Peter Books

THIS BOOK IS POWERFUL, ITS SHOCKING, AND IT IS ASPIRING. THERE IS NOTHING ON CHANNEL 11 THAT BRINGS THE HONEST, INSIGHTFUL, VERY REAL ACCOUNT THAT MR.DOUGLASS DOES IN HIS BOOK. FROM SLAVE TO FREE-MAN, THIS IS TRUELY AN AMERICAN SUCCESS. SKIP THE INTRO, AND JUMP INTO IT.

Douglass's second, and lengthier, narrative fills in many of the gaps left in his first autobiography: we learn about his mother, his siblings, and more details about his psychological transformation from brute to man. It's quite insightful, as Douglass is careful to relate each of his personal experiences to the innate evil of the peculiar instituition, for both the slave and the slave holder.

What are your impressions of Frederick Douglass? What would you say about Douglass observation that "conscience cannot stand much violence? Do you think it was possible to be a good slave owner?Why or why not? Why does Douglass view slaveholders as well as slaves as victims of slavery? Why is education incompatible with slavery? Why do you think the white children's attitude toward slavery is different from that of their parents? How would you describe Douglass attitude towards Mrs. Auld?

Having read a biography of Douglass many years ago, I thought I knew his story. Hearing through his pen was an entirely different matter. What a master of the language and insighful set of observations on human nature.

I am a man of many words, but words fail me in my endorsement of this book. The letter to his former master in the appendix is worth the price of the book by itself.

Standing in line at the Lincoln Memorial, a book beckoned to me that I previously hadn't seen before. The face of Frederick Douglas grabbed my attention; a man that I've respected for many years, encountering him mainly through my study of Abraham Lincoln. On the spur of the moment, I snatched up a copy of "My Bondage and My Freedom", and within a few days, my admiration in Frederick Douglass was transformed from interest to awe.

Frederick Douglass orginially penned his book as a response to people's accusations that someone as articulate and composed as he couldn't possibly be a former slave. With that goal in mind, Douglass wrote his memoirs, in a straight forward, powerful way. In the book, he painfully and honestly documents the path his early life took; the memories of being owned, how slaves coped during these times, and how he managed to pull himself out of it all.

While Douglass' life in itself is amazing, (as he describes the amazing process he undertook to learn how to read), what amazed me even more are Douglass' discourses that he sprinkles through the book, discussing relevant issues during the time. In one instance, he addresses the concern about why slaves simply didn't run away from their oppressive situations. It's almost as if you can actually hear the people talking to Douglass and he responding to them.

This book does not only tell the tale of a truly amazing American, but gives us a unique insight to the times. This book should be required reading in every high school in this country.

When you think of an "explorer" you think of a guy like Hedin. From an early age he ventured again and again into large swatches of Asian geography where few or no Europeans had ever trod. Hedin graphically and realistically portrays his travels with such detail that you can feel the cold, the heat, the parched throats, the curious indigenous eyes and the scenery staggering in its beauty. When you come to the end of this book, you will be all "adventured" out, for on almost every page there is a suspenseful, fascinating episode. Hedin was truly an explorer's explorer. His greatness is dimmed, however, by his fervent support of Naziism during WWII. As someone has writen elsewhere, Hedin knew about the death camps and never disavowed them. He was a solid Nazi partisan. In an epilogue to this book, author and admirer Peter Hopkirk urges us to look at Hedin's many and major contributions and to forgive his pro-German activities in both world wars. I'm not quite willing to forgive, but I will segment my views of Hedin into Hedin the explorer and Hedin the Nazi sympathizer. Anyhow,if you're looking for a fascinating book about exploration in the most forbidding sectors of our planet at the turn of the 20th century, this is a book for you.

(This refers to the National Geographic Reprint edition)

This is truly a great book, full of the amazing adventures of an incredible explorer. You have to admire Hedin's determination and stubborness, although sometimes I wonder about his planning. It seems like every trip all his animals die, and the men are on the verge of starvation. And as for his trips in the desert, I would have thought the concept of "take some extra water" would have occured at some point!
Hedin is a fine writer, and his descriptions are not only accessible to the average reader, but often quite poetic as well.
Nevertheless, I only reluctantly give this a full 5 stars, because I feel that National Geographic missed a great opportunity to make this an almost perfect book, and it wouldn't have been that difficult to do. As a previous reviewer mentioned, some good maps could have helped. There's almost no excuse for NG not to have included some decent maps of Central Asia in their edition. Furthermore, one tends to forget (although Hedin mentions in the text), that he also took photographs on many of his travels. These might have been included as well. (To see some, refer to the Photos section of the website of the Sven Hedin Foundation, "http://www.etnografiska.se/hedinweb/htmsidor/organi.htm"). Aside from the simplistic drawings that are included, Hedin also did many detailed sketches and potraits on his travels. Now one can assume that none of these were included in the original, and this is only a reprint, but nevertheless, it is a missed opportunity. The introductory chapter by A.Brandt also adds little insight, and might as well have been left out as well.
However, despite the lost opportunities, this book is highly recommended.

The Swede Sven Hedin was the last great explorer we will see on this well-traveled planet. Hedin was born in 1865 and this autobiography describes his life up until 1908. Hedin's career was hardly finished, however, as he continued to traipse down the old Silk Road in Central Asia until the 1930s when he was 70 years old.

In a happy trait that should be copied by more auto-biographers, Hedin doesn't spend much time on his childhood. By the third page of his narrative he is 20 years old and off to the Caucasus Mountains which only whets his appetite for the little-known peaks and deserts of Tibet and Central Asia. He spent the years between 1893 and 1908 exploring these regions and filling in blank places on the map.

