Ivy League Books

'Looking Beyond the...' by Loren Pope, should be essential reading for the college bound student and parent. I agree with Mr. Pope in that the college experience represents an important period of personal development; not to be taken lightly. And because it (college) represents such a significant time for parents and students, finding the right fit is essential. While it may not be the best college guide available, 'Looking Beyond the...,' is a great place to start looking for and investigating what may be the single most important choice of your child's life and future.

Mr. Pope does not seem to like Ivy League colleges. But in the world of business, politics and finance; today and many years from now, people will continue to love Ivy League education. What is the purpose of college education? It is not just "true education" and personal growth etc. (which most Ivy Leagues do deliver). But beyond that, they allow your kids to build a worldwide network of influential people and leaders in many fields of human endeaveour. You get to meet and learn of leaders who are re-shaping today's world and thinkers who plan for tomorrow. I met and listened to more than one Nobel Laureates, and at least one influenced my thinking in economics/finance for the rest of my life (even though I am a computer science graduate).

Guess who started Amgen, Cisco, Sun Micro, Genentech, Yahoo, Google, and countless other non-tech and tech companies that revolutionized how we live and play? And Who funded them? Check their resumes, please. Although one can argue that no education is really needed to build a billion dollar business or change world politics, statistically speaking, Ivy League graduates have the most contributions towards such efforts. And this is a fact.

What do you want your child to become ten or twenty years from now? Your child's goals change with time. Interests change with time. But the Ivy League name stays on your child's resume forever. And the network your child will build at Harvard/Stanford/Princeton/Yale is well, pricelss!
You decide.

When I was a parent of a senior, I became engulfed with the gossip and happenings of college admissions. It really became a chronic habit to ask others about their child's latest quests. And, when I investigated, I started with this book - start with the best.

There are many other good books with clever names. But after reading most of those, I would always return to this book.

I may know more than the average person about the topic. I had applied to schools at various levels. My siblings had too. We had attended good to great schools. And, our father was a professor at two major universities -- those with ivy on their walls.

When I read this book, a bulb lit. That epiphany reminded me of that one clear day in my childhood when I thought my father was not nearly as dumb as my teenage attitude knew him to be, and I had the nerve to ask him, "Dad, where are the best students for your graduate studies coming from -- name the schools." He immediately spat out many of the small ivies in the northeast. I did not want that as mother would be too close. Then he said these strange words, "Grinnell, MacAllister, Carleton, U Chicago, Pomona, Pitzer, Occidental . . ." Loren Pope would agree - one hundred percent.

I then knew dear old dad was not so dumb after all. And, neither was Loren Pope when he delivered this grand endorsement of the liberal arts education.

This book tells you why small liberal arts schools are not second fiddle to the larger and better known universities. The well known liberal arts schools are pearls. They are where Ph.D.'s go to teach. And the students, through that amazing nuturing process, mature to become much better minds than when they walked their first steps on the campus grounds. They are truly "learning institutions."

Liberal arts schools epitomize the concept of higher education. And, many have become so beloved by their alumni that tuitions are not as forbidding as they may have been in the years of sweater-clad coed and bobby socks.. Many of the schools loved by Pope are so well endowed that they are "need blind" with their admissions. Perfect admissions concepts at what are deemed nearly perfect learning environments.

His simple advice -- the ivies (for undergraduate) are overrated and liberal arts schools are either underrated (those we know about) or HIGHLY underrated (those we know little if nothing about).

Chock full of statistics and years of experience, Pope basically created a new image for many liberal arts schools. He is the Don for arguing the merits to liberal arts education. He unfortunately died recently, and should probably have a scholarship named after him at most of the liberal arts schools in America. He is the progenitor of liberal arts educational superiority. His written beliefs were contrarian to the ivy state. He was the original. This book was the original's original publication of these beliefs. This is the bible of why liberal arts education is one of America's greatest resources.

Loren Pope's Looking Beyond the Ivy League debunks dozens of myths about college selection and admissions, arguing against common views informed by intuition and old wives tales and encouraging families to be open to a new perspective on what constitutes a good college.

