Sales Books

Kim Zetter details the estoreric teachings of the Cabala in simple, yet detailed writings. This book is great for the beginner or for anyone looking for some info on the teachings of Cabala because it is very thought-out and informative. I first became interested in Cabala a few years ago. I was riding on a train and started talking to a lady sitting next to me who told me about these wonderful teachings. Unfortunately for me, and for people like me, there weren't many resources besides this book. I have seen and read other books but they were rather complicated and difficult to understand. This book taught me many things. One of the main messages I learned is that no book holds the key to happiness. I do not believe Cabala is a secret answer or cure for anything. Rather it will enhance your life if you invite it in.

Its hard to imagine taking such a complex topic and creating a book that explains it without speaking down to the reader. Simply one of the best explantory treatises I've ever read and thoroughly enjoyed. A masterpiece!

I am very interested in learning Kabbalah, and this book got me hooked! It is very easy to understand, seems to hit all the major facts and concepts and is wonderfully written. It is like a textbook of Kabbalah 101 for me, I am highlighting things and writing in the margins, but I will never sell it back! :) It is a great reference book that I am sure I will go back to again and again and read many times over, no matter how far I get in my studies of Kabbalah. If you are on the fence, BUY IT!! You won't be sorry.

One thing I also like about the book, it states traditional Kabbalah belief, not radical or cult-ish belief as in some other books.

This book presents an accurate, well-researched and well-written history of the Kabbalah, but the history portion is nearly 2/3 of the whole book. I bought it to learn about the Tree of Life and was very disappointed.

I choose this book as my introduction to Kabalah and could not have been more pleased. It presented alot of material in a straight forward, easy to understand mannor. An easy read, full of valuable information. Highly recommended!!

Six Sigma Pricing: Improving Pricing Operations to Increase Profits (Six Sigma)

I would recommend this book to any executive looking to gain a better understanding of pricing, the pricing process, and the dynamics involved in bringing better pricing precision to your organization.

As a C-suite executive in a $1B food manufacturing company, while I have no pricing/procurement responsibilities, I am directly involved in Strategy and strategic planning for our organization; and in the current marketplace of rising commodity costs with questionable price elasticity, maximizing profits for us requires a thorough understanding of price.

This book helped me better understand and participate in the strategic discussions with my other business partners.

The authors admit early in the book that they've taken on a very challenging task: to provide readers a way to bring what might be the most unwieldly and convoluted corporate process - the "pricing process" - under some semblance of control. To a large degree, they succeed. They do a wonderful job of using Six Sigma as a means to make this challenge manageable, without letting Six Sigma gain the upper hand. In other words, this is a very useful and practical book about removing defects from your decision-making process on pricing. It's not a book which treats pricing as just more grist for the Six Sigma mill. This book is definitely worth reading if you feel your company's pricing process needs more discipline, rigor, and structure.

Pricing, getting it "right" and positioning a company with a cohesive plan to address this critical process is always a challenge. While some may think of Six Sigma as a cold, clinical tool (which it can be), the authors get it right with Six Sigma Pricing. From my perspective, the volatile economic environment in which we find ourselves operating today, with the Euro surging past US$1.55, profit margins can dissipate more quickly than one can imagine if you are not on top of your game. The authors couple Six Sigma processes and good business sense with proven processes to help companies manage this critical process. Very well done.

As an academic, I have been searching for a good book, which can be used in Business School classes to introduce students to pricing operations as a marketing topic and also Six Sigma for process improvement. It is one of a few books available, which is serious enough to be used as a text book but also full of real-life and relevant industry examples. Sometimes, I feel really uncomfortable to hear from students discussing Six Sigma, who obviously had read jargon filled Six Sigma books with little substance. This book is an exception, since it presents Six Sigma and pricing concepts clearly and in an applied context.

