A Rocky Mountain Sailor in Teddy Roosevelt's Navy: The Letters of Petty Officer Charles Fowler from the Asiatic Station 1905-1910 (History & Warfare)

Customer Reviews:

Pedantic presentation of pre-WWI navy.......1998-12-22

The hero's extraordinary voyage through the far west and far east could have been brought to life with imaginative editing. Alas, what could have been an exciting historical read was a disappointment.

Excellent personal perspective........1998-03-25

Sometimes boring, sometimes gripping,overall very interesting and informative. A thorough mix of personal and historical data that is a treat for a history buff, and surely a study for a behavioral psychologist. A good book for inclusion in any military library.

A Rocky Mountain Sailor in Teddy Roosevelt's Navy: The Letters of Petty Officer Charles Fowler from The Asiatic Station, 1905-1910

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A Rocky Mountain Sailor in Teddy Roosevelt's Navy: The Letters of Petty Officer Charles Fowler from The Asiatic Station, 1905-1910
Charles Fowler
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBCISO

Average customer rating:

Guglielmo Marconi's story told by his wife and daughter

Marconi comes to life!

Marconi My Beloved

Manufacturer: Dante University of America Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0937832391

Book Description

Marchesa Maria Cristina Marconi has written the biography of her famous husband and Nobel Prize winner, Guglielmo Marconi. In 1901, he accomplished the first trans-Atlantic wireless transmission and became known as the Father of the Age of Communication. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII exchanged first messages between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and England. The book also contains Marconi's other experiments, especially those dealing with radar.

Customer Reviews:

Guglielmo Marconi's story told by his wife and daughter.......2005-11-06

This book was originally written (and reprinted several times) in Italian by the wife of Inventor and Statesman Guglielmo Marconi, and in recent years was translated to english by his daughter Elettra, who also added some important recollections. Guglielmo Marconi was the first to discover how to send a sound made in one box, to another box on the other side of the room.
This technology was then used by others, as it still is today, in inventions that involve wireless communication, such as satellite communication and radios.
He was Nobel Prize winner. He was credited with saving the lives of survivors on the Titanic because he installed the radio transmission on that ship. He conceived of, and built the Vatican Radio Station which is still a powerful communications tool for the world's millions of Roman Catholics.
Read it!

Marconi comes to life!.......2000-01-01

Who invented the wireless radio? Well as we are taught in history class Marconi did. Now what else do we know about him? More or less very little, that was until now. This book is an exceptional look into one of this century greatest men.

Written by Marconi's wife, this book is more than a simple biography, it is a love story, and it is a romance novel and most importantly it is history lesson all rolled into 370 plus pages of one of the best books I have ever read or reviewed.

The books tells more than the life work of the "man who gave voice to silence", it shows another side, this side history books never record. The book includes letter, pictures and even a listing of his honors.

Here is a book that should be on the must read list for those interested in history. I was truly impressed by the way the author makes the man come to life and shows his triumphs and his failures. Excellent reading for one and all!

Average customer rating:
Marconi My Beloved
enlarged, & updated by Elletra Marconi Marconi Maria Cristina / edited
Manufacturer: Dante University of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDYZVM

Book Description

"In a time when women are faced with many outside demands--career, family, community--this book will give them the tools and inspiration needed to remain grounded. A must read!"--Barbara McFarland, psychologist and author of My Mother Was Right

Based on the intimate stories of women who have struggled with issues of self-esteem, this invaluable book offers step-by-step guidance for women who want to transform themselves and create lives that are powerful, energized, and motivated.

A Woman's Self-Esteem is also a guide for helping women learn the impact they can make on their own lives and how their positive actions will result in a stronger sense of competence and self-worth. A pioneer in the field of self-esteem, psychotherapist Nathaniel Branden explains that the foundation of a healthy self-esteem rests on six key practices or virtues--living consciously, self-acceptance, self-responsibility, self-assertiveness, purposeful living, and personal integrity--and reveals how women can cultivate these essential virtues to reach their full potential. The author?s inspiring, real-life vignettes show how women have come to terms with these complex issues by breaking away from self-sabotaging patterns and taking the necessary steps to create more satisfying lives.

