Sheridan Books

As another reviewer remarked, there are doubts as to how faithful translations of Lacan's "Ecrits" are, and I am therefore referring here to the original, published by "Editions du Seuil". These two volumes are a treasure trove of gems, perhaps first and foremost Lacan's treatment of the square root of -1, pp.183-5, volume 2 of the paperback edition, 1970. A tour-de-force indeed: he manages to link the square root of -1 to a phallus, even though, in French, you cannot pun on "root" the way you can in English. Lacan has a marvellous knack for stringing together words which, taken individually, mean something, and yet, once gone through Lacan's logorrhoea, end up devoid of any imaginable, and unimaginable, meaning whatsoever. Thus Lacan replaces the Saussurean sign (signifier and signified) with the Lacanian sign, entirely bereft of any possible signification. His Ecrits, however, suffer from one shortcoming: his venomous threatening innuendoes, usually in footnotes, which remain all too significant. A bitter viper, with the intelligence of a decerebrated viper, that is not even successful at being completely incoherent. Still, 5 stars for trying.

An important read for anyone who wants to know how psychoanalysis might be made to deal with cultural interpellation, and the questions of contemporary subjectivity. However, Lacan's language is dense and confusing, and the translation doesn't help.

Only for the terminally hip and the fashionably confused. Lacan, the guru of so-called philosophers and other purveyors of phenomenological psycho-babble, takes Freud's "theories" to their reductio ad absurdum.

Sheridan made a brave attempt some 25 years ago to render Lacan's difficult prose into English, but Sheridan's command of French left a great deal to be desired, and his knowledge of Lacan's numerous seminars (that form the backdrop of most of his writings) was non-existent; after all, almost none of them were available even in French at that time. This old translation should no longer be reprinted: it is virtually incomprehensible at times and is often quite inaccurate. Readers seeking to study the Ecrits should consult the 2002 translation by myself; the paperback version will be out very shortly, will be competitive in price with this old translation, and is vastly superior in readability and accurary.

If you merely dip into Lacan's masterwork, I cannot recommend too highly parts two and three of Function and field. Here's a sample on the ontological roots of the symbolic:

Man's freedom is entirely inscribed within the constituting triangle of the renunciation that he imposes on the desire of the other by the menace of death for the enjoyment of the fruits of his serfdom - of the consented-to sacrifice of his life for the reasons that give to human life its measure - and of the suicidal renunciation of the vanquished partner, depriving of his victory the master whom he abandons to his inhuman solitude.

Of these figures of death, the third is the supreme detour through which the immediate particularity of desire, reconquering its ineffable form, rediscovers in negation a final triumph. And we must recognize its meaning, for we have to deal with it. This third figure is not in fact a perversion of the instinct, but rather that desperate affirmation of life that is the purest form in which we recognize the death instinct.

The subject says 'No!' to this intersubjective game of hunt-the-slipper in which desire makes itself recognized for a moment, only to become lost in a will that is the will of the other. Patiently, the subject withdraws his precarious life from the sheeplike conglomerations of the Eros of the symbol in order to affirm it at the last in an unspoken curse.

So when we wish to attain in the subject what was before the serial articulations of speech, and what is primordial to the birth of symbols, we find it in death, from which his existence takes on all the meaning it has.... To say that this mortal meaning reveals in speech a centre exterior to language is more than a metaphor; it manifests a structure.

So let's see...a fake autobiography about a woman hobo concerned with women hobo issues...written by a man. Poorly written at that. Also...for a 'sister of the road' this character is almost never on the road and tells almost no road stories. So lame.

While it is true that the book is fiction, it was written by Ben Reitman, and if anyone knows about his life, this could be considered the autobiography that he never wrote.

So while the person Boxcar Bertha may have not existed in real life, what she went through and who she saw are real and based upon events that occured to Ben and many others.

The book when it first came out was fiction, and most then knew it. It somehow was forgotten along the way.