Developing a pricing strategy is easy, it's execution that's difficult. With a lot of conflicting interests and stakeholders, variation in the execution (pricing processes) can be costly. Unfortunately, ensuring price execution in adherence with your price strategy is often difficult. Six sigma pricing can really help to ensure effective adherence to contract terms or price guidelines. Working fact based is a huge benefit in a subject as pricing. I recommend this book if you are looking where and how to start improving your pricing processes !

Pol Vanaerde - president European Pricing Platform - www.pricingplatform.eu

From both a business and personal perspective, Six Figure Incomes proves to be an excellent guide for developing strong communication traits. If you have ever felt the frustration of a disconnected conversation, or had difficulty avoiding or resolving conflict, help can be found in the pages of this book. Never before have I felt more "tuned-in" to the needs and emotions of clients and family, and that is with only applying a small portion of what this book provides. A definite must read for people who want to get the most out of any relationship. Thank you!

Wow! This is the best book I have ever read on the art and technique of connecting with other people. Invaluable for anyone in sales or any relationship-based business. I am blown away!!
-Mike Schwagler, Seattle-

While the lessons in this book will surely help someone make sales I believe that it's real value is as a guide for communicating effectively. The lessons it conveys can be applied in all aspects of life and the reward is better relationships fostered by genuine communication. The art of listening has never been so well presented.

I am a voracious reader, and especially read a lot of non-fiction motivational work from Authors like Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer and Brian Tracy. This book, "Six Figure Incomes: Profit from America's Best Communicators," is one of the few books that has really impacted me in the past year. I have taken so many lessons from it that I have applied to both my work and my personal life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book has proven to be an excellent resource for our past three sales training classes. It was referred by another Corp Trainer from one of our vendors, and the feedback has been outstanding. Good choice for a motivating text for training....Thanks!

These sonnets ease my tension when I read them.

In my own opinion, Elizabeth Barrett Browning at her best and most seductive; lie there reading them in bed and let them ravish you! To read them, so intimately sweet as they seem, is almost to feel EBB herself there, her small form snuggling happily in your arms. Of course nobody would have known better than EBB herself what dulcet love songs these sonnets were, since she had never intended them for publication. They were secret, often quite confessional, love poems she wrote about her Robert while he was courting her, all unawares, and then for awhile after their marriage, in which they continued carrying on as two of recorded history's most passionate lovebirds.

It was only after Robert Browning somehow discovered and read them that he managed to convince EBB that they were really too good not to be published. He was right, of course. Even so, Elizabeth was sensitive enough about the matter to want to screen the work off under a somewhat misdirecting title. SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGESE might hope to create a casual impression that they were foreign translations of some mysterious sort ... which, of course, obviously they aren't, but who's philologically analysing; read and enjoy!

In fact, the name settled on was a mere lover's in-joke. Because of her somewhat exotic looks and olive-colored skin, Browning's pet name for EBB, other than the baby-talk "Ba," was "my Portugese;" hence the title. The collection was tremendously successful and deservedly so, and this edition of it, gorgeously illustrated, is very nice indeed.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote these sonnets for her husband and fellow poet Robert Browning. She is capable to move and haunt without saccharine kitsch & schmalz. Her sincerity and intensity are an example to everyone who wants to write poetry or song lyrics. Two thumbs up!

My ex girlfriend, Ashleigh, gave this to me years ago, before she was forced by her family to marry this guy. Long story but she sent this book to me and signed the inside.
Next to Shakespeare, this is the most bittersweet and poetic
poems of love that I have ever read.
It was said that a husband and wife team wrote these so one can only imagine how passionate their marriage was, huh?

This book of sonnets and poems is just wonderful. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's writing is able to get to the very heart of the reader with honesty and beauty. This collection really speaks to the romantic soul with passion and truth. I find her writings to be incredibly moving and this volume touched me deeply.

This is a straightforward but profound book on cultivating pauses in our lives to enrich our lives and ultimately improve the quality of our existence. It seeks to maximize "the beats in between the notes" as moments to cherish.

