Wang Books

One of the best books I've read all year !!! Bordage continues the tradition of great french science-fiction. Like other french authors like Barjavel (If you have not read Barjavel, get your hands on "the ice people" as soon as possible) Bordage adds a hints of romance to the story. Although, romance is less a part of his writing than it is for Barjavel, it is none the less there.

Wang is set in a not too distant futur where war has created an electro-magnetic barrier between east and west. Our hero will journey to the west to meet his destiny and the destiny of the world. This book has a sequel: Wang 2. After reading the first one you will no doubt want to see how the entire story unfolds. A very good read !!!

Sabine Reichel was born in Hamburg, West Germany, in 1946 and grew up hearing about the horrors of Nazism, perpetrated by her parents' generation. By her mid twenties she had become disgusted with things German and eventually moved to New York. This book is her story. It also gives us a glimpse into the mindset of the post-war German generation. In different chapters Reichel explores her thoughts on Jews, soldiers, ex-Nazis and Americans. Two of the best focus on the author's parents, and how Reichel took the time to thoroughly document their wartime experiences.

The reader is bound to be touched by the honesty of this book. One can clearly see how the long hand of guilt still has a grip on some Germans. Try as she might, Reichel cannot escape feeling a bit responsible for the crimes committed by her countrymen. Her shame is palpable.

Two aspects of the work troubled me, however. First of all, it could have been improved had the author included more material about people outside her family. As it is, the book is merely an autobiography, allbeit a powerful one. Secondly, Reichel's leftist, 60's era political views pepper the book, giving it a whiny, preachy quality at times.

Alex Kerr's book is excellent. I have lived in Japan for 16 years and am leaving now. I have asked many of the same questions he asks and heard many of the same responses. Many well-educated or well-traveled Japanese know that their government in out of control in the hands of anonymous bureaucrats.
I was particularly pleased to see his discussion of education. Having been a displaced college professor and having participated in "Mombusho" (Education Ministry) panels on English education I have seen the guts of what he describes.
His chronicle of environmental devastation at the hands of the Construction Ministry was infuriatingly accurate. Most of my personal "discoveries of natural Japan" that I experienced after just arriving in 1989 and 1990 are gone or obliterated.
Mr. Kerr spoke with a real love of Japan, the Japanese people and culture while describing and cataloguing numerous betrayals and criminal acts by a corrupt bureaucracy on autopilot.
It is the truth. It is emotional. It is a powerful book for those who have born witness to the decline of Japan. For those reviewing and saying that the author is racist or misguided and that Japan is the miracle country the US should try to be... I would highly reccommend living here for 10 years. After about 5 years the veil begins to lift and as your Japanese improves you begin to realize that there are many deep currents running beneath the surface.
Read Karl Van Wolleran's "The Enigma of Japanese Power" also.
I highly reccommend this book.
I pray that the Japanese people will find a way out from under the sway of the unelected, unsupervised bureaucrats many of whom were my students.
I actually taught a MITI guy who participated in the drafting of the "Japanese snow" ruling/incident briefly mentioned by Kerr. MITI, under pressure from Japanese ski equipment manufacturers, actually issued a restriction on the import of Rossignol ski equipment citing the danger to Japanese skiers of using equipment not designed for Japanese snow. My student claimed he objected to the whole thing but that his supervisor was desperately hoping to retire into the ski resort association....Needless to say when the French trade minister pointed out that it might be dangerous for French consumers to drive cars not designed for French asphalt the Japanese bureaucrats relented...immediately. Typical. Like George Bush coming to Tokyo demanding the opening of the Japanese rice market only to travel four days later to Australia to derisive crys of "open the US beef market" from Aussie beef growers.

Alex Kerr is a longtime resident of Japan, has published several books on it, is extensively steeped in its history and economics, teaches at its universities and is active in its social and cultural communities. I would not call this being a "bitter partner," as was implicated in a previous review. He wrote the book to call attention to things he thinks are hurting a country he loves very much. As a Japanese-American, myself, I commend Mr. Kerr for trying to preserve things that the Japanese themselves do not think about preserving. The facts he presents are solid and sourced, but where I think people have the most problem with Kerr is his interpretation of the facts. He makes some pretty caustic statements on the current state of malaise in Japanese politics and culture. As a long-time student of Japan and Japanese, I agree with most of what he writes, but people who don't will be very, very upset by his assertions. So, when other reviewers don't like this book, it seems like they're more upset with his views than anything else.

