R Books

This book was given to me by a dear physician friend and was the perfect gift to start understanding the "curse of Diabetes" in our family. I in return also had given this book to other friends that I consider could benefit of it; to learn and understand more about Diabetes, it's diagnosis, control, care to live with it, and their imminent complications when we do not follow our doctor's recommendations. This is a very thorough and easy to understand book that should be in the hand of anyone already diagnosed or when Diabetes runs in the family

This is the first book about diabetes that I read, after being diagnosed with the condition myself. It was a useful, tough-love experience. The authors discussed all of my excuses for not doing the right thing by my pancreas, and talked to me gently but firmly about monitoring my glucose levels, exercise, and nutritional therapy. A long chapter is devoted to the link between depression and diabetes, and the emotions that a patient plays through when first diagnosed. I didn't even think about the psychological effects when my various friends were diagnosed with the disease--one of them has had diabetes for over 20 years and is now giving herself insulin shots.

Sorry, Jan, CJ, Dennis, and Cathy. I had to learn the hard way about dealing with the psychological aspects of a diagnosis of diabetes. This book helped me through the various stages--I didn't stay in denial very long (evidently some diabetics pass away before admitting that they have the disease and need to treat it), but the authors did talk me out of blaming my grandmother (deceased these twenty years) for `bringing' diabetes into the family.

Incidentally, the chapter on "The Genetics of Diabetes" is fascinating. Type II diabetes (the kind you usually get when you're old and fat) is actually "much more strongly determined by genetics than is Type I." (Thanks, Grandma).

This guide was first published in 1997, before the glucose level for diagnosing diabetes was dropped from 125 mg/dl to 100 mg/dl, but the authors were already using 115 mg/dl as the criterion in their own practices. They hint that a new diagnostic specification is coming, then get on with the book. Both Type I and Type II diabetes are fully examined, along with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (which has a whole chapter to itself).

The causes of diabetes, its symptoms, and the goals of treatment are explained in very clear language--you might not like what you're reading (diabetes is for life), but you'll be able to understand it. If the book makes you too cranky, be sure to check out the part about what happened to diabetics before insulin was discovered and extracted from pancreatic beta cells. The hardest chapters for me to read were the ones on diabetic complications, e.g. "Diabetic Eye Disease," and "Hardening of the Arteries."

The information on "Living with Diabetes," "Families Who Live with Diabetes," and those dealing with health care professionals, the U.S. Health Care System (or lack of one), and "Employment and Diabetes" will probably prove to be the most useful in the long run, but I recommend reading the whole book. If nothing else, I came out of it with a whole new (and much improved) attitude about monitoring my glucose level.

An excellent basic reference and a recommended pick for both public and school libraries, the large print edition of Dr. Christopher Saudek, et.al.'s Guide To Diabetes assures that audiences who need it will be able to read it. From handling psychological problems to dealing with daily maintenance routines, this is packed with practical information. The large print edition of Dr. Cassel's will reach a wide audience and will prove a listing contribution to libraries. All eye disorders and health issues are covered here, with treatment options and symptoms thoroughly surveyed in an easy-to-understand manner. Highly recommended.

If diabetes has entered your life because of your own health or the health of a loved one you need to get a lot of information in order to control the disease as best as you can. This book is a GREAT place to start.

The book provides a good overview of what diabetes really is and why it is so destructive. But MUCH MORE important is the help it gives us in understanding how the disease impacts the way one lives. If the diabetes is responded to constructively the situation can be improved. Depending on the severity of the condition it can be improved a little bit to, in a mild case, something like normality. Most are somewhere in the middle.

The danger is to ignore the condition. This book can help make clear all the good things that can come from responding positively to the condition and gives helpful information on how to do that. And you can find specific information very quickly because the book is so thoughtfully organized.

_Fear is sometimes a positive force. In moderation, it can motivate people. Realistic fear of complications can strengthen your resolve to take the best possible care of yourself...The key to making your fears work for you..is to keep reminding yourself of the positive. The power to control blood sugars...improves everyday_. (p217)

Two months ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Since then, THE JOHNS HOPKINS GUIDE TO DIABETES has been my handbook and I feel fortunate that Christopher D. Saudek, M.D. and his staff have developed such a valuable tool. It is extremely easy to use, yet covers completely the topics associated with successful living with diabetes.