In A Woman's Self-Esteem, Branden debunks common myths and reminds us that self-esteem is not a gift given to us by others. Branden offers a revealing examination of the special issues that women grapple with including romantic love, jealousy, fear of selfishness, expressing anger, defensiveness, and success anxiety. Filled with creative exercises, A Woman's Self Esteem was developed to enhance personal development and fortify self-esteem.

Customer Reviews:

Some useful ideas but one-sided plus a very harmful essay.......2007-04-05

I'll start off with the positives: The ideas presented in this small book are a short recap of one of his other books: The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem with examples drawn from women's lives. His assertion that we need to live consciously, purposefully and with integrity, embrace our strengths, accept and assert ourselves, as well as take responsibility for our own lives and happiness is certainly helpful and worth reading - and living! The examples he gives are no-brainers and over-simplified. By that I mean that he tends to give situations where the person is clearly doing something harmful and is the cause (usually the sole cause) of her own pain or, otherwise, where people who care about her and are reasonable are the cause of it. This is a pretty common in books and not a major flaw but very disappointing when you have to deal with the more difficult, complex and gut-wrenching realities of life and can find little help in such books. There are times when we have to deal with unreasonable, uncaring people who are causing you real damage to our lives. The author also glosses over the difficulty of ending long-term, important relationships when you know they are harmful to you. You get the feeling that his own limited experiences (a white, well educated, well-to-do, older man) prevent him from seeing the injustices in our society and make him believe - and teach - that simple self-adjustments are all that are needed. One star was deducted because of this.

Then comes the essay in the appendix that takes away the other two stars from the rating. It is entitled "Was Ayn Rand a Feminist?" Here are a couple of quotes from this essay:

"She was always pleased when someone told her 'she thought like a man.' And yet, when asked if she would have preferred to be born a man, she invariably answered, "God no! Because then I'd have to be in love with a woman!"

Another quote:

"...The black dress seemed excessively revealing - because it was astonishing to discover that the lines of her shoulder were fragile and beautiful, and that the diamond band on the wrist of her naked arm gave her the most feminine of all aspects: the look of being chained."

Also:

"Ayn Rand was a ferociously intellectual, proudly self-assertive powerhouse of independence who described herself as a "man-worshipper."

And last but not least he quotes Ayn Rand:

"I see man as superior to woman" "...man is bigger, stronger, faster - better able to cope with nature"

To my sadness and near shock, Branden goes on to justify everything she has said and condemn none of it as destructive misogynism. In a book about women's self-esteem, stating and defending these ideas is so destructive that I wanted to go down to 1 star. But, as I said in the beginning of my review, he has some useful and good ideas. Unfortunately, they are contradicted in the essay.

In The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem he states: "It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior." Branden would have done well to be more conscious and to have more self-esteem when he wrote the essay on Ayn Rand. He seems to have been convinced by her (grudgingly, of course) that women are inferior to men. If he were more conscious, he might have countered her reasons for finding men superior with a couple of rather obvious responses. Isn't giving birth an important role in nature? Do you consider a donkey superior to men because it is stronger?

As for the image of women being chained, he defended that as being OK because it refers to her sexual aspect only and that fantasies of being ravished or overcome by a dominant male figure are transcultural and it would be absurd to insist that they tell us nothing about the female psyche. It does. It says that the female psych has been damaged in almost every culture. For a great book, if you're truly interested in this subject, you can read Riane Eisler's Sacred Pleasure. I found that book to be truly eye-opening.

Branden concludes that only "A feminism that defines woman as victim and man as her evil oppressor will see Rand as the enemy..." Not true! A feminism that does not see men or women as inferior, one that sees both men and women as lovable, one that sees men as people for women to love - not worship - will see Rand's ideas as the enemy! Her ideas are clearly an enemy to a Woman's self-esteem and it is very, very, sad that they are defended in a book that's supposed to help women with self-esteem!

Here is a link to the book I recommend if you want to understand how our sexual fantasies have been influenced.
Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body--New Paths to Power and Love

MY DAUGHTER LOVED IT!.......2000-03-09

I gave this book to my daughter who had been struggling with a relationship. Because she's only 18 years old I thought I was taking a long shot. Branden's books had completely changed my own life, but they've all been intellectually thrilling to read, and sometimes teenagers are superstitious about being intellectually thrilled. Not my daughter. To my surprise. She took to this book like a duck to water, and it changed her life. No one's books, that I know of, make bigger IMMEDIATE differences in a person's life than Nathaniel Branden's. He is a national treasure.

