Average customer rating:
- I have no idea what "Virgin" is all about,
- Another Winner....
- A.S. Byatt does it once again!
- A letdown
- brutal going
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The Virgin in the Garden: A Novel
A.S. Byatt
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
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Byatt, A.S.
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ASIN: 0679738290
Release Date: 1992-01-15 |
Book Description
The Virgin in the Garden is a wonderfully erudite entertainment in which enlightenment and sexuality, Elizabethan drama and contemporary comedy, intersect richly and unpredictably.
Customer Reviews:
I have no idea what "Virgin" is all about,.......2007-08-24
except to sell books. I cannot identify with any of the characters. Incredibly outlandish (another reviewer said "unpredictable" -- a real understatement). I picked the book up a discount retailer after thumbing through it. Set in Yorkshire, England, 1952/1953, it provided me memories of Robin's Hood Bay (the hike); the names of all the plants (interestingly, gorse was never mentioned -- did I miss that one?); and the petit point hassocks for the pews at St Bartholomew's. Hmmmm.
At the time Virginia Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway" was published, a critic said it would not be read in 50 years. I can't imagine "The Virgin in the Garden" being read 50 years from now, but with sequels, etc., it appears the author is hoping for lucrative movie deals, ala Harry Potter.
Another Winner...........2005-06-26
It seems as if it is impossible for A.S Byatt to write a bad or even a mediocre story. After this novel, she is one of my new absolute favorites and I have vowed to read everything this amazing author has written.
I began to read The Virgin in the Garden, and could not put it down. I was enraptured by the beautiful descriptions of the two contrasting "Elizabethian ages" and the characters. Frederica has to be one of the most despicable, and yet intriguing literary characters in years. My breath was also taken away by the story of Marcus Potter--a haunting, amazing character that will stay with you for days.
The way Byatt writes, she transports you to 1950s England and the lives of the Potters. I felt as if I knew these characters like family, and could almost sit down to lunch with them by the end of the book. Her style, timing, and subtle metaphors of passion and life are irresistible and amazing. This is truly a writer who will stand the test of time to become an icon in the likes of the Brontes, Jane Austen, and Kate Chopin.
I cannot wait to share this book with everyone I know. Highly, highly reccomended. Go to the bookstore or your local library, ignore the new glossy bestsellers that try and cheat you out of your money and instead pick up this gorgeous, powerful read that new authors cannot hold a candle to.
A.S. Byatt does it once again!.......2004-10-01
This is one of the best literary works I have read. I cannot fathom the bad reviews here. The story of the eccentric Potter family and the quirky works of their minds enthralled me from beginning to end. Frederica Potter is my favorite character in the book. She takes me back to heroines made famous by authors the like of Jane Austen. She is one of the most colorful characters I have ever read. All of the central characters are great. This novel chronicles the life of an eccentric family with subtle magic realism and palpable dark language.
This novel's setting floored me. Fifties Britain is described in such a way that made me feel as though I had been alive during those times. The Elizabethan backdrop is also mesmerizing. And I love the quirkiness and darkness in this book. A.S. Byatt is no doubt one of the best writers of this era. Hers is a voice you cannot help but love. She writes with beautiful prose. I have read her short-story collections and now this book and I cannot wait to read her other works. I cannot recommend The Virgin in the Garden enough.
A letdown.......2004-05-23
She obviously knows how to write. However, I didn't like or identify, or find interesting any of the characters. In addition she is very good at spouting out allusions, but most of them hindered the plot development instead of helping it.
After reading this I did not read the sequels.
brutal going.......2004-01-25
there's no music, as it were, in what a.s. byatt does: i have read three of her novels now and i'm, i think, in a pretty good position to judge her stuff as utterly pretentious and banal. read just one page of hers and compare it to a paragraph (a single sentence?!) of James Joyce. i am an english prof--hence all the lit allusions in this novel just kinda made me sick. she drops so many names/quotations you need an imaginary broom to sweep them away. dreadful dreck. you need something Englishy to read--investigate William Boyd or Julian Barnes. byatt is like a parody of good writing. only salman rushdie's fiction is more onanistic (though his criticism's pretty cool). byatt is the literary equivalent of Stevie Nicks! Icky!!!!
Customer Reviews:
Often Ignored Historical Event.......2007-01-17
Leigh Greenwood proves his mettle as a historical fiction writer by writing `Rebel Enchantress'. I had automatically assumed it was set in the Civil War. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had chosen a little talked about era in US History: reconstruction after the Revolutionary War, and Shay's Rebellion. The events outside of the world created by Delilah Stowbridge and Nathan Trent are based on the build up and reasons for Shay's Rebellion.
