Buxton Spice

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Born in London, but raised in a flyspeck village in Guyana, Oonya Kempadoo has now preserved her youth in exquisite amber. Buxton Spice will no doubt be compared to the work of Jamaica Kincaid, and the analogy is actually an instructive one (beyond the fact that both authors are Caribbean women). Kempadoo too has found her own idiom for rendering the magical or mundane perceptions of childhood. Even so pedestrian an activity as rollerskating seems to be taking place for the first time:

We tottered on to the road and set off. My legs felt like matchsticks with huge weights on the ends. Looked ridiculous, but was rollerskates and we had them first. The sound of hard plastic on the gritty asphalt cleared the cool night air for us to come sailing through. Up and down the road. Past the fellars watching.

The passage above, with its low-key lyricism and artful omission, is fairly typical of Kempadoo's narrator, Lula. The presence of the fellars is typical, too. For Buxton Spice is very much a narrative of sexual awakening--its plot can almost be summarized in a single word, puberty. Lula gets a nominal course in sex ed by observing the three whores in her tiny village of Tamarind Grove. But at one point, she and three girlfriends pair off into husband-and-wife teams and play house--with sufficient realism to include a boudoir interlude. Their imaginary lovemaking, which features a battery as a kind of low-tech dildo, is a tour de force of eroticism and giggly absurdity.

Buxton Spice is not, however, a mere exercise in dirty dancing. It includes many fine bits of small-town portraiture, such as this quick take on a Portuguese store-owner: "Ricardo was pink and meticulous. When he was sober he had a slow solid way of moving and hardly spoke in the house. Slept in the shop. His clothes had to match." There are also oblique lessons in Guyana's politics and caste system. What's missing, perhaps, is a sense of narrative drive: Kempadoo puts her characters on their appointed paths but seldom manages much in the way of collision. Still, her book is an auspicious and utterly distinctive slice of small-town life. What's more, it has the ring of truth to it: this, we're persuaded, is Lula's song of experience, battery-powered as it may be. --James Marcus

Book Description

Told in the voice of a girl as she moves from childhood into adolescence, Buxton Spice is the story the town of Tamarind Grove: its eccentric families, its sweeping joys, and its sudden tragedies. The novel brings to life 1970s Guyana-a world at a cultural and political crossroads-and perfectly captures a child's keen observations, sense of wonder, and the growing complexity of consciousness that marks the passage from innocence to experience.

Customer Reviews:

A Caribbean Classic.......2001-11-19

This sultry story of sexual-awakening is a must-read for everyone. Mothers, but this book for your daughters! It is both poetic and political, you will find it difficult to put down. It is truly a caribbean classic.

Charming.......2001-11-03

Oonya Kempadoo has written a perfectly charming account of a young girl's coming of age in Guyana. She has writtwn it in a sryle that gives the reader the feel of the action, of the environment. That is the emphasis, how it felt or smelt or tasted. I think she succeeds admirably, and through it all (to Lula), that Buxton Spice Mango Tree watches and remembers all the antics of the humans who live around it

There is no storyline, but she does have potential.......2001-09-23

I just finished reading Buxton Spice. Initially it was difficult for me to become invoved in the book because I am such a critical reader and I found myself a bit turned off at her style, which to me seemed forced, almost as though she was trying to write in a unique way, as opposed to a Jamaica Kincaid whose style is unique, albeit very flat and nonchalant, but never forced. But as I read on I became more accustomed to it and even appreciated it for its lyrical tone. The sad thing is that there is really no story line here at all. If someone asked me to tell them what the book was about, I would have to broadly state that it was about a girl's coming of age in Guyana, but I would not be able to decribe the story with any specificity and that is what is missing. But I do admire Ms. Kempadoo for her ability to publish. Shoot I have been writing the same novel for the past ten years and Im probably on page five. I would read a second novel of hers, because I think she has the potential to create something really good. But I wouldnt really recommend this one to anyone.