The Preface states, _This book grew out of our experiences in caring for people with diabetes, particularly at the self-managment program of the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center. Much that we discuss in this book is drawn from the material used in our teaching sessions -- and indeed, from the material taught by diabetes educators throughout the country_.

I appreciate the self-management program promoted in this text. _A central theme of this book is that [I] can live a long and healthy life with diabetes, but it is a dangerous disease to ignore_. (p4) I learned that the diagnosis of diabetes is objective and ammoral, based solely on the level of glucose in the blood. Knowing that it really does not matter how my blood glucose levels got to be the way they were helped me to accept that something needed to be done to control them. I was able to adjust to daily life with diabetes, learning that I can in fact cope with it.

Understanding Diabetes is the first part of this book and the first part of successfully controlling this disease. The bulk of this book is in the next part, Controlling Diabetes. Their approach to goal setting is representative of this book's healthy attitude:

_We are talking about redefining the quality of life. We admit to looking through rose-colored glasses, downplaying the things you can't do or eat that you used to love. There's no denying that some things ought to be avoided some of life's patterns ought to be adjusted. But none of this has to impair your quality of life. You have the choice. You define quality. You set the goals._ (p36)

If you are interested in controlling your blood glucose levels, this text can show you how.

There is a strong spiritual component that comes into play when changing behaviors. The task of accepting the realities of diabetes; turning from destructive behaviours and turning to life-affirming behaviours is at the crux of repentance. Moving from denial to acceptance requires an element of faith. Faith in the diagnosis, faith in the cure, and faith in ourselves that we are able to take up the task day after day with a fresh re-commitment. My experience with diabetes has strenghtened my own spiritual confidence. The hard won changes to my glucose levels has given me confidence that I will be able to control other parts of my life.

PEACE

I give this book as gifts to friends who are expecting their first baby. This poetry is easy to read to the kids, but even more it will teach you great and simple things every parent should know. I also recommend this book to survivors of trauma to help them re-parent or change their understanding of what parents should have been like.

This book should be handed out to every mom and dad the day their baby is delivered. It has the simplest yet most profound advice any parent could receive. I have given this book to new parents sinc it was published and I am disheartened that it is no longer in publication. Let's send letters to get it back into circulation. It is by far the BEST! Sincerely Cecilee

This book is awesome and should be owned by every Mother in the world and Father, for that matter. Children don't always tell you what they feel, even when they know, and this book gives you things to think about. No mother can put it down once they begin to read it.

This books offers wonderful insight to becoming a more attentive parent. Through real life events, the author represents a particular view which parents can tap into and gain a greater understanding into their child world. Ruth Reardon's (author) perspectives easily surpasses many theoretical parenting books available today.

I am a psychotherapist dedicated to helping families function well. I so often hear from parents, "Why don't children come with instruction books?!" Well, this is as close as you can get to that. Learning to listen well. It is incredibly insightful and well-written. I recommend it to all the parents I work with and give it as a baby shower gift to all the new parents I know. It is an excellent must read.

This is a ok book its kinda for younger kids.Its about a shipwreck and alot of kids get stranded on a island Andrew Lian Ned they look to see if anyone else was on the island they were on. But when they were looking they encountered dinosaurs and they get scared and hide. So now they must over come that great fear. Also during the middle of the book they see them starting to fight and they try to kill the dinosaurs and it has a really suprising ending.

Even though this book is short, it is filled with action for a person of any age to read. In the story it also gives the story of the sea monster, the Kraken. I like the creativity of Scott Ciencin's books on Dinotopia, as well as the Dinoverse series. At first you thik that the Unrivaled are going to invade, but later you find out that they are the most peaceful race on Dinotopia. Congatulations, Ciencin, you've done it again.

Even though this book is short, it is filled with action for a person of any age to read. In the story it also gives the story of the sea monster, the Kraken. I like the creativity of Scott Ciencin's books on Dinotopia, as well as the Dinoverse series. At first you thik that the Unrivaled are going to invade, but later you find out that they are the most peaceful race on Dinotopia. Congatulations, Ciencin, you've done it again.