Non-Japanese affiliated with Japan tend to come in flavors as easily discernable as ice cream. There's the anime/culture freak who has never been to Japan, but somehow "knows" all about it because he watches endless episodes of Inuyasha. Next is the bitter guy who ran off to Japan as an expat and had to come back because Japan is not as able to support unqualified "English teachers" as it was during the boom years. There's often a guy who is in Japan currently and, in spite of not knowing more than a smattering of the language, is a self-professed expert on EVERYTHING Japanese. Then, you have guys like Kerr, who have put in decades studying Japanese language, art, customs, culture, history and politics. They've lived in Japan for years, in various circles (not just as "english teachers"), met hundreds of people from all the social strata (not just white boys who meet Japanese women) and spend years observing trends. Kerr is very qualified to write on Japan and Japanese things, but his opinions might not mesh with those of the former groups because he has a different experience set to draw from by nature of his long relationship with Japan.

If you fall into the other groups, Of Dogs and Demons will very likely make you mad.

--"Why, (insert name of anime) never talked about amakudari! "
--"I worked at Nova for a year and only ever met Japanese women aged 18-24, so this book can't hold a candle to MY knowledge of Japan!"
--"I live above a sushi restaurant in Tokyo. I never see any sugi trees!"

But, when you approach the assertions from the angle that Japan needs to face its problems before it can work on solving them, you see that Kerr's intentions are good, even if he can be heavy-handed and repetitious at pounding his points home. So, when you read this book, try to set aside your own preconceived notions of Japan and see where he's coming from while trusting that he DOES have good intentions.

If you can do this, I think you'll find this quite an enjoyable and informative read!

In the year 2000, when America was riding high and Japan had reached a new low, this book may have had relevance. I am currently majoring in East Asian Studies, and work very hard. I have read Marius B. Jansen's Making of Modern Japan (Harvard University) among others, so I know a good book when I read it.

This is not it. The criticisms here seem very foolish, rascist, and misplaced. Kerr does nothing to refute challanges to his ideas. For example, he complains that Japan overspends on construction. Could it not be said that America overspends on the military. Now, don't get me wrong I love the United States, but the fact is that each country is unique and has its own sets of strengths and weaknesses.

In summary, Kerr is not a genious for simply attacking a country and culture over and over again. No nation is perfect, and this book is rooted in 'holier than thou' mentality which has perpetuated imperialism and war for centuries.

PLEASE DO NOT READ! I reccomend John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" or maybe "Saving the Sun" if you want to know about corperate Japan.

This is one of the few books that take a look at Japan's dark@side. The book starts out very strong. However, it does start to weaken near the end. I felt what he wrote about the school system was a little dated and understated. Although, he did write that a whole book could be written about the problems of the schools. He is right. I have worked many years in the Japanese school system.

He goes those many facets of Japan. He points out what people would over look. I have personally experienced and witnessed a lot of what he describes in this book.

I read many books on Japan before I moved here. Japan seemed like a wonderland. The other books paint a picture of Japan being so much better than everywhere else. If you stay a week or two in a hotel in Tokyo you will have the wonderland feeling. I move here and the dream quickly vanished. Almost everything I read (in other books) was dated, residual or just not really true. If you read this book and another book, you will get a good balance.

I gave this book 5 stars because it is one of the first of its kind. It is not perfect. He does get a little personal and opinionated, that is the good part. This is a man who was and still is passionate about Japan. It breaks his heart how Japan is eating itself alive.

If you wanted a full story on Japan, you should get the book with another book on Japan (a positive book). If you are a "fan boy", you should get this book.

I am a long time resident in Japan (over 19 years), and have always wondered about the true workings of what goes on in the government and beurocracy here. This book completely opened my eyes to the growing problems here. The Japanese continuously talk about environmentalism while paving over every single bit of nature in urban areas or filling in ocean front. It is a true situation of tatemae and honne. With the true feelings that nature is not what nature made of it, but what "we" made of it.