According to Pope, the colleges with the most competitive admissions standards or biggest names aren't always the best. Reed and St. John's, for instance, feature engaging intellectual environments but have admissions rates multiple times higher than at many Ivies. Smaller schools across the U.S. cultivate closer professor-student interaction than is feasible at larger universities, helping students grow and often gain an edge in graduate school admissions. Many schools "in the middle" of the U.S. are undervalued because many students don't deign to examine the region's options.

Pope encourages extensive reflection. He suggests self-examination among students, with chapters dedicated to helping them consider what they want to get from a college and whether a gap year might be advisable. Pope also queries, "Do [families] do some probing consumer research? Do they ask for performance data? Do they sample and test the merchandise? No." Arguing against this sad trend, he advises students to critically "test the merchandise." He suggests reading up on statistics (commuter students, graduate study admissions rates, etc.), poring over the requirements, asking tough questions, visiting campus, attending classes, interviewing students, eating the food, checking out the facilities, and staying over. He justifies the time it takes by citing the high cost of attendance and high rate of transferring and dropping out.

Throughout the book, Pope supports his claims about what makes a good college by drawing on evidence from varies sources: statistics on graduate school admissions, profiles of people in "Who's Who," economic research documenting the change in employment criteria from degrees to capabilities, and so on.

After a thorough drilling on how to be an informed college consumer, Pope offers favorite college picks in categories such as "for the self-sufficient self-starter" and "for late bloomers or those who need help." He also offers additional insight on relevant topics such as financial aid and selecting a counselor.

My son is in high school and is beginning to look at colleges. He is an above-average but not exceptional student -- takes challenging courses (AP, intensified, etc.) but has around a 3.3 GPA unweighted. I myself was mesmerized by "selective" colleges when I was a college shopper 25 years ago, especially if they had gorgeous, traditional campuses. The more steeped in tradition, the better! One main difference between my son and me, though, is that I was a super motivated student who was a good match for this type of college. My son is not motivated by the same types of things as I was, and although he wants to go to college, he is not motivated by prestige like I was, and he just wants to go somewhere where he can contribute and discuss ideas. Of course, he wants to work toward something that will help him get a job, but above all else, he wants to grow from the experience. He simply does not have the grades to get into the top tier private or state schools (in our state, UVA and W&M), and I'm not about to stress him out by pushing him to be someone he's not and aspire to those level of colleges. That would be setting him up for failure. For this type of student, who I believe is like the majority of students, I think Mr. Pope's book is a breath of fresh air. I would have given it a five-star rating but for his unfounded generalizations about top tier schools (more on that later).
I think what Mr. Pope is trying to show in his books (and they have recently been updated -- so those of you grumbling about the out-of-date information can cease to whine now...) is that there are plenty of options out there BESIDES the name brand, top tier schools that can inspire and educate the middle range of students very well and in some cases just as well as or better than the Ivies. Many of the middle range or "B" students are thoughtful, interesting people who WILL contribute to their colleges and to making an interesting student body. The smartest 5 - 10 per cent of high school students don't have a monopoly on being interesting and involved students, contrary to what many in our high-powered, competitive area (Wash D.C. suburbs) may think. I think Mr. Pope does an excellent job of explaining what small colleges have to offer and why they would be a superior choice for many students.
Where I believe he falls down a bit is in making blanket statements about some other (usually competitive and/or Ivies) colleges/universities that simply are unfounded. For example, at one point he says that Emory and Henry College in Virginia does a far superior job than William & Mary (W&M), UVA, and Washington-Lee at producing graduates who make a difference in their world. How can he make a comment like that unless he knows each an every person who graduates from those schools? W&M and UVA both have some of the highest Peace Corps participation rates among their graduates of any colleges/universities in the country. Greedy, grade-grubbing, self-serving people usually don't serve in the Peace Corps. Both colleges also have a large number of Truman, Rhodes, Fulbright and other special scholars; and their graduates are quite often civically involved in my community in large numbers. I think Mr. Pope's information about these small colleges is useful, and my son may very well choose one of these schools. But, please, Mr. Pope, your book will have much more credence and sway if you take a positive approach and not slander the "competitive" schools with hollow rhetoric you cannot back up with fact. Sure there are nerdy loosers who graduated from the Ivies and their "clones," but so there are from any college. Generalizations are always dangerous, because they are rarely true across the board.
You can continue in future editions to build up these lovely small colleges without cutting down the large state schools and/or the top tier ones. They are gems, as you say, but please don't belittle more well known schools in illustrating your point.

