Book Description
Byron Holley spent the longest year of his young life in Vietnam as surgeon of the 4th Battalion 39th Regiment 9th Infantry Division. He lived like a swamp rat in the boonies of the Mekong Delta, and his actions were sometimes all that made the difference between life and death. Holley never got used to death, to seeing men he knew go home in body bags. Serving under Col. David H. Hackworth, Holley saw the outfit begin to act more like an elite bunch of Rangers than the rag-tag, half-drunk group it had been. He watched Hackworth turn the 4/39 into the fighting and feared Hardcore Recondo battalion.
Now, twenty six years later, Doc Holley returns to the land of so much pain and suffering, his trip a mission to visit the exact location where one of his special friends died in one of the fiercest battles fought in the Mekong Delta. What he found will surprise even the most cynical skepticÂ…forgiveness, warmth, and hospitality from the very people who took his friend's life, defending their ancestors land so long ago. This is a story of love and healing and is a must-read for anyone who was there or had someone they loved over there.
Average customer rating:
|
Francis Bacon's Personal Life-Story: The Age of Elizabeth, Vol I; The Age of James, Vol II. 2 volumes in 1
Alfred Dodd
Manufacturer: David & Charles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Elizabeth II
| Royalty
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Modern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
18th Century
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0712612602 |
Customer Reviews:
Terrific.......1998-07-08
Alfred Dodd has written perhaps the finest book on Francis Bacon while solving the mystery of Shakespeare's identity with rare combination of historical truth and placing it inside the narrative of a story. Dodd's penetrating insights and research leave most other Bacon biographers way behind. Partly due to the fact that Dodd himself was a Master Free- Mason the general public will have a unique glimpse and understanding of the ways of Freemasonry and it's influence throughout Bacon's life and how it saturates the Shakespeare Sonnets and Plays. The novice student to the more advanced researcher will profit greatly in absorbing the facts surrounding Bacon's mysterious birth , his relation to Queen Elizabeth, his passion and guidance to advance England thru education, sparking the English Renaissance and formulating a greater vocabulary for the English language, encouraging the New World settlements, overcoming numerous enemies like his cousin Cecil, and Coke the crooked lawyer, it's all revealed in this wonderful book. By the time one finishes reading it you will have not only a greater awareness of one of the world's greatest genuises and his selfless service to humanity and it's future but a deeper wisdom into the Shakespeare authorship issue. . Alfred Dodd has left us a great treasure chest for all to partake in.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent book that conveys the spirit of Sir Francis Bacon
- An absolutely incredible book.
- Excellent
|
Francis Bacon's Personal Life Story
Alfred Dodd
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| British
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Philosophers
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1564595633 |
Book Description
Contents: The Medieval Era; The Elizabethan Age; The Queen's Secret; Bacon's Birth and Early Childhood; Early Youth and the University; The Royal Revelation; Court of France; The Laying of Great Bases for Eternity; The Making of an Immortal; Francis Bacon the Publicist; The Virgin Queen and her Concealed Sons; The Two Brothers; The Last of the Tudors; Notable Dates in Bacon's Life; Bibliography, Index. Illustrated.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book that conveys the spirit of Sir Francis Bacon.......2003-01-22
The most interesting book I have ever read on the life of Bacon. This book is for both the new student to Bacon, as well as more seasoned researchers. A must read for all people interested in the enlightenment and advancement of mankind. Come with an open mind!
An absolutely incredible book........2000-08-31
This book finally unravels perhaps the greatest story never told.
Excellent.......1998-07-06
Alfred Dodd was a 20th century Englishman and Mason who has written the finest biography ever published of Francis Bacon and his times. . Every English literature course should have this book as required reading if it was required to know who Shakespeare really was.
The "Francis Bacon's Personal Life Story" champions the exemplary character of Francis Bacon and his extraordinary commitments to English literature, science and the making of a better world.
