{"review":"i got this as both a book and an audio file. i had waited to read it and was surprised by both the enthusiasm of the content and its author, but also by how he snuck in some odd biblically unsound thoughts (e.g., i gasped when he suggested christ went to hell...what bible passage evidences this?). i agree with how he suggests the enemy is out to deceive us and keep us asleep...but wonder if i go further how much more eldredge will slip in of his own peculiar biblical misintrepretations. where were his editors when this was being written? why take sensible good sections and mar them with oddities? i havent read all the reviews here but as one of those 'conservatives' frequently mentioned in them i have to admit i may not even finish this book for fear of what else eldredge has slipped up on. i did appreciate his story about daniel and the 'delayed' angel...but am left wondering if i need go deeper into researching that as possible misintepretation too. what a shame this book is turning into such a questionable venture for me. we are at war as the author suggests and we must guard the source material well..the bible well. so far...i may join others and ditch this valiant attempt to energize christians and return to the word itself. i wonder if i can get a refund","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book places too much emphasis on spending money instead of eating...well if we all had money to burn that would be a wonderful lifestyle. read 'the fat fallacy' instead, it provides much more practical information","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"remember the hollywood blacklist? the hollywood ten? i'll bet you know a lot about these events even if you weren't alive in the 1950s. that's because tinseltown has a vested interest in keeping the memory of this era alive. it was the era of the red scare, of senator joseph mccarthy waving his infamous list of communist subversives during a speech in west virginia. it was the time of congressional investigations, a time when invoking the fifth amendment might keep you safe from a contempt charge but would make you look guilty as sin in the public eye. for a select few the mccarthy era was a time of great fear, and no one feared this witch-hunt against communism more than hollywood. why? because, despite the mountains of claims to the contrary that have emerged over the years, the movie industry oozed communists. there were so many reds in hollywood that they should have renamed the town little moscow. yet even today, you will not hear about this truth in the media. you will, however, get the skinny on what really went on if you pick up a copy of ronald radosh's 'red star over hollywood: the film colony's long romance with the left.' talk about exploding myths! radosh's book, which he co-wrote with his wife allis, cuts through the layers of denial and presents us with an ugly picture of the real hollywood of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. vladimir lenin, the little pipsqueak who brought the nightmare of marxism to the soviet union back in the early part of the twentieth century, had a soft spot for film and theater. he believed that the best way to spread communism around the globe was through movies and plays. this is exactly what the kremlin crowd set out to accomplish in the following decades. they managed to gain converts to their cause--men who later became movers and shakers like budd schulberg, joseph losey, and maurice rapf--by allowing them to work closely with the soviet film industry. once these people came back to the united states, they spread their plague to others with the help of party apparatchiks willi munzenberg, v.j. jerome, and john howard lawson. in no time at all, writes radosh, a branch of the communist party flourished in hollywood. so many big names signed on that newcomers to the industry, in an attempt to make contacts and find work, had to become communists or fellow travelers themselves. the hollywood branch of the communist party worked to increase their membership and influence in several ways. one of the most successful methods involved the tried and true 'united frontism' and 'popular front' techniques, or the forming of organizations that on the surface embraced popular progressive causes to lure in unsuspecting liberals while maintaining strong communist control behind the scenes. radosh reveals that the concerns many people had about the rise of national socialist germany in the 1930s helped increase membership, although the party's propensity to change direction, oftentimes overnight according to directives issued from the kremlin, tended to alienate many members. also off putting was the heavy-handed discipline that could fall on an unsuspecting member at any time. albert maltz, for example, discovered the inflexibility of the party when he wrote an article deemed 'revisionist' by the upper hierarchy. his very public refutation of his article left little doubt about the strong-arm tactics used behind the scenes. despite the ugliness the hollywood reds occasionally displayed, they were somewhat successful in spreading their propaganda through films like 'mission to moscow,' 'the spanish earth,' and 'the north star.' congressional investigations threw some of these dupes in the slammer, and silenced a few more, but many never repudiated their warped views. i enjoyed radosh's book, the first one of his i've had the chance to read. the author and his spouse obviously know what they're talking about and, since ronald radosh himself was a communist for many years, he understands how these groups think and act. 