There was very little that was useful or interesting in this book. It doesn't offer any new information or insights that aren't already shared in other similar books, and it isn't helpful in guiding one when applying to selective colleges.

brilliant guy, great advice

One of the best book in the market if you want to know about college admission. By the way, you dont have to buy pizza instead of this book!

I actually haven't read this book but I can't help notice that the picture on the front is of the University of Montana campus. As a Brown student from Montana, it makes me think I should have just stayed at home!

This book is an asset to any student applying to "most selective" schools because it gives detailed and candid information about what Ivy League colleges are looking for.

Although the basic message here is unsurprising (like another reviewer says, it boils down to "be the best"), a lot of the details are helpful. For instance, it addresses a few perennial questions like "B in an AP class or A in a regular class?" and "Is depth or breadth more important when it comes to extracurriculars?" The specifics will be helpful to anyone who is already basically familiar with the Ivy League admissions process. More importantly, the book represents a real-life inside perspective on the Ivies.

At the same time, it's not a very well-written book. No grammatical errors, but it's quite wordy, full of weak verbs and obvious introductory remarks. This sounds like a minor problem, but it makes the book much harder to slog through than Michele Hernandez' books (A is for Admission and Acing the College Application), which are just as informative, much better written, and in general a better place to start.

If you are applying to Ivies and do not have an excellent college counselor, and you have already read Hernandez' books, I recommend this book as a highly informative inside perspective.

I do have to admit that some of the themes are getting a little played. I did expect Dante and Nikki to be a bit further along and over some of the sophomoric sexual tension, and the "passing" thing is well...enough already. In any case, I still enjoyed it (funny, action mystery, the comedy of the characters in academe all great) and I am looking forward to the next one!

It took me a while to get through this book. I kept losing interest and I would just set the book down and pick it up a few days later to continue reading it. So Professor Nikki Chase becomes involved in a 3rd murder mystery. How believable is that? Why not introduce new main characters into the Ivy League Series who solve mysteries? And why does it always have to be murder? Anyway, this "mystery" was too easy to solve. Nikki was always either at the right place at the right time or she would ask suspects numerous questions and they would give her the answers she wanted without any suspicion as to why she was concerned. Nikki's relationship with Dante Rosario is getting old and stale and I see no point in their relationship. I predict the 4th book in this series will be titled "Brown Bomber" and Nikki will again be involved in a 4th murder investigation at Brown University.

I liked this book, but there was something missing in comparison to the other two in this series. Nikki Chase, the lead character, is a professor at Harvard who keeps finding herself in the middle of murder investigations. The first two books in this series made it totally believable that this could happen to her, but by the time you get to the third book and she's involved in another murder mystery, you almost want to roll your eyes. Why does this keep happening to her?

At any rate, I like the characters and some of the book is extremely funny, but I also got sick of how the plot sort of just dragged along. And there were obvious potential clues that she didn't pursue and this was frustrating. Some things she just let slide by. So in a nutshell, this is a good mystery that went unsolved for too long.

I am an avid reader of mystery novels, I love them so I know a good read, when I read it, I am a die-hard fan of Judith Smith-Levin, now that's a mystery writer, and many other African-American mystery writers as well, so after I read all three of your books Ms. Thomas-Graham, in my opinion, I did not find your books an enjoyable read, I lost interest quickly. I became bored with the mystery solving as well as the romance part of the book.