In a rush/rush world that seems to have ADD, the suggestions of author David Kundtz resonate. It offers excellent suggestions to "sharpening the saw" by incorporating tiny, medium-sized or extended pause points in our lives to step back, take stock and get ourselves centered.

A wonderful book that merits multiple readings!

This book is a wonderful way to introduce the concept of meditation as a part of life without ever calling it meditation. I'll be using it with all my clients who are reluctant to try meditation for fear it won't fit with their lifestyles. Kundtz succeeds in clearly describing the benefits of "stopping" and noticing, even for a few moments, and does this in language that is accessible to everyone. "Stopping" is an essential survival skill in our crazy, hectic lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels they are living their lives running faster and faster, like hamsters on a wheel. "Stopping" teaches how to begin to get off the wheel in a way that fits into our lives.

With all due respect to the precious author's time he spent writing this book - I think this book has not that much to offer to the "hungry", knowledge striving people.
It has a lot of nothing and it is incredibly impossible to get author's points from his chapter filled up with other people's quoatations. Even the quotes were not appropriate to the text in any particular chapter. So...before you spend your hard earned money and your precious time STOP and have a second thought before you decide to buy it.
Simply read the first few pages and you'll get to know what am I talking about.

If you've ever questioned if your in the right place in life this is an excellent tool to help make sense of your thoughts. Everyone pulls what they need out of what they read, this book has a lot to offer. Excellent book !

This is an excellent self-help book! Forget the complexity of everything else, keep it simple, and learn to just STOP! This book was incredibly helpful, and I want to assure anyone that it "works"! Some readers (especially if you're mainly a "concrete thinker") might not find this book helpful. You have to open your mind a bit. Which is fun! For those who like to live "in the spaces in between" - to use one of Kundtz's favorite metaphors - there is great value in this book--and great value in the price, too! :-)

Morison is the place to start for learning what happened on and around Guadalcanal. The atmosphere of inevitable Japanese defeat is not present, unlike the later volumes that describe island garrisons, cut off from any air and sea resupply, who simply await annihilation by U.S. forces.

The eventual logistical, technological, air and naval supremacy of the United States, combined with the excellent strategy of the pincer movements of Macarthur on one hand, and Nimitz on the other, led to the inexorable rolling up of the Japanese Empire. What makes studying the campaign for Guadalcanal so interesting is that it occurred before this supremacy was achieved, where U.S. and Japanese forces were on more or less equal footing. The Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal, unlike their later island garrisons were not cut off from air and sea support and were able throughout much of the campaign to bring in reinforcements via the "Tokyo Express."

What started out quite incidentally, after Japanese troops were observed building an airstrip, grew into a six month ordeal where Marines and Japanese troops squared off on the island, while U.S. air power ruled the day and the Japanese navy ruled the night. The most poignant of Morison's accounts are of the nighttime surface engagements in and around Savo Island and Iron Bottom Sound.

I haven't read the other books in this series, but was recommended this volume by a friend who is a WWII Navel battle fan. I wanted a good overview of the battle, why it was important and just what the heck went on here. So to start I'm aghast at my poor knowledge of this battle. It was nearly as critical to the history of the USA as Gettysburg. Two giant navies met here, neither really wanting this island but both unwilling to let the other side have it. Yet again it shows what crap the USA had for torpedoes. I can't tell you the number of fish fired vs how many actually found their target and did any damage. It was pitiful. The Japanese navy had superior tactics, better torpedoes but didn't fully grasp the significance of the island to the USA and so let the Marines dig in and own the place. Granted holding it was incredibly tough but it was possible and the imperial army was stretched to it's limits to keep it supplied thanks to the US navy. But it came at a huge cost in ships and sailors.

If you don't know anything about Guadalcanal this book is a great place to start.