Shackled by high taxes, Delilah Stowbridge runs to one person who her family owes a great sum of money by post-Revolutionary War standards. She is nothing but a farmer's daughter living on her brother's farm with his small family and she offers her limited but proper services to Nathan Trent's family. Nathan Trent is British born and suffers the wrath of his aunt's and many other local townspeople's dislike simply because he is British. A secret he keeps even closer to his breast is that he is as poor as Delilah. When Delilah lets her brother Rueben know of her plan to help their family, Rueben presses Delilah into spying on Nathan Trent, certain that he is helping the British make their lives as members of a new country worse with uncontrolled taxes and a desire to once again quell the insurrection that had happened only a few short years before. Their relationship grows steadily, and does not instantly give into their slowly budding realization of attraction. The cast of support characters Serna Noys (Nathan's aunt), Lester (a black servant), Pricilla (Nathan's cousin and Serena's daughter), Mrs. Stebbins (the cook) all contribute adding support to Delilah's passage from the farmer's existence to that of the grander company Nathan's world of an early American land owner.
Amazon.com
The British epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow" disease, is only one in a series of mysterious and often fatal afflictions that have baffled scientists for more than 40 years. Deadly Feasts is a compelling account of decades of research into a family of diseases ranging from kuru in primitive human tribes to scrapie in sheep. Richard Rhodes traces the attempts of scientists to understand these strange diseases, which are now known to be transmitted by ingesting the brain or nervous tissue of infected creatures, even though the pathogen itself is an enigma that seems to be neither bacterial nor viral. Deadly Feasts is packed with historical, anthropological, and epidemiological detail, and is graphic and occasionally even alarming in its speculations.
Book Description
In this brilliant and gripping medical detective story. Richard Rhodes follows virus hunters on three continents as they track the emergence of a deadly new brain disease that first kills cannibals in New Guinea, then cattle and young people in Britain and France -- and that has already been traced to food animals in the United States. In a new Afterword for the paperback, Rhodes reports the latest U.S. and worldwide developments of a burgeoning global threat.
Download Description
In a non-fiction narrative that reads like a medical thriller, Richard Rhodes follows virus hunters on three continents as they track the emergence of a deadly new brain disease that first kills cannibals in New Guinea, then cattle and young people in Britain and France -- and that has already been traced to food animals in the United States. A new Afterword assesses what needs to be done to prevent a fatal epidemic. "An Upton Sinclair-ish look inside the modern meat industry....Rhodes tells this medical detective story beautifully". -- John Schwartz, The Washington Post
Customer Reviews:
Engaging look at a scary set of diseases.......2004-08-20
Deadly feasts: tracking the secrets of a terrifying new plague by Richard Rhodes is one scary book. It tracks the discovery of prions, the mishapen proteins responsible for mad cow disease, scrapie, and Creutzfeldt Jacob disease. Following human cannibals in the jungles of New Guinea in the fifties, bovine cannibals of the British Isles in the eighties, and the bizarre history of sheep scrapie from the 17th century on, Rhodes does a great job of presenting the history and discovery of this bizarre group of diseases. I especially enjoyed the characterizations of the scientists, from the Noble Laureate who so enjoyed the New Guinea that he often regretted rejoining civiliziation, yet brought thirty natives back to the USA and helped them through school, to the hyper-competitive scientist who named the molecules even though he wasn't quite certain what they were.
But this isn't just a story of scientific discovery. As the foreboding subtitle blares, Rhodes explores some of the scarier aspects of prions. These include spontaneous formation, responsible for the known early cases of Creutzfeldt Jacob disease, trans-species infection, including mad cow disease and scrapie, the long long incubation period and lack of immune system response, and hardiness of the disease. One scary factoid: a scientist took a sample of scrapie, froze it, baked it for an hour at 360 degrees (celsius), and was able to re-infect other animals from this sample.
For all the uneasiness this book inspires, it certainly doesn't offer any answers. A condemnation of industrial agriculture, a warning that it's unknown whether vegetarians are even safe, and a caution against using bone meal for your flower garden do not make a recipe for handling this issue. To be fair, it was printed in 1997--perhaps things are under control now.
First, Last and Foremost.......2004-02-04
When Richard Rhodes published Deadly Feasts in 1997 it all seemed doubtful and futuristic. His investigations followed the development of this horror from the first, to 1997, and predicted the future (now). Rhodes insisted that if practices weren't changed the US would be plagued by infected cattle. Practices weren't changed, and recently cattle from the US were banned from most of the countries to whom we export. And practices still haven't changed.