Dodd's book informs both the new student to the subject as well as advanced researchers on the historical relationship Bacon had with Masonry, Rosicrucianism, the authorship of Shakespeare, his Tudor identity and tumultuous relationship with Queen Elizabeth, Burleigh and Cecil, Essex, and other key Elizabethans by presenting Bacon as the guiding spirit behind the Renaissance period. The book which was once published as two separate volumes covers the Queen Elizabeth and King James eras.
The author has culminated a life long study with historical references and insights that surpass all mainstream biographies of Bacon. Dodd also portrays the underlying censorship of the Elizabethan times. It may be interesting to note that in today's prevailing attitude in the academic world, the press, and other institutions entrusted with archives that Shakespeare authorship issues are downplayed as insignificant or amusing fads. This book will educate the public while changing attitudes about Bard politics
Book Description
Inspired by his Cherokee grandmother's healing ceremonies, Lewis Mehl-Madrona enlightens readers to "alternative" paths to recovery and health. Coyote Medicine isn't about eschewing Western medicine when it's effective, but about finding other answers when medicine fails: for chronic sufferers, patients not responding to medication, or "terminal" cases that doctors have given up on. In the story of one doctor's remarkable initiation into alternative ways to spiritual and physical health, Coyote Medicine provides the key to untapped healing methods available today.
Customer Reviews:
Tremendous Source of Insight.......2005-09-26
"Coyote Medicine" is a tremendous source of insight and experience within the path of shamanism and health. Dr. Mehl-Madrona's story-telling is magnificent and at times very suspenseful hitting directly on our sensitive health and spiritual issues we face culturally. But, he doesn't give you easy answers, because his path to becoming a healer was very complex. For me, this book opened up parts of my consciousness and answered questions I was asking and some of those I hadn't yet asked. This book was truly a God-send and I am savoring every word I read.
Essential Reading on Holistic Medicine.......2003-06-22
This book blew me away. I have reread much of it so many times and bought multiple copies for friends. I have filled the margins of my copy with notes and filled notebooks with essays and thoughts inspired by Dr. Mehl-Madrona's book. It is nothing short of miraculous itself, in addition to describing medical miracles and how they are brought about by spiritual intervention and Native American healing.
A child prodigy, Lewis Mehl-Madrona hitchhiked to a local college while still in high school, read philosophy science voraciously and was the youngest peacetime graduate of Stanford Medical School. The more impressive since his childhood was at times difficult.
At medical school, Dr. Mehl-Madrona became interested in shamanic traditions and attended some sweat lodge and tipi ceremonies. Here he encountered otherwordly phenomena such as blue light, sparks, sensorial stimulation and miracle cures in cases that were deemed too far gone by western doctors. Most importantly, Dr. Mehl-Madrona learned how shamans talked to patients, asked questions about their families and lives and spent long periods of time with them. The author learned that shamans tap into the inner healer of the patient, and consider themselves only partially responsible for any cure.
At the same time, Dr. Mehl-Madrona was encountering negligent and dehumanizing healing practices in his western medical pursuits. A few spine-chilling tales display the callousness and arrogance that exists in some hospitals and clinics. One example: two obstetricians made a bet concerning the fastest C-Section birth and the winner, very triumphant at seventeen minutes, accidentally tied something shut in the woman's internal organs. It was fixed and the woman even wrote a letter of thanks to the hospital! Such is the blind and sometimes unjustified trust the public has in the medical establishment.
The book is wonderfully woven with many colorful strands of storytelling. On one level, it is a memoir of Dr. Mehl-Madrona's journey to reconcile his western medical training with holistic and in particular Native American healing. He is part Native American, so this pursuit poignantly reflects his mixed heritage. Poignant because Dr. Mehl-Madrona often felt like an outsider in all areas of his life, as a Native American man, as an American man, as a western doctor and as an aspiring and ultimately successful shaman.
