W Books

Isn't it strange that having lived up with Hem's books and later with all the student's stuff on him - every book and most writers take you back to those early day's good feeling which you had after having read his shortstory stuff?? And having read almost everything which is written about Hem until today, this is still one of my absolute favourites. I like his style and I appreciate the accuracy and all the work that is behind every project he publish on Hem. I recommend this book.

Here's the thing with most biographies...they're biographies. I'm a lover of fiction, the crafted tale, the sculpted language. There is a certain freedom of the word that seems to only exist in the "made up" story. A freedom almost never captured in the strict confines of an accurate and truthful biography. Enter Michael Reynolds. He tells the tale of Hemingway's Paris years with so much fluidity and grace you'd swear he fabricated this Hemingway guy out of his own gorgeous imagination. This reads like a novel and a damn good one. It's peppered with minute historical facts ie: the value of the dollar, the franc, the German mark, the pound, at any given time. Political unrest, social change, fashion, food, and most importantly...the state of literature at that point in time. All of this swirls around the incredibly multi dimensional main character. You'll read it three times.

Ah, this is one of those books that a reader savors. This is one of the most enjoyable books for the student of Hemingway or for those writing prose fiction in general. Many, many of Hemingway's techniques are explained here. Also, for those of us who have been putting up a good fight--writing short stories and novels all these years--it helps seeing what a beating Hemingway took when he started. This is a fabulous book and the only thing that mitigated its conclusion was the knowledge that Michael Reynolds wrote another three more books in this series. They too are great but this is the best one.

This is an engrossing book that makes you feel like you are actually walking alongside Hemingway during his early years in Paris. I could feel the cold that he felt on his cheek, I could see the smile that Hadley gave him every time he walked into their dark little apartment after a hard day of writing in the cafes. This is due to Michael Reynolds superb, painstaking research, the photographs, and the copies of original manuscript that he included in this biography. I cannot stress enough how unlike an usual biography this is...Hemingway literally leaps out at you from the first sentence and pulls you into his world, lets you experience his poverty and first marriage in Paris, the birth of his son, the arrival of his first mistress, and the amazing literary scene in Paris that has now apparently died for good. Hemingway has amazing quotes on writing, life, living through your failures, and it was a pleasure to get to read the library list of every book he checked out during this time period. This is an amazing book, and the best biography I have EVER read in my life.

I've been trying to read two other books, on top of The Paris Years, but put them both down yesterday so that I could finish this one. The biggest thing that stands out about it is the excellence of Michael Reynolds' prose. He has the rare skills which enable readers to successfully jettison themselves back in time.

This is the perfect companion to A Moveable Feast and elucidates the historical nature of the characters present in The Sun Also Rises as well. Reynolds, although sometimes pretending to do otherwise, is a psychologizing narrator. The good news is that most of his observations have the ring of truth. The biographer seems to understand his subject which is of great benefit to the rest of us. Hemingway's first marriage is discussed extensively and the coming of Pauline Pfeiffer is also elucidated at the very end. Hemingway had Ford and Pound as his philandering role models, and, eventually, he proves to be a most capable student.

What I liked best about the book was the way in which Reynolds lets us know what Hemingway's writing process was; the daily habits he undertook which allowed him to excel at his craft. He struggled mightily to master the short story and, throughout this work, his emergence as a novelist is far from certain. The scenes in Pamplona are vivid as is the depiction of the cafe life in Paris. You may well want to go back and tour it as badly as I do by the time you're done. Ah, the past. Anyway, it is unfortunate that more on F. Scott Fitzgerald was not included, but you'll understand Ford Maddox Ford almost as well as Hemingway once the last page is turned. Overall, it was simply outstanding, I may well read the other editions of the biography now based on what I discovered here.

This is a great read-aloud book with fun illustrations! Very jazzy and fun, with a positive theme.

My 2 and 4 year olds love this book! The phrasing is fun. The colors bright. The story about persevering to realize your talent, even when it means eating at all the doggy diners when you're a cat. Though it never says so, the city is clearly San Francisco. So, go, cat, go! Buy the book!

A determined, jazzy cat tries to, and finally succeeds to, make music in a dog-run city, letting the reader see the importance of persevering even in tribulations. The impressionistic, curving illustrations that bleed to the edge every page, as well as the beat poem rhythm of the text, flow together to give the reader an understanding of what jazz is about: improvisation and expression of feelings. Even the placement of the text itself, which sometimes swirls, sometimes indents, and sometimes changes fonts, suggests the unpredictability of jazz music.