'red star over hollywood' occasionally suffers from dry prose and a bewildering number of groups and individuals, but the authors always manage to bring the book back up to speed by throwing in some great anecdotes. for instance, the part where we learn about ronald reagan (at the time a liberal) and his buddy william holden crashing a communist get together in an attempt to inject some common sense into the proceedings is great fun to read about. reagan got up and started talking only to find himself under verbal attack for some forty minutes. god bless him! the account of albert maltz's forced rehabilitation is absolutely chilling, a sobering tale that hints at the violent tendencies inherent in communism. arguably the best part of the book, however, involves the long, strange trip writer dalton trumbo took from the time of his blacklisting to his repudiation of the communist party later in life. so many intriguing stories pop up in the book that the actual creation of the blacklist takes a backseat. i have one recommendation and one warning to those readers about to attempt the book. in the case of the former, if you're not very familiar with this time period, read a background history of the red scare first. doing so will assist you in learning the context for what happens here and help you learn the basics about a few of the groups and personalities associated with the blacklist. in the case of the latter, the topic is so huge that radosh does not have the space to cover many of the important reds. there is almost nothing here about lillian hellman or dashiell hammett, for example, and both of those individuals had a lot to do with the influence of communism in film and books. nevertheless, this book is well worth your time. read it and remember it the next time hollywood releases yet another 'we were innocent' propaganda piece. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"while i appreciate what tipler was attempting to accomplish, he fails miserabley both from a theological and a scientific perspective. skip this one!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the others in the series were great, and i really looked forward to a breath of snow and ashes. it read like it was all gabaldon's discarded notes for the previous installment. i felt really cheated to have spent my time and money on this book. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a few good things, but she's lost her edge and i find it impossible to identify at all with women who regularly have themselves stitched up here and there, botoxed, massaged, pt-ed... plus i've never made $150,000+ per year so i feel like i live in another cosmos. besides, i live in france, where real faces are appreciated. constance rodrigu","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"words cannot describe how ripped off and disappointed i feel about buying this book. having read rdpd and cfq in the kiyosaki range previously and finding them great, i thought this book would be great as well. i'm sorry to say it's the worst book i've ever read. the entire book is a blatant sales brochure for all his other books. there's all these annoying references where you get a little bit of information and then instructions that if you want to know more, you need to buy one of his other books. i didn't get any useful information and it's certainly not a 'how to' book. i thought i would be reading about him and his wife's story but all i got was the same few points said over and over again. he does not even try to say them in a different way. the other annoying thing was his promotion of network marketing as a good business option. it was obviously done to help sweeten the deal he has with the network marketing association who recommend all his books to their members. i could seriously go on and on about why you shouldn't waste your money on this book but i will not. i have never written a book review on amazon before as i have never felt so strongly about a book. i generally feel if i get even just 1 thing out of reading a book then it was well worth it. in this case i didn't get anything out of it and felt really used and taken advantage of which is why i decided to post this review. i hope it saves someone else from wasting their money. buying this book will not help you retire young or retire rich","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"1. the persective of most writers is shaped by their own experience. dr.steele is an american black, a baby boomer, a member of the academic elite, a liberal arts major, and a political 'conservative'.this certainly affects his perpective when he discusses social issues. 2. i felt that he was on pretty solid ground and made some good points when he was telling about his own experiences growing up in a segregated america and during the civil rights movement. his take on the psychological hangover after the 1964 passage of civil rights legislation regarding the attempts by the white power structure to regain 'moral authority' by doing good....and the black power advocates ready acceptance of those attempts... helps explain some of the dysfunctional after- effects that are still with us. 3. where i disagree with his analysis - speaking from my own experience and perspective of course - is that he takes the race issue which he says has been pretty well settled in the us and then blows it all out of proportion by saying that white guilt is the underlying cause of nearly every difficult social issue in the last 50 years! and he blames the 'dissociating liberals' (whoever they are) for attempting to deal with these social issues. excuse me, but i recall nixon and the reaganites being in power for awhile and the bush dynasty is still with us and i haven't seen a lot of effort being done to get-together and fix things for average folks here in the good ole us of a. of course pressing the guilt button in this mainly judeo-christian culture is a sure fire way to get everyones attention. 