A Choreography of Caribbean Language.......2001-01-26

Kempadoo is a true poet, and although BUXTON SPICE is billed as a novel, it is really more a collection of dances in which the poetics of language play a great part. With more and more literature appearing that does not follow the tight storylines of old, perhaps it is time for us to come up with another word to describe books such as Kempadoo's that are not-quite-novel, not-quite poetry, and not-quite-short-stories. Never mind that we don't have an official category for Kempadoo's fiction. It is strong enough and musical enough to dance on its own power. A series of short collage pieces show us a series of small moments that become suddenly huge in the life of a girl child in Guyana in the 70s. It is about early and uncomfortable awareness of race, sex, age, disability, and of the unpredictibility of politics. Kempadoo writes beautifully and naturally of sex. This is a strong point of hers, and it serves her well. The sex actually creates a sort of tension on which all of her stories ride. Oonya Kempadoo is young and she's talented. What she has done in BUXTON SPICE with language can most certainly be done again with a different theme. One can only wonder what Kempadoo will write about next. Will it be Guyana or England or . . .something entirely from her imagination? This is an author to watch. And, in the meantime, to read.

empty.......2000-10-14

I give this book 2 stars for the author's obvious gift with language and for the nostalgia for my homeland Guyana it managed to awake. No stars for anything else. All the characters are so obsessed with sex that it finally becomes so boring youfeel like fliPping through the pages to find some other theme. I grew up Guyana and I promise, we are not at all that way! Otherwiese the whole book was mere verbal gymnastics; the authior drawing attention to her style, but having nothing much to say; certainly she didn't have a story to tell. A series of anecdotes; no plot, no characterization, the dialogue stilted. Perhaps the writer should mature more before writing her next book - because she shows obvious promise.

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Buxton Spice
Oonya Kempadoo
Manufacturer: Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PI1A10

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Buxton Spice -
Oonya Kempadoo -
Manufacturer: Dutton Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PRUPR6

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Oonya Kempadoo.
Buxton. SPICE
Manufacturer: London: Phoenix House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UBA94G

Buxton Spice.(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: World Literature Today

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Buxton Spice.(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: World Literature Today

Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on January 1, 2000. The length of the article is 547 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: Buxton Spice.(Review)(Brief Article)
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2000
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 74 Issue: 1 Page: 224

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Buxton Spice
Oonya Kempadoo
Manufacturer: Pheonix House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

In this chilling sequel to the best-selling Knight of the Black Rose, factions vie for control of Sithicus as Lord Soth -- darklord and former knight from the Dragonlance world -- fights to keep his reign from crumbling. Even as he struggles to defeat his enemies, rumor reaches him that the White Rose haunts the land. Has Kitiara finally returned to Soth, or is this another spectre from the death knight's tragic past?

Customer Reviews:

Soth and Lowder a match made in Hea...er Ravenloft!.......2005-08-19

This book is the sequel to Knight of the Black Rose. Once again Lowder does a masterful job of telling the story of Lord Soth and what makes him tick. Past book about Lord Soth focus on him being a supreme villian and the history of his 'transformation' into a Death Knight. Yet, in this book, Lowder does a very good job of getting inside Soth's head and letting the reaer know what he is thinking.

Unlike the first Ravenloft book about Soth this one has a little more intrique in it. There is a mystery in this book that Soth is continually faced with, just who is the White Rose? Fans of the Dragonlance Chronicles will understand this subplot the more they read about it.

Lowder again proves that he can create interesting characters and stories behind those characters with seemingly very little effort. The Bloody Cobbler being one of the most interesting Ravenloft characters I have ever read about. I wish he would have gotten his own book, but alas we don't always get what we want.

If you are a fan of the Dragonlance books I highly suggest you pick up this book and give it a shot, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Lord Soth.......2005-08-14

Excellent book. Lord Soth is one of my favorite characters in the Dragonlance universe. This book adds to the Lord Soth legacy and aspects of his personality and character. Additionally, it was interesting to read about Krynn's most infamous character in a setting outside of Krynn.

A must read for Soth fans.......2004-12-31

Great book! Not quit as good as Knight of the Black Rose but very close. Once again great story told well with great characters!

It's great, even if it hard to read.......2004-02-16

Warning if u like Lord Soth as darklord, you will be VERY SAD at the end of this novel.

The HIstory is a bit "hard" to get, sometimes u will need to re-read some parts to understand what is happing. Lord Soth in this novel is one of the important characters, since mainly the Sithicus domain is descripted. But, once u got the taste of reading the book.... you will feel being one traveling throught sithicus, overseeing all the events.

It is a must read for every fan from the Ravenloft Campaign setting, since it helps a lot to understand the Ravenloft Gazetter IV.

