New York Books

This is the book that put Leslie Charteris on the map and made best-sellers of all the previous Saint books in retrospect.

Set shortly after the repeal of Prohibition, this tale of revenge is one of the grimmest, and the certainly the most violent, of all the Saint stories, so that when it was filmed, it was considerably toned down (and all hint of corruption in the New York judiciary removed, of course).

Nevertheless, most Saint fans, including myself, seem to regard it as one of the best (as witness the other reviews). To take just one example: as a synopsis of all the previous Saint books -- vital, if new readers are to understand the story -- the prologue (which takes the form of a letter to the NYPD from Simon's old adversary Chief Inspector Teal of Scotland Yard) is one of the most original ideas I've seen.

Charteris knew New York well, along with its denizens and their culture and language. The characters are drawn with great verve, especially Inspector John Fernack, the various members of the gangland hierarchy, and the mysterious Fay Edwards, who falls in love with Simon at the same time as she is helping him to kill just about everyone she knows.

Above all, Charteris shows himself once again a first-rate story-teller. Gripping from start to finish.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.

If you only ever read one saint story ,you will be missing out on some great stuff, but THE SAINT IN NEW YORK would be the one to try . The saint at his best reckless as ever ,but coming very close to getting a set of wings to go with his halo . His way of expression ,english wit to hardend new york thugs is very amusing.Dont confuse this guy with the later tv saint, in this he bumps off the ungodly as quick as they would him ,with the help of gun ,knife and a mysterious female,beautiful but deadly.Trying to free the city from the clutchers of nicely sewn up crime ring,the saint works his way through some of the smaller fish,and gets dangerously closer to the sharp and powerfull jaws of the big fella,but who is the big fella ? GREAT STUFF .

If you only ever read one saint story ,you will be missing out on some great stuff, but THE SAINT IN NEW YORK would be the one to try . The saint at his best reckless as ever ,but coming very close to getting a set of wings to go with his halo . His way of expression ,english wit to hardend new york thugs is very amusing.Dont confuse this guy with the later tv saint, in this he bumps off the ungodly as quick as they would him ,with the help of gun ,knife and a mysterious female,beautiful but deadly.Trying to free the city from the clutchers of nicely sewn up crime ring,the saint works his way through some of the smaller fish,and gets dangerously closer to the sharp and powerfull jaws of the big fella,but who is the big fella ? GREAT STUFF .

When Simon Templar, alias the Saint, is hired to avenge the murder af a millionair's son, he comes to New York to find a totally corrupt system. With impudence only he has, he cheerfully takes on the task of single-handedly cleaning up the City. We see the colder side of his personality when he swears to be completely ruthless after witnessing the mob's impersonal fatal "rides." This book is fast paced with a completely unexpected ending, with no dull spots anywhere. I would recommend it to anybody, even if you are not a Saint fan.

As the other reviewers wrote, the Saint was unusually cold and merciless in this book. Because the enemy was so big, so strong and so merciless; even the Saint was severely cornered several times. But I was glad because he still held his characteristics that made him so charming; impudence, recklessness, sense of humor and sense of justice. I also enjoyed the story very much; well-plotted, fast-paced and thrilling. And the climax was so dramatic! It will be one of the best Saint novels. Highly recommended.

Dyson is a beautiful craftsman with words. His book translates the emotion of science as portrayed by the endeavors of the well known pioneers. He literally walks the reader through the influences of each pioneers time to reflect the energy they found to perservere in their endeavor. I am truly happy to have read this book and it will FOREVER impact the way I look at life.

Physicist Freeman Dyson has been prominent in his field since the forties, when he participated in the development of nuclear weapons. In "The Scientist As Rebel," he presents a collection of his book reviews, essays, and lectures - mostly from the last decade. The typical review covers more than one book by authors with differing views - the books serving as templates for Dyson to develop his own themes. The books themselves are of varying ages, one being from the 1600's. Many of the scientists and their biographers - probably over 150 among them both - will be readily recognized by readers of science history.

Dyson takes his time with these reviews. Sometimes it is not quickly evident where he is going, but the payoff usually justifies the suspense. In the process, we get to hear his take on innumerable hot issues in science and its interface with humanity:

*The urgent need to find a unifying theory of physics - formulas that would be compatible with both quantum mechanics and Einstein's gravitational formulas of space-time - is over-rated. We will probably never make these formulas mathematically compatible.

*Technological progress does more harm than good unless accompanied by ethical progress. The free market by itself will not produce technologies access-friendly to the poor.

*We don't have to worry about the nanotech bee-like swarms presented by Crichton in "Prey." The laws of physics don't allow entities that small to fly faster than 1/10 inch/second.

*The willingness of the British abolitionists to buy out the slave owners made the crucial difference between the peaceful liberation of the West Indian slaves in 1833 and the bloody liberation of the American slaves thirty years later.

