Average customer rating:
- A must read for those going to Japan
- Recommended
- To the point information, all you need to get around!
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to Japan
Will Ferguson
Manufacturer: Charles E. Tuttle Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Asia
| Travel
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| Books
General
| Japan
| Asia
| Travel
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Guidebooks
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
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General
| Travel
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Similar Items:
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Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan
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Lonely Planet Japan
ASIN: 0804820686 |
Customer Reviews:
A must read for those going to Japan.......2002-05-10
I just finished this book today. My wife bought it prior to a 16 day trip to Japan, and is still reading it. Although the book chronicles his hitchiking from south to north in Japan, supposedly tied in with the sakura front (the blossoming of cherry blossoms as they move north) it is the best book I have ever read to gain insight into the Japanese mentality and attitudes. I've been there many times, but this book was like a refresher course on relationships with Japanese. This is a companion book to Lonely Planet's Japan Guide, at least to my way of thinking.
Recommended.......2000-06-13
For those who plan to tour Japan and want to see something besides the admittedly enjoyable megacities, this is a must-bring book. Rather than the check-everything-off-the-list credo of Lonely Planet travelling, this book is more of a starter point, showing the best tricks and methods to travel around Japan. His recommended tours are interesting and well thought out.
I have a few complaints about the book, though. Others may disagree, but I found hitchhiking annoying when done too often, and would vary it with taking the train, which wasn't always expensive. I think Ferguson too rarely brings up the importance of speaking Japanese: while hitchhiking is possible (if not as fun) for friends of mine who can barely speak it, some of his recommended activities would be very difficult for non-Japanese speakers. Also, the book gives exact directions how to hitchhike an exact route. While merely a format for the book, hitchhiking (and touring) is a lot sloppier than that...plus it runs counter to the do-it-yourself philosophy of the book. All forgivable problems, but worth watching out for when using the book.
I thought touring around Japan was great fun, very easy, very safe, and only occasionally too expensive. There isn't the overtouristing so common elsewhere. I strongly recommend people to "bum around" Japan, and this book is the best guide to doing it.
To the point information, all you need to get around!.......1999-04-20
If you like traveling cheap, and meeting great people as you do it, this book is for you. The small cultural details included are invaluable as you will constantly run into them. The travels plans laid out are specific and don't leave much room for guesswork. Make a special note of the importance of visiting Kyoto and Nara. This area is most like the old traditional Japan. Happy Hitchhiking!
Book Description
What all managers need to know about growth in a turbulent world
Especially in these turbulent times, good risk management is about exploiting opportunities for growth while protecting value already created. To do this, corporate leaders must, first and foremost, learn to manage the chain of cause and effect between risk and shareholder value. Now Risk shows them how. As vice chairs of the international consulting giant KPMG L.L.P., authors Mary Pat McCarthy and Tim Flynn are uniquely qualified to offer executives and senior managers this ultimate primer on risk and its optimization and management.
- Packed with case studies and exclusive interviews with executives of many Fortune 500 companies
- Explores the most successful risk management strategies now in use internationally and offers prescriptions for adapting them to any company
Customer Reviews:
Simplistic review of topics without much detail.......2006-09-06
I purchased this book hoping to get some deeper understanding of risk (e.g., approaches for measuring risk, how to quantify risk.) This book was way too high level to achieve that goal. It is a quick read with lots of case examples that would be helpful if you're giving someone a high level overview of Risk Management. However, if you want to understand these topics at a slightly detailed level or deeper, you should probably look at the more text book style books on risk management.
Mixed Bag.......2006-04-30
Although it makes a reasonable attempt to cover the waterfront and there were were a few gems in this book, I found the fluff factor to be too high to give it more than three stars. Silly quotations, folksy homilies, and a tiresome reliance on quotes from people who didn't really didn't have brilliant insights and an entire chapter (the second) that was clearly 25 pages of pure and irrelevent padding mar an otherwise credible treatment of the subject.
For example, in the first (introductory) section, one of the three chapters is almost a throw-away; the other two being helpful but not brilliant. In the second section (50 pages) on mitigation, readers are presented with a pretty basic treatment of the subject, with only a few deep insights. The last section, which comprises 100 pages (or about 1/3 of the book) the authors make an attempt to focus on the meat of the matter. Again, I was disappointed that they did so in little more than a superficial manner. The copyright being held by KPMG, I had to wonder if the soft-pedalling of the spectacular failures of executive, board and internal audit of the recent past were glossed over in the interests of not offending any current or potential clients.