I own this book and a few other Dinotopia titles and I really recommend this to any Dinotopia fan or just about anybody who likes to read really good books. Once I started reading it I could'nt put it down, it is one of the best books Ive read in a very long time. I also recommend the Dinotopia book Windchaser for another good read

or anyone else, for that matter! I own this book and have reread it a few times. Three friends journey into the Lost City of Halycon, and what they find is not what they expect. They meet new friends and face new challenges. But will it be enough to stop the power-hungry Lord Lucius? You'll have to read it to find out! This book has adventure and excitement, and some humor mixed in also. Over all, an excellent book.

Received book on time and it was in new condition as described. Thank you.

A Master Class In Gremlin-Training by Rick Carson revisits a complex subject in imaginative and simple language. As in his prior books, Carson outlines the basics of pleasure and explaina in unique, yet common sense, language a method of getting out of our own way. In his latest work he offers us the opportunity to increase the pleasure in our lives by spending more time living and less time thinking about our lives by taming our gremlin. The gremlin in our mind is the one who is a master at using our "fears, regrets, or self-limiting concepts" to create scenarios that exacerbate our vulnerabilities. The book is well written. An example is the following explanation of what the gremlin can do: "Untamed, he will destroy your health, foul up your relationships, dampen your creativity, hamper your productivity, send you tumbling into low-down funks, and wind you up into fits of panic." The book has an important message and lesson for anyone who wants to understand and minimize the worries that plague them and to successfully pursue a pleasurable and active life

Richard Carson's presentation of his gremlin-taming process is so digestible and good natured. It is grounded in the real world. I recognize bits of myself and others in the examples. And I think that is the key to the value of the book. Each chapter is linked to the others yet stands alone as a tool for finding your own way of enjoying your own life. In fact, I believe this might just introduce you to your very own self!

I can honestly say that I can't think of anyone I would not recommend this book to. It's a good read, a toolbox full of very real aids to finding clarity for yourself and it's often funny. And the illustrations are great!

Rick Carson has written a warm and personal book. He writes from an experiential base; he shares his experiences while encouraging and challenging the reader to utilize this method and evaluate theirs.. As a bonus, the reader will be charmed and tickled as I was by his humor and anecdotes. All the while, the method allows you to shine the light of awareness on the toxic messages inhibiting and limiting us all. By the books conclusion, I felt as if I were parting company with a friend as wwell as a master therapist. Jay Karant, Evanston, Illinois

As a teacher and collegiate athletic coach I found "A Master Class in Gremlin Taming" to be extremely beneficial. Carson's Gremlin Taming method helps me be aware of the barriers I create that limit my potential. By being aware of my own blocks, I am able to help my students and athletes notice theirs as well. We can both then move toward unleashing our fullest potential.

While mastering Gremlin Taming is a life-long pursuit, I notice that the Method is easily applicable. It is for this reason I have given "A Master Class" and "Taming Your Gremlin" to All American athletes and Honor students. Often the difference between being good and being great is in their mentality.

I strongly suggest "A Master Class" and "Taming Your Gremlin" to any teacher or coach who wishes to help their students or athletes excel.

Definitely an amazing story. A man told he will never walk again, not only does he walk, but goes on to become a Green Beret afterwards. The story is amazing for what he overcame in life, don't expect a tell all combat memoir though, it's more about his life.

I first read this book in the span of two days in 1998; it was amazing. While the writing wasn't necessarily anything impressive, the story was inspiring. At times throughout Roy's life, I laughed, cringed, and smiled.

It was when he joined the Army, however, that the book took my breath away. The pace of the book during his military career absolutely flies by, chapters are gone in an instant. When the actual battle timeline and facts start rolling in, well, all I can say is: goosebumps and a dropped jaw. Amazing.

To think that a man can define the word hero as perfectly as Roy did and NOT be a household name speaks poorly of how much our country knows about the men and women in the military.

As a former soldier, I immediately put Tango Mike Mike near the top of my "personal heroes" list.