After reading this book I began to ask some of my Japanese friends about some of the subjects. What I found most freightening is that 100% knew about every topic I brought up, from suginoki to Dams, to Tetora, to landfills, and they all agreed that these were not only bad for the environment, but bad for the economy as well.

I also started to study some other practices like amakudari. I had no idea how endemic and system wide it has become. This is actually one amazing area that every Japanese person I have talked to didn't give me the same answer.

This novel uses the main character as a metaphor for the People's Republic of China. Lili presents China as hungry for the modern world while still trapped in its pre-Communist past. The weakness of the novel is the love story, but the look into what constitutes a slacker in China is worth the read.

This book is truely a page-turner. The title character Lili is a woman who overcomes her self-loathing because she finds SOMETHING GREATER THAN HERSELF through true love and a massive political movement. If you are interested in the Far East, and historical novels, this is a book that I recommend.

LILI was an assigned reading for my American literature class. I have learned so much from this book. How should I say this? Although English is not the author's first language, her writing is so poetic and beautiful. I can still remember many of the sentences. For example, "Bathed in setting sun, we stroll hand in hand, like a pair of lost schoolchildren. Only our shadows follow us, loyal, speechless." Another example: "I avoid his eyes because I am afraid he will see through my cool exterior. I can't say anything; fate never speaks." Through the pains and struggles of Lili, her mother and her grandma, I have learned what life is like for women in other cultures. I'd like to read more of Annie Wang's books in the future.

I think it's because of my tastes where I didn't seem to enjoy this book as much as I would have hoped. I know it's fiction, but some images that were portrayed seem unreal and unbelievable. Lili's character was too self centered, and didn't seem like a character I could relate to. The writing style was okay, considering it is the author's second language.

The story was just too stereotypical and lacked the creativity that I was looking for.

This might have been an enjoyable read about life in China, except that the story was shallow due to under developed characters and cliche storyline. Many times I found myself sighing over the events that happen to the main character in the book. Lili was no much of a heroine. Perhaps she was not meant to be, but she certainly didn't seem to have a lasting impression on me. The supporting characters offered a bit of a laugh, only because I found them odd and sometimes out of place. Overall, it's just a book and this is just my opinion. From the reviews that I see, it seems that I am not the only one who shares this point of view.

Excellent service, the book is as described. My student has been using it with great success.

Unfortunately I have a copy of this book published in 1999.
There are many errors. I'm no programmer but I know you can't name the same variable 2 different ways [mynum% vs number%] and expect the program to work. Those typos -and the : instead of ; typos - I can fix. Some of the others my newbie self can't figure out.

I was enjoying working my way through the book until I got to Chapter 12 where the errors were just too much to cope with!

I'm guessing if you have a newer edition you'll be fine, don't buy the older editions unless you like to solve mysteries.

A good overall explanation of programming in general. Becoming proficient in any of the languages taught, I think, will require additional reading. However, the basic concepts and building blocks of programming are well laid out for the reader. A great starter for someone with no experience in programming.

So I finally decided to try out the "For Dummies" books and must say it's a decent enough first step. I've always had an interest in learning some programming...mostly for fun but also because it seems that a basic understanding of computer programming is becoming more and more necessary...instead of taking a course I decided to learn a little on my own to see how it goes... The book is very easy to follow and explains things pretty well. I am definitely happy with the purchase and will continue studying programming. Would highly suggest for anybody with the desire to pick up a new hobby. Just purchased Robot Building for dummies...we'll see how that one goes.

As a Computer Science student with NO PREVIOUS knowledge of any programming language, this book has been extremely useful to grasp the basic concepts of programming.
Recommended purchase.

This is a great book to begin to understand the "ins and outs" of the world wide web. Some of the topics are a little "dated", but still provide useful advice. This book is great for anyone who wants to learn certain nuances of the net and what is lying just beneath the surface. Savvy net users will even find a trick or two in this volume to assist in "tweaking" their net experience. Take a chance and try to learn something new. This book has something for everyone. Recommend!

Anyone with any type of computer should own this book!