*In Newton's time, Cambridge University and Trinity College professors had to be Anglican priests. Newton didn't even believe in the Trinity, but King Charles II gave him special dispensation. Newton complied by keeping his religious writings (and some of his scientific writings) in a private metal box - a "don't ask, don't tell" situation.

*After each published review, Dyson always had letters. The nonexpert readers were overwhelmingly complimentary. The expert readers usually had corrections for his "mistakes." This book reflects adjustments to the original reviews based on this correspondence and sometimes a PS based on more current data.

*Richard Feynman spoke from scanty notes and hated to write, claiming he was barely literate. His books were transcribed and edited from his taped words. A friend locked him in his room and wouldn't let him out until he wrote the paper about his diagrams - the paper that got him a Nobel Prize. His daughter was astounded to find extensive literate, inspirational and compassionate correspondence by Feynman 16 years after his death - some of it to strangers wanting simple information about science.

*Littlewood's law of miracles: Each person experiences about 30,000 events per day. A miracle - an event with special significance - has a probability of one chance in a million. This works out to about one miracle per person per month.

*Dyson describes himself as a skeptical Christian as was his mother, who told him, "You can throw religion out the door, but it will always come back through the window."

This is a Great book! I was continuously entertained both by the selection of books reviewed and by Dyson's excellent commentary. Skip the second section if you don't care about military issues - the better science reviews are in the last half of the book.

Dyson holds high credentials as an innovative mathematician and theoretical physicist, and has known, or, in many cases worked with, most of the leading scientists of the past six decades. He has spent the larger portion of his life as professor of physics at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. His analysis of issues confronting disciplines other than professional science has defied the rigidly predictable partisan polemics of the typical commentator. These other areas of interest notably include history, politics, the arts, religion, culture and technology, ethics, and military technologies and strategies. Part of what makes his analysis so interesting is his tendency to cut across the grain of the ubiquitous partisan polemic in which our world wallows. He is obviously an informed and interested student of many issues, and highly articulate and logical. Of course the fact that he is not a narrowly definable polemist virtually assures that many ideologues will dislike aspects of his thought. Dyson is easily up to the task of defending his views.

Dyson has long been a contributor of reviews of books written by scientists and others, for The New York Review of Books. This book is a collection of Dyson's essays and reviews written and published between 1964 and 2006, and includes essays from some of his own books. If anything stands out as much as does his freewheeling intellect, it is the fact that he is no one's sycophant, no ideologue's dutiful foot soldier. For example: (1) Dyson is a strong, articulate champion of international arms control and disarmament, notably of unilateral disarmament (that beyond any international agreements, the U.S. should reduce weapons stockpiles, which he argues is particularly effective at speeding arms reduction generally); and he argues that nuclear weapons hold a threat to the country that holds them that exceeds any threat they present an enemy. He is hopeful that a day will come when all nuclear weapons have been destroyed and outlawed worldwide. Based on the above, you may be prepared to "pigeon hole" Dyson as being a `dove' who would oppose everything about nuclear weapons, whether in practice or principle. But your expectation would be too simplistic, as this is merely what we've come to expect from typical dogmatic ideologues. Dyson is not one of them, as we see: (2) He argues that nuclear weapons have probably prevented large scale conventional wars, particularly in the 1950's and early 60's, by keeping the Cold War "cold," and that the eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons is a goal that must be pursued with great caution and pragmatism. To cast Dyson as being either a simple 'dove' or a simple `hawk' would be an error. A similar consideration might be his views on climate change, where again, his views cannot be neatly packed into either of the standard polemic boxes.

There are points on which I disagreed with Dyson, and points on which he was wrong (his `updates' following most of the essays often admit of being wrong). Dyson's views are important in large part because he is the model of disciplined but un-boxed intellectual integrity. While there may be points on which one may not agree with Dyson, we can benefit greatly from the gentle intellectual integrity which he models, especially when too many ideologues, whether in science, politics, or culture at large, are given to bullying opposing, or less dogmatically strident, voices from the public forum. Dyson is, I believe, a fine picture of what a scientist should be--one who honestly engages the great questions of the world, rather than trying to force dogmatic doctrine upon it.

I loved this book. A collection of essays that paint a picture of a very thoughtful and caring man. Prof. Dyson's broad understanding of nature and humanity clearly is seen in this book. I would recommend this to anyone, a must read for the engineering and science students of today.