National Geographic's "Traveler" magazine put this book on its list of 100 best adventure books and, truly, the tales of Hedin's adventures make for good, exciting reading. Hedin displays both charm and generosity in his account. He traveled without the company of other Europeans and he enjoyed the companionship of his local helpers and the dogs he adopted along his way. He draws many clever portraits of the people he met in his travels. Hedin, however, was no mere adventurer. He was a serious, sober scholar who produced dozens of scientific studies of his findings.

One of the most hair raising tales in the book concerns Hedin's first expedition into the sands of the Takla Makhan (desert) of China in which he and his companions nearly died of thirst. A second high point of the book is the account of his attempt to visit Lhasa, the forbidden capital of Tibet. He failed after getting nearly to the gates of the city and was denied the honor of becoming the first foreigner to visit Lhasa in half a century. Amidst the plethora of adventures, the stoic Swede brushes over incidents others would consider high -- or low -- points of their lives. "Fever kept me in Kashgar a long while" is his complete description of one serious illness.

The book is illustrated with many of Hedin's drawings, including his hand drawn maps. I suggest that you read the book with a good modern map at hand so as to trace his routes with more precision as his constant tooing-and-froing can be confusing.

Smallchief

This is a tale wonderfully told of an explorer's quest to fill in the blank spots on the map of Asia. Not only does Hedin present a clear and highly entertaining view of his travels, but he also gives us a portrait of his character. He shows us that he is a man with high goals and is undeterred in achieving those goals, even when all odds are against him. He shows us that he is also a very caring man, very much concerned about the welfare of his men and his animals. He also is a man that is awestruck by nature and is very concerned about not unduly intruding upon it or unnecessarily destroying it.

But most of all, this is an adventure story that is just plain fun to read.

A suggestion to readers who are not very familiar with the geography of central Asia would be to have on hand some good maps as the ones Hedin draws are quite limited and often fail to give the perspective that may be desireable.

I concur with NDylanRay@aol.com. This book is exceptional. I could hardly put it down. You feel the excitement and intensity of his adventures, you begin to understand the force that drives him (and you respect him for it), and you meet the people and the places that make Turkestan and Tibet 100 years ago like no place that you could ever imagine.

The Myth of Alzheimer's is not only relevant to people who have the potential of one day being wrongfully diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (which already includes everybody) but also to people interested in the medical community.
As a field, medicine is commonly criticized for lacking empathy with our patients that we usually treat like customers. Medicine also seem to lack accountability (only when major mistakes are made do physicians get supervision). Furthermore it seems that medicine has forgot to create its own limits (check the price of the medication you are on).
As a medical student, I believe that this criticism is founded. In medical school are taught all day every day, pure simple and elegant facts. We are given an explanation about those facts and we are then expected to go on practicing without ever asking questions. Thus we are never taught to have accountability. Exactly zero second is spent in the vast majority of medical schools on the price of health care thus physicians have no sense of limits. Finally our competitive process weeds out most people with any kind of empathy.
In his book Dr. Whitehouse shows a great example of how to think outside the box, how to see the mistakes that medicine has made, and the process which has lead to the largest myth of our generation: the Myth of Alzheimer's.
The success of this book will not only be seen in how many people start asking questions about the facts of Alzheimer but also by the way the medical community decides to reexamine itself and hopefully start showing more: Empathy, Accountability, and self-Limitation.

Dr. Peter Whitehouse confirmed what I thought about Alzheimer's disease. In his provocative book, his thinking about memory loss and cognitive impairment agrees with mine. I concur that people need to be resposible for their brain health. The author describes ways for people to maintain their brain function. His strstegies are practical and easy to do. Read this book so you can keep your brain "alive" and free from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. If you know someone who has dementia, read this book to help them slow the decline of their disease.
by Susan Berg author of Adorable Photographs of Our Baby: Meaningful, Mind Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones, and Involved Professionals

"In less than 25 years, Alzheimer disease evolved from being a rare cause of early onset dementia to a disorder feared by almost every adult. The Myth of Alzheimer's is a thought provoking book that raises important questions about later life cognitive decline and Alzheimer disease. I highly recommend it."
-Peter V. Rabins, M.D., MPH, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, co-author of The 36-Hour Day

"Alzheimer's strikes fear into the American psyche. Whitehouse and George carefully and thoughtfully offer a way to empower ourselves and walk through that fear. The Myth of Alzheimer's is deliberately provocative, carefully researched, and lovingly rendered."
-Anne Basting, Director, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Center on Age & Community, author of Forget Memory

"A landmark book. If we read Peter Whitehouse thoughtfully, we'll never see Alzheimer's the same way again. Agree or disagree, he has changed the way we need to think about a critical problem in our time."
-Harry R. Moody, Director of Academic Affairs, AARP

"Finally, from a highly respected, vastly experienced scientist and philosopher, a sane, humane, practical, nonmedical, politically informed-- in other words, revolutionary -- way to understand and live with our aging brains. What a relief! What a treasure!"
-Judith Levine, author of Do You Remember Me?: A Father, a Daughter, and a Search for the Self

"The Myth of Alzheimer's helps emancipate us from the pernicious stigma of a condition whose namesake was reluctant to call a disease and from the shackles of pharmaceutical dependency and media distortion; simultaneously, it provides a welcome proactive approach to aging, illuminates and celebrates the priceless value of our interdependency as human beings, and explicates the positive role that healers can play. Policy makers, physicians, researchers, lay people, must read this book."
- Steven R. Sabat, The Experience of Alzheimer's Disease: Life Through a Tangled Veil

"Dr. Peter Whitehouse has challenged the current labeling of Alzheimer's disease in his new book, The Myth of Alzheimer's. With wisdom, honed through years of research and practice, Dr. Whitehouse opens the door to normal aging. He offers the reader clues to maintain a quality of life as we age. In addition, Dr. Whitehouse brings years of clinical experience presenting ways to reduce the burnout of the caregiver. Dr. Whitehouse has integrated medical research with practice, guiding the reader towards a wise old age."
-Naomi Feil, executive director, the Validation Training Institute, Inc.