This is the 5th book of a 15 book series and is the best one so far. Any serious student of WWII should read this series as a primer to prepare him or her for further readings from newer sources as it becomes notable on how light in detail these books are but then again consider that they were first written in 1948 and many of the sources were still classified or unknown then. One case in point is the chapter on the Battle of the Eastern Solomon's where Mr. Morris describes the attack on the American carriers and states that Shokaku sent some torpedo bombers along with a foot note saying that the numbers sent was not yet available yet I obtained the number along with the name of the lead pilot from John Lundstrom' s "The First Team and the Guadalcanal campaign"book which made for some fun research. Now that I have read this book I will take a break from the series in order to learn more details of the Guadalcanal campaign and read "Guadalcanal: The definitive account of the landmark battle." by Richard B. Frank.

Morison' works are priceless.

The maps are Very good. This is a wonderfull lead in to Frank's work, "Guadalcanal".

Morison's books are perfect for entrees into more specific books regarding the landings and land action of the island campaigns.

Highly recommended.

The volumes in this entire series are all highly readable and present a picture of our nation starting from a dismal reality in the Pacific to ultimate victory by virtue of the courage and sacrifice of men of the US Navy, as well as of the British and Dutch. The Naval battles of Coral Sea and Midway and the subsequent invasion of Guadalcanal and establishment of the "Cactus Air Force" made up of whatever American planes that were available to fly on any given day turned the tide in the Pacific, though with 3 more years of fighting to come. The loss of the Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes on the night following the invasion hastened departure of much of the supply train and of the carrier covering group which left 2 days earlier than planned due to the loss of Cruiser protection, those 3 of the Northern Group as well as the Australian Navy Canberra of the Southern group. Our 2 radar pickett destroyers, Talbot and Blue, were positioned in their cross channel watch so as to miss seeing the Japanese Cruiser fleet enter the harbor and surprise was complete. The IJN suffered no losses during the action, but I believe they subsequently lost the Furutaka on their return to Rabaul. This bears historical checking for accuracy.

The remaining 6 month struggle for Guadalcanal is inspiring and very tragic for the conditions and imminent threat of death endured by those brave men. I was deeply moved by the courage and sacrifices of the US Navy and US Marines. 59 years after the fact I also feel (grudging) admiration for the men and weapons of the IJN.

The "Arsenal of Democracy" had agreed with the European allies that European victory was the priority issue, and that men and materiels for the Pacific war were scant for the first year or so and in many instances outmoded.

The entire series is excellent reading for those interested in history and their American heritage. I have had the entire series for about 50 years. The current pricing scheme at Amazon is a true bargain, and I recommend the series without reservation. The sadness is that such an event ever occured to generate this excellent historical writing.

Small boat or dinghy sailing, camping out, excitement, nice people and strong writing: what more could a reader ask for? I first read this book at the home of a boyhood friend about ten years after it was originally published, and I count the series (this is the second of 12) as responsible for my lifelong interest in camping and sailing. More than half a century later, I acquired a set and found to my absolute delight that they read as well and are as powerfully satisfying as ever.

Here, within the covers of a very well-written book, you'll find a group of charming children and a few adults, spanning a wide range of ages and character types. Swallowdale is by turns funny, thoughtful, insightful and so well written it is a distinct pleasure for readers of any age.

Did I mention the writing? It's better written than most current novels.

"Swallowdale" continues very much where its predecessor, "Swallows and Amazons", leaves off, with the Walker children returning to "that remote lake in the north of England" one year after the events of the first book and looking forward to another couple of weeks of fun, sailing with their friends, the Amazon pirates. Plans quickly begin to go awry, however, and Ransome turns events away from the anticipated activity of sailing on the lake to an altogether different sort of fun, as the children take off camping and exploring in the surrounding fells and mountains.

The book has all of the fine qualities that make its predecessor such an excellent read for children (and adults) of all ages. Ransome's prose is a delight throughout, his characters engaging and the events that befall the children entirely believable. As in all of the other books of this series, simple pen and ink drawings by the author add considerably to the enjoyment. If only the world (and the Lake District!) was still like this!