And I paraphrase Mr. Dyson; at Chapter 13, pp 133-38:

"In January 1939 a meeting of physicists was held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The meeting had been planned by George Gamow long before fission was discovered. It was one of a regular series of annual meetings. It happened by chance that Neils Bohr arrived in America two weeks before the meeting, bringing from Europe the news of the discovery of fission. Gamow quickly reorganized the meeting so that fission became the main subject. Bohr and Enrico Fermi were the main speakers. For the first time, the splitting of the atom was publicly described, and the consequent possibility of atomic bombs was widely reported in the newspapers. Not much was said at the meeting about atomic bombs. Everyone at the meeting was aware of the possibilities, but nobody spoke up boldly to suggest that questions of ethical responsibility be put on the agenda. The meeting came too soon for any consensus concerning ethical responsibilities to be reached. Most of the people at the meeting were hearing about fission for the first time. But it would have been possible to start a preliminary discussion, to make plans for an informal organization of physicists, and to prepare for further meetings. After several weeks of preparations, a second meeting might have been arranged with the explicit purpose of reaching an ethical consensus.

...(By 1941, the) fear of Hitler was so pervasive that hardly a single physicist who was aware of the possibilities of nuclear weapons could resist it. The fear allowed scientists to design bombs with a clear conscience. In 1941 they persuaded the British and American governments to build the factories and laboratories where bombs could be manufactured. It would have been impossible for the community of British and American physicists to say to the world in 1941, "Let Hitler have his nuclear bombs and do his worst with them. We refuse on ethical grounds to have anything to do with such weapons. It will be better for us in the long run to defeat him without using such weapons, even if it takes a little longer and costs us more lives." Hardly anybody in 1941 would have wished to make such a statement. And if some of the scientists had wished to make it, the statement could not have been made publicly, because all discussion of nuclear matters was hidden behind walls of secrecy. The world in 1941 was divided into armed camps with no possibility of communications between them. Scientists in the Soviet Union were living in separate black boxes. It was too late in 1941 for the scientists of the world to take a united ethical stand against nuclear weapons. The latest time that such a stand could have been taken was in 1939, when the world was still at peace and secrecy not yet been imposed.

...In October of 1995, I was giving a lunchtime lecture to a crowd of students at George Washington University about the history of nuclear weapons. I told them about the meeting that had been held in a nearby building on their campus in January 1939. I told them how the scientists at the meeting missed the opportunity that was fleetingly placed in their hands, to forestall the development of nuclear weapons and to change the course of history. I talked about the nuclear projects that grew during World War II, massive and in deadly earnest in America, small and halfhearted in Germany, serious but late-starting in Russia. I described the atmosphere of furious effort and intense camaraderie that existed in wartime Los Alamos, with the British and American scientists so deeply engaged in the race to produce a bomb that they did not think of stopping when the opposing German team dropped out of the race. I told them how, when it became clear in 1944 that there would be no German bomb, only one man, of all the scientists in Los Alamos, stopped. That man was Joseph Rotblat. I told how Rotblat left Los Alamos and became the leader of the Pugwash movement, working indefatigably to unite scientists of all countries in efforts to undo the evils to which Los Alamos gave rise. I remarked how shameful it was that the Nobel Peace Prize, which had been awarded to so many less deserving people, had never been awarded to Rotblat. At that moment one of the students in the audience shouted, "Didn't you hear? He won this morning." I shouted, "Hooray," and the whole auditorium erupted in wild cheering. In my head the cheers of the students are still resounding."

This book is an amazing book and essential for firefighters, as well as enthusiasts or people who just wants to learn something. From start to finish, this book is packed full of facts, based on the history of FDNY and exploring the truth behind the brotherhood involved in the fire house. I have yet to place this book aside, it is an utmost favorite of mine.

This book from start to finish is packed with information that you would otherwise never have heard about. The history of one of the most famous Fire Depts in the US is more than I ever imagined, naming some of the early firefighters who would have otherwise slipped into the sandglass of time. The accounts of fires and incidents in the citys history do more credit than you will ever hear about anywhere else. It shows why today Firefighters of the modern day FDNY fight so hard to keep hold of their history and tradition. Before you make judgement on these guys read this book. This is what they are all about.

In these post-9/11 days there have been a number of histories of the FDNY written, but this one is my favorite. It reads like a novel, yet is packed with solid history. And while clearly an admirer of the Fire Department, the author does not get overly sentimental, which is quite easy to do.

For someone who loves New York City and has an admiration for firefighters, this book would be a valuable addition to any library. While providing a fascinating account of the history of the FDNY, the book also gives the reader a wealth of information about the city itself. I would recommend it for firefighters, fire buffs, and any reader who is interested in a fascinating account of the Fire Department of the City of New York and the incredible men and women who have joined its ranks over the years.

Loved it! Been looking for something like it ever since. I recommend it to my "reader" friends often. As a New York City history buff I found it to be readable and enlightening. And as a fire buff, since 9/11 I can't get enough of this stuff, I found it to be well-researched and thorough. I knew what I was getting into when I read the jacket. Golway's firefighting roots make him a fan of The Bravest but I didn't mind the sentimentality because that's partially why I picked the book in the first place. A fitting tribute to working class heroes of the past 300+ years.