While the authors occasionally make effective use of analogy, such as comparing risk to water, which can be channelled to good effect, there were parts I disagreed with (for instance, the role of the external auditor, much of which I believe can and should be performed by the internal auditors)
In summary, it is broad and reasoned enough to be credible, but not sufficiently insightful or scholarly to be held up as a classic in the important and ever-evolving area of corporate governance. A tip-off should have been a glance at the scanty endnotes; one of them being from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvannia. Not to disparage theology (which goes largely unheralded as being the grandfather of risk management), but had the authors dealt more with the gritty aspects of CEO/Board success and failure with risk and tapped into the rich veins professional literature that has arisen over the last 2-3 decades (instead of skating over it) this book might have earned at least one more star. There is certainly no shortage of material from which to draw.
Not very Useful.......2005-02-23
The book delivers what it promises the so-called CEO perspective. Its just a chatty overview, useless for actual risk management at any level. Maybe they should use it as an introductory MBA book for those who have no exposure to finance at all.
Highly Recommended.......2004-04-22
This is an easily accessible, short and reasonably thorough introduction to the subject of risk. The authors touch on almost every dimension of the topic, including financial risk, operational risk, reputation risk, governance risk and even the risk of terrorist attack. The book might have been quite a bit shorter and somewhat more focused on corporate management if the authors, KPMG vice chairs Mary Pat McCarthy and Timothy P. Flynn had tightened their anecdotes about anti-terrorist preparations at the Olympic Games. However, they seem to have believed that they would lose readers unless they provided a few entertaining distractions, and they could be right. Though it breaks little new ground, it plows the old ground interestingly. We recommend this portable summary of useful information to the CEOs and board members who are its intended audience, as well as to anyone responsible for risk management.
Extremely helpful and informative.......2004-03-22
This book is perfect for the times, an informative, interesting read with illustrative real-world examples. I particularly enjoyed Chapter 7 "We the People of the Board" and Chapter 8 "Audit Committee: Risk and Regulation" for the practical guidance insight provided. All in all, a digestible primer on key risk issues.
Average customer rating:
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Lovebirds: A Complete Introduction
George Radyke
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Birds
| Animal Care & Pets
| Home & Garden
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| Books
General
| Animal Care & Pets
| Home & Garden
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ASIN: 0866223827 |
Average customer rating:
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Cylinder Musical Box Design and Repair
H.A.V. Bulleid
Manufacturer: Vestal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Home & Garden
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| Books
Music Boxes
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Home & Garden
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General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
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General
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ASIN: 0930256166 |
Book Description
A detailed guide to builders, musical arrangements, mechanical construction and restoration.
Customer Reviews:
Best moderately priced plant/garden problem solver book on the market .......2007-08-07
I searched a long long time for a decent, yet reasonably priced problem solving book for plants/gardens. This book had the answers I was looking for; it really is three books in one. There is a section for basic plant maintanence and prevention, problems by plant types (blueberry, apples, roses, exc.), a flow sheet that shows what symptoms will manifest if (leaves, roots, bark, exc.) are being attacked by an invader, and an in depth section on damaging and beneficial creatures (with color photos). This book gives you everything you need to get started and problem solve your plant or garden. A solid book, and a good investment.
Western Garden Problem Solver.......2005-09-09
It is very informative. I'm new to gardening, so this will be a great help to me.
Great book -- puts one's mind at ease.......2002-05-09
This is a must-have book for any gardener or anyone who has the luxury of a gardener, second only to the Sunset Western Garden Book. It is superb at describing and illustrating problems and instructs you on what can be done, if anything. For example, it told us that the sudsy-looking substance on plants was relatively harmless and there is nothing much we can do about it. That put our minds at ease so we can move on to tackle other, more pressing problems. Sunset rules when it comes to their gardening books and their magazine!
Another indespensable book for the western gardener........1998-12-18
This is the best book I've seen on identifying problems in your garden. Clear color pictures make identifying diseases, weeds, insects and other pests easy and it tells you the most benign way to rid your garden of the problem. Insects good for the garden are shown as well, so you know what to kill and what to keep. Several chapters cover how to prevent problems from occuring in the first place. A heavy emphasis on evironmental gardening.
