Travis Books

This is one of the most juvenile and idiotic books I've ever read. It's like sitting at a bar next to a drunk guy who insists that Sammy Sosa is the greatest player ever and every other player "stinks" and the only proof he offers is that he watches a lot of baseball. Instead of an intelligent look at James' work and writings (which would be great), they take items out of context, look at them superficially and then make pronouncements. They waste time attacking James' personality and style, rather than his writings. Their arguments are oftentimes idiotic and always juvenile. There's no basis for most of them, other than their dislike of James. Yes, the baseball media and many baseball fans are overwhelmed with useless and sometimes ridiculous statistics. This book does nothing to change that and provides idiotic rants instead of solid proof. All you need to know about the pathetically ignorant arguments the authors expound upon is that they believe that NO ballpark has any impact on statistics; they are all neutral. Even Don Zimmer knows that's not true.

This is quite easily the worst book I have ever read. The authors are clearly vindictive towards Bill James, and it comes through on every page of the book. Worse than that, they do a terrible job of attempting to deface the name and work of James.

Not only do the authors fail awesomely to disprove any of James' theories, they show beyond a shadow of a doubt that they do not understand anything that James writes about in his books. Every single page of this book has at least one misinterpreted quote or fact.

Here is an example:

On page 24, the authors cite James' "Estimated W-L" based on marginal runs scored and allowed. This formula, as James preaches, provides a better representation of the team's quality than wins and losses. For example, if the Blue Jays are 41-40 through 81 games, but have scored 600 runs and allowed 400 runs. Clearly, they are clearly better than a .500 team and if you saw the over/under for their final win total at 81, you would place a lot of money on the over. THAT is the point of the formula - identifying teams that are better than their records.

The authors point to the 1944 National League. As it turns out, none of the eight NL teams that year had an estimated W-L that matched its record. James would be fine with this - some teams were better than their record, some were worse. All James cares about is that the wins and losses add up. Which they do.

Quote from the book: "The fact that not a single one of his estimated won-lost records contain even a hint of accuracy gives his marginal runs method a 100% failure rate which should render it completely unusable by any good statistician."

Obviously, the "failure rate" in this case has nothing to do with what James was aiming at. He wasn't guessing team records; he was trying to show team quality. This is perhaps one of the most basic principles James has introduced to date, and the authors, who clearly have taken an interest in James' work, seem unable to grasp the concept.

The book is literally filled with examples just like this. Not a page goes by without these authors doing two things: 1. taking cheap shots at Bill James and 2. demonstrate clearly that they do not understand the concept they are talking about.

If this was simply a book attempting to disprove Jamesian theory, the authors would come across as childish. However, the utter lack of understanding and intelligence displayed again and again makes the authors come across as stupid. The combination makes this the worst book I have ever read. Worse than that, the mean-spirited nature of the book wants me to lose my lunch. This book offends me and, needless to say, I will never purchase another book from these authors again.

If you have any interest in reading this book, for the sake of historical documentation, I recommend taking it out of the library or borrowing it.

This book is of the variety "tell the people what they want to hear" and they will buy it. There are a sizable number of people who simply do not want to be involved in any objective analysis of the game or the players. They are only interested in reinforcement in what they "know" and what they "saw". To them Bill James is the Devil Incarnate. This book panders to that crowd.

James has been a fairly prolific writer over the years and it is not hard to find a contradiction in them. A person's information and attitude do change over time. There are actual cases where he writes things as a trial balloon.

If you want a better view of the whole sabermetric revolution and James' role in it you would be much better off with Alan Schwarz's The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination With Statistics.

