of the West, driven by "reason" and technology to shake off what Levi-Strauss calls the "thick blanket of dreams" with which non-industrial civilisation arranges the Universe into Meaning, which remains for the industrialised world the greatest and unanswered question.

But Levi-Strauss does not idealise the primitive. His point is that through the study of those and that which are different, a kind of "ideal model" of society-- one which will never exist-- can be built in the imagination, and people can evaluate their world by reference to this community of mind.

This is a remarkable book-- easy to read, engrossing, and endlessly thought-provoking.

The eleven stories collected here range in setting from Chicago's south side to small towns in southern Illinois, but are all thematically linked in their exploration of confused and often angry lower-class white males. The stories are also generationally linked, in that their characters all appear to have come of age in the early to mid-'70s. Indeed, the three best stories are set in the '70s and follow the same junior high boys through a trio of episodes ("The Vomitorium,'' "Smoke'' and "The Grand Illusion''), which include a trunk full of stolen Tootsie Rolls, and the forming of an "air band", and a homosexual advance. These three stories share much of the humor and angst of Chris Furhman's excellent novel The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, and Tom Perrotta's collection Bad Haircut.

In "The New Year", "The Greatest Goddamn Thing" and "Torture", the narrators are teenage boys, whose primary role in each is as sidekick or witness to another person's pain. In the first story, a cuckolded and abandoned father takes an axe to a deer. In the second, a brother just out of jail leads him into an all night bar party complete with gun, fire, and sex. And in the third, a neighbor is stranded on his roof by an irate wife, and no one calls for help. In each case, there's a kind of sad desperation to it all. Desperation is also present in two stories ("The End of Romance" and "Roger's New Life") that follow a UPS driver with a flaccid marriage, two kids, and a shaky grip on sanity. These are the most distant of the collection, as the protagonist is clearly cracking up and it becomes harder and harder to identify with his tenuous grip on reality. A rather similar character is the focus of the longest story, "Limbs," sharing a troubled marriage, kid, and in this case, friends of dubious character.

Two Chicago-set stories stick out: "The Politics of Correctness" abandons the world of the unemployed and lower-class for the world of academia and a struggling young English professor who must contend with the drug dealer who menaces his home, and the uber-PC people in his department. One sense this is a very personal story from McNally, and while it's not bad, it's not particularly original or noteworthy either. My own favorite is "The First of Your Last Chances," which stands out if only because it has a happy ending. Both funny and tender, it's a welcome respite from the heaviness of the other ten stories. The collection as a whole reveals a great new talent, I'll look forward to his next work.

The cover photo on this book (cuffed hands) isn't quite right. This is not gritty realism or "Cops"-like docudrama. Instead, author McNally's sensibility lies somewhere between the blue-collar melancholy of Raymond Carver and the outrageous humor of Hunter Thompson. His characters (all males in their early teens to their thirties) are comically pathetic, living lives that barely hang together. Teenagers Hank and Ralph appear in three stories set on the Southside of Chicago, obsessed with girls (who are all repelled by the two boys) and spending their aimless days and nights on the ragged boundary line between adolescent angst and Big Trouble. Roger, a UPS driver, moves blankly through empty days haunted darkly by thoughts of Squeaky Fromme and Charles Manson, while a fellow worker runs a personal ad and discovers the liberating mysteries of "raw carnality." Meanwhile, romantic relationships and marriages languish and sour.

Far from being bleak, the wonky dialogue and cock-eyed situations in these stories had me laughing out loud. In my favorite story, a debt-ridden young English instructor is beleaguered at work by witless students and an annoying, politically-correct faculty and then harassed at his new home by a neighborhood bully. All comes unglued for him at a faculty party where he gets entirely too drunk. Only the last longer story, "Limbs," shows McNally stretching himself into something more novel-like, as he explores the disintegrating impact of a murder on the lives of several small-town people, and here there are few laughs, just a dizzying descent into confusion and rage.

I love this book. It is both disturbing and fiercely entertaining.

Eleven stories make up this solid collection, and three of them are related ("The Vomitorium," "Smoke," and "The Grand Illusion"), starring a kid in the eight grade named Hank and his sometimes goofy, always strange adventures with Ralph, his dangerous deliquent of a friend. All three are excellent, and they make a logical progression, offering nice closure at the end of the third story.