Incidentally, although this was the second of Arthur Ransome's "Swallows and Amazon" books to be published, it is best read after the third volume, "Peter Duck", because it is set chronologically after the events of that book, and makes occasional back reference to it. You will enjoy "Peter Duck" much more if you read it BEFORE you read "Swallowdale". And if you enjoyed "Swallows and Amazons" you will certainly enjoy this.

This was the second book in the series that we read. After the first I did not think it could get better, but I was wrong. We were shocked when their boat sunk, but they seemed to do as well on land as they did on water. My kids will do their chores and finish their homework as long as I read this to them each evening. To me that is quite impressive. Now we are reading Peter Duck...

The Swallows return to their favorite lake a year later, but things have changed slightly...the Amazons are dealing with a visit from a tyrannical great-aunt and can't go sailing with them! While sailing about on their own, the Swallows' boat experiences a wreck and their sailing adventures on the lake are in danger.

This book continues the adventures of the brave kids we first met in SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, only they're a year older and a little nervier. The books' descriptions of camping and exploring are fun, fun, fun; I remember doing similar things as a child. The story also gives some good lessons to kids, although not in a preachy fashion...we see the importance of being calm in a crisis, and how an otherwise bad situation can be turned into a positive experience. Also, the boat-race scene at the end has a great scene of good sportsmanship, as the losers enthusiastically and sincerely congratulate the winners and compliment them on their sailing. And, as present in SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, there is the element of using one's imagination.

The mountain-climbing scenes are good, with an unexpectedly poignant moment at the summit. The lost-in-the-fog scenes are actually quite atmospheric and memorable.

The book's main problem is that it is rather dated, but for some readers, that's part of the charm. The great-aunt's insistance on Victorian-era manners may not click too much with modern readers, although they'll probably be able to think of their elders who they see as being too old-fashioned. The book takes place in a circa 1930 England, when charcoal-burners and horse-drawn wagons were still commonplace in rural areas; some might find the setting too alien, while others may become absorbed into it.

Despite those few flaws, this is still a 5-star book in my view. Great for parents and children, and a great inspiration for outdoor adventures.

Note: This book makes references to an imaginary character, "Peter Duck," who was the subject of a sort of collective fairy tale that the group made up over the winter holiday. That story is told in the next book in the series, PETER DUCK.

One year after the events of "Swallows and Amazons," the four Walkers return to the Lake to spend the summer holidays, looking forward to more thrilling adventures with the Blackett sisters and their uncle, Captain Flint. To their dismay, they discover that the Blacketts' Great-Aunt--a strait-laced and somewhat tyrannical person who brought their mother and uncle up--is staying at Beckfoot and badly cramping the two pirates' style. And then the Walkers' boat "Swallow" is wrecked on the far side of the lake, forcing them to find a new camp. In dealing with these challenges the six show their mettle once again--and even manage to get away for an overnight climb of Kanchenjunga, as they christen the tallest of the nearby hills. Along the way Roger and Titty get lost when a sea-fog rolls in over the moors, and the outwitting of Great-Aunt Maria furnishes a fair share of suspense. Once again Ransome tells his tale without talking down, seeming to assume a child's viewpoint with an ease matched by few writers. Another excellent family read-aloud that should be owned by every household even if they don't care for boats or camping.

- Are you a sales person looking to achieve sales success?
- Are you interested in selling to big time, high paying executives?
- Are you afraid to approach a CEO, COO or VP because you feel imitated?
- Are you looking for a step-by-step system to increase your sales by selling to executives?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book is for you! Get it, read it and start applying Sam' system today!