"Everything I had set out in life to do I had accomplished. I had wanted to
know how it felt to be a hobo, a radical, a prostitute, a thief, a reformer,
a social worker and a revolutionist. Now, I knew."

With an ending like the above, you've gotta bet that the prior 200 pages are
a fun read.

This book is more-or-less the contemporary of that classic 1930's anti-drug
movie "Refer Madness". We encounter dope fiends, perverts, dreamers,
anarchists, abortionists and many others.

I do, so much, love reading about degenerate behavior!

Somewhere in the folds is a statement that Capitalism is evil. "Sure
society has a right to defind itself. Society has the right to send me to
jail if they get the goods on me. But I've got to eat and sleep and my
child has to have his. I don't justify myself. I know I'm wrong. I know my
example is bad. But I'm so short on funds, I have to".

So, I'm reading along. 100 pages. 200 pages. Thinking to myself, hmmm
.... this woman sure had a lot of adventures in her life.

Then ... incredible, annoying, foulness! An afterward is appended to the
text by the publisher.

"In this, the 4th time that Boxcar Bertha has been reissued, we feel obliged
for the first time to make it plain that this is in fact a work of fiction.
This takes nothing away from the book as far as we are concerned."

BALONEY! What the...?!?! I could understand if they'd let the title
stand (after all, we know that the "Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman" is a
novel) but why did they have to leave the binding classification as
"Autobiography"???

I feel so violated. I wouldn't have invested the time if I'd know from the
start that it was fiction. This story is only good if it's true ...
there're a dozen places where I'd have thrown the book down because of
unbelievable-ness if I'd known it were fiction.

Take it with a grain of salt. It's an interesting look at hoboism, sex, drugs, pimping, anarchy and Depression era Americana. I remember reading this book at the laundromat in Alhambra. It was quite a page turner. It doesn't matter that it's fiction disguised as an autobiography. It's still a fun read.

Caution: This is a fictional novel, not an autobiography.

I can't say how dissapointing it is to have finished the entire book before being told that "Boxcar Bertha" was a fictional character. The publishers of this novel, by including it in their distinguished line of re-released autobiographies, have done their readers a great disservice.

Discovering that this is novel was written by a man destroyed any of the validity its social observations held. What in the novel is based in reality? Are any of its observations valid or is the entire work a portrayal of an invented world?

I focus my reading on non-fiction, and this novel would have been a great work were it an autobiography. As a work of fiction, the character is convincingly written, but now the plot seems hackneyed, contrived and offensive. Instead of an amazing story of an early feminist and radical, we have another story from a man telling us why women enjoy being prostitutes, punching bags and childish lesbians.

Readers interested in this era of American history would be better served by the autobiography of Jack Black, "You Can't Win." As far as I can determine, his book is a work of non-fiction. His observations on the hobo world are amazing - and true.

The Object-Oriented world has been waiting for a book that describes the process (method) for developing OO systems with UML in detail.

This book is filled with many key suggestions in OO development with UML that can only come from years of experience in developing OO systems. Every Object-Oriented developer, including analysts and managers, should have this book for reference!

I am awed at the great details the authors present in explaining how to organize and accomplish an OO project.

I will be recommending this book to all my friends who are OO developers. The demonstration of the Approach with a case study is outstanding! This helps make the book even more superb and valuable!

This book describes the authors' iterative approach to developing systems using object-oriented analysis and design methods, illustrating it with a simple case study. The discussion principally concerns methodology from a project management point of view, describing the authors' ideas for how to structure a project, complete with lists of deliverables at each stage. Whilst some of this is interesting and includes insights from the authors' practical experience, it is mostly rather general, and the case study is too over-simplified to illustrate with concrete examples the more interesting general points discussed. Despite the title, readers hoping for technical detail specific to the use of Visual Basic in object-oriented development will be sorely disappointed. There is little in the text specific to Visual Basic and a complete absence of any reference to COM, DCOM or Microsoft Transaction Server, despite the supposedly distributed architecture of the case study application. The sample code in the text (of which there is very little) and on the accompanying CD is trivial. Surprisingly, there is not even any general discussion of why one might choose Visual Basic as a development tool for object-oriented systems

If you want to learn about the details of UML, this isn't the book. Same goes for learning Visual Basic. Both those topics are better served by the multitude of specific references available. This book takes the two concepts and shows HOW TO GET IT DONE!