If you pick this book up, you will not be disappointed.

My father told Roy's heroism as a bedtime story when I was a very young - before Roy even receive the Medal of Honor from President Reagan and before this book was written. You see, my family is the 1st generation from Vietnam. While he was in the army, my father had the honor and privilege meeting Roy. Needless to say, my father revive Roy's story numerous times to me. I never imagine it was all real...I am so overwhelm while reading this book that it is all true. A definitely must read.

My USA retired husband saw Roy Benavidez 3 days before he passed in Nov '98. Visitors were restricted but Roy beckoned for him to come into his hospital room (he always made time for everyone). He was in great pain and had his shirt off. His scars showed. A few words were spoken between 2 battlefield brothers. It must have been a comfort to the family to see the hundreds who went to the funeral. Mrs. Benevidez resides in El Campo TX, drop her a line to tell her you still remember Roy. Maybe one day a movie will be made about THIS FINE CHRISTIAN MAN.

I truly enjoyed the book! I met MSG Roy P. Benavidez in 1990 while stationed in the Air Force at Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas. The book is a must to read. It's an inspiration to all mankind. Unfortunately, on 11-30-98, he passed away. I attended his funeral services along with hundreds to pay our respects to a man whom I met in my lifetime and will never forget. The book has been written. Now, the movie must be made...

This is a small board book. Perfect to fit in Christmas stockings and little toddlers' hands. It's quite silly and really fun.

At first I was disappointed that this book was a small board book, but my kids liked it so much I got over that quickly. It was in my almost 2 yr old daughters stocking Christmas morning and she kept opening it and laughing, even slapping the floor! Teaches emotions and expressions too.

This book is suitable for a 1-2 year old. My little boy is 3 but is a big Sesame Street fan so he still enjoyed it. It's very colourful with thick laminated pages which makes it easy to clean. I would recommend this to other parents.

My one-year old daughter loves this book so much that she has completely worn it out. It is quite durable but she carries it everywhere. It is her favorite. She enjoys making 'monster voices' to go with the monster faces. She has taken to reading it to herself at times. We love this book and are buying it for a friend's newborn - along with another copy for my daughter!

This is my 16-month old son's second favorite book (the first is Ten Little Ladybugs). He loves the book, can hold it himself, and often sits and "reads" it alone, too. However, in reading alone, has grabbed the pages from the binding side and easily tore the book in half. I glued it back, and it seems to hold for now.

Mr. Lansdale is by far and away my favorite horror writter. I am a devout follower of his work and srongly suggest this book to anyone who has yet to meet his aquantance.

This is Lansdale's first, and finest, work -- unfortunately, it's long been out of print and collectible prices are astronomical. Apparently now that Joe has gone onto bigger and "better" things (like his bestselling series about a gay Black southern civilian detective-hobbyist), he'd prefer to forget about his past. Woe be unto any fan of his mainstream novels who stumbles upon this nasty little secret by "that nice Mister Lansdale."

I'd never heard of this book before -- nor had a friend, who is a huge Lansdale fan. Looking up "splatterpunk" on Wikipedia I was surprised to see mention of the same Joe Lansdale I'm familiar with -- and the amazon reviews convinced me that this was going to be page after page of gratuitous and highly explicit violence, so I just had to add it to my Inter Library Loan queue.

If you're familiar with the splatterpunk sub-genre, or "extreme horror" as it's nowadays called, you'll probably find the violence somewhat tame. Yes, it is violent, but Lansdale is a skilled writer who doesn't need to linger unnecessarily on the description of said violence for the titillation of freaks attracted to such. Not a mainstream book by any stretch of the imagination . . . but it really should be.

Like King, Lansdale knows that it is not spooks and monsters that terrify us, but the atrocities of which humankind is oh so capable. The casual violence of the sociopath -- which degrades into rape and slow torture when he realizes that, hey, he's got a few hours to kill and ain't no-one gonna interrupt. This is what the goblins lurking outside our civilized society like to do. They are sadistic, they are vile, and they are REAL. Like the boogyman, wussified liberal dingbats want to deny their existance -- until, like the protagonists -- they come face to face with their worst nightmare . . . and Officer Friendly ain't there to save the day (or he's rapidly cooling on the front lawn with a bullet in his head -- several cop-killings in this story).