Another strand of his story is the Native American tradition of healing itself, which we discover in almost the same timeframe that he does. We are introduced to the traditional practice of storytelling as a healing technique at the same time that he is. Early in the book, when the doctor is a resident, he is tending a man whose medical condition is exacerbated (and perhaps caused) by his intensely critical nature. A wonderful passage in recounts Dr. Mehl-Madrona's tentative attempt at telling a story to the cynical patient, himself a psychologist, who groans with sarcasm as the story begins. As it continued, he was intrigued, however, and even hazards a guess at the meaning, to which guess the doctor gives an ambiguous confirmation. The great part of this passage is how Dr. Mehl-Madrona successfully enacts the role of enigmatic shaman even though he himself is still unsure of the story's meaning.
Coyote Medicine also discusses the role of the supernatural in shamanic healing, and the perception of magic and nature. For anyone who ever sat in the woods or even on his aparment steps late at night and felt a mystical connection to something unseen and bigger than himself, Coyote Medicine is a kindred spirit.
At one point the author goes on his vision quest and meets his power animals and is given shamanic healing tools. We as readers are present at many important moments in his life, including personal and family struggles (his first wife, according to the book, seemed to wrestle his children away from him and resented his shamanic efforts), professional travails (Dr. Mehl-Madrona's questioning intelligence, sense of dignity for the patient and also his holistic beliefs created friction with several different western medical institutions). When, at the end of the book, the author finds an accepting partner and on a professional level, a venue where he could combine holistic healing with Western, we feel as thought a close friend has triumphed in the face of great odds.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in healing, either for herself or others, and also about finding one's own individual path, as difficult as and untraveled as it might be, but that is true to the traveler.
Many blessings on this book and thank you Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona.
Robert Murray Diefendorf, Author of Release the Butterfly
Take the risk and make the leap.......2003-01-10
Coyote has always been a special animal to me, so the title jumped out at me. The two feathers and physician's symbol on the cover present a beautiful balance. The physician's symbol has the twin serpents and the two wings of the one. In the background is the four, the Mystery.
Lewis' experiences are related in an interwoven manner. He rushes through life in the quest for medical expertise and validation. In doing so, he trips himself into bouts with infinity as his beautiful plans fall through, day-by-day, year-by-year. However, his rapidly depleted physical/mental being is slowly but surely filling from the inside out. The book is a wonderful, candid sharing of one human's journey to clarify his purpose, his vocation, and to realize such.
He seems like a powerless pawn at times. Have you felt that way? I have. It takes courage to choose the walk toward balance with a fellow being. Lewis had to learn the way of the warrior to survive his path as a healer.
The sweat lodge accounts are beautifully done. I felt it better than any other accounts I have read. Although I have not participated in a lodge, I have experienced years of "spirit stuff". He is talking from experience. Lewis tells us without violating the trust of his friends, manifested or otherwise.
The visions he describes are direct accounts, rather than attempts to relay deep knowings into a form the reader may understand. Visions come in dreams, in rituals, in waking, everyday consciousness, you name it. If we need it and are open to input, we will receive guidance. A vision is experiential, so there is no way to relay the richness and life of such an experience.
Ya gotta walk the walk--it's the only way.
I laughed pretty good at his experience learning to talk with the desert. I too learned this while out alone walking in the desert. At first I thought my spirit friends were nuts--and said so--but I did it and learned a lot. You'll have to read the book to find out.
There were tears of joy and tears of sorrow while reading this book, and a lot of laughter. Thank-you for making the great leap and taking the risk of sharing, Lewis!