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated &
Founder of www.CoachingWithResults.com

IT solutions are a major change for an organization and impact everyone. CIO's, CFO's, CEO's and other C's initiate, influence and approve these decisions. Take Me To Your Leader$ stepped me through an effective process of establishing useful relationships with these executives. Robert W. Johnson, VP and General Manager, North America Sales

Confidence is what makes salespeople great and Sam's trinity concept is the best method I've seen to get it. Sam explains how to overcome the fear of networking and the fear of asking for critical information to win orders. Greg Stover, VP Sales

Take Me To Your Leader$ is filled with great ideas. Sam's delivery is done in a way that kept my people and me involved and interested. He has a definite flair for presenting sales concepts and my people are a tough group to please, congratulations. Rick Finkbeiner, Senior Vice President

Sam reminded me that getting to the top is not enough to keep us there. Take Me to Your Leader$ shows how to keep these relationships alive and keep us the preferred supplier. Rod Bond, President

Edgar Rice Burroughs was once described as one of the greatest undiscovered great American treasures. I'm not sure about undiscovered, but that he is a treasure is certainly true.

From the very first part of Tarzan of the Apes, the story is presented as entirely plausable. ERB's outdoorsmanship combines well with his historical knowledge.

One of the funniest pictures he paints in the first book is his lurking over a pair of old Boston Scholars in the jungles, keeping them alive by thwarting various hungry critters while they obliviously discuss the fall of the Islamic Calliphate in Iberia circa 1492, and it's effects on the Rainaissance...

ERB's sense of Honour, Duty and Loyalty shine through, and this novel succeeds in teaching the those values, what they mean and why the are important as only one other book I've read (StarshipTroopers, Heinlein).

IMHO, ERB's first two volumes of Tarzan should be required reading.

This book brings Tarzan to life. I enjoyed it and read it many times. Everyone must wonder what it's like to grow up in a jungle and now you can read it. Very cool book.

Writer at BellaOnline

We all know Tarzan the Ape Man...some of us grew up with him...but how many of really know him...really, really know him...in other words,how many of us have ever read the book?

Approaching 60 I read it for the first time, and found it thoroughly delightful. Escapist? Yes! Plausible? No! Escapist Fantasy? Imminently so...

In reading Tarzan of the Apes for the first time, you learn how things really did come to be....and you come to a great appreciation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' ability to create a society within the animal kingdom..The names and personalities of the Apes and other animals. Neat stuff--andthe need to suspend realism here is no greater than it is for parts of Dan Brown's bestseller "Angels and Demons," the part about anti-matter or some such creation...

And Tarzan--what a guy...and did you know he doesn't get the girl (Jane, of course) in the first book? Someone else does...and to be able to teach himself to read and write by studying and lookin g at books..what an IQ!!!

And the best line of all may be when, after all the feelings of adolescence, he finally holds Jane in his arms for the first time..."Without training, he did what any redblooded male would do, he held her in his arms and covered her upturned lips with kisses....."

Didn't know ole Edgar Rice had it in him...didn't know a lot of things until I read the book. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing...In this case, a little knowledge about Tarzan can keep you from reading and enjoying a perfectly delightful escapist fantasy, a good story.

There has been so much ink spilt over ERB and his most popular creation, Tarzan, that there is nothing for me to add. I just want to take this moment to doff my hat to ERB. What an imagination! Opening almost any Burroughs book is like peeking into a box filled with wonders. Yes, the language is difficult to take sometimes, and there are archaisms in scientific and cultural areas that make a modern reader wince, but who wouldn't want to read a book filled with all the action and adventure you could possibly desire! Books where the hero wins the heart of The Most Beautiful Woman on the Planet/Island/Core/Wherever, where by the strength of his sword arm he wins kingdoms and the devotion of other warriors, where pirates and green six-armed martians do battle, where dinosaurs walk, and great apes talk. Of course, I could go on and on. In this increasingly cynical world, it helps to escape to a place called Barsoom and fight rebel Tharks. It helps to think that somewhere, bad guys are trembling because one man carrying nothing but a knife is coming, inexorably, and when he arrives justice will be done. Sigh. I think I will take the rest of the day off and take to the literary trees.