Average customer rating:
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Jerry Baker's Flower Garden Problem Solver: 786 Fast Fixes for Your Favorite Flowers (Jerry Baker's Good Gardening series)
Jerry Baker
Manufacturer: American Master Products, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Jerry Baker
| Expert Advice
| Home & Garden
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General
| Flowers
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
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General
| Gardening & Horticulture
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Similar Items:
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Jerry Baker's Giant Book of Garden Solutions: 1,954 Natural Remedies to Handle Your Toughest Garden Problems (Jerry Baker's Good Gardening series)
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Jerry Baker's Perfect Perennials!: Hundreds of Fantastic Flower Secrets for Your Garden (Jerry Baker's Good Gardening series)
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Jerry Baker's Year-Round Bloomers: Hundreds of Super Secrets for the Backyard Gardener (Jerry Baker's Good Gardening series)
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Jerry Baker's Backyard Problem Solver: 2,168 Natural Solutions for Growing Great Grass, Super Shrubs, Bright Bulbs, Perfect Perennials, Amazing Annuals, Vibrant Vegetables, Terrific Trees, and Much, Much More!
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The Impatient Gardener
ASIN: 0922433461 |
Book Description
Timeless wisdom on growing a flower garden accompanies creative, professional secrets in this guide to caring for blossoms. This asters-to-zinnias growing guide features starter tips, common problems, and seasonal advice for 85 varieties of the most popular flowers. Essential aesthetic details of garden design and landscaping are discussed with attention to the challenges that sloping and uneven ground present. Common garden problems are easily fixed through homemade sprays and fertilizers and creative use of common household products to encourage the growth of beautiful and healthy flowers.
Book Description
Identifies and solves common problems facing flowers, making this guide a must-have resource for all gardeners.
The "garden-ready," waterproof format means readers can use the book outside—where they actually need the book—without damaging pages.
The convenient, compact, lay-flat design ensures quick and easy travel from the house to the garden.
Gives gardener straightforward answers to a wide variety of flower questions and concerns.
Customer Reviews:
A Must for the Gardener's Bookshelf.......2007-07-11
What an informative book! Now I know why the chipmunks were digging up my bulbs, but not eating them. I found out what was making the notches on my lily of the valley (weevils) and what to do about it. I learned I should prune back my ajuga and give winter protection for the azaleas and rhododendrons. I also found out what the strange growths were on the azaleas.
This book covers hundreds of plants with a description, planting tips, and most common diseases and treatment. Being Rodale, the treatment is the most environmentally friendly way to solve your landscape problem.
A book I am thankful to own.......2001-02-10
This book provides easy to find solutions to your disease and insect problems. It is organized by plant common names, and there is loads of information on pests and problems associated with each plant named. I only wish there were a larger variety of less common plants. But most common ornamentals are included.
Average customer rating:
- Rodale's Flower Garden Problem Solver: Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses
- Solving flower garden problems organically
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Rodale's Flower Garden Problem Solver: Annuals, Perennials Bulbs, and Roses
Jeff Ball , and
Liz Ball
Manufacturer: MJF Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Flowers
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
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Similar Items:
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Rodale's Landscape Problem Solver: A Plant-By-Plant Guide
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Rodale's Garden Problem Solver: Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs
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Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener
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Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses
ASIN: 1567310451 |
Amazon.com
Are gophers gobbling up your garden? Pests preying on your prized peonies? Not happy with your hyacinths? Don't despair! Your plants and garden can be restored to perfect health with this handy reference guide. Black-and-white illustrations accompany the alphabetical listings of plants and their assortment of plagues. You'll find advice about how to prevent problems before they become serious, recipes for natural and organic treatments to ward off insects and other creatures, and what type of plants are best suited to your climate and soil conditions. The chapter on gardening basics, with recipes for different types of organic fertilizers and quicker composts as well as tips on how and where to place particular flowers, will help a newcomer get started. Plant this book in the garage, right next to the rake, hoe, and spade, and use it as a basic tool for getting your garden in great shape.
Customer Reviews:
Rodale's Flower Garden Problem Solver: Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses.......2007-04-03
Excellent resource for Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses care and maintenance.