Moving, educational and inspiring........2001-08-09
This book is a well written merging of two subjects. The first is a personal sharing of Lewis Mehl-Madrona's upbringing and life experience as a half N.A. Native, his pursuit of a medical degree and specialty and his increasing disillusionment with the "science" of medicine as it is now widely practiced. The second is about Lewis' discovery of N.A. Native spirituality and shamani sm. He leads us on a winding path of discovery that introduces us to the intriguing characters who use shamanism to heal others, often while their own lives are in disarray, to those who sought healing and perhaps most importantly, to the spirits who assisted in the ceremonies. While pursuing this path of curing the individual, rather than the symptom, it seems that Lewis will lose site of his original goal to obtain his medical speciality. But, as so often occurs, as he helps others to heal, the path circles around to encompass his own needs and he completes his original path, a more well-rounded and enlightened human. More capable of understanding. More capable of giving what is really required. I found the writing to be powerful, the personal drama riveting and the glimpse into the ceremonies, symbolism and spiritualism of the N.A. shaman both moving and educational. After all these years of hearing the stories shared by N.A. natives, but not really understanding, I finally "got it". This book slaked a thirst I didn't know I had. Lewis not only shared his story but acted as a teacher and I know that I've grown as a result. I highly recommend it and hope that we'll hear more from this writer.
Excellent Reading.......2001-03-05
I enjoyed this book very much! It is full of truths ! I believe as does this man. I look forward to reading any book he writes.It was a easy read and on a level that I understood completely.I laughed and cried with his stories.I just loved it!
Average customer rating:
- Takes time getting accustomed to!
- Lowering Sodium Without Lowering Taste!
|
American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook, 3rd Edition: A Complete Guide to Reducing Sodium and Fat in Your Diet
American Heart Association
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Healthy
| Special Diet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Low Fat
| Special Diet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Low Salt
| Special Diet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Low Salt
| Special Conditions
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Low-Fat Diet
| Special Conditions
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
American Heart Association
| Nutrition
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1400097614
Release Date: 2006-05-09 |
Book Description
This revised and expanded third edition of the American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook is an indispensable resource for sodium-watchers.
The statistics are in—65 million Americans have high blood pressure, and nearly 5 million suffer from congestive heart failure. Whether you have these health problems now or want to avoid having them in the future, keeping your sodium intake low is one of the best ways to help your heart.
The human body requires sodium to function properly, but if you are like most other Americans, you consume about ten times more than you need. If that’s because you think low-sodium food means low flavor, think again! The American Heart Association shows here that a low-salt diet is not only good for you but delicious, too.
Encompassing everything from appetizers and soups to entrées and desserts, the American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook, 3rd Edition, is a wonderful collection of more than 200 scrumptious low-sodium recipes—50 of them brand-new to this edition. Whether you’re in the mood for a beloved classic dish or an up-to-the-minute future favorite, you’ll find just the thing to please your palate—and you’ll learn that shaking the salt habit is easier than ever before.
The American Heart Association knows that food is one of life’s great pleasures and that no one should have to sacrifice tasty meals for a healthful lifestyle. This new edition of one of its classic cookbooks is the perfect guide to making flavorful, satisfying low-sodium food. With the latest dietary information and tips on substituting ingredients, avoiding hidden sodium, and dining out, the American Heart Association Low-Salt Cookbook, 3rd Edition, will help you follow a low-sodium diet—and thoroughly enjoy it.
More than 200 low-sodium recipes, including:
Appetizers such as Hot and Smoky Chipotle-Garlic Dip; Spinach-Artichoke Hummus
Soups such as Onion Soup with Cheesy Pita Crisps; Corn and Green Chile Soup
Meats such as Caribbean Jerk Pork; Sirloin with Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce
Seafood such as Cajun Snapper; Halibut with Cilantro Pesto
Vegetarian Entrées such as Fettuccine Alfredo; Cheese-Topped Stuffed
Eggplant
Salads such as Balsamic-Marinated Vegetables; Tomato-Artichoke Toss
Poultry such as Tarragon Turkey Medallions; Cumin-Lime Chicken
Breads and Breakfast Dishes such as Rosemary Rye Bread; Oatmeal-Banana Waffles with Strawberry Sauce
Desserts such as Denver Chocolate Pudding Cake; Lemon Cream with Raspberries and Gingersnap Topping
Side Dishes such as Scalloped Potatoes; Parmesan-Lemon Spinach
The American Heart Association is the nation’s most trusted authority on cardiovascular health. Its bestselling library of books includes:
•American Heart Association No-Fad Diet
•The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition
•American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook, 3rd Edition
•American Heart Association Low-Calorie Cookbook
•American Heart Association Quick & Easy Cookbook
•American Heart Association Meals in Minutes Cookbook
•American Heart Association One-Dish Meals
Customer Reviews:
Takes time getting accustomed to!.......2007-01-15
I have tried a few of the recipes and enjoyed them. My hubby wasn't too thrilled.