HUGE FLOP.......2003-10-24

Spectre of the Black Rose is the follow up book to Knight of the Black Rose. Lowder returns in a dubious paring with Voronica Whitney-Robinson. I am uncertain what makes this book so bad. The story has such promise and yet falls so short of the mark that it is almost sickening.
This complete tragedy of a novel might have been good if the authors would have focused on Soth. The reader comes away from the book feeling like nothing was accomplished. The best character in the novel barely works. The Bloody Cobbler who is victimized by a stupid name but has the best lines in the entire novel, struggles to save this book from being a total waste of paper. He fails. In short, the best part of this novel is the beautiful binding and cover art. This is definitely one book that you cannot judge by the cover.

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Spectre of the Black Rose
James, and Voronica Whitley-Robinson Lowder
Manufacturer: TSR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000REVXUA

Book Description

Here is the exciting story of the eruption of Parícutin—the volcano in Mexico that burst from a farmer's field and changed the lives of the people who lived nearby. `Will give readers understanding of a people and a good story based on fact.' —SLJ.

A Reading Rainbow Featured Selection
Notable 1971 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)

Customer Reviews:

The hill of fire.......2003-04-18

I thought this book was really good. If you read my report l think you should read the book. It is about a man and his boy. His father is a farmer and one day the boy comes out and helps his father. Then they hit the top of a volcano. Which is in the ground and it destroys everything. Then they rebuild everything.

Simple and Good.......2002-08-05

Hill of Fire tells the true story of a Mexican farmer who encounters the beginnings of a volcano in his corn field. The vocabulary is very easy, and yet the author captures the mood of the sleepy village that was changed forever by El Monstruo. I recommend this book to teachers of grades 2 and 3 and to children who are just moving away from picture books.

HILL OF FIRE.......2001-05-10

I think you should read. Hill of Fire. It is very good. I like the middle part. My favorite part is when the volcano erupts. I think you should read this book.

True Story!.......2000-01-05

I use this book with my ESL students 2nd-8th grade. What really makes it interesting is that it is a true story! I've been there, seen the church (what's left of it) and met the people. The only thing not true is there is no hot dog stand. Excellent book and easy to read.

High Interest For ESL Learners, 2nd grade to adult........1999-12-08

This historical fiction story relates to those who lead a hum-drum existence in meeting daily responsibilities. A dirt farmer in a small village in Mexico complains that nothing every happens in his life. Then, one eventful day, his ox-drawn plow buries itself so deep in the earth that smoke (the smoke of a volcano) begins to escape. Older students from Mexico will especially enjoy that cultural's influence in the story sequence (written like a simplified proverbial folktale) and illustations. If read aloud and read well, your students's laughter will tell you they understand the story.

Book Description

Melanie D. Davidson was born in Willmar, Minnesota, in June of 1959 and moved to Pueblo, Colorado, when she was five years old. Her love for the divine fueled her passion for writing poetry and songs, creating a means of self-expression as early as seven years old. Melanie is also a songwriter and her poetry is reflected in many of her songs. She currently lives in the mountains of Colorado where she spends time singing, song writing, hiking, and photographing the beautiful environment. Her love for nature has inspired her to write on the subject and her spiritual heart is reflected in many of her poems as well. Never an Empty Stage is a book that Melanie wrote to help others find light and guidance with the hope that faith and peace may be found in the words inspired by the Almighty.

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Even I could do it!

A great addition to any library!

Great stuff

Incredible Asian taste sensations for the Western palette

The Asian Bistro Cookbook
Andrew Chase
Manufacturer: Robert Rose
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Asian | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1896503217

Book Description

The Asian Bistro Cookbook, gives you the best of China, Japan and Thailand- plus a tantalizing range of dishes from the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Customer Reviews:

Even I could do it!.......2000-02-08

I visited Andrew's restaurant in Toronto and wanted to duplicate the unique taste of his Asian cuisine. I made quite a few dishes and they were delicious! His recipes were written so that even a novice such as I could successfully complete a meal-- and it was fabulous. You have got to try it!

A great addition to any library!.......2000-02-01

After visting Youki (Andrew Chase's restaurant in Toronto) me and my husband knew the Asian Bistro would be a great addition to our cookbook library. With such recipies as banana and chocolate spring rolls and Thai grilled chicken wings I was hooked after the first meal. This is a cookbook I would pass on to future generations.