If you want to read more about the future I'd suggest you read this book. Despite the passage of years there's not a better source of information about Mad Cow Disease, the protection of the US food supply, regulators bought and paid for by the regulated industry, and what the future holds for all of us.
Do Vegans Worry About Mad Eggplant Disease?.......2004-01-17
When I was an undergrad--way back in the late '70's--we were told that no concrete evidence of cultures that practiced cannibalism existed. This was back when "primitive" societies were depicted as being pure and uncorrupted by modern woes, like MTV and carjackings.
But, in fact, cannibalism has been a thriving tradition among some peoples, and has only recently been wiped out. (Maybe.) And among those who ate nervous system tissue (which would NOT be my first choice, had I been born a cannibal), kuru sometimes reared its ugly head.
Kuru is yet another variation of the encephalopathy that turns the consumer's brain into sponge, which is eventually fatal. Rhodes, always a riveting storyteller, spins the tale of research into kuru, and its parallel prion-based diseases like Mad Cow and scrapie. He also examines the cut-throat academic dispute that led some early researchers (Prusiner) to the Nobel Prize and led others, equally deserving, into oblivion.
Now, Mad Cow is in the news again. It seems we in the U.S. weren't safe, after all! Our meat processing industry has, for years, chosen to ignore warnings that selling "downer" cattle for human consumption is just WRONG. Also, we have been tweaking the diets of many food animals--not just cattle--with brain tissue-based protein, so who knows where it will turn up. We may be reading about Mad Chicken disease in a few years.
It seems that the public is either in complete denial that this is a problem, or else convinced that this is the plague of the 21st Century. I don't think we'll know for another generation, when the effects will have started to appear.
Not only that, but Chronic Wasting Disease, which affects deer and elk, has already infected at least two (that we know of) hunters who ate venison. As much as the media tries to play up the issue, and as much as the "authorities" try to play it down, we do have a problem that won't go away for awhile.
I think that, for those of us who are confirmed carnivores, we really should patronize ranchers who can offer "organic" products. That may also have the effect of increasing the number of smaller agribusinesses.
And we should be informed about this. Rhodes offers a primer on the subject that is as fascinating as it is chilling.
Cuts Through the Baloney.......2004-01-08
The spins and factual errors I was hearing on news reports about "mad cow" in the U.S. sent me back to Rhodes's excellent work for another look. Deadly Feasts is basic to a layman's understanding of the problem.
If more people read this book, we could build a better support base in this country for reforming operations of our food industry, especially how we feed and test animals to be processed for our dinner tables.
If we cheat ourselves of this knowledge, however, we'll be making the same mistake we made in the 1940s and 50s. We ignored scientific evidence of the harmful effects of radiation from atomic fission, and we sent people out to test sites just to see what might happen to them.
I don't care what the information or precautions or necessary reforms do to "the economy." I don't want my children's and grandchildren's brains wasting away 20 years from now because of the slow but relentless effect of "mad cow."
Excellent documentary but somewhat unprofessional.......2004-01-06
Deadly feasts is an extroardinary, readable, tale anyone interested in public health, medicine, and biology will enjoy reading. The tale is especially relevant now because of the spread of mad cow disease to the United States. I urge people to read this book because it will assist them in understanding the current risks facing the U.S. food supply. I also recommend the book because it is fascinating. Prion diseases are 100% lethal and transmitted in a way that defies conventional wisdom and may not be completely understood to this day.
Mr. Rhodes admirably reports that controversy remains regarding the method of transmission of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. However, I think he goes over the deep end by personally attacking/criticizing the activities of Dr. Pruisner--one of the nobel prize recipients who helped elucidate the "carrier" of prion diseases. If Dr. Prusiner intentionally tried to supress publication of alternative theories, then he has certainly violated good scientific practice. But, as Richard Feynman points out, "nature cannot be fooled," and the truth will eventually emerge regardless of what Dr. Prusiner thinks or does. Mr. Rhodes goes to the point of criticizing Dr. Prusiner for passionately advocating his own theory--maybe at the expense of delaying our arrival at the ultimate truth. We don't know what the ultimate truth is though (Dr. Prusiner may be correct) and science is a market place of ideas that eventually leads to that truth. I think Dr. Prusiner has the right to advocate his own theories, providing he reports his data accurately and fully.