I agree with the authors that very little which has been written focuses clearly on real world, practical solutions. Most of the authors have been either methodologists or consultants. My experience is that few of these authors have a true management perspective of someone who has to live long-term with the organizational dynamics of object development, and long-term with the technical results.

The strongest aspect of this book is standard project management practices and process definition. The explanation of how to do use case analysis is particularly well done. VB is not considered a mainstream OO language or development environment. While VB does have object characteristics which the authors use to illustrate their points and has wide market appeal, most people would not use it to do a real object project. I think the point here is that VB is evolving and I will wait and see how OO it becomes.

I thought this book would teach me UML, and would get on with it. Instead, the first half is an unbelievably dry plan for how to set up a development team, defining each member's general title and role, and the second half drags you in slow motion through applying UML to some business situations -- using all the people defined in the first half. This is one of those books that pauses at every other sentence to define a new term, which invariably turns out to invented by the authors.

This book really is more about project management; UML and its application within a VB project to the authors, seems optional. Here's were the book goes bad:

1) There are no UML syntax definitions.

2) There is no hard reference to UML tools, not even Visual Modeler.

3) The VB source code for the Case Study is passed over in abut 10 pages. (the author seem more comfortable with project management)

4) The CD-ROM is one big promotion for Visio, there is source code but the source is not eve rapped up in a Visual Molder file and you get a MS Project outline of their proposed method (ooh! hold me back)

If you are looking for a book on project management and team development organization, this book is for you. "If you are looking for a no-nonsense book on UML for busy developers looking to unleash the strength of the UML" (from the books intro), this is not the book for you, don't waste your money. If you fall in the later category, try "Developing Applications with Visual Basic and UML"

_shawn

Couldn't finish it, it was such a disappointment after Erskine Childers (the real thing).

It's awkwardly written, the narrative voice is contrived, the sense of adventure smothered under mannerisms.

Even Childers' opening is maybe a little off-putting, and certainly dated, but the glory of it is that, like his narrator, he leaves all that behind as soon as he gets aboard the little ship, and simply lives the magic of the sea and the adventure.

Llewellyn never gets over being an author, and never lets us forget it.

This 1998 novel is written as a sequel to "The Riddle of the Sands" and is dedicated to Erskine Childers. The warning of invasion may be metaphorically relevant today. The maps of this area are in the front for easy access, but there is no table of chapters. Llewellyn cannot imitate the style and prose of Childers. Some of the words seem obscure. Charlie Webb begins to tell about his life and times as a poor boy of Norfolk. Some of the words are nautical and not known by a general reader. The conversations seem anachronistic for that time (Chapter 4). In Chapter 5 Charlie Webb meets Carruthers. Webb agrees to work for the Duke of Leominster (Chapter 6). So the story unfolds in the succeeding chapters. Webb, the narrator, tells us what he sees and what he finds out about Eric Dacre and his sailing to the Frisian Islands circa 1903.

Llewellyn wrote a fast-paced interesting story. The anachronisms are jarring. The writing is not like Childers, or even the later E. Phillip Oppenheim ("Day of Wrath"). Its words would not be used in print before the 1960s. The book reminds us about life and culture from a century ago, about the then powerful aristocracy. Llewellyn could be more explicit where Childers had to be more discreet. Overall, Llewellyn wrote a more complex novel than Childers (the secret in Chapter 24). Webb's escape seems miraculous (Chapter 30). The adventures in this book are more from Ian Fleming than Erskine Childers. Of course there is a happy ending. The `Epilogue' ties up the loose ends. But no explanation of the death of Erica Dacre. This book is educational in telling how a mission might be designed for failure when it will better succeed that way!