Solving flower garden problems organically.......2000-05-02
If you consider yourself an organic gardener, this book is for you. There are three main sections to the book. The first part lists specific plants and is divided into chapters for annuals, perennials, bulbs and roses. Each flower has the following information: description, ideal environments, propagation, general care, most common insect pests and most common diseases. This is the part of the book I've found most helpful when there's a problem with a plant. Just look up the plant and locate the problem signs and the book gives suggestions on how to solve the problem organically. The second section has three chapters; Insects, Diseases and Animal Pests. Here pests are described, and information is given as to most obvious symptoms, best control strategies, monitoring, preventing damage and plants affected. The last section is a chapter on gardening basics. There are two things I don't like about this book. As many pests affect more than one type of plant, there is a lot of repeated information. A much greater variety of plants could be included if, when listing the symptoms, the author referred you to the pest section for problem solving. The second is that it would be nice to have pictures instead of line drawings to make identification easier. Overall, I enjoy this book and refer to it frequently to solve garden problems.
Average customer rating:
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The Garden Problem Solver (Sucessful Gardening)
Reader's Digest
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Flowers
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0895776758 |
Amazon.com
In spite of years of trying to raise a few pitiful flowers in the beds around the street trees in my very urban neighborhood in San Francisco, battling the dogs, the kids, the plant thieves, the people who dump garbage (and hypodermic needles, broken toilets, and leftover Kentucky Fried Chicken. etc.) in my flower beds, I am not a very good gardener. In fact, I've always been too proud to admit that even without the outright assaults on my flowers and shrubs, a lot of the things I plant would probably not make it anyway, due to bugs, the wrong light, the wrong climate, over-watering or under-watering. Finally, though, I have a reference guide for horticultural problems that have always eluded me. This book is it! Perhaps with armed guards and some trained Doberman Pinschers, I will finally be able to raise some lush, colorful flowers out there in front of my house. With luck.
Customer Reviews:
The Great Garden Book.......2000-04-22
This book helped me to get through a lot of problems I had in my garden. You can find the answer to over 1,000 problems in your garden including problems with vegetables, flowers, shrubs, etc.It is also very well organized.
Average customer rating:
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The GARDEN PROBLEM SOLVER: 101 SOLUTIONS TO COMMON LANDSCAPING PROBLEMS
Catriona T. Erler
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
General
| Flowers
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
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General
| Gardening & Horticulture
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Landscape
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
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General
| Techniques
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0671798049 |
Average customer rating:
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Jerry Baker's Problem Solvers: Landscaping
Manufacturer: The YardenCare Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Pamphlet
Jerry Baker
| Expert Advice
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000EBI7OG |
Product Description
Rarin' to grow, but don't know where to start? In Jerry Baker's Landscaping Problem Solvers Book, you'll find quick and easy solutions to the most common landscaping problems including: Soil problems, Colorful problems, Weeds-no-more, Security problems, Mulch magic, Drought problems, plus much much more!
Average customer rating:
- A simple means to making something beautiful.
- Supurbly illustrated, inspirational, highly instructive.
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The stenciled house: An inspirational and practical guide to transforming your home
Lyn Le Grice
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Decorative Arts
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
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Stenciling
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
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General
| Home & Garden
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ASIN: 0671666703 |
Customer Reviews:
A simple means to making something beautiful........2001-09-16
One common thread in all my artistic endeavors has been the idea of transformation. I feel it is a wonderful magic to see something transformed from plain,possibly ugly, into something giving a sense of the beauty of design and color. This author, Lyn Le Grice,a trained designer with highly refined drawing skills, has become an authority in the field of stencilling and its use in interior design. She tells how early in her career she hit on this simple technique of using auto spray paint sprayed through linseed oil soaked manila card stencils to achieve beautiful rooms. In this book, she takes this ramshackle old house in Cornwall, and stencilling walls,floors, furniture, and fabrics, she transforms the place into the most delightful palace. She shows pictures of the Befores and the Afters are astonishing. It seems difficult to believe that just simple stencilling could achieve such a change. The photography of the house is top notch and the book is beautifully printed. It is a delight for decor aficionados like myself to leaf through the book and dream about what we too might do to transform our own rooms.
Supurbly illustrated, inspirational, highly instructive........1999-02-04
A true artist and teacher, Le grice inspires and instructs in this supurbly illustrated work. Her original stencils, from simple motifs to full scale murals, and her unusual spray paint method transform a home into a work of art.