This is just a book that was worth every cent. The amount of info in this book is a steal. Everyone should buy this book, technical or not. If you have ever used a computer period, get this book. Help yourselves by finding out about what is out on the internet and computers. Protect yourselves better with the wealth of info and be more resource full. I found things in this book that I have been looking for for months and things I realize could make my life easier. I recommend this book to every tech I work with and every non tech. Even non technical people got intranced by the book. I read the whole book in 1 day easy and still review it everyday when I am looking for stuff.

This book is just very basic common sense advice about how to stay safe on the internet. It would be a good book for your grandmother who is just getting on the internet but for more experienced users there is no meat here at all. With that said it should be pretty obvious that this book is not aimed at computer professionals but is only aimed at the very casual computer user who wouldn't know the difference between a packet sniffer and an irc client.

This book is extremely outdated and most of the programs are from 1998-1999. The programs located on the cd are completely useless, and the book itself is only semi-interesting at best. This book is good for someone who is stupid and does not realize there are many other better computer books out. I bought this book from [a book store] because it looked good, but now I realize why they say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

This book mentions a lot of interesting issues but falls short of covering any of them. My brother who is medical school recommended this razor sharp book by some ivy med students at secretroute.com that book is amazing.

I thought this book was a good guide for me. It really helped me narrow down what I wanted to do and gave me a vision of being a doctor. This book was like having a career counselor for medicine! It's a great tool to have if you are seriously planning on going into medicine. I thought the authors were really knowledgeable. I would strongly recommend this book.

I was very excited to learn about this book. I hoped it provide valuable insight into attending an accelerated medical program (AMP)that I am aplying to. Instead, This book has no relevent information. To be fair this book has a list of schools that offer accelerated programs (however, I also found on about half a dozen websites). The book is gimmicky and badly written. There is a fifty page long vocab list for the lame reason that "having a good vocabulary will make you more attractive to a college." The descriptions of the collges mention absolutely nothing about their accelerated medical programs. Instead it includes unimpressive irrelevent information about the campuses (greek life, tuition cost, intramural sports, transportation ect.) These things are nice to know but it is not why I bought this book. Another four chapters of this book contain information about SAT test taking skills, writing good college admission essays, teacher recomendations, and a chapter called "The future of medicine." Why does this book seem to discuss everything about college except AMP's. I have a theory that the fact was the authors did not do enough research so insteaded just added a lot of information as filler. None of the authors have any experience in education or education study. For Gods sake one of them is a personal trainer! This is a crummy college information book that just so happens to have a title that alludes to a subject that has nothing to do with what the main topic of the book is really about. I felt cheated buying this book.

Information given in the books are conflicting. Does not have enough information and you will still end up buying more books to have complete information.

This is one of the worst guide books I have encountered. I brought this book for my niece who is applying to these programs. It is poorly written, the advice is not insightful, and this book is a rip off of an earlier guide book From High School to Med. School." My niece bought that book instead and it was much better. Get that, it's much better!

If you could get through the first few sentences of this book without yawning, then this book is for you. In this book, Robert Gross explains the life of a town before, during, and after the American Revolution. I do admit that this book wasn't a page tuner, but once I got into it, after about 171 pages, it became quite good. As soon as the Gross started talking about the years following the American Revolution, it became quite interesting. Gross explained the social world, in how, people came together and worked as a whole to make life better for everyone. In conclusion, this book was mostly dry but full of detail.

For a freshman history class in college, I had to read Robert Gross' The Minutemen and Their World. I thought it would be an engaging book about the lives of the Minutemen of the Revolutionary War period. It was more about the life of residents of Concord Massachusetts and how it was before, during, and after the American Revolution. Gross thoroughly researched the facts for this book - I have no doubt of that. It is intricate enough to include the particulars of the lives of individuals living in Concord as well as the overall sentiments of the town (and other Massachusetts towns/villages).
Filled with many facts, this book is great if you have an interest in such a thing. However, it is a most dry read in that it is in this general layout:
Fact, fact, information on a particular Concordian, fact, fact, fact
The bottom line: This book is great for researching life in Concord/Massachusetts. However, it's not very good for being an exciting read.

I agree wholeheartedly with editorial reviewer David Hackett Fisher. This book reads almost like a novel, and yet it is a work of history--with solid research and scholarship, at that.