This book is definitely hard to get into, but once you do, you're hooked. The jazz theme is awesome (although I wouldn't have chosen a cat...) and the pictures are brilliant. What a great picture book!

This is one of the most amazing children's books I have ever read. Jonathan London is able to convert prose into music. You have a sense of being inside jazz and understanding what it is from a completely emotional standpoint. I was thrilled to have the pleasure of reading this book to my 5 year old son and to introduce him to what jazz feels like. We listened to several Jazz albums after reading this book and the book helped to make a connection to the music. Thank you, Thank you Mr. London for this incredible experience!

Anyone who grew up in the 60's-70's should read this book ... it is very inspiring!

One need not be African-American to love this book. It is a deep insight into a tough time. She talks of things usual life
does not include, as the powerlessness of women doing full nude strip dancing when one or a few refused to have customers give them money in a particularly intrusive way--what awaited such women and what choices did they really have. Neitzsche called Evil, "All that which proceeds out of weakness." He could have had this book in mind. Yet Ethel Water's life has more than defeat.

If you are not moved by this book, you must have a large problem.

Whew, what an upbringing, what a life. Waters goes into great detail about her rearing in the slums of Philadelphia, her life as vaudevillian Sweet Mama Stringbean and finally the Ethel Waters of stage, screen, and records. I didn't really know much about Miss Waters other than her role in the movie Pinky, so this book provided great insight into her life. Pretty good. The conversational tone makes it easy to read.

I've had the hardback 1951 copy of this book for some time, just picked it up to read last week. It is an astounding story of faith, determination, and strength;It is also an excellent insight into Black History pre-Martin Luther King. I hope the paperback version of this is being read. (and I wish Nikki Giovanni would read it as well).
Highly recommended.

When I was a kid, I knew Ethel Waters as that gray haired old lady that sang at the Billy Graham events on TV... In reading this autobiography I discovered the incredible legacy of her recordings and films.

"His Eye Is On the Sparrow" reads just like you're sitting in the room talking with this remarkable woman... The book not only shares the details of her fascinating career, but it is also an absorbing historical record of early 20th century show business and American society. Absolutely fascinating, warm, funny and poignant.

If you are looking to do a self-guided moose/caribou hunting trip in Alaska then this is the book you need. Confer covers everything you need to know prepare a hunt, i.e., planning and organizing, costs, techinques and tips, trophy judgment, meat and trophy handling, gear, packing and shipping, etc. It may very well be the best book for someone interested in hunting in Alaska.

The book is great for someone who has no clue about Alaskan hunting (like myself). It gives useful hints and explains the entire process from planning to bringing the meat home. However, the author frequently repeats himself throughout the book, sometimes verbatim. Also, his belief and "evidence" of hunter-game telepathy is quite extreme and should have been expressed in an article, not a how-to-book.

This is an excellent book concerning how to do float trips in Alaska and covers many practical aspects of such hunting. It has the added benefit of also being fairly entertaining reading. Only problem is that it's darn hard to find as it's out of print and everyone who has a copy won't let it go, The author would do well to come out with a reprint if a second edition isn't in the works.

What a great book! I plan on moving to AK next year and plan on doing quite a bit of hunting. The book tells you everything you could ever want to know on hunting moose and caribou. After reading the book I felt as if I was ready to be droped off in the Alaskan tundra and start hunting. The book is a must have if you plan on hunting in AK. The book takes you through every step on how to do it your self and keep it afordable.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that has never gone to alaska to hunt moose or caribou...It covers hunting techniques, judging trophies, as well as what to outfit your camp with. I am going to alaska for the first time to hunt this year, I plan on using part of my 75# to bring the book with me!

Though it needs some times to learn to view 3D, once you can achieve it it is very interesting. Most of the pictures in this book are beautiful. I have to confess that I cannot see them all, but it should come with time. Warning! Don't be serious if you cannot see the 3D pics, just relax and try later or you will be getting stress and eye fatigue.

I really love these books. I am fascinated by the technique used to get the 3-d affect. I have everyone out.