A much more reprehensible matter in the book is entirely glossed over. While Dr. Prusiner's behavior is punished for pages and pages, hardly a sentence is written about the alleged sexual misconduct of another prominent nobel prize winning recipient who helped elucidate the nature of prion diseases. When placed side by side, the alleged immoral behavior of Dr. Prusiner pales in comparison to that of this other character. Mr Rhodes' fixation on criticizing Dr. Prusiner, but his comparative disregard for this other character suggests an unprofessional bias engrained in this book.
Average customer rating:
- 4 and a half stars, really
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Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague
Richard Stark
Manufacturer: Audioworks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 0671775049 |
Customer Reviews:
4 and a half stars, really.......2004-12-02
I started reading Westlake in about 1988, and have picked up a novel every year or two since then. "I Gave At The Office" is definitely one of my favorites. If you have never read Westlake, you could hardly pick a better one to start with. I might recommend the very first, "Adios, Scheherazade" also. Like many of my favorite artists, Westlake has done some great ones, and some not so great. If the term "great" is appropriate to Westlake at all, this book is right up there.
Westlake is a rare bird, and a writer's writer, so to speak; and a pundit's pundit. His novels all speak very much of Donald Westlake himself, and his worldview. He started out with a cynical career in dimestore novels, with a worldly bent that speaks volumes about life in the way a man shakes hands, wears a hat, or drives a car, and a blunt sense of humour. He seems to especially love detective and action novels. He also has always been chimpy nutz with intense and wacky humor, and a strong delivery of aforementioned humor. "I Gave At The Office" is one of the most hilarious.
Set in the early '70s, this is the story of a down-at-the-heels news writer assigned to report on a U.S.-financed Carribean insurgency in the making, one that the news agency is so intent on that on finding nothing there, they proceed to help with said financing themselves rather than go home empty-handed. A classic Catch-22 like Westlake was the best at, save, uh, Joseph Heller. A very easy read, and hilarious, this novel would grace the back of any potty.
Book Description
Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of other non-Western religions have become a significant presence in the United States in recent years. Yet many Americans continue to regard the United States as a Christian society. How are we adapting to the new diversity? Do we casually announce that we "respect" the faiths of non-Christians without understanding much about those faiths? Are we willing to do the hard work required to achieve genuine religious pluralism?
Award-winning author Robert Wuthnow tackles these and other difficult questions surrounding religious diversity and does so with his characteristic rigor and style. America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity looks not only at how we have adapted to diversity in the past, but at the ways rank-and-file Americans, clergy, and other community leaders are responding today. Drawing from a new national survey and hundreds of in-depth qualitative interviews, this book is the first systematic effort to assess how well the nation is meeting the current challenges of religious and cultural diversity.
The results, Wuthnow argues, are both encouraging and sobering--encouraging because most Americans do recognize the right of diverse groups to worship freely, but sobering because few Americans have bothered to learn much about religions other than their own or to engage in constructive interreligious dialogue. Wuthnow contends that responses to religious diversity are fundamentally deeper than polite discussions about civil liberties and tolerance would suggest. Rather, he writes, religious diversity strikes us at the very core of our personal and national theologies. Only by understanding this important dimension of our culture will we be able to move toward a more reflective approach to religious pluralism.
Customer Reviews:
A great discussion.......2007-08-25
Bob Wuthnow is one of the great thinkers on religious diversity, and this book is testimony. An excellent scholarly work.
Amazon.com
Some of the great professional cooks in the country happen to be African American, and A Taste of Heritage happens to be a collection of foods and dishes that reflects both their family histories and their training. Chef Joe Randall has reached out to 11 of his peers to contribute to this well-rounded cookbook that often makes sublime meals of humble ingredients. It's not a cookbook to keep on the bookshelf--A Taste of Heritage is one you'll want to keep in the kitchen.
Each contributor is profiled at the end of the book, and offers a menu of favorite dishes. This is a wonderful addition that enables you to get to know each chef by his or her food, not just by personal history. The mighty Patrick Clark, for example, suggests a summery menu of Bay Scallop Chowder, Roasted Rack of Pork with Cider-Pepper Glaze, and Sweet Potato and Wild Mushroom Hash, sweetened at the end with White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. Chicago's Kym Gibson offers Curried Chicken, Red Mint Rice, and Sautéed Green Tomatoes and Olives. The list goes on and on, with Chef Randall rounding out the selections.