Sam Llewellyn's latest sailing mystery novel is a departure from others he has written. Set in the early 1900 in England - and off the coast of Germany- it is written as the memiors of a young man who captains the racing yachts for "gentleman." Charlie Webb, orphaned before his teens, starts out fishing for a living and can not understand people who "sail for pleasure" but, for extra money, he agrees to captain a gentleman's yacht. His talent for winning earns him a share of the prize money, and a nautical encounter with the Kaiser. A few years later, that encounter sets up an unwanted assignment by a mysterious Duke, a man Charlie hasn't trusted for a day. This voyage is full of twists and turns, literally and figuratively, right to the last. Witten in the first person, using the speech and slang of the early 1900's, the story is still fast-paced and full of sailing detail, but at times, difficult to follow. English readers will have less objection to the prose, and Llewellyn fans will find it worth the effort.

I started the book, and though I felt myself becoming sick pushed on through the entire first chapter.

Terrible.
I can see why the author wanted to link it to Erskine Childers' book "Riddle of the Sands", which was an EXCELLENT book (10 stars).

This author attempts to somehow capitalize on anothers work and fails completely.

Even to the point of starting the book in the middle of a race and then the "narrating character" decides to start from the beginning. I dont know much about the author except for this failure.

I would suggest you go read the Riddle Of The Sands again instead.

somewhat slow but with a constant hint of exciting intrigue and believeable action. Vivid descriptions of the sea scape and the "art" of sailing coupled with excellent character development make this story a terrific adventure.

I brought this book because I am going to build an Aluminium Yacht.
While most areas are covered there is very little detail, paricularly in the critical area of stray current corrosion control.
The author does not seem to have much first hand experience of building small yachts in aluminium.
The topic is covered much more comprehensivly in "Boatbuilding in Aluminium" by Stephen Pollard.
I can also recomend "The elements of Boat Strength for Builders, Designers and Owners" by Dave Gerr

As a professional in the facade industry (which commonly relies on aluminium components), I found the book to be full of interesting commentary about working with aluminium. Since the curtain wall industry rarely relies on welding as a means to fasten aluminium, this book was a welcomed trip into alternative methods of working.

The book is practical, and is based on "shop experience". Accordingly, I would highly recommend it for engineers and designers. It's very quick and simple to read, yet I keep a copy of it on my desk to use as a constant source of reference.

Its probably worth the US$ 25 advertised if you are building an aluminium boat, but 'In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King'. It is missing a lot of practical information on welding, distortion, welding schedule etc... its rather general, however, reading it and reading another two or three books available on the subject, you can make a concise picture at the end.

Now in an updated and expanded third edition, Ernest Sims' Aluminum Boatbuilding is a completely "user friendly" and practical guide for designing and building aluminum alloy boats. Every aspect and issue are comprehensively covered including the advantages of building in aluminum (weight savings, inherent material strength, minimal maintenance), as well as the limitations that should be recognized in comparison with other boatbuilding materials. Sims covers the machinery, tools, techniques and skills required, along with setting-up procedures, painting, dealing with corrosion, and making repairs to hulls. Aluminum Boatbuilding also addresses the practical application of adhesives for bonding aluminum, welding techniques including friction stir welding, as well as plasma and waterjet cutting. A careful reading of Aluminum Boatbuilding is a "must" for anyone contemplating designing and building their own aluminum craft from passenger ferries to racing powerboats.

Andre Gide and his highly literate friends obviously left vast amounts of information on his/their lives. Gide also met almost everyone of note in his day in Europe. Mr Sheridan has all this material at his finger-tips and cannot be faulted in any way for that, but the result is a bit over-powering. At times, I felt the detail was bogging the book down. I was not sure I wanted to know quite so much about Gide's endless movements and meetings. It must be a very difficult decision for a biographer and no doubt Mr Sheridan has already suppressed large amounts of material. You do have to want to know an awful lot about Gide though to tackle this book.