One thing that surprised me was the startlingly accurate depiction of demonic possession portrayed within. I've studied Comparative Demonology for years (accounts and legends from all cultures throughout recorded history), and folks, it ain't anything like "The Exorcist". The typical possession involves a malevolent entity taking near total control of a human host almost like slipping into a skin suit. They appear to be "normal", but the perceptive can see the malice in their eyes, hear it in their voice, and note it in their actions. Most sadistic sociopaths seem to have much in common with the demonically possessed. "The God of the Razor" takes possession of a youth gang leader -- and when he dies, transfers the leader's mind to his lieutenant in a form of dual possession. The astral/oneric interaction with "The God of the Razor" seemed quite authentic to me.

This novel was very well written, sensitive to the delicate subject matter (without going into lurid detail), and an utterly absorbing read. The motivation of the sociopathic gang members is consistant with that of goblins I've met in the past (Clyde sodomizes a former teacher because, "She was nice to me once, and I've been thinking about that *** ever since"). This book should be more widely read: there are genuinely evil creatures walking amongst us, and that fact is ignored at your peril.

Here's a book that should NOT be read in the young adult circle. "The Nightrunners" is my stock answer to the question, "What's the most extreme horror novel you've ever read?" In the hands of most other writers, it would be dismissable as sick, even pornographic, with its hyper-violent storyline, sex-driven villains, and the whole "riding the razor" thing ... However, this was written by Joe Lansdale, and he's both talented and empathetic. His characters don't just force stories along. They resonate.

I will say, I read this book when I was much younger, and I still recall how disturbing, upsetting, and riveting the book was. It had a lasting hold and influence on me. That reason, more than any other, is why I include the caviat FOR ADULTS ONLY, that to date I have not put on any other book I've reviewed. Great stuff, but not for everyone.

(This review posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book "Teeth: A Horror Fantasy.")

I had read more recent Lansdale books (A Fine Dark Line, The Bottoms, etc.), so when I read this book I was little behind the times. Nightrunners is a show of the extreme dark side of human nature and what happens when light and dark begin to mix unwittingly. Lansdale is a master with the articulation of how good must fight the murky veil of evil without falling into the same mindset or abyss of an incredibly chaotic and insane situation that he draws so well in his story. The story compels one to reevalute the weakness of a person that when confronted with nightmarish horrors, as presented in this book, that person will not only rise to the ocassion, but can find a hidden strengh that may well take the breath away. Some books have to be read between the lines, not just as horror stories; i.e. The Drive-In: A Double Feature Omnibus, but as studies of human nature. When you read Nightrunners and are immediately plunged into the depth and degradation of the human spirit, you are also reading about the characters who are regular people who battle their own, albeit well-hidden, dark side. But when really examined, both are chasing their own demons and their own side of weaknesses and strengths. The big question is, which side will win out. Like the movies, we all want a happy ending. Just dont't go to the triple feature at the Orbit Drive-In.
I purchased a hardbound copy in excellent condition and it is on its way to Lansdale right now to be signed.

I got into Joe Landsdale through his comic book work and I thank G-d that he took those jobs because it lead me to this twisted nasty little edge of Hell. A nice liberal couple comes face to face with hell when the wife is raped and the husband must confront his notions about human goodness head-on and ponder whether or not he is a coward instead of a pacifist. Meanwhile the rapist, hanging in his cell, isn't completely dead as his compatriots are alive and well and one of them is possessed. The car is racing towards them ready for more death. This book brings you face to face with pure evil.

There are rough portions. The teenagers are just nasty and evil, while you can see the husband's transformation from weakling to ravenous fighter coming a mile away. But this is an amazing book on its own merits and shouldn't be read if you are expecting a deep philosophical treatise on human nature. It's just fast, evil and damn good.