Good Intro to Self-Esteem Theory.......1999-02-04

Though smaller and less ambitious than most of Branden's other works (such as the brilliant Art of Living Consciously), two women I know have reacted very favorably to this book, which suggests to me that it could be a useful primer on Branden's approach.

The book's modest size (and attractive cover art, I should add) may be an advantage in this regard. While intellectual purists might still prefer a tome, many people prefer a small book with essentialized information. A Woman's Self-Esteem is a good example in this regard.

Most of the book's chapters are expanded versions of articles Branden published in New Woman magazine in the early 90s. While many of the book's themes will of course apply to men as well as women, Branden's primary focus is on the challenges facing women: How to embrace their own strengths when doing so may not be fashionable, how to be assertive in a job or in a relationship, how to keep appropriate boundaries.

As with his other books on self-esteem, Branden devotes the first several chapters to summarizing his overall theory, and I found these to be among his most elegant summaries ever. Although I personally enjoyed the book as a whole, one mild disappointment for me was the chapter on "Embracing Our Strengths." Here Branden addresses the difficulty some women experience in finding the will and inspiration to assert their own intelligence and individuality. He addresses a number of helpful issues in this regard, but fails to mention the powerful function of good art. Since he is well aware of the role of art in inspiring heroic behavior, I found this omission puzzling.

Ayn Rand admirers will find interesting the last chapter of the book, which is a reprint of Branden's essay "Was Ayn Rand a Feminist?" from the anthology Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand (co-edited by Chris Sciabarra and Mimi Gladstein). Branden concludes the essay: "Where did Ayn Rand stand with respect to feminism (a term she never liked)? A feminism that sees woman at her best as a heroic figure will find support and validation in Rand's writings. A feminism that defines woman as victim and man as her evil oppressor will see Rand as the enemy -- because Rand sees woman not as weak but as strong, and because Rand sees romantic love between man and woman as an expression and celebration of their esteem for each other as well as their esteem for themselves."

One major yardstick for judging a book such as this one is the extent to which is encourages people (and women in particular) who might never do so to think deeply and clearly about the role of self-esteem in their own life. It seems to me the book will be very useful in this regard.

Average customer rating:

my favorite

absolutely delicious and authentic

Delicious Vegetarian Food from Scratch

Dietary Excellance

Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking

The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking
Ad Dasa
Manufacturer: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Indian | Asian | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Vegetables & Vegetarian | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking

Great Vegetarian Dishes

THE HIGHER TASTE: A GUIDE TO GOURMET VEGETARIAN COOKING AND A KARMA-FREE DIET.

Cooking With Kurma

Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India

ASIN: 0902677071

Book Description

Editorial Reviews Book Description

In India, where vegetarianism is a way of life, food and its preparation assume the aspect of a spiritual discipline. "The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking" demonstrates that meals without meat can be both tasty and exciting. The delightful variety of gourmet dishes in this collection should inspire anyone interested in adopting a vegetarian lifestyle.

Customer Reviews:

my favorite.......2005-12-25

This is my favorite cook book that I use above all others. The full color photos of the preparations inspire me. The organization of the book makes it easy to quickly find what I need, although I think the index could use some improvement.

Although it would be very helpful to have access to a local Indian or organic foods market, I've found that many of the recipes I can adapt in order to use what is commonly available or I can omit the special or foreign ingredients altogether.

I do prefer spicier food also, so many of the recipes I cut down the main ingredients but maintained the spiciness.

Overall this is a great source for ideas and lots of important info regarding a vegetarian diet (the art of eating), the ingredients used, as well as menu plans.

absolutely delicious and authentic.......2005-07-22

This is the best Indian vegetarian cookbook. The recepies are very detailed and easy to follow. Do not worry about the religious title -- you do not need to be a Hare Krishna follower to enjoy this food (I'm not, and I use this cookbook all the time). On the other hand you may feel a little spiritual when cooking, which can't possibly hurt the meal!

What I love about this book, is that after following it, my curries actually taste and look like curries. The same goes for other Indian dishes which I've been trying for ages to make -- now I can get that look and feel (and taste) I've been getting from my favourite Indian restaurants.