Save your money and pass this book by. Some books you know are good, but just don't like. Some books you think could be improved, but still have something of value. This book in contrast is probably the worst book I've read in the last 4-5 years, and I read over 100 a year. It desperately needed an editor to make the writers' "technical arguments" understandable, but it might not have really helped because when you do go through it, it's of very poor quality and perhaps could not have been helped. Worse, a reader feels like every other sentence is full of vitriol against James as if the writers think that vitriol is an argument. It's time for a good critique of James - one based on sound technical and/or baseball argument. He has gotten a bit pompous in his recent books (though I find them all easy to follow and with some wonderful nuggets and often mineloads of solid and insightful analysis.) But James writes with clarity and wit - something one can not begin to claim characterizes this book of critique. He also was frequently self-deprecating in the first 10-15 years, even if a little less so now. Humility is never found in this current book of critique.
James' most wonderful trait has been, however, that he puts analysis first
- wanting to test ideas in what is truly a scientific orientation, and frequently has rescinded earlier of his claims as he comes up with a better research method to test the claim. In this book, the critiquers do not understand James' arguments or claims. (Their bibliography indicates that they only have read the James' books of the last few years.) They do not really provide any systematic testing of the claims, but usually merely cite a counter-example of an individual or a team that seems contrary to the general statement. They believe approximations and estimates are worthless, and that if you haven't got a precisely accurate prediction at the end, your analysis has been worthless. The critiquers have no understanding of statistics nor probability, nor analysis. They do present three new statistics of their own construction. Only one to me seemed interesting; a measure of baserunning or speed that focuses on a runner's ability to generate extra bases. The other two don't hold up at all. But the book's own presentation in the appendix of the statistics for a whole season across teams indicates that their statistic has little consistent relationship with a team winning, in spite of the claims they make for the statistic. In short, save your money. This is a book designed to sell by a marketing association with Bill James, even though it pretends to be a critique. It never should have been given a go-ahead by the editors or publishers.

There was a great idea for a book buried here - a critical examination of Bill James's ideas would make an excellent read. Unfortunately, this book is simply an ignorant tirade that casts light on nothing. The authors clearly do not understand statistics or probability and distort or deliberately misinterpret James's writings.

I would love to have the opportunity to play poker with these guys: their mathematical shortcomings would be highly lucrative for me.

Do yourseleves a favour and avoid this book.

From Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series comes this first novel from Travis Jeppesen. Loosely chronicling the last days of a religious cult called the Overcomers, the novel is composed of fragments of the stories of Tanya, who joins the cult as a pregnant teenager, and of Herbert, her son who leaves the cult before its end. Various other characters appear, including two of Herbert's friends and the man who fathered Herbert, as well as the cult leader Martin Jones. Jeppesen's stark style is quirky and noteworthy, but the story threads unravel as the novel progresses, and by the end, the surreal quality of the fragmentary episodes overtakes the book and dilutes whatever meaning readers are supposed to take from it. Despite my problems with this book, Travis Jeppesen is definitely an author with a future.

I don't see the Dennis Cooper comparison either on this book.
I feel Dennis Cooper is much more controversial.
Maybe in the syle of writing they might seem similar but not really.

This book was a bit of a chore to finish but I was curious about where it was all going.
I have to say I was disappointed at the end for it was too bland but it kept my interest flowing enough to reach it.

And I'm sure that that "has been rocker" had nothing to do with publishing this particular book. I mean yes it's his company BUT he gave Dennis Cooper the opportunity to publish HIS choices not the company's. It's part of the deal that Cooper signed on with Akashic.

Unlike most of the customer reviewers, I don't have strong feelings for or against Dennis Cooper -- I read _Try_, and I liked it, but haven't read anything else by him. With that preface, I have to say I agree with most of the other reviewers -- this painfully bad book is a waste of pretentious hot air, which Jeppesen seems to have no shortage of. He's tried to inflate a shoddy narrative structure and horrendous prose with "philosophy" and "ideas", but it just comes across as another one of those painfully cute (in a condescending way), kiddie attempts at being grownup, like when your neice butchers Fur Elise at her third grade recital. Sadly, most of us outgrow this phase before the end of our teens; Jeppesen apparently has been able to live out this extended adolescence thanks to an indulgent publisher. His interview on the publisher's website is a gem ... Here's a teaser:
"Without intending to, I ended up writing this book against the reader, to a large extent, at least to the reader who comes to this book with any preconceived notions of what a novel is supposed to be. This is why it is immensely gratifying for me, on a purely egotistical level, when readers have a negative reaction to this book; it merely confirms everything I suspected! I'd much rather people hate this book than like it. If people like it, that means it fails. Then again, failure is a lot more interesting than success . . . "

Then, ummm ... I guess it's a smashing success, Jeppesen! Congrats!

So what do you get when you buy a book published by a has-been rock performer, edited by an absurdly overrated cult novelist, and written by a young American trendoid with more pretensions than talent who lives in what is ponderously described as an "undisclosed Eastern European country"? A mindless, empty novel that manages to say absolutely nothing about its obstensible subject, cults, and that you forget the moment you finish it (if you can manage that). Spare me.

So what do you get when you buy a book published by a has-been rock performer, edited by an absurdly overrated cult novelist, and written by young American trendoid with more pretensions than talent who lives in what is ponderously described as an "undisclosed Eastern European country"? A mindless, empty novel that manages to say absolutely nothing about its obstensible subject, cults, and that you forget the moment you finish it (if you can manage that). Spare me.