Written long after *Journey to the End of Night* and *Death on the Installment Plan* made him famous, and his alleged activities during World War II turned him into something of a pariah, *North* is a lesser known and less widely read novel, but, to my mind, in many respects, a vastly superior work to both *Journey* and *Death.* What makes it so? Precisely Celine's recounting of the questionable wartime `activities' that have turned him into one of the true black sheep of 20th century literature. What Celine has to say about the inferno of WW2 wasn't politically correct long before that term was invented to describe a particular form of lying. Is it possible that the seeds of political correctness were sown in the ashes of postwar Europe? Maybe. In any event, Celine stands firmly opposed to any form of lying or hypocrisy and he found plenty of both to rage against in the chaos of war. The problem is that Celine finds the hypocrisy, the lying, the betrayal and rot on *both* sides, in human nature itself, and this is an unacceptable position to take in the last--if not only--war that is still considered to have had a clear Good Guy and an indisputable Bad Guy.

*North* chronicles a stage in Celine's flight `north' during the last days of an imploding Third Reich. As Berlin is bombed into pebbles, and then re-bombed into dust, Celine, his wife Lili, a temperamental actor friend, and his cat, take refuge in a village along with other refugees--prisoners, traitors, SS officers, gypsies, German nobility, and assorted riff-raff on the move--and all of them scheming and jockeying for the best position to ensure their own survival. Hunger and fear bring out the worst in all of them, except, perhaps, the cat.

What Celine has the effrontery to point out is that human evil is pervasive--the rottenness is at the core, and extends from the bottom up. The guys at the top are only the biggest stinkers, the Chief Thugs, different only in their capacity to commit atrocities of all sorts, but, otherwise, identical to the rest of us in the latent human potential for unbounded cruelty. Celine take on WW2 is one where principled stands were virtually without exception conditional on one's place in the raging chaos. Can the Nazis keep me fed, alive, relatively safe? Okay, then, "Heil Hitler!" Can the Russians? "Welcome Comrade!" Maybe the English? Then "God Save the Queen!" Celine fought with the "Good Guys" during WW1 and so the edge of his ultra-cynicism was somewhat blunted, his political amorality obscured, his misanthropy still a bit of a joke, fogged over and softened by the fact that, after all, he fought on the `right' side. But his essential attitude is there even in *Journey to the End of Night.* Celine doesn't believe in *anything*--nothing, at least, larger than the survival of himself and his immediate friends. His is an ant's-eye view of the world and like all the rest of us little guys, he's just trying to keep from getting stamped on by the big boots from above. And if you think of the war itself as the shadow cast by a great big boot coming down, you can understand better the mindless, unprincipled scramble for survival that Celine dares to record in the pages of *North.* Are there no atheists in a foxhole? Well, Celine argues, there are no idealists there, either. When the bombs are screaming down, there's just a lot of desperate and terrified people looking for a rock to hide under. Justification comes later; survival is first. After all, there's nothing without survival. And wherever the Wheel of Fortune stops, that's where you stand, Nazi or Allied, collaborative or Resistance. You place your best bet: to survive is to win. Well, you might say, that Celine agrees wholeheartedly with Ecclesiastes: "A living dog is better than a dead lion."

It's this kind of radical moral complexity that I think makes *North* richer and ultimately superior to Celine's earlier work--it also fuels an even more virulent disgust with "humanity," so called, and amps up his characteristic misanthropy to the max. Everyone gets it in the neck. The black comedy is here, the antic absurdity, this is Celine after all, cracking jokes even up to his eyeballs in blood and worms. That he can turn the experiences recounted in *North* into a picaresque romp through the Apocalypse is amazing in itself--in many another author's hand, the events of *North* would be the material for a gloomy tragedy of the epic sort well-known by now among chroniclers of the WW2 horror. That Celine is able to turn this uncompromising tale of war, famine, and exile into a loony brimstone romp is a backhand tribute to the human spirit. Well, a tribute to Celine's spirit, in any event--a spirit more fully and honestly "human" than most.