I recently discovered these so-called 3-D stereograms. I think they are SO cool! Somehow I missed out on their popularity phase during the 1990's. (However, I do remember one Seinfeld episode where Elaine's boss, Mr. Pitt, was trying to find the 3-D image in a painting, but I didn't realize just how neat the whole thing really was.) I have looked through several books now. I feel this book is probably the best. There are over 200 designs to view and discover the hidden 3-D images. And the price is quite reasonable, considering the hours of entertainment it will give you. Highly recommend it.

If you like Magic Eye images, this book will blow you away. When I look at some of my other 3-D book images, I'll think, "I get it - it's a shark." When I look at these images, I'll say out loud, "Woah." My wife will think I spilt hot coffee on my foot. But I didn't. I don't even drink coffee. And it's not a small book - there are 200 full-page images in it.

I got this book for our family for Christmas. The pictures that pop out are usually the same as the picture that made it,if that makes sense. There is a picture made up of shamrocks...the picture inside is a shamrock. There is no surprise in the picture, which to me isn't as fun. I dodn't appreciate the topless mermaid picture on the title page and last page of the book, I don't think that perticular picture is kid friendly. Otherwise the book is what I expected.

This book contains very powerful and innovative tools for a complete business measurement system. It includes practical tools that go beyond the ones commonly used in Six Sigma and Lean. The explanation is very clear and the many examples that are included in each chapter make the usually complex concepts a lot easier to relate to real life everyday business operations.
There is a lot to learn from this book and a lot of readily applicable practical insight to gain from it.

This book provides the reader with a systematic approach in how to improve their business.

You are shown what to report and how to properly report it so management gets the correct information they need to direct their resources. The DMAIC phases are gone through in a detailed manner providing the reader with the tools they need in order to correctly understand the elements involved. Within each phase examples and exercises are provided to give the reader a better understanding of the tools being used.

This is a well thought out book that is built upon the other books in the series. A great reference source for any Quality professional or individual who desires to make their business operate in a more efficient manner.

For nearly 15 years I have used the ideas from Forrest Breyfogle's books in industrial manufacturing, hi-tech, life sciences, oil/gas and retail to addresse the most complex business problems with Fortune 500, Global 2000 and start-up companies. IIE Business Deployment, Volume II of Forrest's latest series applies the concept of Lean Six Sigma to the improvement of the entire enterprise rather than just to a specific project. More specifically, the book provides a practical yet powerful roadmap for aligning enterprise strategy and executive dashboards/balanced scorecards with relevant project selection that impacts sustainable, long-term financial performance. As the director of one of the nation's fastest-growing companies and consultant to business and technology executives, I use this book as a handy reference for insights and tools. I give this book my highest recommendation.
- Frank Shines, Former IBM Principal & Director of Industriaplex

Great read! Topics covered are very helpful for Senior Leadership, Quality Leader and Master Black Belt roles. Breyfogle's treatment of Satellite, 30,000 ft, and 20,000 ft metrics using infrequency Individual control charts is great. Many examples are given. Breyfogle clearly provides a methodology that integrates "Voice of the Customer" with business objectives to identify "meaningful" improvement projects. This is a must read for quality professional. If you are a Six Sigma / Lean practitioner, then you will also want Integrated Enterprise Excellence, Volume III.

Forrest has continued to extend his process for getting companies on the right track. This latest series of books on the Enterprise takes his methodology to the next level and provides management with a much more proactive process for obtaining a competitive advantage. He clearly explains, and contrasts key approaches being used today and integrates them into a well defined system. It is clear from is identification and description of issues facing management, that he understands what is happening within companies today and continues to provide well thought out solutions. His continued emphasis on using data for reducing risk and making key decisions cannot be overstated. Management's assumptions and misconceptions about the company's real value chain often lead to conflicting strategies within the company. Getting agreement and buy-in on the value chain first and then setting strategy was a big breakthrough for me. Often this is done in reverse and it leads to dramatic strategy shifts every time there is a change in a key management position. Using the company value chain at the beginning of the process, identifying the key metrics and then setting strategy can significantly reduce poor decisions. For managers that have the desire to introduce discipline into their company, this set of books is a must.

I have used this book to train new college grads and engineers who are new to the ATE industry for years. It is the only text book I Know of that completely covers this topic

This book is very practical and easy to understand. I just graduated college and am working as an entry-level IC Test Engineer. There are some chapters that are a little more involved but with enough experience, one will be able to understand it.