I love mystery books, and I especially love mysteries written by black authors, with black protagonists. I've read everything from Walter Mosely's Easy Rawlins to Valerie Wilson Wesley's Tamara Hayle to Barbara Neely's sleuthing domestic Blanche. I also like to welcome new black writers to the mystery genre, such as Ian Smith (The Blackbird Papers). It was in that spirit I read A Darker Shade of Crimson, the first mystery featuring Pamela Thomas Graham's Harvard professor Nikki Chase. I enjoyed this first effort and thought the Ivy League theme had a lot of promise. While I've yet to read Graham's second installment of the series, Blue Blood, I bought the third book, Orange Crushed, with high expectations. I finished the book this morning, and I have to say I was disappointed. Chase never actually solves the mystery at all. Instead, the rest of the book's characters (including a plethora of minor ones) basically hand her the answers, piece by piece. There is a difference between solving a puzzle and filling in all the boxes correctly because other people gave you the answers. Chase does a lot of guessing, speculating and wondering, but she figures absolutely nothing out for herself. As a result, she comes off as bright and involved, but not particularly perceptive, and hardly worthy of the sleuth designation. Since a double-Harvard, ex-Wall Street executive can hardly be expected to have formal training as a criminal investigator, it is crucial that Chase exhibit some natural talent for deductive reasoning, attention to detail, reading people and problem solving. Yet she spent nearly all of the book having literally no clue of what was really going on around her, even with her own baby brother. Read Neely's Blanche series for a more believable "accidental" detective. Also, there are a number of mistakes that pierce the veil of reality every good book creates. For example, there is a reference to the Houston Oilers in a book ostensibly set in the present, i.e. 2004. The NFL's Houston Oilers ceased to be nearly a decade ago (they are now the Tennessee Titans). Again, I think the murder-in-the- Ivy-League premise brims with promise. However, Orange Crushed falls far short of fulfillment of that potential.

so they get busted and pat's supposedly gone by that time - then they're sitting in jail, thinking they should give the cops pat's name and address. then, later on in jail, pat is now there - tied up with the whole crew! what's the deal? other than that, a good read

I have yet to understand why book making is illegal in most states. Gambling is everywhere now. I happen to live in Iowa and am currently surrounded by no less than four casinos. Wall Street itself has become nothing if not Las Vegas East in how it conducts it's business. So why is book making still illegal? Peter Alson doesn't attempt to answer these questions, though I couldn't help but think about them as I was reading his book. I had hoped to get the juicy underworld stories of mob boys in $500 track suits sending out some thug to break the leg of a dead beat, but that's not what happened. I also thought it might be about some numbers genius at Princeton who ran a book making operation out of his dorm room; no, nothing like that either. Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie: A True Tale of Love and the Vig is surprisingly uneventful.

Peter Alson writes of his own experience as an ex-ivy league college student who then in his 30's was unable to find a job or maintain a solid relationship. In an act of desperation and/or curiosity he ends up working for a bookie. The job takes some training but Peter is soon up and running, however any signs of mob glamour or big money are hard to see. As the lowest guy on the totem pole, Peter makes relativity little at first, to get more money he has to bring in new clients. If one of Peter's clients can't pay, it's Pete who has to cover for them. All the while Pete, his fellow co-workers, and his bosses constantly flirt with paranoia, "Are the cops on to us?" "Are we stepping on some gangs toes for operating out of their territory?". In other words, like most crime in this country, it's surprisingly dull with moments of sheer panic.

That's not so say that Alson's read is slow, in fact it's quite fluid. He captures a world that flirts with high end crime and is built on massive deception. Alson never finds out if he works for the mob or not and we get the impression that not even his bosses know all the details. Such insights, all be it slightly confusing, are refreshing. His writing style is broken into dozens of brief chapters that showcase a sort of daily diary feel. It makes the book quick to read and doesn't allow the author to linger too long on an idea or event. However I found little interest in his love life which ends up being a good portion of the book. I felt that this story line, though it showed great insight in the author personal world, didn't have the payoff in the end to justify the many chapters devoted to it.

I felt like I was growing up with Peter as he faced the consequences of his decisions. Looking forward to his next one.