"The Myth of Alzheimer's is an arresting and eminently readable book in which an acclaimed neurologist with 30 years' clinical experience systematically sets out the many scientific uncertainties associated with our understanding of the condition, including the validity of the diagnosis itself. Peter Whitehouse argues that Alzheimer's should be reconceptualized as intrinsic to human aging with emphasis given to prevention and thoughtful, humane care. His position is one that forces each of us into a realistic recognition of the complexity with which we are confronted. This courageous, thoughtful book demands immediate attention.
-Margaret Lock, Author of Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death

"Complicated, unyielding, major problems need and deserve periodic reevaluation in how we perceive them, define them, treat them, and study them. This is just what Peter Whitehouse along with Daniel George have meticulously done with what most people understand as Alzheimer's Disease, in their authoritative, provocative, and compelling new book, The Myth of Alzheimer's. This book is of enormous relevance to persons concerned about and struggling with significant changes in cognitive functioning, as well as to family members, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, community program planners, and policy makers."
- Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., author of The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain

"Get ready for the fireworks. Peter Whitehouse has fired a shot into the midst of what he calls the Alzheimer's empire - the vast network of people and organizations that collect hundreds of millions in research funds and make billions selling drugs for treating a disease that does not exist. Whitehouse brings to his topic a level of humanism that is reminiscent of Oliver Sacks' writings about patients with cognitive differences from the so-called norm."
- David B. Wolfe, author of Ageless Marketing and co-author of Firms of Endearment

"Peter Whitehouse is very well known in Japan and around the world as a caring clinician and pioneering researcher. In Japan the government and experts have changed the words for dementia (from chi ho to ninchi sho) because we are aware of the negative effects of stigmatizing labels."
- Akira Homma, Chief of Psychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology and Founder of Japanese Society for Dementia Care

"This book presents a unique perspective on dementia. Peter Whitehouse combines decades of experience as a leading clinician and researcher in the Alzheimer's field with a sophisticated understanding of what history, anthropology, ethics and spirituality have to say about medicine, health, aging and dementia. With Daniel George, he has produced not only a penetrating critique of the concept of Alzheimer's disease and the medical industrial complex that created it and benefits from it, but a book full of profound and practical wisdom to all who are struggling to meet the cosmic and quotidian challenges of dementia."
- Jesse F. Ballenger, Ph.D, author of Self, Senility, and Alzheimer's Disease in Modern America

"Bold, provocative and compassionate. Peter Whitehouse tells the fascinating story of Alzheimer's, and then drafts a new version: embracing the challenge of living with our changing brains, and focusing hope on community, kindness and humanistic care.
This book surely would have helped our family."
-Ann Davidson, author of Alzheimer's: A Love Story and A Curious Kind of Widow

"With an impressive fusion of scientific data and humanistic vision Peter Whitehouse and Danny George successfully challenge the dominant conception of Alzheimer's disease. Arguing that an AD diagnosis is "scientifically unsound and socially disruptive," they reframe the way we think, speak and act toward our aging brains and help us imagine a better future for ourselves and our communities."
-Cathy Greenblat PhD, Sociologist and photographer, author of Alive with Alzheimer's

"Dr. Peter Whitehouse tackles with courageous candor current myths about "Alzheimer's disease" and offers an alternate, realistic and holistic approach to healthy and dignified aging."
-Vladimir Hachinski, MD, FRCPC, DSc Distinguished University Professor University of Western Ontario University Hospital

`This book tells the story of a remarkable journey. Peter Whitehouse describes and interprets the history and meaning of Alzheimer's for our time and in doing so he makes a personal journey as a successful scientist and researcher to question and reappraise his own vales and the meaning of his work."
-Harry Cayton, Chief Executive, Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence,
Former Chief Executive, Alzheimer's Society UK

I'm only in college but I've been a part-time caregiver for my great aunt since October and this book was really inspiring to my mom and I when we read it a couple weeks ago. We never say that my aunt has a "disease", and this validated our belief that she is a regular person who is still capable of having some quality of life in spite of the changes that she is undergoing. We look at old pictures together, and she still gets a lot of pleasure from doing simple things like that (the book suggests a few activities you can do). All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is caregiving for someone, and really anyone else who is interested because there's a lot of information and a fresh new perspective here that I believe will really catch on if people give it a chance.

Call it political correctness. Call it academic pressure. Call it whatever you wish, but understand that there is pressure, both subtle and overt, to follow only the conventional medical model where Alzheimer's is concerned. This model decrees that cure in the form of a pill or other medical device is the only solution to the problems of the aging brain. Huge amounts of money flow to that end.

In The Myth of Alzheimer's, authors Whitehouse and George ask you to understand that:

· what we are routinely told is not the whole truth about Alzheimer's disease,

· there is no universal agreement on the cause or cure for the symptoms of Alzheimer's in brain or behavior, and

· a billion-dollar industry relies on the perpetuation of the myth of Alzheimer's.

Heresy, pure and simple.

If the author were less well educated or experienced, we could burn him at the stake or, at the very least, denigrate his notions as those of a far-out kook. But as it is, we must regard his observations as having some degree of credibility.