There are certain books and authors that have an inordinate impact on our lives. Often as not, their particular significance to us as individuals extends far beyond that which they would have to anyone else and sometimes, if we return to them at a different point in our own lives, it can be hard to recapture why they should have seemed so momentous in the first place. One of the authors who really turned me into a reader was Edgar Rice Burroughs and I am ecstatic to find that his books are just as terrific in real life as they are in boyhood memories.

I still vividly recall the cover of Tarzan and the Ant Men, a book which I read and reread in around 5th or 6th grade. It was one of those cheesy 50 cent paperbacks (now they would cost you at least $5.99) and it featured the Lord of the Jungle surrounded by spear wielding pygmies, It was just so ripe with the promise of adventure that, to this day, I can not imagine a human being gazing upon its glory and not being consumed by a desire to read the book. And once you read one, you were faced with a plethora of riches. There are 26 Tarzan novels and myriad movies; plus there was an excellent comic book version and a Saturday morning cartoon at that point. Then there were Burroughs's other series, my particular favorites being the Pellucidar books and John Carter, Warlord of Mars. You could practically read nothing but Burroughs and go for years before having to start rereading stuff. But, of course, the great thing about getting a kid hooked on reading is that one author leads to another. Soon I was mowing down Jules Verne books (see review of Around the World in Eighty Days) and the adventures of Doc Savage, The Avenger, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, etc., not to mention Tolkein and C.S. Lewis (see review of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe).

So imagine my pleasure when I found this old Ballantine Books paperback of Tarzan of the Apes, with a cover by Neal Adams showing an enraged Tarzan racing towards a screeching great ape who is grasping a seductively disheveled Jane by her flowing blonde locks. It's amazing, you haven't read a word yet and already your pulse is racing. Then open the book and, wonder of wonders, it's every bit as thrilling and wonderful as I remembered it. Shipwrecks, mutinies, buried treasure, lion attacks, hostile tribesmen, and most of all the ape pack and the herculean efforts of one lost little boy to survive in the forbidding wilds of Africa--what more could a reader want in a book?

Tarzan is one of a small group of fictional characters--the others being Frankenstein, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes--created in the last 200 years who have acquired lives of their own, far outlasting their creators to be constantly reprised and reimagined. If we examine this quartet, they are united by one central theme; each represents man's desire to in some way control nature. Frankenstein is, of course, an expression of our aspiration towards godhood (see Orrin's review), the dream of creating life. Dracula expresses the desire to escape death and achieve immortality. Holmes embodies our hope that pure reason will yield the solutions to life's mysteries. And Tarzan, in all his Darwinian glory, is an assertion of the inevitability that it would be man who rose to the top of the evolutionary totem pole. Each, thus, strikes a chord deep in our being. But what makes them transcendent and fascinating, generation after generation, is the element of uncertainty that each contains. Frankenstein is obviously an experiment run amok. Dracula's immortality comes at an unbearable price. Holmes's hyper-rational mind requires the stimulation of drugs to battle boredom. And Tarzan is trapped uneasily between the civilized and the savage worlds. In this context he implicates two issues, one obvious--man's control over nature, the other less so--the effect of civilization on mankind.

As to the first issue, I was pleasantly surprised at the recent Disney version of Tarzan. In light of films like Pocahontas and Lion King, I just expected it to be politically correct pabulum. That implicit message of Tarzan--that man naturally and rightfully rules nature, disposing of its bounty at his will--is so anathema to the environmentalist hegemony of our times that you sort of had to assume that Disney would eviscerate the story. They did alter it substantially, particularly by not having Tarzan fight Kerchak to become leader of the ape pack, but they left enough of the basic tale intact to satisfy all but the most fanatic ERBites. And, at the end of the day, you can argue about the propriety of man controlling the environment and exploiting nature, but it is pretty hard to argue against the power of Burrough's metaphorical image of the youthful human Tarzan becoming the Lord of the Jungle. Simply taken as a cultural symbol, Tarzan is fascinating, a modern myth comparable to any ancient one.