I really liked this book! I thought it was a refreshing and entertaining look at how are lives don't always end up as we had planned. There are some unresolved issues, but perhaps that makes the book all the more realistic. A movie version of this book would do very well.

Despite the subtitle ("A True Tale of Love and the Vig") I was plagued throughout my reading of this semi-confession of a former Ivy-leaguer's plummet into the world of bookmaking by a certain dubiousness. Alson's story is written in a kind of flippantly open manner that undermines the believability of his insider's story. Don't get me wrong, it's very entertaining and all, but his coyness about just how "connected" the small-time operation he was a part of was came across as rather disingenuous to me. While his confusion and despair about figuring out what he should be doing with his overeducated self hit the right notes, the subplot of the long distance sort of relationship was often more annoying than interesting. Still, not a bad little peek into bookmaking.

This e-book delivers exactly what it promises in an organized, no-nonsense manner. Great essays. Great organization. Great value.

Before I bought this e-book, I stared at a blank piece of paper for days. I didn't have a clue how to write a really good personal statement. This e-book changed everything. It has 100 essays divided into 25 different categories. Just about every possible topic is covered. After reading statements by applicants who were a lot like me, I got better perspective of what I wanted to say. In the end, it helped me to write a better statement than I could ever have done without seeing so many well written examples. This was the best investment I could have made. I highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling to write a really good first draft.

Anyone who knows Dr. Nolan knows that she is the real deal: a Ph.D. scientist with years of admissions experience. I not only know her work from reading this publication, but from working with her as an editor. She is the absolute best.

This publication is by far the most impressive collection of ACTUAL personal statements that I've ever seen. I cannot imagine how it could not be of assistance to someone who is looking for assistance in writing one.

This collection puts all the others to shame. It really helped me to brainstorm a few ideas for my statement. I recommend it highly for anyone who wants to see examples of really terrific essays.

Poor quality essays yet this is too funny to be true, the author has no medical education and no medical school experience. Her self incorporated company also sells astrology charts at oseonline.
One of her books selling on Amazon is titled "A Common Sense Entrepreneurial Guide: How to Open & Run a Successful Consignment Shop". My advice, please do not profit from poor pre med students.

While there are many who feel it's not football if its not played indoors and for millions of dollars, I am inclined to prefer college football, particulary the Ivy League. The history of college football is the history of the Ivy League schools, and it is a riveting and fascinating history. Too bad that this book is so poorly written that it hard to find. It has its moments when you get lost in the history you're reading, but then you're awoken sharply by a mistake - no, not a factual mistake (although it has some of those) but simply a gramatical mistake, or a spelling mistake, or a word where it shouldn't be, or a word missing. Normally I wouldn't care, but the frequency with which I was annoyed by these mistakes was too much to overcome. The material is good, but the author and publisher bring it down.

This could well have been not only the definitive history of the Ivy League, but also one of the seminal works on the subject of football. The history of football by necessity goes through the Ivy League and the intrigues among Princeton, Harvard and Yale were to affect the college game for years and decades to come.

The Ivies have always been an enigma, an asterisk on the history of college football. Once boasting the most dominant teams in the country, the Ivies haven't boasted a national champion since Cornell in 1939. Finally, they were demoted by the NCAA to its Division I-AA in the late 70s. There would be no more national glory, and football became just another thing to do in the autumn, instead of being an obsession, which it is at Division 1-A colleges.

Bernstein does an excellent job of narrating the history of the Ivies. Every school is included, and there are loads of anecdotal sidelights that will delight the reader. The book is also thoroughly researched and is marked by a lively style not often found in university press publications.