The remaining eight are a mixed bag. "The New Year" is fantastic, but "The End of Romance" is not. "The First of Your Last Chances" seemed a bit too crafty, but I ultimately loved the story, which features a hilarious S&M vignette and a real cute ending. "The Politics of Correctness" was a wonderful story all the way through, my favorite in the collection. "The Greatest Goddamn Thing" didn't do it for me -- it all seemed too forced, and I didn't buy the narrator's voice. "Roger's New Life" just never seemed to go anywhere (a detached 3rd person pov, reminiscent of Raymond Carver), while "Torture" was strong from start to finish, though I'm not sure if it's a story that has a real direction. And the last and the longest, "Limbs," is a winner.

I wouldn't consider any of these stories as bad -- they are all finely written, and McNally's got a very nice, easy style. Many of the stories were very funny and thoroughly enjoyable.

I was a lucky person to have had John McNally as an instructor in college. He taught at my college for a short time and I still feel that college (which will remain anonymous) did not know what they lost when they lost this brilliant writer. He taught a creative writing class which was based fully on the power of the written word and how the simplest and most realistic language often tells the best story. McNally's own work completely upholds this belief. I unfortunately have lost touch with John, but when I found out via the web that he had published this collection of short stories, I knew I had to find it. I had him for one semester, yet I remember him better than any other teacher I have ever had.

As a fan of the writing of Richard Yates and Raymond Carver (who John introduced me to), I can tell you that he learned his craft from the writings of these masters. His characters are believable, the dialogue is simple but powerful and the settings are described in the most minimal detail, but yet you have a feel of exactly where you are and who these people are. McNally's characters exist through their dialogue and that is what makes his stories powerful.

I highly recommend this collection of stories. Some are disturbing, others are more lighthearted. However, the writing is tremendous and you get inside these characters almost immediately. The art of the written word is not lost. People like John McNally are keeping it alive.

John McNally's Troublemakers sparkles with electric language and moves the heart with touching scenes faithfully depicted. Often these days, one must look widely and patiently to find contemporary fiction that rises above the level of workshop attempts to that of true literary art. McNally has shown his work to be sensitive, laugh-out-loud funny, and true to the spirit of what it means to be human. For all familiar with the plight of the college adjunct, I especially recommend "The Politics of Correct", a tale of a young man oppressed, financially and culturally, to such an extreme that radical decisions and actions are called for, and it resonates with a veracity nearly impossible to find in other works dealing with this subject. This collection is a fine example that good literary work is out there, if one looks patiently for it.

This first brick-like volume contains Giant-Size X-Men #1, and then (Uncanny) X-Men #94-131. This is the whole first Chris Claremont/David Cockrum run, and the more sizeable part of the revered Claremont/John Byrne run. There are a lot of "classic" stories here, including the "Phoenix Saga", the debut of Alpha Flight, "Proteus," and the first part of the "Dark Phoenix Saga" (it seems like an odd place to cut off, but reading these comics makes you realize that there's seldom any clear ending point between arcs; there's always at least two things happening, and one is never resolved in the same issue as the other).

It is, all and all, a hugely enjoyable run, and there are all kinds of first appearances scattered throughout the story. The primary lineup is fairly consistent throughout, with Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Banshee (a lot of people also include Jean Grey in this, but she's not really a team member [she's not mentioned in the blurb on the opening page], but a supporting character, and is usually dragged into the action); Professor X is in the background, and former X-Men Beast, Havok, and Polaris show up several times.

One thing to note is that a lot of people talk about how the modern X-Men comics are too often dragged into stuff that shouldn't really involve the X-Men, and then offer up this period as a counter-example; given that there are several times when the X-Men cross over with, of all things, "Power Man and Iron Fist", for no reason other than Chris Claremont was involved with that series too, this period is perhaps not the best example (the most bizarre of these being Storm venturing back to her birthplace, finding it inhabited by a bunch of junkies who try to knife her, only to be rescued by Luke Cage, who then delivers a lecture of kids wasting their lives). Now, there are a couple of stories that deal specifically with mutants, but most of the time it's just the X-Men in well-done superhero adventures.