A biographer has a unique perspective on his subject: he can choose how to present the subject whatever way he likes. In this book, Sheridan has opted to present Gide as an artist who is constantly struggling between his homosexual nature and his Protestant upbringing which does not necessarily agree with the former. Contrary to the former reviewer, I do believe that Sheridan has successfully tied together Gide's works and his real life sexual orientation. In presenting Gide as such, Sheridan has demonstrated time and time again how such a life is reflected very closely in his works. My only wish is that Sheridan can present a much more balance view between Gide's sexual life and his other life. Literaly the first half of the book (300 pages plus), contain very detail sexual life of Gide. Many times it feels too overwhelming. Only when you get to Gide's association with Communist Part and his trip to the USSR (half way in the book), do you get more interesting aspects of Gide's life. I think Sheridan's description of Gide's relationship with his wife (Madelaine) and how Gide's dealt with her death, is superb. But this comes almost at the end of the book. If it is not for it's lack of balance, I would have given this book a 5-star rating.

i have studied gide for many years now and have a very large collection of his books as well as books on him....i was greatly disappointed by sheridan's bulky text on gide. unfortunately sheridan has decided to give us an intimate portrait of the life of gide that reads like a tabloid trash article. it is of less importance who gide slept with than the ideas that he puts forth over his lifetime that helped change the face of literature. previous biographies of gide have had to divide their time between the facts of his life and criticism of his books because the two are virtually inseparable. sheridan has opted for more of the former and less of the latter but never really makes a convincing case for doing this. he finds fault with many previous biographers, many of them intimates of gide, but never explains why his interpretation of the facts is better. i would suggest reading germaine bree or jean delay or justin o'brien's books on gide. sheridan's ideas fall from the realm of fact into the realm of fiction.

The extraordinary work and life of one of the twentieth century's most influential authors is brought to vivid life in this magisterial biography. Sheridan has a complete understanding of both the period and the literature; his precis of the novels and diaries &c are succinct and his own written style is elegant and to the point.

This book is used as a college text in the US and UK. All facts are supported by primary sources of the highest caliber, such as ABYC, NFPA and peer-reviewed publications. It avoids anecdote in favor of the facts, standards and foundational knowledge required by the professional marine surveyor.

NAMS
"Required reading" for CMS candidates of the National Association of Marine Surveyors.

IIMS
"Recommended reference" for YSC candidates of the International Institute of Marine Surveying.

Midwest Book Review
Recommended techniques are described in detail, and a survey checklist as well as in-depth notes round this solid guide ... literally priceless and an absolute 'must-have'."

Multihull Review
The detail of the book is excellent; the section on non-destructive testing particularly so. The book dedicates nearly 70 pages to Survey techniques and here the budding surveyor is given a really superb aide memoire including a checklist to follow to ensure nothing is missed.

UK Cruising Association
The writing is authoritative and presents the complexity of structural small ship design in understandable and comprehensive language. This book would aid and assist anyone contemplating the commissioning of a survey. A valuable addition to the library.

Soundings
The latest in marine surveying technology is covered in the expanded and updated edition.

Dockwalk
This is a very sound practical textbook which could earn its keep on your bookshelf.

Baird
A highly refined book that looks at every imaginable aspect of the design, construction, equipping, fitout and finishing of ships and boats, it is clear, concise and easy to follow.

I was given this book to review by the YDSA, being a practising yacht surveyor in Britain. I found it to be a very poor book, written by somebody who, so far as can be seen, is not a marine surveyor but a lecturer in marine ventilation. A colleague who also reviewed the book agreed.

It would be of no help, and could be misleading.