Then why do I say that this could have been the definitive history of the Ivy League? One word: editing. One would naturally take for granted that a book from a university press would be well-edited, and a book from a press of the University of Pennsylvania being such should be a no-brainer. But the book is spoiled by numerous errors, errors that could have been caught by an editor's sharp eye. Other reviewers have pointed out some of the more outrageous errors as pertains to football, but I give you the most egregious of all:

"In many ways, the teens were a decade of Ivy prominence. Both presidential elections were all-Ivy affairs: Theodore Roosevelt defeated Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft in 1912, and Wilson beat Charles Evans Hughes in 1916." (p. 95)

HOW'S THAT AGAIN? ROOSEVELT DEFEATED WILSON IN 1912?? This will come as some news to American Historians. Obviously, history is not a core curriculum course of the University of Pennsylvania these days. I don't blame the author (though he should know better, being a graduate of Princeton), I blame the editors. They're the ones who are supposed to catch these mistakes. I admit that a mistake concerning football history can slip by, but this is a basic fact of American history that slipped right past. Shame on the editors.

Nonetheless, I do recommend the book for its strengths and its well-written narrative and lively style. Perhaps the mistakes can be corrected for the paperback edition.

Mark F. Bernstein's history of Ivy League football is generally interesting, though it doesn't offer a lot of new material. The bibliography is fascinating. Most problematic however, is the proliferation of mistakes, sometimes self-corrected later. A good editor should have caught these. Consider the following:

1) On page 199, Mr. Bernstein implies that Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Cornell dropped Pennsylvania from their schedules in 1951 and 1952. In fact, Pennsylvania played all of these teams in both of those seasons and the author even refers to the 1951 Princeton-Penn contest on page 209.

2) On page 257, the author writes that "(Penn coach Jerry) Berndt continued to win, claiming a share of still another Ivy title in 1988, with Cornell....". However, this is not correct as Berndt left Pennsylvania after the 1985 season, which the author correctly indicates on page 258.

3) On page 242, and again on page 280, Penn receiving legend Don Clune, is referred to as Don McClune.

4) There is no mention of Frank Riepl's miracle kickoff return for Pennsylvania against Notre Dame in 1955, Coach Ron Rogerson of Princeton's untimely death in 1986, Brown is continually called the "Bears" when their nickname was the "Bruins" until recently, and I swear, somewhere in the book Bob Blackman is called Bob Blackmun.

All in all, it's a good book with a decent balance of coverage of each of the eight teams, though Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Penn get by far the most attention. The beginning takes a bit to get through as well and of course, please check the facts, ma'am.

Even though I have not yet finished reading this excellent book on football and the Ivy League, I already have enough tidbits to keep up a lively conversation at holiday cocktail parties. Before the end of the first chapter, I found out that there really is no Ivy League. And who could resist dropping on their friends from Cornell the fact that one of their college presidents refused to let "thirty men travel 400 miles to agitate a bag of wind". The tales are intriguing, and Bernstein's writing is engaging. If you have an Ivy League graduate or any other football fan on your gift list, this would be a great choice.

Mark Bernstein's terrific new book shows that the Ivy League invented and struggled with the same problems, and the same glories that permeate college football today.
His is a story of the game: the players, coaches, fans, institutions, that shaped everything about football from its rules to the way it is televised.
He shows how football's founding fathers had the same arguments, debates, and trash-talking disputes that coaches have today.
Anyone who thinks cheating or hooliganism or sportsmanship or glory are any different now than they ever have been, should read this wonderful and entertaining account.

From a Princeton football star who died a Fitzgerald-esque figure and mercenary soldier of fortune, to a princeton football star who then attended 450-some straight Princeton games, the people who skirmished are here. From the rules changes that ended almost a decade of 0-0 ties (in some years, teams would win a few games, tie the rest and win the title) to the rules changes that allowed the forward pass, to the rules changes that knocked the Ivies out of major college football, it is all here.

Beautifully worded, with glistening anecdotes and a sweeping overview, football's pageant it is all here.

And it is wonderful.

First, this is a great collection of essays. They are all on topic and well written. But, I have to admit to being somewhat overwhelmed by all of the material.

I am applying to eight schools, which ask some, but not all, of these questions. As a result, some of the essays were of interest to me, while others were not. By reading all of them, I got a fairly good idea of what the schools expect. I also got to size up my competition.

I recommend this book as a guide, if you have the time and energy to sift through 180 essays. In my case, it was worth it.