Whitehouse and George devote a chapter to the billion-dollar industry that has grown up around Alzheimer's disease, especially to those associations and foundations that have benefited richly from contributions.

Of course, it's not only associations and foundations that focus so little on assistance and prevention and so much on a "cure" that has failed to materialize. Governmental bodies and pharmaceutical companies currently operate big budgets to fund hundreds of studies searching for the "cure" or symptom amelioration. Of those only about two percent focus on prevention.

The Myth of Alzheimer's is the right book at the right time. More and more people are turning away from conventional medicine, partly because its cost has skyrocketed, partly because its "promises" have failed to materialize or damaged those who trusted it. The ideas this book presents will help both the aging and their caregivers gain maximum comfort at minimal cost and reduced risk.

This is a uniquely important book. Read it. Learn about the theories of causation. Learn how your approach affects sufferers. Allow it to open your mind to new ways of thinking about and dealing with the syndrome known as Alzheimer's disease.

Thank you, Dr. Whitehouse, for presenting an extraordinary alternate view that encourages people to take responsibility for their own aging, their own health.

Any Gabriel Dupree mystery by Peter Bowen is a literary gem, and this novel is no exception. Aided by a wonderful cast of eccentric family and neighbors, Dupree again unravels a knot of murder, greed, and human folly. I particularly enjoyed the prominent role played by the loveably klutzy priest, Father Van Den Heuvel, in this book.

This is not the best of the Gabriel Du Pre Mysteries but is still a good read.

is one of my favorite characters. Peter Bowen really shows what the West was all about in writing these books. I grew up in Central and Southern Oregon which is still cow country with authentic cowboys who wear pistols and carry rifles in their rigs. Gabriel Dupree and his friends are a little overdrawn but not by much. The language, characterizations, plots, and landscape are all entwined to create a sense of place and time that is fast disappearing. The story "Nails" has to do with horse racing and the use of young teens as jockeys. There is also a sub plot having to do with white supremists and certain individuals who have too much money and not enough brains. This book fleshes out some of the characters that have been floating through the earlier stories, such as Gabriel's granddaughters and Booger Tom.

Peter Bowen alternates between serious detective fiction and a more lighthearted style the often makes gentle fun of life in upstate Montana. I like both, but lately Bowen has been more humor than mystery (consider Stewball, for instance). Nails is a return to the harder fiction style of Wolf, No Wolf and Notches and once again proves that Bowen is a writer to be reckoned with.

The subject is a touchy one. A group of Evangelical Christian has moved into the Toussaint area, and trouble starts happening. Graffiti starts appearing on the door of Father Van Den Heuvel's church. For those of us who have become fans of the clumsy priest who habitually shuts is head in the car door, Nails is a special treat. The good father gets a real part and some surprising facets of his character come out. But, as Van Den Heuvel himself points out, this is hardly the real problem.

A young girl calls 911 and begs for help, a body found, and gradually a series of strange events centers around the evangelicals and the local people who have welcomed them. Not just a spate of graffiti, pop-up sermons, and minor larceny - child abuse of the worst sort is feared, and Dupre is once again on the hunt - and complaining about the lack of help from Benetsee, the local shaman. Even without spiritual help, Dupre is inexorable. He smells evil and intends to root is out.

As I've already said, Bowen focuses on a sensitive issue, and he doesn't pull any punches. It is interesting that I read this book just as several stories about excessive discipline appeared in the news. Most of us don't realize that what we see - what actually gets report - is the very tip of the iceberg. Bowen takes the issue head on, mixing in enough local color to provide a stark contrast.

I'm not sure where Peter Bowen got the title for his latest Gabriel Du Pre mystery, but it might be from a poem by Dame Edith Sitwell:

"Still falls the Rain---
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss---
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross."

Of course there are more nails now. More like 2006 in this grim Evangelical-bashing novel. Bowen doesn't go after all Christians: just the ones who accuse their own daughters of witchcraft and lock them in small rooms until they repent; and the ones who disrupt the teaching of science in schools with their rants on 'intelligent design'.

I'm surprised Pat Robertson hasn't issued a fatwa against the author of "Nails." Bowen tries to show sympathy for the down-trodden ranks of fundamentalists--the murder that is the grim centerpiece of this novel is committed almost by mistake. But maybe the author tries too hard, because the bad guys exude stupidity rather than pathos.

Aficionados of Peter Bowen's Gabriel Du Pre mysteries already know that life is grim in the Big Sky Country. It doesn't matter whether you're a ranch hand, a fiddler, a rich alcoholic, or just a science teacher who is struggling to educate her class using the standard textbooks.

The small town of Toussaint is slowly losing population--there's very little in town anymore except for a bar and a Catholic church--but an influx of fundamentalist Christians temporarily reverses the trend. Bowen's detective-hero, Gabriel Du Pre, a laconic fiddler who lets his music and his deeds speak for him, thinks the newcomers are up to no good. For one thing, their appearance coincides with the discovery of a young girl's body in a road-side ditch.

He and his long-time mistress, Madelaine, Metis descendants of the French Voyageurs and Plains Indians, also have to wrestle with a few family problems. Madelaine's son returns from the war in Iraq, minus a few body parts, with nothing to look forward to except the false solace of alcohol. Madelaine's brilliant granddaughter, Pallas is back from her posh Eastern school and trying to deal with her own demons.

"Nails" is the best of the Gabriel Du Pre mysteries to hit the shelves in quite awhile. It is grim, and I fervently hope that Bowen didn't take his story from a true-life incident, but some comic relief is provided by ancient cowhand, Booger Tom, his two mules, and the hopelessly klutzy, Father Van Den Heuvel, Toussaint's agnostic priest.