This is not a book about being fancy for fancy's sake, or tricking out some simple fare with trendy ingredients. Nor is it about the cooking found in African American church basements. This is a book about pride and culture and heritage--a book that celebrates all the life-sustaining goodness that can be cooked into food and passed along in good times and bad times alike. While a great deal of the heritage can be laid on the doorstep of the South and southern cooking, these chefs have moved all over the country and served all kinds of palates, and their deep knowledge about what makes food delicious gives these recipes their true bottom. It's a mélange, like a fine gumbo.
The weakest link in A Taste of Heritage is the editorial content provided by Toni Tipton-Martin, food editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The proof in this book isn't in the reading, but in the pudding. --Schuyler Ingle
Book Description
Chef Joe Randall and Toni Tipton-Martin showcase the rich heritage of African-American cooking in this authentic collection of 300 recipes. Drawn from Joe Randall's personal recipes, the book also includes recipes from chefs who have worked with Randall's A Taste of Heritage Foundation, including Edna Lewis and Patrick Clark.
African-American cooking has evolved over more than 200 years to become a sophisticated and distinctive cuisine. More than just "soul food," African-American cuisine has become world class. Experience Catfish Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings, Southern Fried Quail, or Crepes with Country Fried Apples. Geared to the home cook, the recipes are also enhanced by a section of menus, complete with wine selections. The final section introduces readers to the stories and menus of the prominent African-American chefs who contributed to the book.
Customer Reviews:
Finger Lickin Good!!!!!!!.......2004-11-05
I love this cookbook. The recipies are well written and easy to follow! Try the Shrimp Creole!! You wont Regret it!!!
Chef Joe Randall is a delight!.......2004-02-17
This book is excellent. I like it because the recipes are good for everyone to try. Chef Joe's cooking school in Savannah is a rare treat also for an activity during your Savannah weekend.
After he tortures and teases you with the sights and aromas, he gives you a meal you'll never forget.
Great Book.......2003-02-11
I'm impressed with the author's use of authentic as well as contemporary ingredients and techniques. And I was quite taken by the vast coverage of the topic - appetizers, gumbos, salads, sides, entrees, desserts, lovely book!!
Fantastic recipes to tantalize any palate.......2002-01-31
Absolutely fantastic!!!! Some could ask for pictures to go along with it. However, I feel as though part of utilizing recipes is unwrapping the mystery of it's visual beauty. As a culinary student I find that not having pictures allows me to add my own touches to the dishes without visual bias.
This is THE book to have for updated Soul Food recipes........1998-08-23
I love this book. So far every recipe I have tried has turned out excellent. The recipes are easy to read and well written for the home chef. To date I have tried the Oven Roasted Rosemary-Garlic Chicken with Corn Bread Dressing, The Rustic Macaroni and Cheese and the Potato Salad to name a few. I just tried the Sweet Potato Pie and everyone loved it. The Authors did a wonderful job, and I have recommended it to my friends and plan on giving the book as gifts.
Average customer rating:
- Boo-hiss :(
- My opinion
- Don't waste your money - There are better books
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Standard Catalog Of Schwinn Bicycles 1895-2004
Doug Mitchel
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
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ASIN: 0873498844 |
Book Description
Schwinn bicycles are fast becoming hot collectibles. With hundreds of collector clubs and skyrocketing prices for online auctions, the demand for detailed information on these classic bikes is high. Now, fans of the Paramounts, Krates, Varsities and other cool Schwinn-built bikes can enjoy a beautiful photographic history and study of the evolution of the bikes through the years, with Standard Catalog of(r) Schwinn Bicycles.
More than 350 stunning full-color photos document Schwinn bikes from the best vintage models, to today's latest releases, including the new chopper-style Sting Ray. The narrative discusses color, frame sizes, and other options available. This is the ultimate book for Schwinn fans and collectors.
-350 full-color photos of Schwinn bicycles through the years -Narrative discusses available options and accessories -Covers the extremely popular new Sting Ray
Customer Reviews:
Boo-hiss :(.......2007-03-19
This book was disappointing. It's title lead me to believe that it would be an extensive and thorough compilation of most, if not all of the bikes Schwinn produced; not so!
I own a 1970 Schwinn Twinn Tandem bike, and was hoping I would read and see information on tandems. They picture one tandem, and have very little information about it. They also fail to depict several other models. If you look at an orignal Schwinn catalog, you'll find that they built dozens of models each year! Do a google search and you'll find it.
One of Schwinn's more popular models was the "Typhoon", and I don't even see a mention of it! What a crock!
I have a Standard Catalog of Corvette, and it's is much more thorough than this one for the bike.