Great stuff.......1999-12-02

The recipe for Mint and Coriander Lamb is worth the price of the book, as is the scallops with fried basil! Got this from the library, and it was so great, I had to have it for myself. Enjoy!

Incredible Asian taste sensations for the Western palette.......1999-10-04

We got this book after experiencing Andrew Chase's mouthwatering creations at his Asian Bistro restaurant in Toronto. It eclipsed our previous taste sensations! Now we can create some of these ourselves with his recipes, using ingredients he helps us find around here in Boston. Actually, the book's Asian Pantry section and little sidebars for each recipe make good reading by themselves, and inspire noncooks! Most recipes also have 'variation' suggestions. The book's color photography is outstanding, and helps us choose what to eat next. Liberal sections on Appetizers, Soups, Seafood, Poultry, Meat, Vegetable Dishes, Noodles and Rice, Pickles and Condiments, and Desserts make us positively salivate!

For example, Taiwanese Escargot; Filipino Marinated Fish Salad with Mango (kilawin); incredible Satay recipes; Salmon with ginger; Swordfish with sake (motoyaki-style); Korean Cucumber Soup; Indonesian-style Stuffed Cabbage; Taiwanese Paella; Peking Cornish Hens; Mint and Coriander Lamb with Vietnamese marinade, where to stop! Our experience is that these recipes somehow make your meat really juicy.

Plus, The Asian Bistro Cookbook has a good index. OK, get the book, but be sure to make a trip to Youki's Asian Bar and Grill in Toronto, don't miss their incredible desserts. Sadly, only a few are in this book.

Book Description

Follow the progression of the American home with this latest creation from the Tad Burness studio. This one of a kind collection features historical, exciting, and beautiful home s from 1880 to 1980. Each yearly section presents various styles of houses, kitchens, baths, floor plans, light fixtures, and new developments. Many of the time periods include detailed advertisements with original prices, competing household appliances, and new fads. Representative regions and styles include the kit houses of the early 1900s, Victorian-style homes, and Mediterranean looks. The wealth of information and detail will pique the curiosity of those interested in home restoration and retro design, as well as architects, real estate agents, interior designers, and members of historical societies.

*Covers vintage houses, kitchens, baths, floor plans, light fixtures, and more

*Tracks US home design developments and trends from 1880 to 1980

Customer Reviews:

See inside your neighbor's house........2003-07-20

An amazing resource book if you are interested in the American home from 1880. Tad Burness started in the sixties collecting illustrations, photos and ads of anything to do with domestic housing and this book is the result of his endeavours. You need to know though that the book is essentially visual and 2500 images are shown in a scrapbook format, with many of them irregular shapes, where a house, for instance, has been cut out from its background,

Each crammed page has between nine to fourteen pictures (plenty in color) which could include six or seven exterior house photos or illustrations, possibly taken from period ads, three or four interiors (also from period ads) mostly kitchens and bathrooms, maybe a floor plan or some period ads for a heating system, door handles or property. Many of these items have a few handwritten words from the author. I rather liked these very busy, crammed pages but I could see that they might not be to everybody's taste.

This large paperback is a fascinating overview of a hundred years of American housing but if you want to see pictorial books with a more formal presentation have a look at these: 'Houses by Mail', by Katherine Stevenson and Ward Jandl, a picture and floor plan of the hundreds of styles sold by Sears Roebuck from 1908 to 1940. For domestic interiors of the fifties and sixties check out two books by Eugene Moore: Inspiring Interiors from Armstrong 1950s and Interior Solutions from Armstrong the 1960s both use several hundred room set photos taken from Armstrong flooring ads. For a really comprehensive study of past decades the Decorative Art series by Charlotte and Peter Fiell published by Taschen can't be beat.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Book Description

Michael Simpson tells in easy-to-understand steps, according to traditional methods, how to make several types of Native American pots.