This is probably one of the best books in the market today for test engineers and product engineers. Most of the discussions are oriented towards catching some of the common mistakes made during the development of a test methodology for a circuit. It teaches test/product engineers what to look for when they encounter test problems(which keep popping up very regularly!). I would have appreciated a more detailed chapter on the statistical analysis of test data and analysis of datalogs to determine test issues but I guess that would take up much more space. I would also have preferred reading about some case studies where test issues were investigated and the solution found, but that too would have taken up some space. In all, this is THE book for test/product engineers who deal with a myriad of testers in the market today. A Quick solution of test related issues is key to huge savings in production costs and reading this book end-to-end will definitely aid in the debug of test related issues.

Hi..

When I was interning at Maxim, my supervisor introuced me to this book. I liked it it so much, that I immediately bought one for myself.
This is an awesome book. My supervisor said, that no other book has been written on this subject with so much detail. It almost covers every aspect of test engineering.
It is extremely easy to understand too. So, it is not a problem whether you are an expert or just a beginner.
I recomment this book to everyone who believe in KNOWING IT ALL!

I've been a Test Engineer for 13 years and take it from me, this book is so close to real life situation. It obviously written by people who practice the art of Test Engineering. I wish that I had this book in my very 1st year. This is the bible for every TE.

My son loved this one so much, we had to travel all over our area to find the other Road Weenie book, Campfire Weenies, I believe it's called.

Yet more great stories from literary master David Lubar. Plenty of short
sharp shocks to give kids the shivers as Halloween approaches!

My kids and I loved this book. It is full of great short stories. It would be a great book for a reluctant reader because the stories are so short. The reader can have many short, entertaining reading sessions without the chance of getting bored. While camping this past weekend my son retold many of stories from this book while we were sitting around the campfire. They really are great spooky campfire stories!

This book is creepy but not to creepy,that's what I love about this book. Some of these storys are funny and creepy. My favorite story is "Nigh Fishing" its really creepy. I recomend this book to everone, Lubar strikes again!

In the book Invasion of the Road Weenies David Lumber tells scary stories to scare the readers and get them excited about what's going to happen. This book is fiction book so the kids who like fiction books should read this amazing book. I like this book because its fiction and it get me to visualizes what's happening in the story. There are all sorts of stories in this book like the " TANK" or "COPIES". In the "Tank" this kid saw ripples in the water and was wondering why there was ripples in the water. And in "Copies" these boys go to work with there father and finds a copier and puts there face on it and copies one thousand copies and they come out with out a face. There are 35 wonderful stories in this book Bt Tyler

In a simple world prejudice only goes in one direction, there is a clear cut victim and a meanie. As a obese man for nearly 20 years since college, and an M.A. in sociology, the world is not simple, and prejudice bounces off the walls every which way: if you are not careful, yes, you may may add to prejudice, too, even if you are a victim of something, even if your prejudice is not a crime or whether people would think it should be.

About a week ago my diet got a big boost when two women friends from college said a) she hangs a picture of her father in law on the fridge to remind her husband not to look like him and b) more painfully another married woman told me what she thought of the deterrent value of my eating habits in the college dining hall. GRANTED, TRUE FRIENDS WANT ME TO LOSE WEIGHT IT IS A LIFE AND DEATH MATTER NOW, I AM A TYPE II DIABETIC AND EVENTUALLY I COULD BE INSULIN-DEPENDENT.

But my point is I have never had much of a problem making women friends, only a problem making the transition from making a woman friend to girl friend, and especially among Caucasian women. The primary difference between a friend and a girlfriend is some sort of sexual attraction: sexual commitment would be a marriage. It is hardly any better when you are in a Christian singles dating service. I have been a practicing Christian since just before leaving for graduate school, but I am very sad to say that human nature, unfortunately, frequently picks up where the Holy Spirit leaves off, especially in mate selection matters, even though it was entirely the power of the Holy Spirit that amazed me into converting as a college graduate.

I believe I have no choice now but to diet and exercise: it took too long to understand, because WHEREAS EVERYONE KNOWS MEN DISCRIMINATE BY SIZE, IT IS LITTLE KNOWN THAT WOMEN DO, TOO. Perhaps my mother, born 1936, died 2003, simply did not have the socialization to say the kinds of things my married woman friend born in 1972 would say in the company of friends, even in the company of her husband.