Just don't get Booger Tom started on the topic of the current Administration in Washington D.C.

Parts of this review were used in a review of Algren's classic Man With The Golden Arm. These short stories reflect the same milieu that Algren worked in that novel. Algren throughout his literary career was working that same small vein- but what a mother lode he produced.

Growing up in a post World War II built housing project this reviewer knew first hand the so-called `romance' of drugs, the gun and the ne'er do well hustler. And also the mechanisms one needed to develop to survive at that place where the urban working poor meet and mix with the lumpen proletariat- the con men, dopesters, grifters drifters and gamblers who feed on the downtrodden. This is definitely not the mix that Damon Runyon celebrated in his Guys and Dolls-type stories. Far from it. Just read "A Bottle of Milk For Mother".

Nelson Algren has gotten, through hanging around Chicago police stations and the sheer ability to observe, that sense of foreboding, despair and of the abyss of America's mean streets down pat in a number of works, including this collection of his better stories. Along the way we meet an array of stoolies, cranks, crackpots and nasty brutish people who are more than willing to put obstacles in the way of anyone who gets in their way. Read "A Face On The Barroom Floor"- that will put you straight. But to what end. They lose in the end, and drag others down with them.

We, of late, have become rather inured to lumpen stories either of the death and destruction type or of the rehabilitative kind but at the time that these stories were put together in the late 1940's and early 1950's this was something of an eye-opener for those who were not familiar with the seamy side of urban life. The dead end jobs, the constant run-ins with the `authorities' in the person of the police, many times corrupt as well. The dread of going to work, the dread of not going to work, the fear of being victimized and the glee of victimizing. The whole jumbled mix of people with few prospects and fewer dreams.

Algren has put it down in writing for all that care to read. These are not pretty stories. And he has centered his stories on the trials and tribulations of gimps, prostitutes and other hustlers. Damn, as much as I knew about the kind of things that Algren was describing these are still gripping stories. And, if the truth were told, you know as well as I do that unfortunately these stories could still be written today. Read Algren if you want to walk on the wild side.

I haven't read any Algren before The Neon Wilderness & was moved to do so by my recent visit to Chicago. I've been told that his stories are the place to begin. I have to confess that before this I mostly knew Algren as de Beauvoir's Lewis Brogan in The Mandarins.

It took me a little while to warm up to the stories. That's at least a little bit because he led with the story which, in my opinion, is the weakest in the book: "the captain has bad dreams". The stories do get better from there, so persevere.

All of the stories are gritty. There is not a lot of hope in his world. Life is mean, and times are hard. It sounds like a cliche, but not the way Algren writes it. He is deservedly considered a master of the short story form. I particularly liked "poor man's pennies" and "the brothers' house". I was less enchanted with the boxing stories. But, honestly, that's probably me and not Algren-- still too much of a girl to be fascinated with fighting.

Recommended, particularly if you are interested in the short story.

If you only have time to read one Algren book and want to know what he is all about, then 'Neon Wilderness' is the tome to get.
It acts as a template for all Algrens repartee; life on Division street, the pimps, the hustlers, the corruption, the prostitutes. Life for the people whom the American dream is pure illusion. They survive in a world of crime by crime, yet they're always the ones who get punished;always the games biggest losers.
Many of the stories in 'Neon Wilderness' have appeared either slightly altered or in elongated form in Algrens other works. The line ups in the jail feature everywhere in Algrens novels.'Face on the Barroom Floor' 'Bottle of milk for Mother' in 'Walk on the Wild Side' and 'Never come Morning'
Algren just basically wrote the same novels over and over with slightly different takes;sometimes humouress, sometimes bleak. He wrote about the people and life he knew in his Chicago.
Read this and you will have Algren in a nutshell. BUt its well worth catching his other works-despite the feeling of deja-vu they give you!

Algren's writing in this collection of short stories has very lyrical and often nightmarish quality. It is both beautiful and brutally frank. Algren paints a unapologetic picture of Chicago and it's people with his wonderful sense of humor and irony. Read this book if you want an unblinking look at people at their best and worst.

A true marvel. Not many writers come close. Nelson Algren is at the very top of the heap: original, compassionate, funny, insightful. You know, we read many books, and once we have finished with the book we toss it aside and forget about it. With Algren it's different. You read his stuff and can't help feeling cheated at not having known the man, not having ever had a chance to meet the guy. Wish there was a way to sit down and have a beer with the man, light up a stogie and have a good chat with the genius who created this masterful story collection. The writing is gritty and true, heartfelt. Brings to mind several other writers who had this knack of writing in this kind of honest, unflinching style: John O'Brien (Leaving Las Vegas), B. Traven (take your pick: Treasure of Sierra Madre, Cottonpickers, etc.) Knut Hamsun (Hunger), Eugene O'Neill (Long Day's Journey Into Night), Celine (Journey to the End of the Night), Kirk Alex (Working the Hard Side of the Street), Chester Himes (If He Hollers Let Him Go).
All of the above had their own style, of course, but the thing they had in common was in the balls they showed by not flinching away from the gritty, life lived by so many who weren't born with deep pockets, who didn't have it easy.

Writing from the gut. Algren lives. Read THE NEON WILDERNESS, and give some of the others a try as well.
This is writing for people who love books and love to read. Shut your TV sets off and pick up a good book--and you can start right here, with Algren's story collectiion.

Night Driving is the book we want written somewhere in our life story. The narrative succeeds with understatement, silence, and seemingly simple dialogue. The strong arm of a father around his son's shoulder and life makes this book truly enjoyable.