Book Description

This easy-to-understand manual teaches users how to make architectural drawings using a computer and the AutoCAD 2005 program. It employs the prompt-response format in beginning exercises of all chapters to teach commands in a drawing situation. The book then provides exercises so learners can apply the commands on their own. New features of AutoCAD Release 2005 are described—e.g.: easy to use Table command for quickly creating professional quality tables such as parts lists, door and window schedules; Sheet Sets command for organizing drawings into sets with dynamic contents pages and other helpful features; redesigned AutoCAD Design Center; modeless dialog boxes; gradient hatch patterns for rendering isometric and two-dimensional drawings; and new plot/print dialog box for 2D and 3D printing and plotting. For individuals who need to learn AutoCAD—especially its fashion and interior design, computer-and architectural graphics, and space planning applications.

Book Description

An excellent resource for artists, designers, architects, craftspeople, or anyone interested in the decorative arts. First published in 1856, The Grammar of Ornament remains a design classic. Its inspiration came from the pioneering architect and designer Owen Jones. His observations of decorative art on his extensive travels in Europe and the Near East were employed to improve the poor quality of Western design. His goal was to change the Victorian habit of mixing elements from a wide variety of sources and applying this mix indiscriminately to buildings, graphic design, and products. His resulting study is a comprehensive analysis of a remarkable collection of styles of ornamental design -- from Ancient Egypt and Greece to Imperial China and Renaissance Italy. With its sumptuous illustrations, its detailed survey of individual cultures, and its manifesto of "General Principles," it offered guidance to the designers of the future. In this new edition the designs are further illuminated by Iain Zaczek's perceptive commentaries. Hugely influential since its first publication, The Grammar of Ornament inspired great figures such as William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright. Contemporary designers, entertained by the archaic charm of Jones's descriptions, are struck by the book's enduring relevance and its soundness regarding the essential principles of good design.

Customer Reviews:

Little Gem.......2006-02-08

I was disappointed when I first received this book. I had bought it as recommended reading for my design course and ordered it blindly. I don't know what I had expected but this wasn't it. Then, one day, I pulled it off my bookcase, looking for information on a certain type of design - and suddenly found myself enthralled with the beauty of this book. Let it not fool you, it's a beautiful little gem packed with design and information. Not a centimetre wasted.

Details, Details, Details..........2005-10-09

If you are looking for pure details for specific styles, this book is for you. If you are looking for overviews or full pictures, this may not be for you. If you are into design, I think it is a great resource to put on your shelf!

This CD is the best........2004-07-11

I have the thin booklet as a reference to the CD, which I purchased some years ago. If you do Webpage design this CD is a must have. Unlike other CDs of Grammar of Ornament this one has the images in EPSF, JPEG and PDF form. Others I've looked at only had PDF and that doesn't do me any good. I've used Fireworks from Macromedia's Studio MX Suite to make backgrounds and buttons for webpages made with Flash and Dreamweaver. If you can get your hands on this CD or any of the other CDs Direct Imagination has created, do it. I do think Grammar of Ornament is the best of all the ones Direct Imagination produced. Having the book for reference with it is handy, but if you can only get the CD alone, do it anyway. After a while you just know which plate has which graphic.

Pattern Paradise.......2001-10-30

This book was first published in 1856 and is a design classic! Owen Jones was born in 1809 and is a key figure in the history of British design. He was an architect and designer who taught in London during the 1850s.

He traveled in Europe and the Near East, were he helped to bring back ideas to improve the quality of Western design. This collection is a result of his comprehensive analysis of patterns. The sumptuous illustrations are presented in these sections:

Ornament of Savage Tribes

Egyptian Ornament
Assyrian and Persian Ornament
Greek Ornament
Pompeian Ornament
Roman Ornament
Byzantine Ornament
Arabian Ornament
Turkish Ornament
Moresque Ornament from the Alhambra
Persian Ornament
Indian Ornament
Hindoo Ornament
Chinese Ornament
Celtic Ornament
Mediaeval Ornament
Renaissance Ornament
Elizabethan Ornament
Italian Ornament
Leaves and Flowers from Nature

The original Preface to Owen Jones's original folio edition has been preserved and included. The general principles in the arrangement of form and color are listed so you can see which are advocated throughout this book.

If you are interested in reading about over 2,350 classic patterns (color engravings representing a vast range of ornamental styles), this is the book for you! More than likely, you will gravitate to one form of the other and concentrate your reading efforts on those sections.

The actual pictures are all numbered and the mediaeval section is especially beautiful.

Iain Zaczek has contributed to the commentaries in this work. He is an art historian and has written on a wide variety of subjects. He is also the author of The Essential William Morris, The essential Art Deco, and the Art of Illuminated Manuscripts.