A note to beginners -- unless you really like it, skip asafetida (a spice) -- your recepies won't suffer, while its smell won't permiate your house.

Delicious Vegetarian Food from Scratch.......2004-10-02

My brother's a Hare Krishna and switched me on to Hare Krishna cooking. Not only is it vegetarian, it's 'sattvic' which means it's free from onions, garlic, vinegar, and other foods which are thought to induce desire.

The dishes in this book are all made from scratch, using raw ingredients - they don't rely on anything which is pre-made, which results in the food being very 'pure'.

But the best thing about this book is that each dish is absolutely delicious. It is my culinary bible!

Dietary Excellance.......2000-11-18

Due to my health, I must remain vegitarian. This book of vegetarian cooking has taken the bordom out of vegetables. The recipies and colorful illistrations have brough excitement back into my diet. My many thanks to Adiraja Dasa for his wisdom and insite into vegetarian cooking.

Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking.......2000-06-20

Simply the best Indian vegetarian cookbook I've used. Well worth waiting the 18 months I've had it on order while it was out of print.

Nice, easy to follow recipes with beautiful illustrations covering everything from mouth watering savory dishes to sweet delights.

Excellent book for beginners who want to experiment with vegetarian cooking. The delicious dishes will have you craving the next time you open up the book and try something new.

Average customer rating:
THE HARE KRISHNA BOOK OF VEGETARIAN COOKING (BULGARIAN)
ADIRAJA DASA
Manufacturer: THE BHAKTIVEDANTA TRUST INTERNATIONAL
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VG0LWA

Average customer rating:
The Hare Krishna book of vegetarian cooking / Adriaja dasa
Adiraja dasa
Manufacturer: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00072BDPM

Customer Reviews:

Nice pics, that's about it..........2001-03-27

I have to admit it, I've bought, borrowed, and checked out a ton of books on aquariums and fish keeping. Richard Stratton's "A Complete Authoritative Guide" is, in my opinion, neither complete nor authoritative. There are however, some fantastic pictures of marine fishes. Some of these are printed on thick, glossy photo paper--making a nice picture into an exceptional one.

The content of the book however, is a quite weak. This book might serve as a very basic introduction to marine fish keeping, but it offers little to nothing to someone who knows anything at all about the aquarium hobby. In fact, it recommends some things that would most likely result in total failure if someone new to the hobby were to attempt it. For example, its recommended fish list for various sized aquariums would result in horrible overcrowding. The information on such basic filtration components such as protein skimming, cannister filters and UV is practically non-existant.

To be honest, I didn't read it all, as it quickly became apparent that doing so would be a waste of time. I have a friend that is completely new to marine fish keeping, and I won't even loan it to her, in the event that she might heed some of the advice in the book.

Nice photos, but this is one that was sold electronically. If I'd been able to look at it before purchasing it, I never would have taken it out of the store. I see that at this moment in time, a couple of copies are available used. Think about that one--would you sell one of your trusted aquarium books?

Book Description

Reach new heights of beauty in your floral appliqué, even if you're a beginner! Learn an expert appliqué artist's secrets for blending a rainbow of colors to achieve a painterly look.

• Stitch realistic roses, orchids, poppies, and more--a dozen block patterns show you how

• Create visual depth and delicate details with stippling and inking

• Tour the photo gallery of quilts made by the author's inspired students

Book Description

Bare, stark swimming pools - those rectangular concrete holes in the ground surrounded by a chain-link fence - are going the way of the dinosaurs. Pool owners (and there are 7 million of them across North America) have begun to see the pool and the area around it as an outdoor living space, a place for entertaining a crowd or relaxing alone. In response to this hot, new trend, gardener and landscape designer Catriona Tudor Erler has written POOLSCAPING, a one-of-a-kind handbook overflowing with inspiring ideas and practical advice on how to make your swimming pool the lovely, welcoming centerpiece of your property.

Erler takes readers step by step through the poolscaping process, whether starting from scratch or renovating an existing pool. She begins with choosing the best location for the pool and designing (or refurbishing) the deck and edging that will surround it. She presents a host of ideas for dramatic pool lighting, including underwater options. The fencing chapter addresses choosing styles as well as safety issues and even how to disguise a fence with plantings.