On the second issue, Tarzan's unique upbringing and his very role as the hero of these books along with the helplessness displayed by "civilized" whites when they enter the jungle, raises the question of whether civilization is simply a veneer which we could drop if necessary (as London implies in Call of the Wild [see review] and The Sea Wolf [see review]) or whether civilization strips away something primal and valuable in our natures. In a famous essay on the Tarzan books, Gore Vidal asserts that:

a good many people find their lives so unsatisfactory that they go right on year after year telling themselves stories in which they are able to dominate their environment in a way that is not possible in this overorganized society

His snitty point is about domination and what losers the readers of these books must be (of course, he more than likely spent his closeted youth reading Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and look how he turned out), but it is the "overorganized society" part of this comment that is the most interesting, obliquely pointing out the subtext of the weakening influence of modern society on mankind. If we accept Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest--which we will for the sake of this discussion--then what happens when the threats to our survival are removed, or at the very least reduced? Tarzan suggests the possibility that the pressures of the fight for survival forge a stronger man than the advances of modern civilization can hope to compete with.

It is with this perspective that we can perceive the irony that Tarzan--the son of an English Lord, raised in Africa--is the quintessential American hero. Embodying the elements of rugged individualism and self-reliance, he is an archetype in the tradition of Natty Bumpo. It is no surprise then that this series of books is probably the most successful and popular in all of American Literature.

But enough analysis. The important thing about these books is that they are genuinely exciting and are enormous fun to read.

GRADE: A+

How can anyone not love Amelia Bedelia? The entire series is great and kids love the humor involved.

One day, while Amelia Bedelia, the housekeeper who literally takes everything literally, was cleaning, the phone rang. It was Mrs. Rogers, calling from the airport. She was supposed to meet the new teacher, but the plane was late. To further complicate matters the phone was out at the school. Mrs. Rogers wants Amelia to go by the school and tell them the teacher will not be there today. Amelia attempts to do just that, but the principal mistakes her for the new teacher and that's when all the fun starts. Amelia Bedelia teaching a classroom full of children, imagine that. Well, my almost three-year-old son Devon and I imagine it all the time.

Devon already knows his letters, upper and lower case. He knows they make words and he loves to sit while I read Amelia Bedelia stories to him. We've been doing it for over a year now. At first I made up the story line as his didn't have the attention span or the ability to understand. Now I've started reading, pointing to the words as I go along. Ms. Parish has written an excellent series for children and in this one, Lynn Sweat's illustrations set off Amelia's tales to a tee. If you want your toddler to read early, and I do, then this is a series for you.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

One day, while Amelia Bedelia, the housekeeper who literally takes everything literally, was cleaning, the phone rang. It was Mrs. Rogers, calling from the airport. She was supposed to meet the new teacher, but the plane was late. To further complicate matters the phone was out at the school. Mrs. Rogers wants Amelia to go by the school and tell them the teacher will not be there today. Amelia attempts to do just that, but the principal mistakes her for the new teacher and that's when all the fun starts. Amelia Bedelia teaching a classroom full of children, imagine that. Well, my almost three-year-old son Devon and I imagine it all the time.

Devon already knows his letters, upper and lower case. He knows they make words and he loves to sit while I read Amelia Bedelia stories to him. We've been doing it for over a year now. At first I made up the story line as his didn't have the attention span or the ability to understand. Now I've started reading, pointing to the words as I go along. Ms. Parish has written an excellent series for children and in this one, Lynn Sweat's illustrations set off Amelia's tales to a tee. If you want your toddler to read early, and I do, then this is a series for you.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

Amazing news! Amelia Bedelia has been mistaken as the new classroom teacher, and you just know she will take her duties very seriously. Look out! Amelia will follow every direction to the letter, and amaze every student with her interpretation of schoolwork.

There are lots of laughs here for young readers!

Recommended!

amelia bedelia is teaching a classroom but she does everything wrong but in such a funny way! Calling the roll, practicing a "play", "painting" pictures, planting "bulbs" and literally doing math problems with apples has never been funnier than in this book! Read it and you'll see why