A Gem.......2001-06-26

The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones is a highly regarded design classic, first published in 1856 and just as relevant today. The DK edition is a pleasure to examine (although you may need reading glasses to see the six-point type for some captions). The small format fits well in the hand and has a nice heft (504 pages at 1.3 inches thick). The paper is superb and the colored inks for the thousands of engravings brilliant and crisp. If you need a version that lays flat on your drawing table or a scanner bed, however, this one has some drawbacks. The images are very tight to the inner margins, and the glued binding difficult to keep open without breaking the back. That aside, the DK edition is beautiful and a great buy.

Book Description

G. I. Gurdjieff dominated early twentieth-century esoteric thought with his unsettling system of psychological development known as the Fourth Way. Much less is known about his brilliant follower, P.D. Ouspensky who disseminated Gurdjieff's ideas and greatly influenced the European avant garde. Most writers present him, in Gurdjieff's own words, as a weak man, unable to grasp his Master's teachings. Gary Lachman effectively undercuts this bias, interweaving biography with excerpts from Ouspensky's other writings to show that he had a strong mystical vision of his own, in stark contrast to Gurdjieff's concept as man as a machine.

Customer Reviews:

acceptable survey for casual readers.......2007-06-07

The partisan squabbles between the devotees of Ouspensky and those of Gurdjieff take place on roughly the same level as those between the advocates of the XBox and the Playstation, or the Yankees and Red Sox. But Lachman doesn't sink to their level, and his understanding of events is as near to the truth as we will probably see from any of these types. He is still sort of a moon-mad mystic, but not nearly to the degree of William Patterson or J G Bennett or any of the other lost souls who have written about these subjects in the past. However, there is little new in this book, and the author's understanding of Ouspensky's most important ideas is obviously quite shallow, as he concentrates on the more incidental aspects of his work. Those who have read the sourceworks, almost all of which are decades old, won't find this book to be of much value.

The Gurdjieff work is a hundred miles wide and one foot deep. Just deep enough for those who can't swim to drown in, as Ouspensky almost did. The work isn't without value; many of Gurdjieff's ideas are basically correct, but everything he knew can be found in superior form in other places. All of Gurdjieff's ideas are distortions of things he got from other places, but he wasn't sophisticated enough to always tell the good from the bad, and he mixes wisdom and foolishness together in a salad of roughly equal parts. And much of what Gurdjieff taught, such as the necessity of group work or self-observation as endless toil, is the opposite of truth. Gurdjieff was a man who asked the right questions, but got all the answers wrong. Partly because Gurdjieff was a second-rate mystic with a second-rate mind, and partly because he was like all gurus: he had a deep-seated need to manipulate others and take financial advantage of them. I have seen his type repeatedly and known some of them personally. They are all the same. They take bits and pieces of other people's ideas and use them to impress the gullible. Ouspensky was able to separate what little good there was in Gurdjieff from the little con man himself, but grew too attached to the ideas before finally rejecting them.

It is Ouspensky's work that is of serious interest, but really only parts of it, mainly his thinking on spatial dimensions. It is a tragedy of epic proportions that Ouspensky abandoned his real work for the shallow occultism of the dubious Gurdjieff, and it doesn't speak well of Ouspensky's more mystical side. But that isn't the side of Ouspensky that will stand the test of time.

To this day, his two books Tertium Organum and New Model of the Universe are at the cutting edge of human thought. They show the real direction that our conceptions of space and time should take, not the mathematically correct but logically ridiculous direction physics has taken. And yet, no doubt largely because of his association with the little Armenian con man, the enormous importance of Ouspensky's work is largely forgotten by all but a few.

Those two books show how to overcome the paradoxes of not just physics, but of philosophy. Nothing like them exists, or has ever existed. If you understand his ideas, their truth cannot be denied on any level. Unlike the endless double-bind prison that constitutes the "thought" of the "fourth way", the essays in those two books can change the way you perceive the world in the most fundamental way imaginable. But they are beyond both the reach and grasp of people with no more intelligence or common sense than occult disciples, which is why the people most likely to encounter them get very little from them.