ETHNICITY AND SOCIAL CLASS NEED TO BE CONSIDERED, for example, at Thanksgiving, my African-American friends insist that it is primarily Caucasians that worry about weight (on themselves and one another), my host quickly pointed out her boyfriend is larger than I am.

MY COMPLETE SYMPATHY is with W. Charisse Goodman, but she needs to address the rest of the story. She may be happy to know that I spent two years carefully getting to know the intelligence and interests of a woman of comparable size. I broke up with her, but not because I made a five second decision over it.

The best thing I can suggest is lose weight, stick at it, exercise and diet. It will be hard, but it is theoretically possible.

Or you can take your chances trying to find one of us more open-minded, mature people out there, if we aren't in a relationship already. We are widely scattered and considerably outnumbered by the smaller-minded competition. If you can find us alone, good luck.

We do treasure a long list of things other than looks. Looks are kind of like the icing on the cake, but carefully consider this. Intelligent people know that looks are not really important like character. Looks can't substitute for what else doesn't exist. Life is too short to wait for looks if you have found everything else, and risk losing everything else trying to find looks. And one last thing: body size and shape is not the last word on looks. Feminine beauty is a combination of so many things from head to toe, including clothing and accessories which are not even part of the woman, that it is possible to work with anything to make a lot. Looks might get you into bed, but it's not looks that gets you out of bed and through the day.

Or try to teach those pea brains something, if you can. Tip: they have to want to grow up before you can help them.

Note: I am also an adult with Asperger syndrome, which can also complicate relationships, but not from across a room like obesity. I have considered competing theories from writers such as Ron Louis and David Copeland (How to Succeed with Women) which place a far greater emphasis on non-verbal communication and learned behavior. Nevertheless, I believe outward appearance is probably more important than nonverbal behavior or symbolic interactionism. The book also has a leading premise to it, but then again, in my experience, appearances count for a great deal in conjugal relationships.

This book was quite a find for me. The author tells it like it is and doesn't hold back. She explains what it's like to be fat and edure the nasty remarks and terrible attitudes toward people who are socially or medically considered overweight. Even though the writing is emotionally charged, the author's research is thorough.

This is one of the best books I've read so far that analyzes weight prejudice. Goodman does an excellent job exposing the myths and discourse about weight in the United States. It is also a good read for anyone wishing to learn more about prejudice in general, as she compares the discourse of Anti-Semitism, and German Anti-Semitism especially, to America's discourse on weight from the past several decades. There are also comparisons to other forms of prejudice as well. Anyone doubting the validity of similarities between weight prejudice and Anti-Semitism will be converted after reading this book, and I believe that is largely because Goodman is herself Jewish, and therefore intimately familiar with both forms of prejudice. She also details the common discourse used as excuses for prejudice by what she terms "weight bigots." You'll see what I mean if you read the Amazon review titled "An Observation," as this person's (undoubtedly a man's) comment is just the kind of language she refers to in her book (and I highly doubt he'd even bothered to read the book). I've read many books on culture, world religions, and prejudice, and I would say that Charisse Goodman's book definitely ranks up there with the best of them.

This book was wonderful. I highly recommend it. As for the so called reviewer who titled his review "An Observation", I would like to point out one interesting fact... Every single one of the women he so rudely comments on had the pride to leave their names and information on their reviews and yet you left yours off. Gee I wonder who has more to be ashamed of.

I found this book a really depressing read. Really, really depressing. I'm not saying that a lot of what the author is saying here is wrong, it's not. Most of the content is stuff everyone could benefit from reading and realizing (especially the bits concerning the connection of sexism and the beauty/diet industry). But the constant "society hates fat people because x, y, z", the "us vs. them" mentality throughout most of the book (despite her protestations that it's not an us vs. them situation towards the end), and some of the comarisons being more than slightly skewed on scale makes for a depressing read that leaves little hope for changing anything, within or without.

The book would have benefited more from a writer who wasn't trying to be so controversial instead of practical. I live with the negative reality, I'm more interested in positive solutions.

THis book is awesome mix of "Don Quixote," "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy," and the "Colloquies of Erasmus." ... With a dash of Rabelais and Boccaccio for good measure.

In other words: playful bawdy post modern meta narrative where carnivalesque stories weave in and out of each other. Ive read a few things by Diderot and this is my fav so far.

I'm a big fan of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa - so its shocking to learn that it leans so heavily on Jacques. I found Jacques to be more entertaining than Sterne's work.