This is a neat childrens story about a boy and his father who take a long road trip at night. McCarty's soft illustrations really add a lot to the story. He is one of the best illustrators I've seen.

wow, never thought of reading children books, but this one has me giving a second thought. The radio station playing, trucks zipping by, the diner open all night, and the faded gray illustrations, all make this illustrated book great for adults alike.

This book is one of the few truley magical books. There is nothing better than to lie in bed reading this book to my 7-year old son. The book could almost be thought of as two books - the text and the pictures. You can imagine everything by the very descriptive text - it takes you on the journey of father and son as they travel "to the mountains". The text is even paced and allows you (and your son) to travel along with them. The pencil drawings are of a quality not usually found in children's books. Just take a look at the pictures without the words and the same magical feeling comes to you. This is probably a book for fathers and sons but anyone who is interested in quality children's books will love this one. Highest recomendation.

"Are we almost there?" asks the child-narrator on the first page. "Oh no, it's a long way. We'll do some night driving," says Dad. In John Coy's first picture book, we journey along with a father and son as they make their way to the mountains for the boy's first camping trip. As the hours pass, they find plenty to do together: listen to baseball games on the radio, sing cowboy songs ,watch for deer munching grass at the side of the road. When the car gets a flat tire, there is time to see, away from the lights of the city, a sky thick with stars. Although Peter McCarty has previously illustrated children's books (Mary on Horseback, most recently), this is his first picture book. His soft charcoal portraits of father and son work well with Coy's spare text. He magically transforms white space into cool moonlight-reflecting off Dad's baseball cap as he leans against the car watching his son, pooling in the prairie grass, and cocooning the car as it glides through the darkness. "Making good time" was a phrase my father liked to use when we took road trips-he meant we were getting there as fast as humanly possible with emergency stops only and no dawdling. But as Night Driving gently reminds us, good time is always passing. We can either kill it, or spend it like a jar of saved-up pennies.

Cementing Jonathan Hickman's place as a visionary for a new era, The Nightly News is one of the most original, powerful, and just plain brilliant works to grace the comic book medium in quite some time. A story involving the effects of the American news media on the populace, The Nightly News revolves around a cult of people compelled by The VOICE to engage in violent, terroristic acts in what appears to be an effort to reveal the real truth. There's more going on in this six part story than meets the naked eye however, as Hickman lays the groundwork for this nihilistic tale thanks to his innovative and unique art and graphic design presentation. It may appear to not be easily accessible (and in reality, it really isn't), but give The Nightly News a chance and you'll definitely walk away with a different feeling than what you may expect. That feeling may be that of having your eyes opened or being just plain horrified, but either way, The Nightly News is a powerful and even rewarding experience. Yes, it is that good, and yes, The Nightly News deserves your full attention. And who knows? Maybe if you do, you really will look at the media and everything drawn from it in an entirely different light. Do yourself a favor, pick this up.

Jonathan Hickman is a fresh new voice, and this first compiled work hints that more goodness is yet to come. Pax Romana is off to a good start, as is TransHuman. We'll see if he can keep up his winning streak.

Twisted but insightful post-modern unraveling of mainstream mass media. Or is it all media? Or is it Congress. Nightly News Joins Frank Miller's Return of the Dark Knight and Alan Moore's Watchman as the best graphic interpretation of politics, media, and post-modern culture around.

I would recommend it to anyone interested in challenging their conventional understanding of the relationship between media and power.

DrDigipoldr

Powerful and relevant. This is what a free media transmission looks like. It seems that the only forms of free speech left are via comic books and comedy. Satire is our last sanctuary of creative commentary. Nightly News is crucial reading for every American. It exposes the hipocracy of modern mainstream media and provides crucial statistics and info on the corporate nightmare formerly know as the "Land of the Free". Big ups to Jonathan Hickman for his important contribution. Jonathan Hickman you are now officially a hero of THE GOOD FUTURE. Can't wait to see what you come up with next.

"The Nightly News" is one of the most revolutionary comic books to be released within the last decade. While the author claims to not share some of the ideals brought up in the book, it's spoken from his soul. This is just one of those books that gets a 5 star on every level. The art, the characters, the plot, everything.

The plot is detailed in the description, so I'll jump to the art. It flows so well, but at some point, you think to yourself: "Am I really reading a comic book?" Even compared to today's liberal standards, The Nightly News breaks the rules of sequential art taught to hundreds of artists in art school. Inspired by graphic artists rather than other comic books artists, (already a sign of a revolutionary, if you ask me)Jonathan Hickman gets to the point with his OWN detailed back drops of random circles but with realistically drawn characters. Instead of reading from panel to panel, Hickman's comic makes it feel like a constant flow. Not quite cinematic, (though one can relate this to Tony Scott) but definitely not traditional. It's nothing like you've ever seen. The art was the reason I picked up this comic book by random choice. It looked different from everything else on the shelf, and I was burning a whole in my pocket so I grabbed it along with with Warren Ellis' "New Universal."

Well, "New Universal" turned out to be disappointing, but Hickman's comic book turned out to be incredibly deep from the start as well as addicting. I preordered the paperback in April, and made an EXTREMELY hard pact to myself to not read anymore until I received it in the mail. When I finally got it, I considered not going to work. I did go to work, but after reading it when I got back him I realized I would not regret making the other decision. The art never wears off, only because the story is complex yet not preachy. Hickman even stated at the end of each issue that he does NOT associate himself with sides in politics, and is more into the social examination, which I really dig.

Pick this book up, now.