To his eternally recurring credit, Ouspensky abandoned and renounced the Gurdjieff system late in life, realizing at last that it was a dead end, a dangerous distraction. It is ironic that Ouspensky is remembered mostly for his book on Gurdjieff, which is the least of his works and the very thing that keeps the Gurdjieff movement going. Indeed, much of the better stuff people tend to give Gurdjieff credit for was, in fact, Ouspensky all along. Without Ouspensky to make his ideas semi-coherent, there never would have been a Gurdjieff movement. It would have died with Gurdjieff.

In any event, it has been noticed by too few that many of the ideas credited to Gurdjieff, such as the antiquity of the Sphinx, for example, are mentioned in Ouspensky's books long before Gurdjieff professed them, in altered form, later on. And Gurdjieff himself said he would beg Ouspensky to be his teacher if Ouspensky "understood" his own books! From this we can gather that Gurdjieff read Ousepensky's early classics, admired them, and very likely appropriated many of Ouspensky's own ideas, only to regurgitate them back at their originator later on, as part of Gurdjieff's own admittedly "stolen" hodgepodge of ideas. No wonder Ouspensky was so impressed with him.

My recommendation is to read Ouspensky's two early classics, then come back to this biography if you are interested in more information on this fascinating man. But only if you haven't already read any of the existing biographical literature.

Lachman comes up short on both insight and useful information.......2005-12-22

Gurdjieff was certainly not infallible, by his own admission, let alone dozens of others who knew him. He made errors--one of which may have been placing so much hope in Ouspensky, especially during the Russian phase of his evolving teaching.

But he was able to embody and transmit his teaching to the whole person. Ouspensky became, by HIS own admission as told in Lachman's book, as elsewhere, merely a 'professional philosopher,' lost in mental abstractions and super-ego fixations devoid of practical application, leading not only his groups, but many new to the Gurdjieff ideas astray.

Lachman's book tries to be an apologia for a lopsidedly brilliant (in the mental sense) man, but succeeds only in being cringingly lazy, recycling (sometimes almost verbatim) not only Ouspensky's own highly worthy IN SEARCH OF.../FRAGMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN TEACHING but dozens of superior books about Gurdjieff.

Lachman's tired endnote about that 'quaaaaaazy' Mr. Gurdjieff's own ALL & EVERYTHING volumes--how 'needlessly obtuse' they are, how Gurdjieff 'just made up' words (laughable to anyone who bothers to explore context, sound, and etymology)--is one of many not-so-subtle red flags about his own bias, a threadbare thesis supported by his cherry-picking the stuff which makes Ouspensky seem the misguided, wounded genius.

Lachman wants to give Ouspensky brownie points for being such a gentleman, explaining so-called "Fourth Way" ideas in such a beautifully straightforward manner. Actually, that was exemplary of a significant part of Ouspensky's (appropriately called by Gurdjieff "Mr. Wraps-The-Thought,") problem, as he himself all but admitted at the end of his life.

Lachman hardly bothers to dig deeper as William Patrick Patterson at least tries to in STRUGGLE OF THE MAGICIANS, investigating WHY Gurdjieff taught as he did, and WHAT he was trying to get at in order to make Ouspensky see himself. Ouspensky only did this when it was (almost?) too late.

As evidenced in these reviews, some adore the chance to disparage Gurdjieff's teaching and the unfortunate things they 'observed' in association with it every chance they get. The teaching itself is not the same thing as the distortions perpetrated by persons who use their version of these ideas for their own egotistical ends.

It is likely they have never really known a person who was properly instructed to practice what Gurdjieff actually taught. Lachman's book is actually evidence of this, in an indirect way--of what happens when the half-educated instruct and the blind lead the blind. Gurdjieff predicted that this would happen to his ideas. Like much else, unfortunately he was right.

A vital weblink you can visit which sheds a great deal of light on the important similarities and differences between Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's ideas and approach:

http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/lindh.html

In both philosophies and in books, as always--buyer beware.

Pretense gossip written by ex-blondie ex-iggy-pop punk-rocker.......2005-07-23

Gary Lachman and Gary Valentine (guitarist with Blondie and Iggy Pop + author) are one and the same person.
There is nothing wrong with this, but worth to know.

Lachman has taken over the role to bring P.D. Ouspensky back into respect as some are in need to discredit Ouspensky without knowing him personally nor having really worked in his groups (NOT the FOF alias Burton Society). Well, the orig. Ouspensky groups stopped existing really after his death, so there was no chance, but gossip-needy as some are (W.P.Patterson), there is no need for a book written by somebody who doesn't have a clue what the 4th.way work is all about.