Erler explores design options for building or renovating a spa adjacent to the pool, as well as how to incorporate furnishings, pergolas, and pool houses into the poolscape. A plant directory features the best poolside plants, with a focus on varieties of flowers, vines, and shrubs that are low maintenance and look attractive throughout the pool season. Erler also offers ideas for outstanding poolside planters and containers for bringing greenery and color right up to the pool.

Illustrated with beautiful full-color photographs of outstanding poolscapes, this unique guide demonstrates how any pool owner can transform the pool area into the showpiece of the neighborhood.

Customer Reviews:

what I needed to know.......2007-08-22

This book was an excellent resource for the designer looking to work with swimming pools. The ilustrated examples and artistic tips were an invauable inspiration for sparking the imagination when designing pools. Before reading this I did think of pools as slabs of concrete filled with water, but I believe this book has put far down the path of being able to design elegant swimming pools. I consider this a must read for any architectural designer.

Not a great source for landscaping ideas.......2005-08-09

Based on the description, I believed this book would be full of design ideas and photos of well-landscaped pools. It isn't. If you are looking (as I was) for examples to show a landscaper (or to do it yourself), you should look elsewhere.

Not so good.......2005-04-29

This is one of the not so good books for pools like many many others. I don't know may be it is too hard to write for pools. There are inside some pictures but nothing to catch the eye neither spectacular. THis book was suppouse to guide you how to create your own pool but I have see much better books!
So if you are going to spend money to build a pool keep on searching for another book!

Covers swimming pool decor and appropriate landscaping.......2004-03-04

Transform the swimming pool of a backyard into a Tuscan paradise with tiles and flowering plants, or create a pool with a beach-like presence filled with beach plants: that's the idea of Pool Scaping, a title which covers both swimming pool decor and appropriate landscaping around it. Pool Scaping is a lovely guide which covers the specifics of plants in a water surrounding.

Professional and to the point.......2003-10-15

The writer starts out with "Swimming pools have come a long way from the turquoise water holes surrounded by stark paving. Increasingly pools are being integrated into the design of the house and garden..."

I'm happy to see a book on this topic, especially one written by an accomplished writer and photographer. Many garden swimming pools stand out like a sore thumb - a harsh rectangle of Hollywood blue water with cold tile edges. They're lovely and cool in hot weather, but UGLY. Anything that helps to change or disguise this is all good.

The writer has many suggestions for doing just this. She addresses in depth topics such as decking, enclosures, structures, furniture and plantings. She has researched and offers suggestions for problems such as awkward rocky sites and the need to have an enclosure around the pool that doesn't block the view or make the place look like a prison.

It was good to see a generous number of pages given to plants and plantings - everything from container planting to landscaping the entire site. The writer also focuses on planning ahead when installing a pool or landscaping around it, and on matters relating to the budget. Both are very important and often overlooked..

Product Description

INSTRUCTIONS ON PLANTING AROUND THE POND. OFFERS SIMPLE YET ELEGANT DESIGN SUGGESTIONS. INCLUDES FORMAL POND DESIGNS WILDLIFE ORIENTED PONDS AS WELL AS EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE. SIMPLE EASY TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO LANDSCAPE AROUND THE GARDEN AND THE COMPLETED POND. INCLUDES BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT CREATING A POND AND THEN LANDSCAPING AROUND IT TO DESIGN A TRULY BEAUTIFUL RELAXING ENVIRONMENT. PAPER

Average customer rating:

Landscaping Your Garden Pond (Ww-105)
Dennis Kelsey-Wood
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Want your kid to be the next Einstein, Olympic gold medalist or CEO? Maybe you're just looking for some great playtime ideas, with a little creativity and brain building thrown in? This fun, easy guide contains 2,000 games and activities that will help your babies, toddlers and children reach their full potential-through play.

2,000 Best Games and Activities will keep your kids laughing while learning seven essential life skills: € Communication € Curiosity € Decision making € Kindness € Playfulness € Self-control € Self-esteem

Including activities that take five to ten minutes and use ordinary household items, this book is essential for parents or caregivers of children from babyhood to eight years old. AUTHORBIO: Susan Kettman has 20 years of experience teaching, directing and coordinating curriculum and child care in educational settings; doing regional child-care planning for local governments; and teaching preschool parents and teachers in community colleges. She is the author of two family/parenting books: Family-Friendly Childcare and The 12 Rules of Grandparenting. She lives near San Francisco, California.