I am voluntarily trying to reduce my sodium intake as my blood pressure has steadily crept up over the last few years, as has my weight! It isn't easy for me because I like salty foods but this cookbook has helped and will continue to help.
Lowering Sodium Without Lowering Taste!.......2006-05-28
Most Americans could benefit from lowering the sodium in their diets. Canned foods, processed foods, and fast food all contribute to the high fat, high salt diets that many of us eat. When faced with getting older or health issues, many people turn to their doctors for help with this American epidemic. But why not start now? If you have high blood pressure, are obese, or are just looking to improve your diet, this cookbook is a must for you!
Filled with tons of great recipes (and an additional 50 from the last addition), this book includes categories such as Appetizers & Snacks, Seafood, Meats, Soups, Vegetarian Entrees, and even Desserts. All of the recipes include complete nutrient information and include calories, fat (including saturated, polyunsaturated, and monosaturated), cholesterol, sodium, carbs, protein, calcium, potassium, and dietary exchanges. The only things missing from this addition are a spiral binding (to help it lay flat) and full color photos of each recipe.
Some of my family's favorites include: Blackberry & Balsamic Chicken, Grilled Sesame Chicken, Cowboy Steak with Portobello Mushrooms, Slow Cooker Beef and Red Beans, Baked Pork Chops with Apple Dressing, Braised Lentil and Vegetable Medley, Strawberry Orange Sauce, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Flan Caramel, Potato Skin Nachos, and Vegetable Beef Soup.
Enjoy!
Customer Reviews:
Well illustrated history of the teddy bear/500 pictures.......1998-08-29
Bearland is a well organized history of plush bears. There are photographs of owners as well as the bears themselves. It focues on the German,English, and American craftsmen and women who designed the bears. It concludes with information about current bearmakers. There is an unusual chapter about bears in books from Goldilocks to Brideshead Revisited. The list of addresses at the end includes museums in the U.S., Germany, Italy and England.
Hopefully it can be brought back in print.
Personal note: I have been noting the number of adults as well as children traveling with toy bears. Last month at the Boulder Colordo airport a lady had a bear in her tote she had brought home from the hospital when she was born. There is a tremendous interest in bears, and this book is really for everyone who has had a furry toy animal sitting on his/her bed.
Book Description
The editors of Martha Stewart Living, one of America's most successful home living magazines, have gathered in one convenient place the stories and projects that have defined their approach to decorating the home. The book is organized in a fresh and sensible way, looking at how the rooms are actually used, not at what they are called. Step-by-step instructions for each project are included, plus an extensive resource section. 200 color illustrations.
Average customer rating:
|
Short Cuts to Beautiful Gardens
David Squire
Manufacturer: Cassell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Garden Design
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Techniques
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1844030342 |
Book Description
Gardening is often a labor of love...but you'll love it even more with less labor! With a few fast and easy techniques, existing gardens can flourish beyond recognition. Just follow these tips on what to keep and what to scrap, shortcuts to solving common problems, and innovative planting schemes that work just about anywhere. Transform a garden's entire structure with readily built features, mechanize tasks, and introduce garden-friendly plants that suppress weeds. Quick-fix "garden therapy" focuses on renewing every important element: add year-round color rapidly, personalize the space with distinctive ornaments, find the potential in what's already there, and even tidy up unkempt lawns and other signs of neglect. You'll spend fewer hours working, but every one will really count! A Selection of Doubleday's Garden Book Club. 128 pages, 86 color illus., 30 b/w illus., 7 3/4 x 10.