My opinion.......2007-01-16
The book is well written for the casual interest, yet it does not detail the financial woes that Schwinn had prior to its demise. The photos are good, not enough information that a "Catalog" should have. I was hoping for model names and production fiqures year by year, but such was not contained. I'm sure there are better histories out there.
Don't waste your money - There are better books.......2005-01-20
After reviewing this book I was very disappointed. The title should have been "just another picture book of a few guys bikes". The title "standard catalog" is very deceiving. The content does not even scratch the surface of the vast array of of bicycles built by Schwinn down thru the years. There are no charts of models built, no production numbers, no serial numbers, really nothing in the way of valuable information to the collector. Nothing more than pictures of a select few bicycles and some cheesy history thrown in for copy. Even my untrained eye spotted several inaccuracies in the pictures of the restored bicycles shown.
I will say that the photography is quite good and the paper quality is great. My "new" copy arrived with the binding separating and some pages coming out. This would make an excellant book to keep next to the commode in case of emergency!!!
Perhaps the next time the author decides to tackle such an undertaking, some amount of research would be in order instead of relying on the Schwinn name to sell a book. I'm not into burning books but this on comes close.
Customer Reviews:
Good review tool.......2005-10-14
The format of this text developes the students
capacty to think as a native frenchperson would and as he
deciphers the various materials presented he gains deeper insight
because the text is entirely in french and forces the student to
swim or sink.
Decouverte et Creation - is what we stanford grads cut our teeth on........2005-07-12
I was frankly surprised to see the anger with which a couple reviewers attacked this book. It's a great book - much better than many that are published today - which are overladen with ancilary materials. I'm currently writing a textbook, and refer to this one often. Note to self: there is no perfect textbook. The direct method (aka immersion) works well if you've been trained in it. I've worked with Hester, Barson, and other greats in the language training field. Feel free to visit my site for other tips on language learning.
Marc
franceinfo.us
A snobby book -- 400 Blows.......2004-01-11
Thank you, Cathy Sahu (previous reviewer). I am using this book for an introductory college French class and agree with Cathy's observations about the text, the workbook, and the tapes -- I could not have said it better myself.
I don't understand why professors would choose this book to teach a class. It is simply not effective for all the reasons previously mentioned. I have had to supplement this book with three other books. The lessons are spotty, incomplete, inconsistent. Instructions are in French, which is very frustrating to a beginning student. I have spent more time trying to understand the instructions with the use of a dictionary than learning the lessons. The footnotes are not even in English. Just like my French teacher, it moves too quickly, does not explain, is not helpful, nor forgiving. If you've ever seen the classic Trufaut film, "400 Blows," this book is as torturous as that first scene in the classroom. This book will make you NOT want to learn French.
In contrast, I've found an excellent French text/workbook by Barron's called "French Now! Level 1" (3rd edition). I breezed through the preliminary and first lesson in about 2 hours, getting used to reading and writing in French, integrating new vocabulary words including verbs, nouns, and articles. The exercises in "French Now! Level 1" are truly helpful.
I also recommend a computer program on CD-ROM called "Smart French: Learn French from Real French People." I think this is helpful in learning the correct accents, in understanding spoken French, and improving and "naturalizing" YOUR spoken French.
Greatest elementary French method going.......2002-11-07
I have been teaching French for 17 years and I have never found a first-year method that even begins to equal M. Jian's. It strikes the perfect balance between simplifying complicated grammatical principles and encouraging students to resist passivity in their language acquisition efforts. I find the readings, cultural materials, and supplementary lab exercises exemplary. For any mature student who is interested in learning French language rapidly and correctly, I enthusiastically recommend this method. A must for first-year college and university French courses.
Part of a plot to stamp out the French language?.......2000-04-04
First of all, let me make clear that I'm writing about the "cinquieme" (5th) edition of this textbook. The earlier editions aren't, I think, too bad.
This is a shockingly miserable textbook. I've been jotting down its faults as they crop up while I study 1st semester French. Here are some of them, though definitely not all (and no, this isn't sour grapes -- I'm getting an "A"):
Firstly, all the grammatical explanations are in French, and thus, very difficult to understand for someone learning beginning French. I realize the theory of language immersion is currently in vogue, but this is a ridiculous application. Students of French need to learn common vocabulary, not words like "preposition" and "pronoun." Even if they are cognates, it's still hard to understand and a source of extreme frustration, even for me, though I've taken French before. Also, while the student is stumbling through these explanations, he's probably also mispronouncing them, and memorizing his own mispronunciations. Then, to avoid English, the editors resort to all sorts of extremes, like the silly picture on p. 119. And, at the end of it all, they still end up having to use English footnotes, anyway (p. 114, etc.)