The CD does not work with Windows 2000. I tried it several times. The book is ok; it has an extensive vocabulary list, which is helpful, and some good tips. But for the analytical and quantitative sections, I recommend another resource.

I would like to add some few words about this book. In two days I'm going to take the GRE after I tried to study using this book: I wasted my time, the software included didn't work at all, the explanations about the different topics are absolutely abstruse and unclear.

I have been studying for the GRE for several months now, and so I have had the time to check out several different prep. books. This book is far and away the worst I have used, and so I write so that you can avoid my mistake.

I bought the book so that I could sample many GRE tests, as well as practice with the CD-Rom. I now realize this book has helped me with neither. First, of the 6 full-lenght exams, four of the exams' questions are used to compose the questions on the CD-exam. This is pure deceptive advertising by REA (Research and Education Association) who published the book. This allows you to use only two of the six as 'true' exams.

Second, after you have gotten accustomed to actual GRE questions by ETS and you move to this book, you will notice that the questions REA asks on their 'practice exams' actually do NOT even resemble, in form or content, what actual GRE questions are like. This lack of verisimilitude may actually be a liability - a real disadvantage - to someone looking to prepare themselves for the GRE.

In sum, do not buy this book. I suggest you buy somewhere else.

While I have not tried all the books out there, the ones I would recommend are published by Princeton and Arco.

Good luck on the test!

S.A.H

I bought this book a month ago it helped me a lot. It contains a big GRE vocabulary list, which I found very helpful (most of the books give you only 100 frequently used GRE words). The difference between actual GRE test and CD-ROM tests was not significant except visual representation. As an international student I had a problem with the verbal part of the GRE. I find this book is a valuable step to gain necessary vocabulary for GRE and it has lots of examples and useful tips. Overall I got the grade that I needed so I would recommend this book to everyone.

This is the worst GRE study aid ever! The software is NOTHING like the real GRE. Please, if you are going to buy a study aid for it's software stick with Powerprep by ETS. The book is also not helpful, the sample questions and explanations are pointless. Thank God I had bought other study aids! I would have gotten a terrible score if I had to rely on this book.

These aren't horrible guides, but really they are so skimpy and really dont give you much insight except for the obvious. This guide on Dallas, a city for which I am very familiar, is not terrible, most of the top tens are pretty accurate, though some i have to think they really had not ever actually been to dallas to list that. For the price, I just really dont see what the average traveler would get out of this. I suppose if you are TOTALLY unfamiliar with Dallas, this would help, but honestly buy a Frommers guide to Texas or the a real travel guide to dallas, dont waste your money on this lazy guide, this really is Dallas..lite..lite as in weightless and pretty useless...

Alright, I ordered this book just to meet the $25 minimum for the free shipping.... I should have paid the shipping. It really had very little information of use, the maps in the back are too small to read and one of the "top 10 resturants" recommed gave me such heartburn, I was up all night with indigestion. Hey, save your money and just pick up the Dallas ConVis guides and maps at all information centers.
San Diego

This review is very hard to write, for several reasons. I received a free copy, through an intermediary, in exchange for writing an honest review, so here goes . . .

The story starts with a strange situation that appears to be a tragedy, then quickly jumps back to the life-story of Steven Brouschard, a young man who seems to have all the ingredients for success in life. Near the end of college, though, he has a torrid affair with a young professor, whom he romanticizes into The Great Love of His Life. When it ends badly, he descends into narcissistic hedonism, then experiences what he views as some type of epiphany: His life is going nowhere, and he needs to focus more on having all his dreams fulfilled. Well, there is nothing unusual about such a realization, as most young people go through it, and usually a bit before Steven does. But, his conclusion, to be to become more focused and more deliberate in his hedonism, does not seem like an epiphany to me. Thereafter, the story keeps promising something wonderful, metaphysical, and marvelous. It really struggles to reach anything like that, and it meanders enough to put most readers to sleep on a regular basis.

While the author creates a protagonist who is developed well as a character, I found this character to be pretty unsympathetic and not someone whom I could respect or want to know. There are also a few basic flaws with the writing itself. The point-of-view keeps shifting, from first person narrative, to third person, omniscient commentary. These shifts are abrupt and frequent, thus disrupting the flow of the story. The author, in his debut novel here, also tries too hard to create imagery and be colorful. A prime example:

(page 22): "Steven would often break down in the confides of his room and irrigate the grazing plains of his pillow in sadness."