Customer Reviews:

the best.......2007-03-20

This is by far the best activity book I have ever seen/used. I work with children so I always have to come up or event new activities. This makes my life so much easier. It is well put together, fun (for adults and children alike). Thank you for this book. I have even started sharing it with all the mothers I know. I highly recommend this to any one who has children or work with children.

Kid learning.......2006-11-03

First time mother with no kid experience. Was a helpful tool for me. Gave me ideas on games and activities that would not only be fun for my toddler but would help him developmentally. Really had some good ideas. Would definitely recommend it for mothers who need a little help keeping their child occupied.

Teaching curiosity, self-control, kindness and other values.......2005-02-03

Parents who have infants through age eight will welcome an activities book which pairs activities and games which take 5-30 minutes each with a focus on teaching curiosity, self-control, kindness and other values. From a 'Scavenger Number Hunt' which involves common household items and can even be done in the grocery store. The 2,000 Best Games & Activities is an excellent collection of lessons on how to be a better person, couched as games.

Great gift for friends with kids / all parents.......2004-08-27

I gave this book as a gift to my older sister to use with my niece (age 9) and nephew (age 5). My sister replied that she absolutely loved the book; that there are so many creative, fun and thought-provoking activities and games in here to keep both her kids busy, entertained, and engaged. She was very impressed with the book overall, and for her to comment that her sometimes finicky kids are enjoying these activities says a lot. You'll be amazed at how many clever ideas are crammed into this little book. Many activities are so straightforward yet unique and thought inspiring; just great for working out those young minds when they need it most.

Carry it in your back pocket!.......2004-05-20

This book is amazing! I knew within 20 minutes of using this book that I would do well to carry it in my back pocket. It is amazingly easy to locate just the right activity, set it up and watch the learning take place. It also helps me to use spur of the moment opportunities to the fullest. This should be given to parents before they leave the hospital with their new babies!

Book Description

Marcel Reich-Ranicki is remarkable for both his unlikely life story and his brilliant career as the "pope of German letters." His sublimely written autobiography is at once a fascinating adventure tale, an unusual account of German-Jewish relations, a personal rumination on who's who in German culture, and a love letter to literature.

Reich-Ranicki's life took him from middle-class childhood to wartime misery to the heights of intellectual celebrity. Born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1920, he moved to Berlin as a boy. There he discovered his passion for literature and began a complex affair with German culture. In 1938, his family was deported back to Poland, where German occupation forced him into the Warsaw Ghetto. As a member of the Jewish resistance, a translator for the Jewish Council, and a man who personally experienced the ghetto's inhumane conditions, Reich-Ranicki gained both a bird's-eye and ground-level view of Nazi barbarism. Written with subtlety and intelligence, his account of this episode is among the most compelling and dramatic ever recorded.

He escaped with his wife and spent two years hiding in the cellar of Polish peasants--an incident later immortalized by Günter Grass. After liberation, he joined and then fell out with the Communist Party and was temporarily imprisoned. He began writing and soon became Poland's foremost critical commentator on German literature.

When Reich-Ranicki returned to Germany in 1958, his rise was meteoric. In short order, he claimed national celebrity and notoriety as the head of the literary section of the leading newspaper and host of his own television program. He frequently flabbergasted viewers with his bold pronouncements and flexed his power to make or break a writer's career. His list of friends and enemies rapidly expanded to include every influential player on the German literary scene, including Grass and Heinrich Böll. This, together with his keen critical instincts, makes his memoir an indispensable guide to contemporary German culture as well as an absorbing eyewitness history of some of the twentieth century's most important events.