Now in an updated second edition, Handbook of Marine Surveying is a guide for both students and professionals of marine surveying. as well as boatyard operators and boat owners with an interest in the field. Illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs, Handbook of Marine Surveying covers how to inspect and judge the quality of all aspects of a boat - from discerning signs of fatigue, buckling, or corrosion to the pros and cons of the wood, plastic, or metals in a boat's composition, to overseeing hulls, propellers, engine systems, and mechanical systems, to evaluating safety equipment and much more. Recommended techniques are described in detail, and a survey checklist as well as in-depth notes round this solid guide. Human lives depend upon the marine surveyor's expert determination of a boat's seaworthiness - making Handbook of Marine Surveying literally priceless and an absolute "must-have".

read the last few chapters in the book store and save fifty bucks!

I am sorry to find that this is apparently the last book in the series, as I have read 2 through 4 and enjoyed them all. I highly recommend that they be read in sequence, as they follow chronological events in the uprising against British rule in India in 1857 and the personal life of the fictional character Colonel Alexander Sheridan. The stories are engaging and hard to put down. There is a lot of exciting action, and the historical situation is fascinating. My only criticism is that the British characters are always depicted as capable, gallant and heroic whereas some of the Indians are portrayed as honest and loyal and others as brutal and deceitful. It is definitely a colonial perspective.

The Sheridan series is pretty weak. V.A. Stuart is no Bernard Cornwell. The author knows her history well enough, but the main character isn't very interesting, nor does he really do anything interesting, despite being involved in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. On the whole, I was glad I got these from the library rather than buying them.

I know of only five volumes in the Sheridan series, and was surprised to find that this one is in print in large print format. I had thought them all to be out of print entirely. I have the five in paperback, and found them to be uniformly good reading. Do yourself a favor and become acquainted with them.

The Cannons of Lucknow serves mainly to connect the events depicted in Massacre at Cawnpore with The Heroic Garrison.

The Sheridan series is pretty weak. V.A. Stuart is no Bernard Cornwell. The author knows her history well enough, but the main character isn't very interesting, nor does he really do anything interesting, despite being involved in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. On the whole, I was glad I got these from the library rather than buying them.

Ms. Stuart does very well as a writer of historical fiction. She has a good command of the period and things of which she writes. The events are vividly chronicled, and accurate from a historical perspective insofar as I can determine from independent research. I would caution that the Lucknow book should be read after the preceding two books in the Alex Sheridan series--The Sepoy Mutiny and Massacre at Cawnpore. Ms. Stuart's works leave me reflecting on how hard it was to live in those times and places. Life was so brutal.

Once again, Danny Sheridan's fantasy football book is right on the mark. I have relied on his rankings religiously for the past 5 years, and have won my league 4 times. His commentary teaches you how to evaluate the true fantasy value of a player, regardless of your league rules. Plus, the tips provided in his rankings are extremely useful in evaluating which players to draft for the upcoming season.

I have been active in many fantasy football leagues and Danny Sheridan really misses with this book. The point system he suggests becomes the theme of the book, so if you're not using his system, 80 % of it is useless. There is not much in depth analysis, and no real predictions! He continually mentions what players he has forecasted correctly, without making any new predictions! His Quarterback section completely skips Peyton Manning, a QB that in 1999,could be as valuable as a Drew Bledsoe or a Mark Brunell!

The first three chapters of this book, a whopping 44 pages, give an overview of the concepts behind fantasy football, Mr. Sheridan's scoring system, and a guide to drafting players. The advice in latter is useful primarily if you are in a league using Sheridan's rules. The bulk of the book -- 250 pages -- is devoted to a review of the 1999 NFL season. Sheridan's commentary on players is fine, and accurate to the time the book went to press, but is typical to that which can be found on the internet for free. Some inclusions render the book obsolete, such as discussions of the merits of Dan Marino and Steve Young, both of whom have retired since the book was published. Fantasy football depends upon timely information and a book, no matter how qualified the author, cannot compete with other information sources which are more timely. It's a pity Mr. Sheridan did not make better use of the strength of the medium and expand the first 44 pages to provide the definitive guide to creating and managing a fantasy football league.