The Nobodies is a fantastic surreal adventure that had me on the edge of my seat for the whole ride. This sequel to The Anybodies allows us to revisit Fern and her 'brother' Howard. Howard and Fern were switched at birth. Howard was supposed to be raised by the ever-boring Drudgers, while Fern missed an upbringing by her very unusual father, the Bone.

The Bone is unusual because he is an Anybody. An Anybody is a person with a special ability to transform themselves or things. One of Fern's abilities is that she can shake items out of books. But nowadays she can only shake out Diet Lime Fizzy bottles with messages in them. Fern's grandmother (the ultimate Anybody) believes it is time for Fern to go to Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times to meet other Anybodies and to learn more about her powers.

But when Fern gets there (with Howard by her side), they find that Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times is not at all what they expected. Something is amiss. The counselors are mean, the campers are scared and no one has that Happy Sunshine Good Times feeling about being an Anybody. Fern has to find out what is wrong and, at the same time, she has to find out how she can save the Nobodies (it turns out that they're the ones who have been sending her the messages in the Diet Lime Fizzy bottles.)

In so many carefully crafted "jujitsu-style" twists, the author tells a wonderful tale about Fern and her brother, the Hermit and the mole, Holmquist and the campers. I loved every turn that it took and recommend this book to everyone. Great story, great writing. A real winner!

This book was great! My daughter and I read it together. We laughed so hard at some parts we cried! This author really gets kids. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone!

This is the sequel to the Anybodies. Fern is the main character in the book. She is now living back with her father. She is spending the summer at Anybodies camp called Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times. The camp is really weird and she has lots of adventures here! Fern keeping finding soda bottles with messages for her to same some one. Join Fern as she tried to find out who she has to save and what she is saving them from!


The black and white illustrations through out the book were interesting. I enjoyed learning more about each character as I read.

This is a must read for those who enjoyed The Anybodies!

Now that Fern knows she's a natural-born Anybody, she can't wait to learn more and meet other Anybodies. When her father, the Bone, signs Fern and Howard (her almost-kind-of-sort-of brother) up for Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times, Fern is as thrilled as Howard is mortified. The camp is for young Anybodies, and the sappy name and matching brochure are intended to discourage "normal" camp goers.

Before Fern and Howard can even depart for camp, strange things start to happen. Fern overhears the Miser, a former villain, talking with a nasty mole--not the kind on one's face, but a furry, beady-eyed rodent with an unusually flared nose. And this mole is threatening dire consequences if the Miser doesn't get something from Fern. Just as strange are the notes-in-bottles Fern gets every time she tries to shake things from books. "Help us, Fern!" "Only you can save us!"

A rhino hunt, hunter hunt, flood and terrifying bus ride (really, blind men should NOT be allowed to drive camp buses!) later, Fern and Howard arrive at Camp Happy Sunshine Good Times to find what they did and did not expect. Fern did not expect the famous Anybody camp to be so dreary and frightening, and Howard did expect that very thing.

The summer camp gets progressively worse, with no end, or even a tunnel to the end, in sight. I mean, it's so bad that the end isn't even on the radar! How are Fern and Howard ever going to make it through the dangerously horrifying sequential events that are certain to bring them to their doom?! This is serious, indeed.

Young readers should make a point to read this extremely important novel. Fern learns things that will inspire courage and imagination. Or is it imaginative courage? Or courageous imaginings? Or... ?

Ahem. Er, yes. Anyway. I highly recommend THE NOBODIES. Whether the narrator, N.E. Bode, is or is not killed by his former writing instructor, readers will be wise to choose this exciting adventure for their literary lists. As with THE ANYBODIES, each intrepid soul will be challenged to diligently note all references to classic literature. (Recent classics count, too!)

Go forth, Young Reader, and seek adventure, with Fern, an Anybody among Anybodies.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer (or not...)
7/16/2006

What an imagination this author has!

In this sequel to ANYBODIES, fearless Fern, our heroine, has some frightening, fearful adventures, but nothing she can't solve ... with a little help from the amusing, magical characters in this book.

Fern no longer lives with the boring DRUDGER family who were ANYBODIES in the first book. She now lives with her real father who is a NOBODY, and is having even more exciting adventures, if that's possible.

I cracked up when she finds notes in soda bottles, like in fortune cookies! And WHERE she found them ... well, read for yourself. I promise you a fun time!

In fact, this book is fun from start to finish, but I recommend you read ANYBODIES first.

Clearly, the Norwegian peasants enjoyed quite the literary gift. The folktales in this collection are surprising for their sophistication of plot, strong commonalities among the individual tales notwithstanding. (The Trinitarian influence, especially, is blatantly evident: the hero must obtain three magical charms, steal three items from the trolls castle, rescue three princesses, or walk through three castles [of brass, silver, and gold--but, of course!] before proceeding. [By the way, in Native American--particularly Western--myth, it's _four_ that's the magic number.]) One also descries considerable pagan Norse influence: giant eagles (= Hræsvelg), tree-dwelling serpents (= Niðhöggr, if you will, vice Satan-in-the-Garden), and the tortured, bifurcate identification of lightning now with Þórr Óðinsson, now with St. Michael. It's interesting--given that many of these tales cannot date back far beyond the sixteenth century (because of otherwise resultant anachronisms, e.g., muskets and post-medieval kitchen technologies)--that the tenth-century Uppsålan tension of Christian versus pagan Viking is still strongly evident between the lines (even if Nornagest per se does not people any of the tales!).

Believing strongly in the Årne-Thomasson taxonomy of fictive archetypes, one detects considerable similarity among some of the tales with the Swedish tradition (not surprising), the German tradition (also not surprising--just across the gulf), and the Russian tradition (a bit more surprising, given both Russia's geographic isolation and, indeed, its cultural isolation until the entrenchment of the legacy of Peter I in the early to middle 1700s). Personally, it gives me a chuckle to be able to ferret out such common "skeleta," as it were, of various tales, whereby one can select a common middle and slap on, e.g., a Norwegian beginning and a Norwegian ending.