Another problem is the choice of vocabulary. They use irregular words (like "oeil" and its plural, "yeux," introduced too early on p. 20) in examples of grammatical rules, making for more confusion than if they'd used simpler, more regular words. (Vocabulary words, in fact, are thrown in almost without context: there are some 100 vocab words listed at the end of each chapter, many of which have only been used once in the chapter, and not at all in any exercise. These lists have no accompanying English translations, so you have to flip, flip, flip to the back of the book, a big waste of time.)
The dictionary is not good. There is no English-to-French section, and in the French-to-English, some words are missing ("demon," for instance, used in an illustration on p. 49 but not in dictionary, and "choque" is not defined - does it mean shocked, or shocking?). And of course there's no pronunciation key, a problem common to many language texts nowadays but still bad news for the student of a language that has many irregular pronunciations. Also, there are problems like the fact that ce/cet/cette/ces are all listed together in the dictionary, so if you look up "ces" and don't remember it's the plural of "ce," you won't be able to find it.
Emphasis is not on the type of things you would need to communicate. In only Chapter 6, they are teaching which articles need to be used for cities vs. countries, something which takes a lot of memorization but would not be a big problem if you didn't know it. You have the feeling they just jumbled up the order in which things are introduced so as to make it different from the previous editions, so students couldn't get by with the old one.
Explanations are so terse as to be incomplete: in the same Chapter 6 mentioned above (p. 124), they list the rules for deciding which article to use, but then, when the rules overlap, they don't say which one takes precedence. I've noticed this problem frequently. Also, on p. 100, they give a list of colors to learn, including "blond" and "brun," but fail to note that these colors are used for people but not objects. Masculine and feminine are given, but no plural forms, except for marron and orange.
There are other little signs of thoughtlessness: on p. 83, for instance, in a exercise on telling time: they show two clocks at "12:00" and "12:20" but fail to show if it's supposed to be noon or midnight, which you're supposed to be learning: "midi" and "minuit."
The workbook and audiotapes are even more sloppily done: there are sometimes lines in the workbook laboratory section that are not said on the tape (the last few words in a list, for example, are forgotten). Often the choice of vocab in exercises is thoughtless: they'll give 2 masculine singular sentences, for instance, leaving out feminine and plural forms, which the student is supposed to be learning, too. There are never enough exercises, at any rate, in either text or workbook, to go over everything being taught - probably the worst problem out of the many.
The tape often leaves you no time to reply. You might think they expect you to use the pause button on your tape recorder -- but, if so, why are there humongous pauses while they wait for you to write things in? And why do they have written exercises in a workbook, anyway? Laboratory should be for speaking skills - you can do your writing at home. (My teacher says it is because people weren't buying the workbooks, so the editors took all the written exercises out of the textbook and put them in the workbook, so students would have to buy both.) Also, the speakers speak at a normal-to-fast conversational rate, which is way too fast for first year learners, resulting in more frustration.
Both textbook and workbook have been dumbed down, which may explain a lot of the above problems - it's almost like a slash job in places. This may be common in textbooks nowadays but the editors here could win awards. It's like huge chunks of content and sense were torn out to make more room for those nice, wide, white borders - and the pictures.
"Decouverte et Creation, cinquieme edition" is barely better than no text at all, especially since the price is obscene. Most teachers could probably do a better job producing handouts on the fly. Much better would be to have everyone in the class buy "Teach Yourself French" or any of the many other non-scholastic book and tape sets available.
Book Description
With the close of the twentieth century, the design achievements of the postwar period can at last be seen in perspective. This book presents a visual history of furniture design since 1945 in some of the most spectacular color photographs of furniture ever published. The first half of the century was in many ways a testing ground for ideas that only became reality in succeeding generations, benefiting from the huge technological advances made during the Second World War and from the dynamic force of consumer demand. New materials and techniques created previously undreamed-of possibilities that were exploited to the full by innovative furniture designers. The exciting results began in 1945 with such achievements as the highly sculptural molded plywood chairs of Charles and Ray Eames, who were among the first to use organic shapes derived from the natural world. Revolutionary 1950s designs, including Harry Bertoia's wire Diamond chairs and Eero Saarinen's futuristic Pedestal Group, were followed in the late 1950s by the rise of consumerism—and the eccentricities of kitsch—which in turn gave way in the 1960s to the explosion of Pop culture. The following decades were equally rich, with the development of Counter Design by Ettore Sottsass, the factory lights and scaffolding supports of High-Tech, the Craft Revival, Art Furniture, and Ergonomic styling, with each trend continuing to show intriguing national and regional differences. This has become the standard work on the furniture of the entire period: every piece included is able to stand for all time as a classic work of design. Illustrated with over 140 color reproductions, all accompanied by detailed descriptions, it is completed by a comprehensive reference section that provides detailed designer biographies, a bibliography, a list of retail outlets and museums, and advice on collecting. 347 illustrations, 144 in color.