I really appreciated this book. #1- I always value a book that involves people's emotional attachment to their animals. #2 - I appreciated the fact that the book could have treaded into uncomfortable territory but didn't. I loved these characters and I felt like I wanted to have them as my friend. an excellent, easy, delightful read- I can't wait to read more of her books.

This is one of the most entertaining novels I've read in a long time. It
has everything: young love, an eccentric collection of artists, an
equally odd collection of dogs, and a murder plot. What more can you ask?
Oh yeah -- it's also a page-turner, and laugh-out-loud funny.

Solos, by Kitty Burns Florey, is one of those books to curl up with on a hot summer day, or a cold winter night, or a pleasant fall afternoon or--whenever. It's an absolutely delightful story with a bang-up ending, about people you wish you had for friends. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It sucked me in, made me laugh, and even made me think. Mostly it was just really fun to read and hard to put down. I have been a fan of this writer's books for a few years now,and eagerly look forward to her next!

Reading "Solos" is like spending a weekend with a good friend, who also happens to be witty and charming and can tell a great story. The Williamsburg setting is fun, but even if you're not from THE CITY (even if you're from rural Maine, for example, like I am), the warmth and humor of this book make it worth reading. It's a well-written, intelligent book you don't need to feel guilty about loving! I've been recommending it to all my friends, and those who've read it have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Everything about this little novel is charming. The characters are, by and large, gentle and literate. The tone is comic and lyrical. The plot is quirky without being off-putting. And best of all for us word-puzzlers--crosswords, puns, anagrams, palindromes, the lot--it's chock full of delightful gems. For instance, not only the book's title but all the chapter titles, too, are themselves palindromes (e.g. 'Pa's a saP') and actually have bearing on the chapter content; Marcus's father really IS a sap. The main character herself, Emily Lime, has a palindromic name. Even her dog, Otto, has one. (Another plus is that most of the characters are animal lovers.)

This is not Great Literature, but it is a Fun Read.

Scott Morrison

This book I could not put down. It was page turner. Just ask my friend Natalie. She has been trying to borrow it from me, I just won't let her. I suggest buying it.

My entire family enjoys reading Bill's columns, when we are together, someone will always read the newspaper aloud. The stories are so funny, and the same craziness that goes on in EVERYONE'S family. I purchased this book, used, as a gift for my Dad, but of course I had to read it FIRST. Hysterical (I actually read excerpts aloud to my Mom on the telephone) Thanks Bill, your outlook on life is SO appreciated!

This was a wonderful book. I could not put it down. What a page turner. Just ask my friend Natalie. She wanted to borowing so bad, and I would not part with it. I suggest buying it.

"Some Kind of Wiseguy" is about an Italian guy's life in the New York-New Jersey area. He grew up with sausage and peppers, overbearing parents, card games, and NOISE. Just like I did. I'm a third generation Italian American kid and I spent a lot of my childhood at my grandparents' house where I was taught Italian culture and how to brace yourself for a 10-type-of-fish Christmas Eve dinner feast. Zeppoles, homemade pizza, and salami bread are still eaten in my home today as well as my Mom's homemade meat gravy every Sunday afternoon. Bill touches upon all of these subjects as well as getting into the journalism field and how he decided to write all about his life. I made an autobiography myself about my life up until this point which I hope gets published one day. Ervolino remains my favorite modern writer. He is hilarious, insightful, and a very easy read. Check out his Sunday and Thursday columns in The Bergen Record of NJ. I also strongly reccommend "Wiseguy: My Life in a Mafia Family," by Nicholas Pileggi.

I am an avid reader of Bill's newspaper columns, and have always found him to be very funny! This book DOES make you laugh out loud. I'm from an Italian-American family, and relate to a lot of the topics in the book directed at those of Italian heritage, however, the book is just so very funny, that I think ANYONE would find it very enjoyable!

This is the news story that the public needs to hear about the Son of Hope(no longer Son of Sam) . It is clear to see that he is the "real deal." Having repented of his sins and experienced forgiveness in Christ 20 years ago, he is now the prison pastor of the Christian Church in his prison. His writing of his prison experiences and life in general, is vibrant and articulate. I would highly recommend this journal.
DAN

David's writing is a ray of sunshine emanating from a place where very little gets in or out. David's love for his prison brothers and their families is shown throughout. Son of Hope will make you cry and fill you with sadness for lives which have been so damaged by sin! But, as David's life has been turned around by his acceptance of Jesus, he shows that the Love of Lord is there for everyone (Isaiah 1:18--"Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow"). David is a humble man who is living an extraordinary life (James 4:10--"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up"). Thank you David for a work so filled with the Love of the Lord.