One thing I don't understand is the considerably wider array of supernatural characters in the Swedish than in the Norwegian corpus. Given especially that Norway is rather more rural than its eastern neighbor (witness its one-half the Swedish population in nearly the same land area), I cannot fathom why the Norwegian tales offer only trolls and the occasional manlike giant while the Swedish counterparts also offer elves, markedly non-manlike giants, witches, water spirits (call them nixies, Irish kelpies--even Japanese kappa, if you wish!), and--for that matter--zombies! But I digress. The collection is terrific, the plots are satisfyingly complex (for folktales, at any rate), the symbolism is clever, and the earthy, realistic tone is very, very satisfying as well as convincing that the folk literature actually matches the folk!

The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library is usually excellent, and this book is no exception. It is well worth the money and is a good read. Interestingly, one of the illustrators also provided illustrations for Snorre Sturlasons Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1990.

I lived near Oslo from Aug. '85-Jan. '86. One fall Saturday, at the checkout counter in a bookstore across from Slottsparken, I said to the clerk in Norwegian "You speak English like an American!" Her sharp tongue shot back "You speak Norwegeian like an American!" She responded to my questions why she (American) was there with "I was married to one of them" and couldn't "go back" because she didn't fit anymore. She recommended a book and also told me she'd translated some Norwegian Folk Tales into English. My host told me later it was Pat Shaw.

My daughters (then 8 and 12) read the book from cover to cover many times. Without the availability of an English grade school library filled with teen and preteen romances my daughters read pretty much whatever was placed on the coffee table. They enjoyed Shaw's translation very much, although I also occaisonally translated directly (with effort) from Asbjørnsen and Moe. This translation gives us in English a look at 'the soul of the Norwegian people', as a good friend describes the folk tales.

I'm a middle-aged English professor, but I love this book now, as I did when I was a kid. If I had to whittle my personal library down from its present size (maybe 3000?) to a hundred books, I'm sure I'd still keep this one. I read these stories now to my children and remember how I loved the stories when I was their age. When I'm a senior, I'll remember how I shared this book with my kids, as well.

...alongside the fjords, is its literary tradition, beginning with the Viking romances and sagas, at full flood in the works of Ibsen, but flowing like an underground river through its grotesque folk tales - eventyr - as collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and the Møes father and son. Asbjørnsen began collecting tales in 1834, in isolated rural areas of Norway, a country whose geography has guaranteed isolation through most of history. The publication of the Grimm Brothers' collection of folk tales sparked further enthusiasm amongst Norwegians, but the 'eventyr' are different in many ways from the traditions rescued by the Grimms, and radically different from the literary fairy tales that soon infiltrated Europe and consigned folk tales in general to the realm of children's literature.

Readers familiar with the Icelandic sagas will find many similarities in these hard-minded and hard-handed stories of peasant kings, eerie maidens, and of course trolls, with their peculiar shrewd stupidity. The pleasure of hearing/reading most of the eventyr is in the sardonic humor, the joy of seeing the come-uppance of the rich and powerful. It's interesting to note that stories collected from men are chiefly rough and humorous, and naturalistic, while those collected from women, as translator Pat Shaw reports, "kept to deep, mystic, or eerie themes."

The original illustrations by Erik Werenskiold and Theodor Kittelsen are reproduced in this collection. Black-and-white pen sketches and etchings, they match the eventyr in wry humor and spooky trollishness. I remember them well from my own childhood, when my grandmothers held me on their laps and read to me in Swedish. These are indeed wonderful, memorable stories to read to children, but they shouldn't be limited to laps, not even the laps of Lapps. Adults will enjoy them equally. Most of them are quite short, especially compared with the wordy Grimm tales, and can be relished a few at a time.

I've reviewed three Norwegian items in the past week - music by Harald Saeverud and novels by Borgen and Christensen. You may wonder why a good Swedish fellow like me would be reviewing works by Norskis. Well now, I'm just trying to show that I'm comfortable with diversity.

I love this book! I remember borrowing it from the library over and over when I was young! My siblings and I couldn't get enough of it! Now that I have my own little readers, I wanted to share one of my favorite books with them. Such a shame it is out of print! A true classic - great story!! I ended up purchasing it used because I loved it so much! I wish it was more readily available to the masses - my children enjoy the story so much - it is so sweetly nostalgic to read it to them!

I truly do wish this book would come back in print... We love it at Thanksgiving when we do our family unit. it is so difficult to get it from the library anymore, because there copies were either never returned or they are damaged from so much use. PLEASE REISSUE THIS BOOK

I am 12 years old and have loved this book since I recieved it many years ago. A few years ago I came across it and was so sad to see half of the pages had fallen out and were lost. All I can say is I love this book!

First published in 1978, Peter Spier's story of the well-meaning Noonan children stands up well even after 25 years. The story of the three children who overhear their parents talking about the house needing painting and decide to surprise them will have you and your children turning the pages with bated breath as you wait to see what that house looks like! It's worth the wait -- a laugh-and-a-half for kids and their adults. As you'd expect, the illustrations are colorful and fun. This would be a great companion book with Daniel Pinkwater's 'The Big Orange Splot'.

My copy is tattered and torn and all forlorn but it is still a hit in first grade. We use it as a jumping off point for creative writing...sometimes I copy the text and the children illustrate; sometimes I copy the pictures and we write our own text. We love it! This particular book has set more readers on fire than I can count.