Customer Reviews:
James Dean experimented with gay life to please the gay man.......2006-04-14
I have read countless biographies about James Dean and this one is the closest to a wet dream for a gay man who doesn't want to believe that James Dean really was not attracted to men. He was a people pleaser when it came down to relationships away from the both the stage and the screen. He had no problem letting his co-stars know he didn't like them by ignoring them or acting like a child around them to get them to leave him alone and his directors, especially George Stevens, whose direction in Giant he did not agree with, he would not show up to the set some days. With the guys he hung around with, the author included, he just really wanted to hang around. When they wanted something more, he just agreed to it. The restrictions were that he was not going to do the work.
This James Dean told to many friends who are still alive. He did mention to Dizzy that he let the producers do things to him just to get that part in a play or television show. Most of the time James Dean got those roles without any help from these producers. Elia Kazan saw Jimmy perform on stage in The Immoralist where he was cast as a gay man who tries to tempt the man of the house to whom he works for to engage in some homosexual activities. All the while in character, he knew firt-hand how to act this role because he told his New York friends that he knew how to get these fools attention just so he could get what he wanted and if Jimmy didn't get a role promised to him by some gay producer he was very upset and quick to tell his friends what he really thought about what these men. James Dean respected gay life in the sense that he was out to tell anyone how to live their lives which was unlike where he grew up in Indiana where they are very homophobic. He always experimented when drunk mind you. Did you notice that every time Jimmy experimented it was after he got drunk or stoned somewhere. Look, the writer may have experimented with James Dean but he wasn't really interested in what the author was selling. The fact that James asked the author once in the book to be sexual like a woman is a clear indicator that James Dean was a heterosexual who liked to play games with people. That is all.
The only true love of James Dean's life is Pier Angeli. This has been proven by first-hand accounts by his friends, most of whom are still alive. His co-star in the film East of Eden, actress Julie Harris has mentioned in a documentary about James Dean that James Dean told her over and over how he had never felt this kind of love before. James Dean wasn't in love with any man, Dizzy Sheridan, or any other actress he had been with. Actor Martin Landau, his friend in New York, has listened to James Dean talk about how much in love he was with Pier Angeli while he was away from her in New York filming a television movie. Another documented interview with actress Jane Withers, his co-star in Giant, to whom he confided his feelings for Pier Angeli and how devastated he really was when he saw her in her wedding gown outside the church with Vic Damone, is with Larry King. Larry King, at one time, interviewed James Dean's friends and former co-stars who remember details about his life and loves and not only did Jane Withers tell Larry King about how much Jimmy loved Pier but one of the actors who played one of the bad guys who chase Jimmy in Rebel Without a Cause has stated that he remembered hanging around Jimmy off the set of Rebel and he had told him that he really loves this woman and he couldn't believe that she married Vic Damone and was having his baby. He said he was torn up. The author of this book failed to do his research on this matter because he wished he could have been Pier Angeli in James Dean's eyes.
gut wrenching scorcher.......2006-01-15
I got this book back when it first came out in 1997 under its original title, 'Remembering the Short Life of James Dean, and have loved it ever since. Contrary to the views of the literary snobs and prudish nostalgia junkies, this is a bold and gut- wrenching scorcher of a biography. It comes to us from the memories and noir-stylings of John Gilmore, the former child actor, screen writer, director and Hollywood culture visionary.Being a hardcore Dean fan for 21 years, I've perused and collected all manner of Dean biographies and other memorabilia, but never have I come across any source that equals the strength and clarity of Gilmore's groundbreaking work. This powerful first-hand account of the enigmatic and elusive actor is hard to put down, even eight years later as I go through it again. From the sad and grim opening pages, as Gilmore takes us into the immediate aftermath of Dean's violent death and the pain his loss caused the author, to his unique approach and motivations for writing such a personal memoir, this tome never lets up. The vivid and gritty anecdotes, the naked psychological disections are staggering in this very original approach to James Dean the person. Taken with Val Holley's honest and penetrating 1995 effort, James Dean:The Biography, one comes as close to the flesh and blood young man as we