Amazon.com
The author of Iron and Silk looks back to his tortured youth with self-deprecating humor and wistful fondness. The oldest child in a middle-class household in Connecticut, the son of a piano teacher and a social worker, by age six the author was an eccentric with enormous aspirations - none of them ever fulfilled - who stood out not only from his more conventional parents and brother and sister but from everyone else in his suburban neighborhood. A hilarious memoir in the tradition of Russell Baker's Growing Up.
Book Description
From the author of Iron & Silk comes a charming and frequently uproarious account of an American adolescence in the age of Bruce Lee, Ozzy Osborne, and Kung Fu. As Salzman recalls coming of age with one foot in Connecticut and the other in China (he wanted to become a wandering Zen monk), he tells the story of a teenager trying to attain enlightenment before he's learned to drive.
Customer Reviews:
entertaining read.......2007-09-14
My mother sent me this book for my birthday and I enjoyed every page. Very entertaining, both funny and serious, as well as making some great observations about growing up in Ridgefield, CT. I also grew up in Ridgefield in the 70s and the book is a very accurate description of life in Ridgefield back then. I amazed at how much he was able to remember, I'm not able to remember anywhere near that many details about my own childhood.
My favorite martial arts related autobiography!!!.......2005-09-06
I have read almost every martial arts autobiography that has been published in the English language. I have put together quite a collection of them from all over the world. As proof, check out my book Martial Arts Biographies-An Annotated Bibliography (ISBN:0595348610). So I think I know a little about the subject of martial arts autobiographies. I liked Salzman's first book Iron & Silk. It is a classic to be sure. But I absolutly loved Lost In Place. It is the funniest of any martial arts biography that I have read. It is also very serious in other parts of the book. The story is great, and I recommend it very highly! Beyond being my favorite martial arts autobiography,I would put it in my top five favorite books of all. BUY IT, READ IT, AND LAUGH YOUR BUTT OFF!!!!
Laughed out loud.......2005-01-03
Memoir of Mark Salzman's adolescent years in Connecticut. Outrageously funny in spots, touching in others, and interesting throughout. The author's description of Sensei O'Keefe and the stories surrounding the Kung Fu Dojo are riotous. Ed, his eternally pessimistic father, adds another element of humor to the story. The novel describes an eccentric teenager's failed attempts to "change myself into something I'm not. The story of my life." He obsessively pursues first Kung Fu to become a fearless warior, then years of cello training to achieve a dream of becoming a concert celloist, and majors in Chinese at Yale because "it was the one subject I had a head start in and could therefore look smarter than I really was." The book is a good reflection back on the eccentricities of adolescence with a profound message offered in the end.
This book is an absolute gem........2004-08-08
This book is an absolute gem. How often do you come across a martial arts book that is not just well written but genuinely, heartbreakingly funny? Mr. Salzman has already shown us he can write in his first book, Iron and Silk, the story of his two years spent in China teaching English and practicing wushu with Pan Qing Fu. The book was later made into a critically acclaimed film of the same name. In Lost in Place, the author lets us in on the secrets of his adolescence. Anyone who has ever been seized by the desire to shave his head, dye his pyjamas purple, and abandon the fast food of suburbia for the wandering life of a Zen monk will love this book.