A severe caution before buying this collection: it is not helpful. There is no critique of any of the 180 essays contained in this volume. It is siimply a cut and paste job with the essays dropped in and many of the essays are poorly written. Further, the author's overview/analysis of the business school application process is flawed. Bottom line is that this collection is not worth the money.

I bought this because I needed examples of essays for more than twenty different B-school questions. I got them in spades. This publication REALLY delivers on its promise - essay after essay after essay. Thanks!

With twenty different essays to write for six different schools, I needed a collection that covered every possible topic and approach. This one delivered far more than I expected. I can't recommend it highly enough.

If you are like most MBA applicants, you'll probably have to prepare a draft recommendation letter for yourself. Not many supervisors/managers can find time to write detailed recos.

You need to see at least one recommendation letter to understand what does it actually mean. I couldn't find a single free sample reco letter on net that I could use and as far as books on this subject are concerned, this is the only one. So, you don't have much of a choice here.

But the good thing is in spite of being the only book about reco letters; this book is actually quite good. 30 sample letters will give you enough material to prepare detailed recos. Moreover, it's available as PDF, so you are spared the headaches of shipping and all that too.

The only reason I didn't give a 5 star to this book is because I couldn't find another book to compare it with. I'm sure the book could be improved further but even in its current version, it's of great value.

Not even half way through the book I was sighing as I flipped through the endless pages. I personally found the author's attempts at humor to be...dry. I was not amused by the mention of the "rat bastard boyfriend" as it seemed she thought the phrase to be cute and creative because it was used so much.

It seemed to me that the author wrote this book not to recall personal experiences, but to write whatever it is she thinks an audience would enjoy reading. Not to mention descriptive words and cliche phrases were tacked on to the storyline that made me roll my eyes up and away from the pages.

I even started to wonder if the author is really a woman.
I also couldn't get the feel that I was really there with the character at all. The storyline felt rushed like the author suffered from writer's block and just jotted down what she thought would be interesting as she neared a deadline.

I expected an explanation of street lingo or at the least an understanding of the "game" to be portrayed in the book. Years of working as a callgirl should have taught her some street smarts even in a "classy" environment.
I must mention that the character, to me, seemed naive. That makes it hard for me to believe she made it as an escort.
Judging from what I read, I got the feeling that she has/had low self esteem. The attempt to make herself look classy was misguided.
There is no set rate for escorting that I've heard of. So the 200 (not including a cut) per hr for full service doesn't seem very "classy". Street hookers have been reported to make more than that.

I can see her being a phone sex worker, yes. At best, she may have escorted for a night, even a week, but certainly not for years.

I don't normally read memoirs so admittedly I was taken in by the age old taboo aspects of its sexuality.I found it to be Mind blowing, artistically candid, eye opening and warmly hearted insightful. It not only humanised the call girl in the red light profession but it also humanised their clientelle. We must not forget as a society before we jump on a moral bandwagon that this is a supply-demand sided social equation. Unfortunately, its only the women that get left with indelible stain on their conscience and honour.
A riveting, thought provoking...page-turning insight into the mentality, economics, morality and spirituality of sexuality's dark and deep secret life. Loved it....warm, funny and at times...chillingly scary and dramatic.

When I perused this book in the library, I checked it out but didn't have high expectations. The format in which the book is written is a little bizarre (like an ongoing letter with chapters beginning and ending on the same page). Also, when telling a story she recalls too many details that simply aren't believable (what she was wearing, thinking, listening to on the radio). Anyhow, the stories of Jeanette's clients make the book interesting and keep you highly entertained. What she could have omitted were the frequent rants to justify why she was a prostitute. These continuously seem to pop up out of nowhere like she's trying to convince us that this lifestyle is moral and should be accepted. Also, she could've left out the all the information about the classes she taught. I believe anyone truly interested in this book just wants the juicy details and that's what she should have given us.

Finally. A book written by someone in the sex industry who is intelligent, articulate, possesses the ability to self-reflect, can admit to her own humanity (even though she is intelligent, she reveals her flaws in many of her decisions, and is conscious of said flaws), etc.