Louis Ferdinand Celine was an anti-Semite and thoroughly unpleasant character (unless you were counted among his small, close circle of friends). He also happens to be one of the 20th Century's greatest writers, someone admired by the likes of Samuel Beckett (not a man known to offer unworthy praise). JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT, DEATH ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN and NORTH are ample evidence of Celine's enormous talent. Unflinching, vicious and literate, his prose depicts individuals living on the margins--he also is a writer of great wit and there are passages which will provoke peals of laughter from readers with the intelligence to appreciate his dry, bitter,caustic humour. Highly recommended...though not for the faint of heart and small of brain.

This is possibly Celine's most abstract and difficult novel, but well worth the effort. If you persist, you will be rewarded with a tragic story that rivals the bards of ancient greece in its beauty and chaotic symmetry.

Celine never really bothers to make grand pronouncements about the future, about civilization, about humanity, about the future. If he makes them, they are predicated on madness and miscommunication, and often meant merely as a foil for his real ideas. Yet I'm convinced that behind the rants, raves, and scattered events in this novel is a grand metaphor for the fall of the Enlightenment ideas that defined the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century. Gone is any real perception of right or wrong, of good or bad, of the necessary past and the rational future...all we have left is the self and the other, struggling through a bombed-out landscape as Western Continental Europe finally crashes headlong into the ground. Humanity has returned to its irrational origins, and not even an 80 year old Prussian Junker in his underpants can get on his horse, draw his saber, and make everything all right again...

A vital description of the effects of World War II on the ideas, formulations, and traditions of Western European society, and a fantastic read to boot.

This one will stay with us for a long time.

In this partly autobiographical novel, we find Celine on the run through Baden Baden, a bombed out Berlin, and finally a small village at the outskirts of the remains of the Third Reich capital, on his way to what he hesitantly calls a refuge, during the chaos and total insanity of the final stages of the second world war.

Celine does not really complain the misery of his fate. In his cynical manner, he merely records his incredible encounters with seemingly all the renegades and twised characters of a scorched Europe and willing or not he witnesses the atrophies and deformities of human mind. Ironically, the author somehow manages to turn his characters into hillarious and amiable, even entertaining figures.

Celine writes like no other writer you have read. His truncated sentences, in bits and pieces all over the place, remind of a rather maniac mind spinning thoughts at the speed of light in an incohomprensive, bordering to delirious babble. That's Celine all right throughout North. In poignant remarks, making fun, laughing at himself, expressing same anxiety, bitternes, and cynical observations as in his other writings, Celine moves on, weary but undefeated. Life goes on.

I love all of Louis-Ferdinand Celine's novels, from "Journey to the End of the Night" to "Rigadoon", but I have to say that "North" is my favorite. It's hard to say why exactly, because his novels are mostly simlar in tone and style, except for "Journey", his first, which is his most accessible, ellipses-free novel...Bukowski (who turned me on to Celine in the first place) said that Celine went insane after his first book and didn't write much of consequence after that.
I would have to respectfully disagree. "North" certainly does read like an ultra-cynical, off-the-cuff, unruly beast, the rantings of a madman...Celine opens complaining about society, his publisher, the reading public, and his fellow authors, and seems to careen between his present-tense problems and his flight from both the Allies and the Nazis during World War 2, twenty years before, with no rhyme or reason...but I think there IS a reason: the experience. Probably a multiple-degreed Literature Professor (if he read Celine at all) could point out all sorts of latent themes and ironic stylistic touches, but I don't go in for all that...I just love running along behind Celine, trying to keep up. "North" is a whirlwind, a blast of vituperation and self-pity, the missing link between Surrealism and Punk Rock, and possibly the highest expression of what it means to be French and why so many people hate the French: if YOU were a little country crowded on all sides by beasts and fops, and everyone loved your wines and cheeses but squawked with hatred whenever you gave your opinion on something, how do you think YOU'D behave?

Classic writing of the foundation of nursing by Miss Nightgale. Guides the nurse in her duties to the profession and her and the ward.

Florence Nightingale greatly influenced modern nursing, to focus on the needs of the patient and establish nursing as a profession requiring assessment skills as well as caring presence. This brief, well-written & clearly understandable book is a must for the personal library of any nurse or nursing student. It is amazing to realize how advanced Nightingale's thinking was in her era; her lessons remain essential today and provide a basis for understanding why we do the things we do. A great read for anyone interested in nursing!