Gross argues that the Revolution provided Concord an opportunity to re-assert control over the community and its destiny. In the years preceding 1775-1776, great changes were sweeping across the colonies, particularly in traditional New England towns like Concord. For example, there was the problem of decreasing supplies of land, and fathers, with sometimes large numbers of sons, had difficulty providing for all his heirs (without dividing the land and, hence, making it less sustainable). Other issues were occurring specifically in Concord--such as the desire of its residents farther from the town to hire their own minister. So threatened, Concord was experiencing not just stasis but actual decline in these pre-Revolution years.

Therefore, with all these fluctuations and challenges, participation in the Revolution offered Concord a chance to seize initiative and regain control over its political and communal life, to restore its autonomy. Gross writes, "The men of 1775 had not gone to war to promote change but to stop it."

The following is my book review for a history class. It is far from perfect but perhaps can help you start your own critical analysis.

The book tells an unconventional story of the American Revolution by analyzing the ordinary city of Concord, Massachusetts as a microcosm of colonial America. Gross argues that the struggle for independence from Britain was not a revolution but a conservative social struggle - a struggle with patriarchal control, religious zealotry, individualism, and localized control of government.

The first point of contention in Concord was unequal representation attributed to citizen's proximity to the town meeting hall - those who were physically closer dominated public opinion and policy. The town would also struggle with church and state - ministers were subsidized by the town and it was not possible to keep each citizen happy with the majority's choice. Local representation was another source of disagreement - the mid-eighteenth century government was influenced by (if not controlled from) England, an ocean away. Representation was worsened when the British levied heavy taxes to finance the Seven Years War. The popular majority fought against the colonial government who favored the hand that empowered them, if not fed them. Primary documents note the latter: "there is no greater...corruption...than when...executive officers depend...on a power independent of the people".

In the afterword, Gross explains his left-leaning ideological influences and how they shaped the topic of his research, his approach, and conclusions. Gross uses historical public records to tell a story, attributing emotion and motivation to statistical trends. Personalizing quantitative data will naturally have a bias, but Gross manages to keep from overwhelming the reader with his own conclusions by letting the reader draw his own. Academics have used Gross's work to compare Vietnam to the American Revolution - Gross acknowledges the idea but leaves it out of the main text.

The most compelling argument Gross makes demonstrates the loss of patriarchal control in Concord, and presumably across the colonies. He describes how sons rely on fathers for land, and daughters rely on fathers for dowries. As the economic climate changes, dowries are reduced, local fertile land becomes scarce and grown children have incentives to leave the family to pursue the frontier. This costs the father his source of labor (as slavery was not the dominant labor in Massachusetts) and costs the children the source of inheritance and stability.
Gross approaches each argument in a similar manner - he tells a personal story backed by quantitative research. In the patriarchy argument he tells of the emigration of Purchase Brown, unable to sustain himself on his father's meager farm. Quantitatively, Gross notes that 1 in every 4 taxpayers moved away from Concord in every decade from the 1740s onward.

The Minutemen and Their World was revolutionary in personalizing a Revolution. The author stretched historical records and statistics into a compelling narrative of people both average and great. The arguments are solid because of the heavy quantitative research, but even the author wonders "if the Minutemen would recognize themselves in my mirror". The author added to the understanding of the Revolution by adding intricate personal detail and motivations to all of Concord's citizens - memorable men, but also poor men, widows, spinsters, ministers, blacks, farmers, blacksmiths, intellectuals, substitutes, and dissenters.

Why did I hate this book? Because it was so dry I had to read it in the shower so I didn�t get dehydrated. In all seriousness this book was a pain to read and I found myself contemplating whether or not to jump out my window and end it all. The Minutemen and Their World is an in depth look at the town of Concord, Massachusetts during the American revolutionary period. Despite its title, it has almost nothing to do with the actual minutemen, instead focusing on the different aspects of life in Concord and how they were affected by the revolution. There were some good points to the book, the foremost being that it is chock full o information. Looking for information on what life was like in Massachusetts before, during and after the revolution? This is the book for you as long as you are looking for pure facts. The huge amount of factual information crammed into its pages is the main reason I disliked the book so much. Gross packs so much information into his book that it makes actually enjoying the book virtually impossible. He does delve deeply into the economic, social, religious and political aspects of Concord and by the end of the book the reader is quite familiar with what life in Concord was like back then. If he didn�t bore you to death, this would be a great read.
To sum it all up: Looking for a plethora of facts? Read this book. Looking for something to entertain and educate you at the same time? Read something else.