If you want to know what prison life is like, here is the book. But it's more than that; it is hope within the darkness behind the concrete walls and razor wire of prison--that it is possible to live a productive life, pleasing to God, while incarcerated. You may cry while reading this book, over the wasted lives of men who chose crime, but you may smile at the evidence of God's grace in the lives of other prisoners who have chosen the joy of following Jesus.

I have just finished reading David Berkowitz's book "Son of Hope". I remember the man he was when he was arrested, his face and piercing eyes. And I recently viewed on line the interviews with David aired on CBS in New York City. On May 10th, I saw the segment entitled "bonus footage behind the scenes look at the "Son of Sam" Interviews, which I don't believe was aired on TV. They showed the man who they arrested as Son of Sam and the face of the man who has been transformed, saved and set free in Christ Jesus; now the Son of Hope and they don't even look like the same man.

David's journal on December 21, 2004 said it all. He doesn't even feel as though he is in prison except for the place that it is. He is a minister, a witness, of how a loving Christ can reach a man lost in sin, with no hope and change him into a helper, a servant reaching out to fellow prisoners, giving him a ministry within the prison walls. I am so impressed upon reading that David receives no profit from the sale of his book, that anything received goes to the parents/victims of his past crimes. Thank you David for writing the book. I certainly plan to share mine with others. See you in Heaven.

David is like the "man out of the tombs" in Mark chapter 4, that only the Saviour could make him, "clothed and in his right mind."

I used to know everything about everything in New York. When I lived there. Now that I go back on extended visits, this book has helped to keep me in the know and introduced me to places, not just in the city, but when I go to the Hamptons on the weekend and need a good Yoga class.

The reviews are written in a way I can relate to -- I feel like I can take the authors' word for it. Even if you're only going to spend a week in NY and don't want to miss out on your yoga class (or your wicca circle), this is a great resource.

This book is Great! I bought it because I
was looking for a good yoga studio in my neighborhood. The reviews were
right on and I found a place that I LOVE. Next stop, a meditation class...

I had just started a program of meditation at my local Buddhist center when I traveled to New York for a conference. Thanks to this book I did not miss a beat in my new regime and I made some new friends.

I'm not much of a freaky religous person, so this book was perfect for me. I enjoyed it as an opportunity to learn more about the very diverse and numerous ways in which people seek out and find their spiritual needs. If finding a place in NY that fits your personal needs is your goal, this book is definitely for you. If having an open mind and understanding the way others fulfill their inner-self, this is also a good read. Could have had more pictures, but I guess it helps to leave it up to your mind as to how to interpret the zillion locales in NY.

Finding anything, from the perfect bagel to the best socks, in NYC can be daunting, because there are always so many choices. Waage and Applestone help attenuate this difficulty by doing the hard work of culling through the thousands of offerings for alternative spiritual activites in NYC. The breadth of their analysis is striking, as is their insight into the range of activities and facilities available throughout New York. My friends from Europe were particularly happy to find a guide that was as thorough, clever and fun to read as this one.

Decades ago, Robert Benchley wrote that there are two ways to travel: first class and with children. Had Ms. Bates and Ms. Latempa written this book before Benchley made his remark, he might not have said it.

Storybook Travels is helpful in bringing parents and children into the same experiences -- reading together and traveling together -- with enjoyment. This book is a must for all readers and travelers. What better way to engage your children in your travel experience?

Our family gives this book and a few of the books referred to within it as gifts at birthday parties and baby showers. It is always a hit!

Thanks to authors Bates and Latempa for their delightful and intelligent approach to traveling with kids. We have used books such as Linnea in Monet's Garden, Eloise in Paris, and the Madeleine books in our travels to Paris, but what's impressive about this book is the way the authors have drawn on so many other children's classics as a backdrop for family travel. I write about family travel myself and highly recommend this book --it's a good read whether you are packing to go, or just happy as an armchair traveler.

This book is a great jumping-off point for family vacations in the US or abroad. It will inspire you to travel AND read with your family!

MY GRANDCHILDREN ARE JUST GETTING OLD ENOUGH TO TRAVEL, AND THIS BOOK GIVES ME A GUIDE TO MANY CHOICES OF WHERE WE CAN TAKE THEM (A FEW AT A TIME!) IT'S GREAT TO HAVE A PROJECT WHEN PLANNING A TRIP, AND IT WILL GIVE ME A SOURCE OF CONVERSATION WITH THEM AND A WAY OF DISCOVERING WHAT BOOKS THEY REALLY ENJOY. READING SOME OF THESE SUGGESTED BOOKS WITH THEM AND MAKING JOINT DECISIONS WILL ALSO BE FUN--THE BOOK IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND INFORMATIVE IT MAKES THE IDEA OF SEEKING OUT LOCATIONS OF BOOKS WHICH HAVE SET OUR IMAGINATIONS SOARING IN OUR CHILDHOODS, AND THEIRS, VERY SPECIAL. THE ITINERARIES ARE ALL THERE, AND TOURIST OFFICES,WEB SITES, RESERVATION NUMBERS---AND IT'S HONEST--NO FLOWERY DISCRIPTIONS OF EVERY LOCATION--I LOVED IT!!!!!!