will likely ever get. From the beginning it is obvious that the driving force behind Dean's infinite complexity and troubled nature was not only the early loss of his beloved mother, but the subsequent rejection and emotional abandonment of Jimmy by his father, Winton. Gilmore's painful honesty here brings Dean's sad childhood into focus like no other previous writer. Winton is revealed as having been an emotionally vacant and cold blooded man, forced into a marriage and fatherhood that he quickly found to be stale and filled with responsibilities he never anticipated. Gilmore exposes the father of James Dean as being stilted, cruel and abusive-by-indifference.He wanted out from under the crushing entrapment of a sickly, frail wife and a "girlish weakling" of a son. Mildred Dean's death set the stage for Winton's new-found freedom, but it more ominously began the restless, lonely and confused life of his son. John Gilmore was a 17 year old struggling actor when he met Dean in New York around 1953. They were both from broken homes and had indifferent fathers. Most of their support, emotional and otherwise, came from an assortment of other family members, and for the most part, each had to find his own way in the world. Dean and Gilmore shared much in their brief and intense friendship, including an exploration of a sexual nature that Gilmore details in a way that reveals the adventurous and fearless curiousity of two 'bad boy' types. Including many previously unpublished photos taken by Dean of Gilmore,a rare shot of the controversial mentor of Dean, the Rev, James DeWeerd and many classic shots of Jimmy, Gilmore's memoir of his time with the mercurial rebel exposes the fraudulence and irresponsible prejudices of many previous works on Dean that pander to the conservative sensitivities of the right-wing nostalgia crowd.One who approaches this complex tale with hopes of confirming Dean's alleged homosexuality will be further confounded when they read between the lines. Gilmore eloquently addresses this issue and the result will surprise many while it increases the scope of this fascinating and multifaceted icon. Since its original publication, Live Fast, Die Young has created uproar and controversy, but perhaps not as much as it would have if Paul Alexander's Boulevard of Broken Dreams had not gone to the firing squad first. The lesson I got from this study on James Dean is that his short, restless life was about the search for emotional and artistic freedom. It also showed what can lie behind the glossy sheen of accepted myth and tradition: that being a genuine human being more interesting and vital than any movie magazine legend. There's been some question as to John Gilmore's taste in what he has revealed here. I think what other previous writers chose to ignore, when it was right in front of them ,is far more tasteless AND questionable.The final chapters deal with the painful struggle of Gilmore and other Dean friends to understand and cope with his sudden death. This includes a shocking detail which left this reader all the more saddened by Dean's fate. As if his story isn't sad and poignant enough, now comes this haunting capstone to an already powerful story. I cannot recommend this book enough for the progressive mind and the serious student of James Dean. Paul Waters
Tabloid concoction.......2005-10-17
The review supplied by "Moviemadman," which reads suspiciously as if it could be the author of the book writing under a pseudonym, surely deserves a comment all its own.
Gilmore's book cannot be taken in any way as a "personal into-the-head-and-life" view of James Dean, whatever such jargon really means. It is more a personal probe into the author's own head, where we are treated to his desperately dated idea of porn and a dose of his ham-fisted imagination, period. Further, one feels that Gilmore is wise to have left accurate, honest, historical accounts of Dean's life to defensively derided "academic boys," as they at least try to get to the truth of the subject. But this is clearly a goal Gilmore avoids; truth would seem to be unavailable to him, as evidenced by the blather he puts forth in place of substantiated biographical detail.
Gilmore also modestly claims that Dean considered him "a Rimbaud-like character." His tabloid journalistic approach to biography of course in no way qualifies him for comparison with Arthur Rimbaud. And at the age Gilmore was when he purportedly knew Dean, few of Gilmore's extant literary or poetic works would seem to have qualified him as the French poet's peer. Dean may have needed glasses, but he was hardly myopic when it came to his assessment of his friends, nor was he inclined to cheap flattery, no matter the recipient. Were Gilmore aware of the scope of Rimbaud's talent, his effect on literature, and indeed the circumstances of his life, perhaps he would not have made such a preposterous claim. But then, of course, he did write this silly book.
Yes, Gilmore's book is "hard to take," because it is so riddled with inaccuracies and what appears as downright invention. A "fearless work?" If by "fearless" you mean "reckless," maybe. Gross, certainly. But reliable, it aint.