We follow Salzman through the perils of teenage life, goofing off at school and then frantically trying to make up, agonizing about dates, buying his first car, choosing what to study at university, and in general giving his long suffering family a hard time, and all of this while struggling between Eastern and Western worldviews. We meet some strange people he encountered in his attempts to become a Bruce Lee clone, such as the ominous Sensei O'Keefe, the rowdy and foul-mouthed master of the Chinese Boxing Institute, with his dreaded brainwave, "cemetery sparring". Apart from the stories of Salzman's various martial art experiences, some hilarious and some appalling, there are some well drawn scenes of his interaction with his father, who is described as a good natured pessimist, probably not a bad thing to be for someone forced to compete with the glamorous Bruce Lee for his son's affections. There is a lovely scene of his father listening to an outpouring of his son's existential angst. We get a picture of a gentle, mature man with a nice sense of irony. He must be proud now of how his son has turned out. Salzman has written four critically acclaimed novels, one of which was a finalist for the LA Times Book Review Award. He is a great storyteller and this book will not let you down.
Boy, can I relate.......2004-05-13
In addition to a memoir, this book is an effective mediation on what it really means to master something. We see Salzman try to become a martial artist, and, later, a cello soloist, the first with considerable dedication, the latter with a certain amount of natural ability; in both cases, though, he eventually realizes that he just doesn't have what it takes to really master the discipline. In the case of Kung Fu, after three years of study, he encounters a drugged-out man who threatens him with a lead pipe. In spite of the fact that he could probably easily disarm him, Salzman's nerve fails him and he hands over his wallet. Later, with the cello, he gives up after seeing one performance by legendary cellist Yo Yo Ma. He ends up finding his greatest success as a mailboy for an attorney.
One thing that struck me as interesting is that (I read somewhere) 'Kung Fu' refers to any human skill in Chinese (making a 'Kung Fu skills' redundant, like ATM machine); it's sort of a metaphor, then, for everything Salzman pursues.
Another thing to note is that in spite of the subtitle 'growing up absurd in suburbia,' Salzman's martial arts training is astonishingly difficult. His teacher is a borderline psychopath who curses and hits his students (at one point he throws Mark against a trophy display case), and the school regularly practices full-range sparring with no protective equipment except for a cup, which is about as hardcore, comparatively, as playing the cello with the skin stripped off your fingers.
Average customer rating:
|
Maud Lewis: An Intimate Look at the Life and Work of One of Nova Scotia's Best Loved Folk Artists
Manufacturer: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Artists, Architects & Photographers
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Artists, A-Z
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0888715005 |
Average customer rating:
|
Interviews from Irish America Magazine
Manufacturer: Oak Tree Press (Ireland)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Authors
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Irish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Memoirs
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ireland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1860762190 |
Books:
- Warrior Spirit Running to the Sound of Gunfire
- Wehrmacht Diary
- Winged Dagger: Adventures on Special Service
- World War II-Hometown and Home Front Heroes: Life-Experience Stories from the Carolinas' Piedmont
- Zero Ward: A Survivor's Nightmare
- 90 Day Wonder - Darkness Remembered
- A Citizen-Soldier's Civil War: The Letters of Brevet Major General Alvin C. Voris
- A Confederate Yankee: The Journal of Edward William Drummond, a Confederate Soldier from Maine (Voices of the Civil War Series,)
- A Fighter from Way Back: The Mexican War Diary of Lt. Daniel Harvey Hill, 4th Artillary, USA
- A Secret Place in My Heart: A Diary of a World War II Wac
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Interpreting NAFTA
- Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
- High-Performance Work Organizations: Definitions, Practices, and an Annotated Bibliography
- History: Fiction or Science
- Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning
- Parenting With Grace: Catholic Parent's Guide to Raising Almost Perfect Kids
- Integrated Design And Operation Of Water Treatment Facilities
- Automobile Accident Costs and Payments: Studies in the Economics of Injury Protection
- Intermediate Accounting 3e Updated Edition with Coach CD, NetTutor, PowerWeb, and Alternate Exercise
- La Otan y Los Desafios En El Mercosur
Vietnam 1968-1969: A Battalion Surgeon Journal
Borrowed Time: A Medic's View of the Vietnam War
Doc: Platoon Medic
Medic!: The Story of a Conscientious Objector in the Vietnam War