So if Gary Valentine alias Lachman writes a book like this, he will NOT bring back respect to somebody who served the 4.th way to his possible best, i.e. deserves respect, but the opposite is achieved:

Lachman's book is so full of nonsense, halfbaked truth's and often deliberate lies, that it would be better he wrote a book about Robert Burton, who might quite well be behind Lachman.

"Fourth Way" Escape Manual.......2005-04-28

Gary Lachman's book is essentially predicated upon what we already knew about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky from primary and secondary sources. However, the book's very special character stems from the author's brilliant synthesis of all that material. One might criticize the book for its dependence on secondary sources. But such criticism badly misses the mark.

In my judgment, the real value of Mr. Lachman's work is that it humanizes the so-called "Fourth Way," something that has, heretofore, never been attempted, let alone achieved. The book is a lucid and fascinating demythologization of both an erstwhile practical "philosophy," and the concealed personalities behind it. It provides a badly needed hermeneutic by which one can decipher the manner in which the sly man behind the curtain plied his hypnogogic craft. The man I have in mind, of course, is Gurdjieff.

Lachman is absolutely correct to suggest that Ouspensky denied his better self, and neglected his own (in my estimation, more important) work, to pursue the idiosyncratic and synthetic occultism of Gurdjieff. Lachman gives us a masterly depiction of the process of decline of Ouspensky the man, as well as his metaphysical thought world. It is truly tragedy on an epic scale, and Lachman adeptly chronicles the monumental pathos without disfiguring the human beings involved in the drama.

Besides all the obvious merits of Lachman's book, allow me to touch on one that has been thus far neglected in any reviews of which I am aware. In fact, allow me to go so far as to suggest that it is the chief merit of this important book. That is, Gary Lachman opens a way for Fourth Way devotees to gain some objective insight into their precarious existential situation. He reveals the people and personalities behind the dogma and ritualism of the Fourth Way worldview. He exposes the true and concrete dimensions of the "work," not in any theoretical or purely historical manner, but as it actually was and is for the people bound to the "system." He lays bare the roots of Fourth Way "philosophy" in the person and personality of one man, G. I. Gurdjieff, and displays the catastrophic and appalling outcome of the imposition of one man's will upon that of another.

In my own meetings with remarkable wo/men over the years, I have never met a more remarkably rigid, mechanical, and unimaginative lot as those who are devotees of Beelzebub, the sly Monsieur Gurdjieff. They are blindly caught in the neurotic-obsessive drive to actualize a superhuman, godlike Self. Their uncomprehending devotion to the religion of spiritual self-idolatry surpasses anything with which I have come into contact. This penetrating and sadly amusing irony escapes no one except his very obedient and unthinking disciples. Now there is an "escape manual" for them to consult. I cannot, of course, say that this was one of the intentions of the author in writing his book. My guess is that it must have at least been in the back of his mind. In any event, we owe Mr. Lachman a debt of gratitude for a very fine and interesting book, and furthermore, one with the potential to do great good.

-- Michael J. Langlais, Ph.D.

The Ouspensky enigma .......2005-02-18

This study of the philosopher-mystic Ouspensky breaks new ground, and also dares to challenge the Gurdjieff mystique, with a refreshing look at the author of Tertium Organon, the man before meeting the sufi shark, who wrecked his natural development and left a broken man in his place. Hopefully this book can help many to stand back and not get mesmerized by the 'fourth way' game. Almost everyone susceptible to these writings at all lacks the ability extricate themselves from the entanglement or move on to something more useful. I never met anyone who was ever helped by thrashing through this spiritual way, it simply leaves people confused and, ironically, more mechanical than before. It is hard not to suspect the whole game wasn't even intended to help the people it snared, and even a superficial acquaintance with sufis tells one that's no exaggeration. The whole issue of the Work, and the relationship of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff has gone on far too long, become rancid, with no productive result, and in the process has confused too many people, thousands in fact who need to be released from what was all too obvious a flypaper 'spiritual path' never designed to really help anyone. Such deceptive people are sadly part of the Sufi world and its shadowy mafia,it's no big mystery anymore and it is time people had the courage to stand up to the obsessive domination tactics concocted by such dishonest people.

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