The book flows. It satiates the reader's curiosity about the ups and downs of her job, along with the anomalies involved in her encounters with her clients. It includes her own reflections on her actions, while at the same time not trying to obscure any of what happened in attempts to make herself seem impervious. It concludes subjects, but opens up other questions about how we might perceive the sex industry. It DIRECTLY talks about the fact that her interaction with the industry (mostly positive) is VERY different than most peoples' interactions with it.

I cannot thank this book enough for providing the public with an example of someone who entered the industry out of curiosity (and a vague need for money), participated in sex work (both its ups and downs), and was able to leave the industry later, feeling fulfilled and not regretful. Thank you, thank you, thank you! There are intelligent women (and, yes, sometimes men) out there who are able to successfully maintain this double lifestyle at no detriment to their futures. This is a perfect (and entertaining) example of such an individual.

Buy the book expecting to get your typical descriptions of sexual encounters, intelligent self-reflection/mental dissection, and engaging, poignant literary style. Grammar is perfect, and literary allusions proliferate! I could not put it down, and I never even got the impression that I was reading a 'dirty, hide-in-the-magazine' porno book. Perfect. Enjoy!

Believability Problem

I can't exactly pin down what was wrong with this book. Perhaps, it was too many things to pick just one. The story overall had a serious lacking in the believability department. It read in large part like Penthouse Stories. Since the Author is a Professor I was expecting her to be able to incorporate her experiences as a sex worker and contextualize them historically and within the context of modern society.

I loved (sarcasm) the added myth that you just have to ask a cop if he/she is a cop and they must tell you the truth or you cannot be arrested. The wise Madame Peach with Lawyers on her client list is not aware of this and our Professor was also in the dark.

(Snopes "Are you a Cop?)

Also she had no grasp as an Anthropology Major of the basics of Chinese Society and had to ask her friend Henry for insight for her dear friend?

I guess in the end it read to me not as the authors personal experience but her imagination of what it would be like to work in the sex industry. She proclaims to be bisexual but details heterosexual sex in some detail in the book but nary a word on her bisexual encounters.

*Spoiler* The ending seemed rather tidy as well. Her and her madame happily married and living the suburban lifestyle.

I read some of the previous reviews and while I can agree that there are some issues--Nikki's point at Yale is somewhat confused and the thing with Dante seems ambiguous and at points frustratingly random, but it was still a good read. Entertaining, funny, and I thought the descriptions about race were spot on.

After reading the first Ivy League mystery,(A Darker Shade of Crimson), I was disappointed, but I decided I would give the second book Blue Blood a shot, I am wondering to myself why did you put yourself through this torture of another boring book. I very quickly became bored with the book, and for what was going on with Nikki and Dante' in the first book the way it ended who would have thought thet that their relationship could get even more boring, for these two people there was no romance to speak of a kiss was almost mention, but that's it. So to bring Dante back into Nikki's life after an eight year absence, Pamela Griffin-Thomas could have left him out all together as much romance that was not between them, Nikki should have just stay without someone.

I saw this on my list of recommendations and started w/the first one - A Darker Shade of Crimson. Honestly - I'm glad I did. THAT ONE WAS GOOD...a real page turner...a quick read. This one was a little lower on the scale and currently I'm reading "Orange Crushed"...set in (you guessed it) Princeton U. While I appreciate the Black heroine .... I'm not sure if this is going to be a long term series at all I.L. colleges. I mean - realistically ... how many excuses can PTG use to get Nikki to those campuses?

In her first book a Darker Shade of Crimson there was some sense in the story because Nikki Chase was operating in her home environment. This book deals with a murder at Yale of a righr wing law professor. It is hard to understand why Nikki even was around. It also missed the interesting characters from the earlier effort. Nikki's boyfriend Dante is really hard to understand. He appears for no reason

All in all a book that is very hard to believe and is disappointing.

Nancy Drew meets Quasimodo! Proceed at your own risk if you are over 12 years old or have an IQ over 80. Unless you are stuck at the Mexico City airport like I was and can't find anything else on the shelf. An author with her credentials should know better.