Average customer rating:
- Not what I expected.
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MotionGraphics: Web
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 082303142X |
Book Description
Learn how to make a digital masterpiece by following the lead of the hippest designers working on the web. In MotionGraphics: Web, graphic arts experts Kathleen Ziegler and Nick Greco showcase 25 designers with literally hundreds of full-color spreads that represent the phenomenal visual effects currently in use on the web-interactive portals, animations, and much more. Filled with scores of case studies, this indispensable manual demonstrates how to incorporate cutting-edge technologies with design fundamentals. It also examines the new media culture of the web while giving readers a beautiful look at the endless design possibilities available in cyberspace.
Customer Reviews:
Not what I expected........2003-08-12
The book was not what I expected. "Learn how to make a digital masterpiece by following the lead of the hippest designers working on the web." This description of the book gave me the impression that there would be instructional content to the book. You will not find instructional content or tutorials. The graphical content is inspiring although there is very little text or intstructional content.
Not what I expected........2003-08-12
I was disappointed to find that there is no instructional content to the book. "Learn how to make a digital masterpiece by following the lead of the hippest designers working on the web." This initial description of the book is somewhat misleading. The graphical content is inspiring but you will find very little text content or instruction as to how the experts create motion graphics using tools such as flash / after effects.
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Stage, Page, Scandal, & Vandals: William E. Burton and Nineteenth-Century American Theatre (Theater in the Americas)
David L Rinear
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0809325721 |
Book Description
In this first modern book-length biography of native Englander William E. Burton, theatre historian David L. Rinear explores Burton’s diary, letters, published reviews, and various reminiscences to reveal the tumultuous personal and professional lives of the mid-nineteenth-century actor/manager and his role in American literary history. Stage, Page, Scandals, and Vandals: William E. Burton and Nineteenth-Century American Theatre also provides insight into the cultural and artistic climate of an early period in American history when the country was still forming a national identity.
Burton fled England in 1834 and came to America in the wake of a public scandal caused by his marriage to a sixteen-year-old orphan. Burton was then already married with a ten-year-old son. Settling in Philadelphia, the thirty-two-year-old actor rapidly established himself in the city’s theatrical productions and quickly became an audience favorite.
In 1837, while continuing to act, Burton founded and edited The Gentleman’s Magazine, a monthly literary publication later called Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. Burton hired struggling author Edgar Allan Poe as coeditor, and the journal achieved literary acclaim as it first published many of Poe’s short stories and poems.
Burton sold the journal in 1841 and used the money to build a new theatre, which he managed, although the depression of the early 1840s soon drove his venture out of business. After declaring bankruptcy the following year, Burton worked as a touring actor before returning to theatre management in 1845. For the next thirteen years, Burton managed a succession of theatres in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York.
Burton’s work as a producer of Shakespearean comedies and romances marks him as the first of the intellectual theatre managers to raise the theatrical experience from mere popular culture to high art. Burton made a fortune in his ventures, amassed the finest private Shakespearean library in the country, and built a grand seaside estate in Glen Cove, Long Island. Shrewd in his personal affairs and in business, Burton also had a violent temper, which led him to viciously attack his competitors. His peculiar domestic relationships marred his brilliant career as an actor, manager, and man of letters; he may have been married to three women at once and lived with two of these women simultaneously.
Fully revealing Burton’s contributions to American culture, Rinear traces Burton’s personal and professional pursuits from his emigration to his death in 1860. Bolstered by twenty-two illustrations, Stage, Page, Scandals, and Vandals sheds light on the history of American entertainment during the antebellum era, exposes the ruthless business practices required to succeed in theatre and literary magazine publishing, and reveals a sense of what constituted celebrity status in mid-nineteenth-century America.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Theatre History Studies, published by Mid-America Theatre Association on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1354 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: "Stage Page, Scandals, and Vandals": William E. Burton and Nineteenth-Century American Theatre.(Book Review)
Author: Heather S. Nathans
Publication:
Theatre History Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Mid-America Theatre Association
Volume: 25
Page: 202(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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