Thirty international locales from books aimed at 3- to 13-year olds are described. Each descriptive chapter includes a few sentences summarizing the overarching experience (with location and age information); a one to two page summary of the book; several pages relating an actual visit by an adult(s) and child(ren); and, one to several pages detailing the specific location(s) involved, including names, addresses, phone numbers and web sites. Also included are a list of twenty-five other literary travel possibilities, including Call of the Wild and Peter Pan, and an index to titles.

The books and sites included are:

The Adventures of Pinocchio, Tuscany, Italy
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hannibal, Missouri and environs
And Now Miguel, Taos, New Mexico
Anne of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, Canada
A Bear Called Paddington, London, England
The Black Stallion, Belmont Park, Long Island, New York
Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Child of the Owl, San Francisco, California
Eloise, New York City, New York
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, Haarlem Amsterdam and environs
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, London, Windsor and Durham, England
Heidi, Graubunden, Switzerland
Hill of Fire, Paracutin Volcano, Michoacan, Mexico
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California

Kidnapped, Isle of Mull, Scotland
Linnea in Monet's Garden, Paris and Giverny, France
Little House on the Prairie, De Smet, South Dakota
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, New York City
Little Women, Concord, Massachusetts
Madeline, Paris, France
Make Way for Ducklings, Boston, Massachusetts
Maybelle the Cable Car, San Francisco, California
Paddle-to-the-Sea, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hamelin, Germany
Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Portland, Oregon
Song of the Swallows, San Juan Capistrano, California
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Lake District, England
The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963, Birmingham, Alabama
Yolonda's Genius, Chicago, Illinois

You can tell moms wrote this book. It's entertaining AND practical. The material is fascinating, well written, and tells you everything you could want to know (except maybe where the bathrooms are located). The contact information makes this an invaluable resource. I hope the authors will continue to write more of these wonderful family travel guides.

Highest recommendation.

One of the difficulties with having such a unified, unique and untouchably elevated God is in reconiciling Him with the nitty-gritty intimacy of life and creation.

Allah is way up there...yet He still dictates stuff way down here.

Allah is so transcendent..yet religious experience demands an intimate spiritual connection.

How do these things happen?


well you see, it's quite simple really :)

It's mostly to do with this concept called 'barzakh' - loosely translated as 'phased intermediation' such that the cosmological make-up of the world consists of several layers, each of which denotes an element of the divine attribute made manifest. This whole system culminates in describing the universe as a "Theatre of Manifestation" of God's attributes (illustrated through the 99 names of Allah). This means that the divine essence permeates through every atomistic fibre of matter in every infinitessimal stitch of time.

Similarly, the consciousness of man is a barzakh - bridging the gap between the terrestial base form of clay and the ultimate climax of spiritual experience, 'fana' - a cosmic consciousness of unity with the Divine.

This book, with neat chapters, concepts and illustrations explains each of the steps of the divine governance of the universe and the methods of Godly consciousness as espoused by the great master of Shaykhs - Ibn Al Arabi. The first few chapters very lucidly run through the groundwork of the concept of the 'divine names' and some basic ontological and metaphysical concepts. This sets the field for a stunning climax where Professor Chttick weaves together the epistemic nature of prayer and spiritual discipline - so that the consciousness of Man mirrors and chimes in a unified beat with the inner harmonies of the universe. Everything is ONE....Everything resides in the ONE.

I have to admit, things get a little spooky and hazy towards the end and I struggled to form a coherent sense of what the whole things was about - in total....but maybe that's something you can't learn from a book.

To cut things short, this is a stunningly awesome book. A little hard going and tedious to begin with but definitely well worth the effort.

Chittick allows Ibn Arabi to speak for himself without attemptiong to fit him within a philosophical paradigm like other authors (Nicholson, Affifi). This itself is a landmark step in oriental studies.