Customer Reviews:

Discover the book--it's worth it!.......2007-10-10

It is interesting how often we see a person through his profession and work. You see an older man on television discussing books, you know that he is a literary critic writing reviews and books. Sure, they say that he is the one, that he is 'the Pope' of German letters, but if you are not interested in literature why would you care about a bookish man. What could be interesting about his life? If you are that person, reconsider. True, parts of the book are about literature and won't appeal to some (though try not to skip them either), but there is so much more. If not for the fact that author's early life happened in so tragic years of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust, one could call the book a thriller, an adventure of an extraordinary height. The tragedy of these years makes the story real and sobering, but exciting nevertheless. Born in Poland of Polish Jewish parents, moved to Germany, deported by the Nazis back to Poland, survived Warsaw Ghetto and the war, served as Polish diplomat in England, wrote for Polish papers, returned to West Germany, became the leading literary critic in Germany. Read, read, and read one more time.

Warsaw ghetto.......2002-08-23

The most moving part of this book is its description of life in the Warsaw ghetto -- of how the Jews created a symphony orchestra and the Nazis' response to it, of the way that the Nazis chose which Jews were to be "resettled" and which would temporarily be allowed to live, and of Reich-Ranicki's and his wife's means of survival. I wish that Reich-Ranicki had been more introspective in the book, but one can't have everything -- it's a great book nonetheless.

The Author of Me-Me-Me, I-I-I.......2002-02-12

The concept of this work is both unique and intriguing while the execution was boring and trite. I'm certain that persons more familiar with German literature and authors will take great offense at my brief analysis but I learned more about everyone else in Germany than I did about Marcel Reich-Raniki. The first half of the book did keep me interested but always wanting for more, more about him & his wife and a lot less about Max Frisch et al. I was also put-off by his constant references to himself and how important he was. He was lucky to survive the holocost, lucky to have such a position in Germany after the war, but should have left the writing to those whom he reviewed.

Marcel Reich-Ranicki: Selfmade Man Extraordinaire.......2001-10-06

Considering how little is translated and published here in the U.S. from the German, it is heartening that Marcel Reich-Ranicki's autobiography is among the chosen. It is a moving testimony of a life dislocated and reconstructed several times over, of a youth in Berlin, survival in the Warsaw Ghetto,life in post-War Poland, and a return to West Germany, where he rose to be the the most esteemed and, I suppose, also feared literary critic. His portrayal of the German literary scene from the sixties through the nineties by means of vignettes of its chief representatives is poignant and revealing. His assessment including that of his own role within it is likely to have provoked controversy.

Throughout the book emerges the self-portrait of a courageous,persevering, and also pained and sensitive man, who as a much-published author, radio and television personality seems to have been simultaneously at the center and at the margins of German cultural life for four decades.

I happened to be in the midst of reading the German version of the book when the events of September 11 threw our world out of kilter. Day after day I went back to Reich-Ranicki's "Mein Leben" with bated breath to escape from the present, not into an idyllic past, but to gain perspective on human suffering from a wise old man who describes his own lifelong anguish without sentimentality or moralizing. There may be other takes on his life story, but no one can deny his undying passion for the literature of the German language and his pursuit of it against all odds. To have an English translation to share with my friends is indeed something to write home about.

It is ironic, to say the least, that Reich-Ranicki, who was born in Poland, raised in Berlin, deported to Poland because of being a Jew, should be called "the Pope of German Letters." But then was he, whom the popes represent on Earth, not also a Jew? (with apologies to G.E.Lessing).

binding.......2001-08-05

Marcel Reich-Ranicki deserves only praise for his autobiography. Generally known as a critic, many claim a quite harsh one, he turns the coin and proves that against all odds and unfortunate for the poor victims of his harsh criticism, who desperately tried to cling and hold to the idea that this man might criticise like a God, but he cannot write like One, when it comes to a piece of literature. But in fact, this is a man of words, of literature and keeping a reader interested, not only in his life, but also in a decade of misery and destruction that should not have been. The reoccurring questions that came to my mind while reading: What would I have done, Where would I have been, arise again and again, but can never be answered... And if you had the chance to enjoy looking at Marcel Reich-Ranicki while reading his own words at Frankfurt (an evening held by the "Deutsche Bank"), you might have been sitting next to me. And I suppose, none of us would want to miss this once in a "second" opportunity.

A brighter, clearer light.(book on popular German book reviewer): An article from: New Criterion

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A brighter, clearer light.(book on popular German book reviewer): An article from: New Criterion
Tess Lewis
Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on October 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1865 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: A brighter, clearer light.(book on popular German book reviewer)
Author: Tess Lewis
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2002
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Page: 70(4)

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