I received the book within a few days of the order and it was in perferct condition.

A book for true Nightingales! I enjoyed this book a great deal, some parts had me laughing out loud. It is an excellent gift book for nurses!

This makes a wonderful gift for a nursing student who is graduating, a nurse who is retiring or one who is being promoted. It is fascinating reading from a historical aspect will be relevant until the end of time.

If Latin America is known for "magical realism" and it is, although that is perhaps a myth along the lines of international boundaries, then this is the nightmare version. Its like the movie Eraserhead if you've seen that, or Naked Lunch or 2001: A Space Odyssey. You're given cool images and happenings and they don't need to always mean anything or be real; here there are layers of the same events; told over and over, a girl, a witch, a witch and a girl, which is she? Both, neither, who knows. Its troubled, its dark, its twisted, its twisting, its disorienting, its sometimes too much- urine for 2 straight pages is a little too descriptive, its also very unique and its a tangle that's worth the trouble. The book is as mangled as Boy, and don't try to cling to one version as reality, let them all be, take them all in, its a ride, like a roller coaster. It can be fun, scary, and nauseating, if you let it, or it can be painful, scary, and nauseating, if you want.

I will make this short and I'm not going to summarize the book. This was a wonderful book to read. The imagery is fantastic. The writing and depth of story is awesome. This book isn't for the for the meek.

I would not know where to begin to try to summarize this book. There are several story arcs, and several narrative voices which are actually all one voice-- different guises of Humberto Peñaloza. He is an unborn fetus (miracle baby), a frustrated nun, an improbable mute, and the secretary to a rich man who may or may not have fathered the rich man's deformed baby.

The Obscene Bird of Night is justly considered one of the best books in Chilean literature. Richly and skilfully written, its myth and metaphor wraps around itself to be moving, horrifying, mystifying and satisfying.

This is a book that needs some time. It is very far from an easy read. If I have not given it five stars, it is not a comment on the genius of the book. Rather, it is simply that it is more grotesque than I really have the stomach to enjoy in an unqualified way. I admire it immensely, and recommend it unhesitatingly.

This is one of the best latinamerican books, further than magic realismus (realismo mágico) this novel traspasses all the borders beyond time, gender, reality and absurd. Dark novel that takes you into your own clue du sac. This wonderful story narrated by a mute man, who becomes all the voices in the novel, is like a monad of humanity, himself represents all the human disgraces, inherited from generation to generation and unable to scape fate. Must not be missed if you want to take a deep immersion into human condition.

I have a really hard time finding fitting words for describing this work. I will, perhaps in the manner of the author and the formal lines the story follows, will make the following word association: voices, flux, silence, gravitational intermitence, mentalese, overcrowding, sensation overflow, vertiginous, fast, schizophrenic, haunting, implosive, relentlessness... extremes, circles, spirals, ouroboros that eventually finds that recursion leads to nothing; that is, indeed, the last word: Nothingness.

I tried to show you by way of just a chain of emotions and ideas what you will most certainly experience by reading it.

There are two advices I most heartily provide:

1) Read it in spanish. Please do try. No translation can do justice to this piece, specially in terms of rythm and word play.

2) Prepare your mental voice to adopt the rythms given by the author on each paragraph, on each sentence. I do know this may sound obvious, but in this specific case, it cannot be overstated. Almost every paragraph will be an extreme and wild travel, a rollercoaster of voices and emotions and images, all entwined and tangled together quite organically. The author made a strategic use of commas and dots, comply with his strategy and the trip, the mesmerizing experience, will be unavoidable.

This is by no means a literary critic, since I barely enjoy most kinds of novels but, in this very particular case, you cannot avoid the gravitation of the work, the way it draws you near as if it had a thousand hooks, the way it never completely lets go, even upon reaching its end. This is, by far, one of the most superbly accomplished works of narrative I've ever read. I thought no one could even begin to compare to Rulfo, Sartre or Kafka, three of my personal favorites, but this book, although essentially different, even surpasses them.

That much I recommend you this work of art, a supernova of images and spears and apneas, multi-dimensional apneas.