This is a great book for any one who is interested in true no nonsense spiritualism. Ibne Arabi as always proves himself a true master of this path. I would like to mention a couple of points which has left me confused as to the real position of this great master. He puts a great deal of emphasis on the fact that a true "traveler" is always mindful of the " Sacred Laws" of Islam and never for a moment undermines them. One might ask the question as to what is "Sacred Laws" and what are the sources of them. Quran rarely mentions anything about the Laws in a detailed fashion and those hadiths left from Prophet are uncertain , and more importantly there has never been much agreement about what the Sacred Laws are among the jurisprudence. Four canonical schools among the jurisprudence were established , at the expense of other schools, due to the fact that there was almost a chaos due to many schools of Law each with their own version of "Sacred Laws". So it seems that "Sacred Law" is more or less in the eye of the beholder and very much " relative". Moreover it is very confusing that Ibne Arabi should accept the very notion of " four cannonical" schools of law randomly picked by the ruler of the time. An indication that Ibne Arabi perhaps avoided any topic which would have brought him face to face with the political powers of his time. The second confusing aspect of Ibne Arabi is his almost total silence in regards to socio-political aspect of Islam and Islamic society. He never touches upon the early history of Islam and the shortcoming of the "Companions" of the Prophet as though he either sees no problem with that history at all or he is afraid of a backlash. It is unlikely that a man like Ibne Arabi would give a blank check and a money back guaranty entry to heaven to Mohammad's companions irrespective of their socio-political behavior. Why is it so important that we put the companions of the prophet under a microscope? It is because their behavior is particularly relevant to all moslems since according to a hadith attributed to Muhammad " my companion are like stars, any which one one follows is lead to truth". Does Ibne Arabi accept this hadith? How does he , or better yet Prophet Muhammad himself, justify the turmoil and killings and political injustice which was exercised by companions after Mohammed's death? Moslems rarely touch upon this aspect of their history and almost never discuss it and Ibne Arabi, unfortunatly, seems to fall under the same category.

Ibn Arabi is not easy reading. By far the best and most comprehensive book to date is this one -- perhaps Chittick's most important work yet. SPK is primarily a collection of translations from various sections of Ibn Arabi's greatest work, the Meccan Revelations, and is structured more as an anthology. Chittick puts in his own commentary here and there which helps decode the complexity of some of the passages. But for the most part, he allows Ibn Arabi to speak for himself.

Although the book is long, you don't have to read all of it. Chittick is not arguing a thesis, but presenting Ibn Arabi's view on a variety of subjects which are fundamentally rooted in a non-dualistic cosmology where only Allah 'is'. You can read just the introduction of the work (where Chittick gives a bare-bones sketch of the Shaikh's worldview) and then start plugging away from the various passages at your own convenience.

In my opinion, SPK is better than Chittick's more recent THE SELF DISCLOSURE OF GOD which is too technical and requires quite a bit of familiarity with Ibn Arabi in particular and sufism in general.

Ibn Al-Arabi, known affectionately as 'The Master' by many Muslims, is one of the leading mystics and philosophers the world of Islam has ever produced.

Ibn Arabi was an enigmatic, many-faceted genius. A visionary poet, philosopher, mystic, theologian, and great writer in one, he combined a great and penetrating intellect with a profound mystical insight into the mysteries of the Islamic faith.

Unfortunately as with many key Islamic philosophers, good English translations of this thinker's works were unavailable for Western scholarship until fairly recently. Chittick, an expert on Persian literature (and who lived in Iran until the revolution) translates many sections of Arabi's key texts and expounds his vision of God, the universe, and man.

Ibn Arabi's work is immense in scope and range. Essentially his philosophy is an attempt to work out how the divine One, changless, eternal, and perfect, relates metaphysically to the created universe. Essentially Arabi takes up the classic philosophical problem of the One and the Many, and offers a grand solution based on Islamic theology, mysticism, and philosophy.

Central to Arabi's system of Being is the idea of God having 99 names. In the Quran, God is said to have 99 'most beautiful names' which are his attributes. In Sufi thought, these attributes are also reflected in the universe and in all creatures, though only in human beings (the most complete of God's creations) are all the 99 names encompassed.

Also important in Ibn Arabi's thought is the human quest to find God. Using the hadith 'I was a hidden treasure, so I made the universe to be known', Arabi constructs an elaborate mysticism of love, based on the search for the human lover for his hidden beloved, which is God. Translated from poetic and mythical terms to philosophical terms, the meaning of human existence is to find God, the Absolute who underlies all, who is present in all but also entirely incomprehensible and hidden. Ibn Arabi's metaphysics also includes a comprehensive system of theophanies, manifestations of the hidden One in the universe (which include the cosmos itself as the highest theophany, along with man).

The other main aspect of Arabi's system is the detailed study of man, the microcosm. Because man is the perfect mirror of God (in the sense all 99 names are in man) the best path to understand God is to know the Self. In Arabi's system there is the realm of ordinary conciousness and the realms of the imagination, and of mystical conciousness, which are treated as being as ontologically 'real' as our experienced, sense world is.

While Chittick sometimes offers some odd conclusions, his explanation of Arabi's key ideas and his translations of his texts are very good. Unfortunately they only tend to whet the appetite, and they only represent a small fraction of Arabi's complete works, the majority of which is as yet untranslated into English.

Mm, this is a beautiful, wonderful little book! It is a collection of little stories of a very small girl and her small grandmother going adventures on their little island in Sweden. So full of green things and little bites of happiness. The grandmother is oh so clever and says so many poignants to the girl. The girl is wise too. So full of joy.