A nifty idea, but the writing is sloppy and the author is not nearly as funny as she thinks she is.

Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown is the story of Halpern's particular closet. If you've ever found yourself opening up your closet just to marvel at all the clothes you've amassed over the years, you know what I'm talking about. In little vignettes, she illustrates the major (and minor) moments of her life and what she wore on those occasions. She tells us stories of: the men's boxer shorts she wore when she was a teenager, desperate to hide her curves; the six-inch heels that, at 4'11'', she couldn't live without; the $4,000 Vera Wang gown that Halpern bought after a breakup; and the Juicy Couture drawstring pants she practically lived in, in 2001 and 2002.

Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown follows Adena's story from her childhood outside of Philadelphia, through college in New York, to her move out to LA to live with an old boyfriend, and to work. Halpern and I grew up in the same area (though not in the same decade), so it was fun to recall the sites of her shopping sprees and know exactly what she was talking about. Along the way, Halpern goes through countless breakups, a few jobs, and a particularly ornery (but loveable) personal stylist. But her closet is a constant dependable in her life.

Halpern stories are funny and relatable, though not particularly newsworthy. But I don't think there are many people who can say that they weren't picked on in middle school for something they wore, and Halpern recounts some wardrobe malfunctions that would make Janet Jackson proud.

The narrative of this memoir is told in a variety of ways: from the first person (as might be expected), to the third person. The third person narration, which is used in a story about a favorite pair of black drawstring pants, was a little bit disconcerting to me.

But this book was the perfect chick lit, nonfiction way to pass an afternoon. It makes me want to go and consider everything in my closet...

Fun to read when going to the beach for a weekend or on a plane. Very much a girly book. Not a whole lot to the story line, but a good read.

I was so happy to see this in the Amazon box. But I have to say I really had to push myself to read it. It just didn't catch my attention.

I thought this book was "okay." Very simple writing and easy to read. The content (to me) wasn't all that interesting. I was surprised that this book actually "made it" to become a book. However, I read it for my book club and I would say 1/2 of the group (12 of us) really enjoyed it. So, it's really a matter of taste.

The book is an absolute disgust. Has NOTHING to do with the reality,
misrepresents facts in every single chapter. Not worth reading, just a waste of time. Author should familiarize himself with the basic facts before writing on the subject. Very unprofessional and poorly written.

Part travel book, part history, part natural history, this is a miscellany of fascinating stories about a fascinating region woven together into a single, tight narrative. There's a great deal of learning lightly worn and tremendous technical skill involved in the organization and writing. Those reviewers who criticize it for not conforming to a standard template have a point, but what they're really complaining about is its originality.

This is a bold and imaginative look at an area critical to the development of Western culture.Ascherson takes us on a remarkable tour through geography and history, and one comes away with much of the excitement of a real traveller. If the book stumbles on occasion I think it should be forgiven given the complexities that the author is willing to address (and the remarkably few stumbles that he has made. I particularly enjoyed Ascherson taking us more or less up to the present, as the spectre of modern environmental collapse joins the never-ending wars whose origins become more understandable after one has read this book. I wish it were longer, I wish there were more obvious references to take us further once we were done, but this is a real gem even if you never get east of Long Island Sound.

Black Sea is a gem of a book: it is a wonderfully written, sophisticated combination of travelogue and history by a fair-minded humanist. In my opinion, it stands with Claudio Magris's Danube as among the best books of its type. If you are interested in the Black Sea, I recommend this book. Even if you're not, however, I suspect that on trying Ascherson's prose, you will be... I have given five intelligent people I know copies as presents: all have enjoyed it immensely.

The style is journalistic which makes it easy and enjoyable to read. The author can tell a story convincingly and he tells many. The subject matter is extremely exotic for an American reader. I have no way to know how reliable this author is as a historian. I am always suspicious of first-person journalistic history. Unlike other readers, I enjoyed the bits about Poland. But I think he is at his best in the lengthy ancient history parts. The best thing I can say about this book is it left me wanting to learn more.