THE BEST PERSONAL BOOK ON JAMES DEAN.......2005-10-11
LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG (by John Gilmore), outshines other bios on the actor as being a personal into-the-head-and-life of James Dean account of a time and era. I've read interviews with Gilmore who makes no claims of being an "historian" or a "journalist" and says he leaves that for the "academic" boys. He speaks to us from the gut in LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG, as he does in his other books, and this body of work has made him a "counter-culture" hero or icon; a REBEL in the literary field as Dean was a rebel in the acting field. In LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG, Dean calls Gilmore a Rimbaud character (the French poet, Arthur Rimbaud, one of the most proclaimed rebels of all time). LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG is often hard to take due to the nature or undercurrent of emotional torque present in this author's works. Not just a sit-and-read writer, if allowed into your head, Gilmore can possibly change perspectives. An example: his book L.A. DESPAIR puts you through an emotional wringer, and this book on James Dean is solid impact. A fearless work, a DIFFERENT kind of book, but controversial.
A FANTASTIC BOOK .......2005-09-29
One of the best books I have ever read on James Dean. Unfortunately, this book is unavailable from the distributor and is currently out of print. I had just learned that another US edition is forthcoming from another publisher, with added material from the author's personal files, like letters and poems written by Jimmy. It is also my understanding that the book will be released after the 50th hullabaloo has passed and all the peanuts and popcorn has been sold. John Gilmore, thank you for having written such a book that takes a reader into the personal world of James Dean. This is indeed pure gold. Good luck in getting a copy until the new edition is available.
Book Description
In the Autumn of 1891, Oscar Wilde set about conquering literary Paris. Gide was dazzled by the Irishman's energy and verve, but was driven to the edge of a nervous breakdown by Wilde's merciless paradoxes and questioning of religious faith. The two writers met repeatedly over the next ten years in France, Italy, and North Africa, both before and after Wilde's imprisonment. But by the time Wilde died in Paris in 1900, the tables had been turned. He was impoverished and disgraced, while Gide was well launched on a literary career that would make him the most famous French writer of his generation and win him the Nobel Prize. Andre and Oscar charts the stormy emotions of the Gide-Wilde friendship as well as the influence they had on each other. But it also looks at the two men's live through the eyes of their mothers, their wives, and their lovers, documented largely through diaries and letters from the period and illustrated with contemporary photographs. The book also provides an often surprising insight into what W. H. Auden would much later call the "Homintern" - an international network of gay men and their young companions - as well as the moral hypocrisy of the 1890s.
Average customer rating:
- A Fascinating Relationship - a Disappointing Book
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Andre & Oscar: The Literary Friendship of Andre Gide and Oscar Wilde
Jonathan Fryer
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Authors
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
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Irish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
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General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
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French
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 031218039X |
Amazon.com
Oscar Wilde's literary influence, while enormous, has usually been seen by critics as exerting itself mostly on the stage. Yet Wilde's sensibility and art has had considerable impact on other literary forms and figures as well. Jonathan Fryer's Andre & Oscar is a fascinating and beautifully researched account of the complicated relationship between the Anglo-Irish wit who died in disgrace and the distinguished man of French letters who would eventually win a Nobel Prize for literature.
The Wilde/Gide friendship was intense even if their meetings were intermittent--they met only a handful of times (and Gide's career only began after Wilde's death)--and Wilde's influence on the younger writer was both paradoxical and formative. Fryer is an astute commentator on each writer's career and output (as well as their complicated personal relationship with lovers, mothers, wives, and critics), but his most original thinking is seen in the analysis of how the gayness of both Gide and Wilde--which manifested itself in radically different ways--lay at the heart of their writing. Andre & Oscar is a remarkable work of literary criticism and an important new addition to queer and cultural studies. --Michael Bronski
Customer Reviews:
A Fascinating Relationship - a Disappointing Book.......2003-01-14
André Gide and Oscar Wilde are two very fascinating and highly complex artists, and a study of their friendship is consequently a promising read.
However, "André & Oscar" does not quite live up to its promise. The author does no more than place episodes of both authors' lives next to each other and never really explores the profound influence that Oscar Wilde, at the time of their meeting the middle-aged High Priest of Decadence, had on both the life and artistic convictions of the young timid Protestant André Gide.
The book simply isn't deep enough. One gets the impression that the author wanted to write a popular book about a subject that is not actually fit for such a shallow approach. The literary friendship of Oscar and André is important enough to deserve a more thorough study.
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