Based very much upon the late (and yes, great) Tove Jansson`s own family experiences on an island in the Finnish archipelago, this magical, elegiac, very funny, yet - despite its title - autumnal book, subtly draws the reader into the seemingly mundane lives of six-year old Sophia, whose mother has recently died, and `Grandmother` (who could almost be a humanised character from one of Jansson`s immortal Moomin books), as they potter and squabble around their small, idyllic island summer home.
Sophia`s `Papa` never speaks (never? Hm...) but is a silent, prosaic presence throughout, while Sophia is (as her name implies) wise, as well as temperamental, and Grandmother dispenses brief, ironic snippets of wisdom and can be just as prickly. They are a double-act; and, like all the best double-acts, rely on each other - at least for the grateful reader - to each `complete` the other. One feels Grandmother learns from her granddaughter as well as vice versa.
This is a beautiful, thoughtful, unsentimental, deceptively straightforward meander through the summer months with three generations of a grieving family each determined to hang on to their individuality. There are also the occasional - and rarely welcome - visitors.
If I make The Summer Book sound more than simply a light read, it is because even Tove Jansson`s children`s books (of which this can hardly be said to be one) have a tough melancholy strain to them, and a `message` of independence and personal integrity as the sanest way to be.
In its modest, breezy way, this is a great little book. One to treasure.

This book was given to me by an uncommon friend and I enjoyed it very much. It is about the friendship between a grandmother and her young grandaughter who live on a bit of an island in Finland (?). The beauty and treasures discovered in the quiet lives they lead, finding joy in simple things and loving each other besides those petty annoyances of personality (they are very much alike). There are many "huggable" humorous moments. I think of one in which they trade cats--their cat is indifferent to the grandaughter's overtures and the one traded was much more warm and cuddly, but then (and I quote from the book).

"Hunt! Do something! Be like a cat!" And then she started to cry and ran to the guest room and banged on the door.
"What's wrong now?" Grandmother said.
"I want Moppy back!" Sophia screamed.
"But you know how it will be," Grandmother said.
"It'll be awful," said Sophia gravely. "But it's Moppy I love."

As a child, Tove Jansson lived in summer on islands in the Gulf of Finland, and later she and her partner Tuulikki Pietilä lived on a small island called Klovharu. Jansson wrote many children books, including the Moomin series, and ten books for adults.

The plot of the most famous of her adult novels is very simple; an elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend the summer on a tiny island exploring and talking about everything but Sophia's mother's death and their love for each other. They wander, pick flowers, watch storms, take an occasional trip in a rowboat. The 22 short episodes make a remarkable whole; "On an island," thinks the grandmother, "everything is complete."

Sophia has a nightmare of luggage floating away in moonlight, "all the suitcases were open and full of darkness and moss". The loss of Sophia's mother haunts them both. Their comments make the book come alive.

"'When are you going to die? ... will they dig a hole?' the child asked amiably."

"Sometimes people never saw things clearly until it was too late and they no longer had the strength to start again."

"No well-bred person goes ashore on someone else's island when there's no one home. But if they put up a [No Trespassing] sign, then you do it anyway, because it's a slap in the face."

"Only farmers and summer guests walk on the moss ... The second time it doesn't rise back up. And the third time you step on moss, it dies."

Sophia wants to go swimming. "She waited for opposition, but none came. So she took off her clothes, slowly and nervously. She glanced at her grandmother - you can't depend on people who just let things happen. It's deep, Sophia thought. She forgets I've never swum in deep water unless someone was with me. And she climbed out again and sat down on the rock." Her grandmother notes that Sophia is afraid of deep water.

The interaction between Sophia and her grandmother is a clash of wills, Sophia stubborn, impetuous and supportive; her grandmother wise, unsentimental, on the edge of exhaustion, dizzy, fearful of losing her balance "the balance between survival and extinction was so delicate that even the smallest change was unthinkable".

Nonetheless, "It was just the same long summer always, and everything lived and grew at its own pace."

The book has been a major best seller in Scandinavia since it was first published in 1972. Thomas Teal has produced a wonderful English translation. This new edition from NYRB Classics is beautifully printed and bound. This novel captures a summer growing "at its own pace."

Robert C. Ross 2008

I rejoice that this short work has come into print again, though it's rather sad that it took the author's recent death to prompt the publishers into action. I'd read an extract in a guide to the top 100 books of the twentieth century and was surprised and disappointed not to be able to get my hands on the full edition.

Jansson has an inate understanding of the wisdom and skewed world-view of children, and manages to capture the fragile - and ephemeral - friendship which can exist between the very old and the very young. There is a freshness about her style which never teeters into whimsy. A rare achievement indeed.