It may be your destiny to read and adore the pithy wit of Diderot. At a time when the novel was new as a genre as a contemporary of Sterne and Richardson, Diderot confronts the religion and philosophy of his day entrenched in the idea that man's fate was written on a scroll on high and that man only acted out a bit part devoid of real choice in his slavery to destiny. Pre-destination did not sit well with Diderot and Jacques is the novelist in this "dog's breakfast" he has served up railing aginst his own genre to assert his humanity and freedom on his picaresque journey to nowhere. "Does anyone know where they're going?" certainly sounds like Beckett who lived in France and may well have read Diderot. Jacques is forced to conclude that people think they are in charge of their destiny when their destiny is in charge of them. What choice does the fatalist really have except to resign to his fate? Because life is a series of endless misunderstandings, it isn't easy to be captain of one's own soul. The epigrams are deliciously well phrased: "Virtue is an excellent thing. Both good people and wicked people speak highly of it." Or this: "I think there are some very odd things written up there on high." The wicked fable of the Sheath and the Knife is certainly memorable. Jacques is genuinely hilarious in many places and despite Diderot's scathing complaints of the early novel, he wrote wrote an enduring classic beloved because of its pure wit, audacity, irony and uncanny phrasing. I urge you to read this great early novel destined to foretell the promise bound to follow for the genre.

This book is amazing. It will make many of your conceptions of where things belong in the history of the novel fall apart. Not coincidentally, that is one of the points of this book, being an exercise more than a message: that all apparent armatures of order are one more perspective away from disintegration. This book is really quite sneaky as well. In the beginning, the constant references to the inscriptive certainties in the heavens seem silly. But then little explanations come along (like the geneology of Jacques' crazy horse), and the novel heads down a dark, yet very enchanting road, into a fuzz that's every bit as modern as any you've read. This thing alternately looks like Bunuel, Zola, Stendhal, Faulkner, Kerouac. The picaresque, the uncertain narrator, the structuralists, all seem to be swimming around in this amazing book.

Surely many writers and artists from this era (like Goya) depicted the nobles as effete and incapable of carrying out the governance of the most basic requirements of existence, but here, they also appear (in the image of the 'master') as so withdrawn from the world as to be blind. If you take away all the stories that are told, the only thing that's left of a plot here is the master having his horse stolen right from under his nose while Jacques was gone and then Jacques finding it for him at the end in a beautiful, mock sort of deus ex machina.

Two centuries or so before "modern" writers began writing experimental novels, Denis Diderot, the force behind the Encyclopaedia effort, wrote this strange and indeed very "modern" novel in which the author leads a conversation with the reader, asking him where he (or she, of course) would want to go and what to do with the characters and the story. Here we see the author in the very process of creation, exposing his doubts, exploring his options, and playing with the story.

There is really no plot as such. Jacques, a man who seems to believe everything that happens is already written "up on high", but who nonetheless keeps making decisions for himself, is riding through France with his unnamed master, a man who is skeptic of Jacques's determinism but who remains rather passive throughout the book. Fate and the creator-author will put repeatedly to test Jacques's theory, through a series of more or less fortunate accidents and situations, as well as by way of numerous asides in the form of subplots or stories.

The novel is totally disjointed and these asides and subplots blurb all over the place, always interrupted themselves by other happenings. The most interesting of them is the story of Madame de Pommeroy and her bitter but ultimately ineffectual revenge on her ex-lover.

Diderot confesses to having taken much from Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" and Cervantes's "Don Quixote". This last novel's influence seems obvious at two levels: Cervantes also talks to the reader, especially in Part Two, and also reflects abundantly on the creative process. Moreover, the tone and environment of the book is very similar to the Quixote: two people engaged in an endless philosophical conversations while roaming around the countryside and facing several adventures which serve to illustrate one or antoher point of view.

Diderot's humour is bawdy and practical and the book is fun to read. The exact philosophical point is not clearcut, but it will leave the reader wondering about Destiny, Fate, and Free Will.

Yeah. Believe all the reviews below. This book really is amazing. It would feel like it was written yesterday, if it was more derivative -- but it's fresh! The language is incisive, no waste, and the pacing and structure are brilliantly fluid. It's smart and funny, too, and completely unpredictable, filled with weird offhand bursts of bewildering narrativity. And yet balanced, apparently sane. I truly enjoyed reading it. It's great.