I would use "confines" instead of "confides" or, better and simpler yet, "safety". The sentence, overall, seems forced, flowery, and melodramatic. Why not go with, "Steven often cried himself to sleep, in the privacy of his room"? This type of overstated, overdone word use is fairly common in the book.

After reading the back cover, I expected much from this book, and was intrigued. After reading it, I was weary.

I do believe that, if the author relaxed and wrote in a more natural style, he has the makings of a good story-teller, but he needs a good editor. If Mr. Klingaman reads this, I hope he sees it as constructive criticism. I think he has something to offer, but it is not in this book.

This book suffers from several problems, probably the greatest of which is the lack of editing. I realized after reading this book that most of what came before page 224 was purely background that was not directly related to the story of Steven Brouschard. As I continued to read the book after page 224, I discovered that everything the author wrote about Marcus Rutherford in the first 200+ pages was excessive detail for the purpose that Marcus served in the life of Steven Brouschard. My recommendation: If you are going to read this book, begin with page 224. If you really want to understand what happened in excruciating detail to Marcus Rutherford, you can read the other 223 pages later.

Editing also contributed to lack of focus in the story. Klingaman kept promising mystery and enlightenment, but never really followed through. Klingaman created a fascinating concept in chapter 44, but the concept disappears until the end of the book. A good editor would have had Klingaman capitalize on the concept initiated in chapter 44, chopped most or all of what came before, and beefed up Marcus's influence on Steven.

I was also disappointed in the character of Steven Brouschard. Brouschard seems like he is on the verge of becoming superior to all the characters around him, but instead he becomes paranoid, cynical and judgmental. Once again, editing could have refined Brouschard's character and created a character head and shoulders better than those around him.

The book also had period smatterings of typographical or grammatical errors, which made for occasional increased difficulty reading.

You may be wondering what the book is about. Well, after having read all 398 pages, I guess my answer is that I am not sure. The book has at least two main stories. However, the Marcus story stands on its own and Steven's story stands on its own. Steven's story is about a young man whose life has yet to acquire a purpose, and Steven obtains a purpose; sort of a mid-life crisis for a twenty-something.

I must admit that I was a bit perturbed that a twenty-something person with Steven's supposed intelligence had no goals in life, and was reaching a mid-life crisis. Steven's mid-life crisis was egocentric self-indulgence that a kick in the butt would have solved, but apparently no one was there to do it for Steven, except Marcus, indirectly.

I had a hard time reading this book. The story failed to capture my interest until chapter 44. After chapter 44 I did get interested and was hoping to find out more about the mysterious red stone. Unfortunately, the red stone disappeared into the murk until late in the book, and my desire to learn more about the red stone was thwarted. Klingaman's ending was supposed to be awe-inspiring or chilling or something, but I only felt relief that I was finished with the book.

I think Klingaman has potential as a writer, but he needs a good editor and more practice. I am unable to recommend this book to any particular audience.

This review is based on a copy of the book provided to me by the author.

Good luck!

This is one of those books that I regret buying. Thought it would have at least a few nice fingerpicking music pieces that I could enjoy playing but I was wrong.

I am a beginning fingerstyle guitarist and even I was disappointed in the simple and drab hymn arrangements. Most of the songs are arranged in the "Carter style" which can best be described as having a Boom Chuck-Chuck Boom Chuck-Chuck rhythm. I could recognize only three songs which had the Travis style alternating bass rhythm. I grew up with these gospel songs and enjoy singing them but I would have more enjoyment strumming chords than fingerpicking these arrangements. I recommend you look to Craig Dobbins and Rick Foster for elegant arrangements of favorite hymns.

Information is find but for the cost I would suggest several other books that provide a great deal more info.

...or that's how the author would have it seem. This book does present the technical facts about the case, but he goes out of his way to paint the town with a negative, "redneck" flavor. Sure, there are "redneck" folks around, but they're in every town.

Honesdale isn't a bad little town. Just a normal, everyday America small town. It's a decent place to live, just not a lot going on. This was one of the biggest stories of the time.

This book works out problems said to be similar to the CLEP test, but doesn't give problems for the reader to work out, except for the practice tests themselves. It's similar to getting ready for a race by watching other people run; looks easy until you must do it. If you need a good review of the material, or need to learn the topics in the test, this is not the book to use.

Of little interest to the average reader, this work, while reflecting enormous work, does little to entice or offer anything we didn't already know.