As a diehard fan of the 90s "X-Men: The Animated Series", reading this makes you realize just how many of that show's stories were based on the Claremont comics fairly directly; not just the big stuff like the two "Phoenixes" and "Proteus", but also "Xavier Remembers" (#117) and "Repo Man." (#120-121) I actually liked the animated series' version of "Proteus" a lot better; in the comic version, Proteus is a pretty straightforwardly Pure Evil, refers to Joe as "the-one-I-hate," and, for an episode that deals with such a key component of Moira's life, not having Professor X there seems like a real waste. The Animated Series version does something a lot more interesting with Proteus; it focusses on the idea of Kevin as an isolated youth who doesn't understand why his father isn't around, and pursues him despite the clear evidence that Joe is a jerk. It also focusses squarely on Professor X's complicated relationship with Moira, and his attempts to help Proteus. Finally, it uses Proteus to touch on other characters' feelings of rejection because of their mutancy (Rogue), and also on political cynicism (Joe is a "family values" politician who doesn't want to be seen with his son because he's a mutant).

Another thing that's fairly impressive about this run is the narrative flow, which just doesn't let up most of the time. Consider this series of events:

#111 - Beast comes to rescue the X-Men from Mesmero in Texas. At issue's end, they are confronted by Magneto.
#112-113 - Magneto captures the X-Men, flies them to his Antarctic fortress, and imprisons them. They escape, and while Phoenix and Beast end up on the surface, thinking the others are dead, the others end up leaving by a different route, thinking Phoenix and Beast are dead.
#114-116 - While Beast and Phoenix get home and misinform Professor X, the X-Men have an adventure in the Savage Land, including a reunion with Sauron and Ka-Zar, and their first meeting with future continuity-annoyance Zaladane.
#117 - The X-Men get out of the Antarctic, and are rescued by a Japanese vessel on a shady government-sponsored adventure, necessitating radio silence until they get back to Japan.
#118-119 - The X-Men get to Japan, find several Power Man and Iron Fist characters (and one of their villains) there, and help save Japan. They team up with Sunfire once again, and Mariko appears for the first time.
#120-121 - The X-Men catch a flight home, only to be intercepted by Alpha Flight, looking to retrieve Wolverine. Thanks to a somewhat contrived and anti-climactic ending, they fail.
#122 - The X-Men finally get home. Now that's a world tour. It takes several more issues to clarify that the X-Men/Jean and Beast aren't dead, since Professor X has decamped to the Shi'ar Empire with Lilandra, and Jean is off on Muir Island with Moira, Havok, Polaris, and Multiple Man.

One final great feature of the Omnibus is the old Letters Pages ("Mutant Mailbox"), where you get to read people complaining about how Claremont and Cockrum suck, and the original X-Men should be brought back (one letter, in particular, complains about how nothing ever really changes at Marvel, and how they're sure that the old X-Men will be back in action quickly, just like Reed and Sue never stay apart, etc.).

This collection has fallen out of print, so it goes for rather exorbitant sums, but for anyone interested in the classic era of the Uncanny X-Men, this is a strongly-recommended purchase.

The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus volume 1 is a must-have book for any X-Fan. Content-wise you get X-Men #94-131, Annual #3, and Giant Size #1. This features the introduction of the new X-Men, the legendary Claremont & Byrne issues taking us into the Dark Phoenix Saga. If you haven't read these then you're in for an incredible ride. Getting so many issues in an omnibus is like getting 4 seasons of a tv show on dvd to watch. If you have read these there is no better collection than this. Production-wise the reproduction and coloring has never been better (yes, better than the Marvel Masterworks #1-4 which overlap with this omnibus). The binding is solid and built to last. Considering X-Men #94 can go easily for several hundred dollars, this omnibus is a bargain considering how many issues are collected. If you're thinking of getting it...don't wait if you see a copy. Big books like this tend to go (and stay) out of print because of low print runs, the expensive cost of printing, and the amount of space they take up for distributors. Unless you want to end up reading these in a digital form, get the book while there are still copies around. For the massive volume of content, the quality of the content, and the A+ book production values, this is easily the best X-collection ever.

I don't have this book, as its been out of print/sold out for a while; yet I've read all the single issues and like everyone else, this run of Claremont/Byrne is one of the best runs of all time.

Plus I just read on Diamonds website that its being Offered Again!! That means no more $150 copies!! Give Amazon a week or two and this should be available again for retail or even discounted again!

Truly awesome! I wish they could put every x men into one giant book. Bring on X Men Omnibus vol. 2!

This collection of the first 5 years of Claremont's run on Uncanny X-men is a great value. Great quality of the reprinting. My only complaint is minor, that the omnibus overlaps with the first 3 issues in the Dark Phoenix Sage tpb.

Also this book will be getting a new printing in November. Don't pay the marked up prices sellers are gouging for now, just wait. It was in the newest comic solicits from Marvel, it is being reprinted.