4. my point is that by injecting blatant partisanship into the discourse he took a premise that people of all persuasions might coalesce around and instead divides us even further.his statement about red and blue states was a hoot! how is this helpful? where are his suggestions for improvement - other than that he thinks bush & co. now have the 'moral authority' that has been so lacking in america? some might be inclined to disagree. 5. finally, as a black dr. steele misreads me as a white liberal in that i have never felt guilty about my white heritage - only ashamed for the historically extremely dysfunctional behavior of many of our fellow humans - themselves victims of misbegotten religious dogma.if we stop trying to improve our world just because we make mistakes in the process.........and if we fail to learn the lessons of the past,we will be condemned to repeat them or be blown into outer space.not a happy prospect for this social progressive and fiscal conservative.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have been a huge fan of michael crichton for about 25 years. however, this book is misleading and dangerous. almost every respectable scientist in the world now agrees that global warming is real and that we are greatly accelerating this problem (except some scientists affiliated with the petroleum and automobile industries). writing a book that disputes global warming would be like writing a book that disputes the holocaust - mr. crichton could just as easily have written a book about how the holocaust did not really happen, and provide plenty of 'references' to support this premise. tragically, in the long term, global warming could be far more destructive than even the holocaust. i hope that someday mr. crichton recognizes that, in addition to his enormous talent for entertaining, he has enormous influence on people's thoughts and actions through his books. there is a quote: 'with great power comes great responsibility.' but in this case it would seem: 'with great power comes great profit at the expense of the planet.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i saw dr. polk on c-span a month or two ago. he was addressing a gathering of concerned and apparently well-heeled citizens in the new york museum of art--as i recall. he had the crowd and the moderator in the palm of his hands. i found him to be a compelling speaker who obviously was very versed in the subject matter of iraq. he seemed to genuinely care about the iraqi people--and the amercian people. his speech and this book was about correcting our 'present march of folly'--to steal from barbara tuchman's fine book title. this book is a primer on iraq from dr. polk's point of view. it does offer a 'broad sweep' of iraqi history in a mere 200+ pages. it's purpose is obviously as an introductory historical primer for literate, reasonably educated americans so that they can understand the basic historical circumstances leading up to the present conflict. i think he wrote the book to try to change more american minds and effect a change in our present policy. that change seems to be coming about as i hit these keys. both the iraqi public and american public seem to be losing patience with the present intolerable set of affairs in iraq. it's quite unfortunate that some of the amazon reviewers have so much trouble accepting some very basic facts. they, like the occupant of the white house and the rather motley crew that surrounds him seem to live in their own separate reality. we need, as a people, to give up our collective fairy tales about our country, its leaders, and its forever 'good intentions.' this is a very approachable book. highly recommended for those who have little background in the history of iraq. another very good book that another reviewer recommended is: 'the future of iraq' by liam anderson and gareth stansfield. their analysis results in the conclusion that iraq will break into 3 pieces. hopefully, in some sort of federated pattern rather than as warring nations. i remember seymour hirsch saying that the three part outcome was virtually inevitable given the circumstances on the ground in iraq. he based this on his sources in iraq. he made this statement in the spring on c-span. seems quite prescient. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i haven't finished it. in fact, i'm not a quarter through it; but stephen has not written better - salem's lot, dark tower i, shining, misery. for a person who was going to quit, he reached deep inside and grabbed something truely special. gary","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"pratt took his many years of valuation experience and put it in this one book. the book reviews the theory and practice of how to derive a discount rate for use in a dcf. at present, it's the best book in print for appraisers","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the way you think in the lab and the office really can directly impact innovation. even though this book was written about business, i have learned how to reapply its lessons to innovation - specifically kenichi helps to define and measure success and define the 'deliverables' or 'outputs' that innovation has to produce in order to become a reality. kenichi has a clear description of the biggest factors (the 3 c's) impacting your success in business - the company, the competition,and the customer/consumer. if you look at innovation in this context, kenichi is actually also helping us innovators define 'what success looks like': the product/technology the company makes, how technically different or better it is than competitive benchmarks or alternatives in the marketplace, and whether conusmers like it and want it. on the projects i have worked on, advised others on, or simply observed the ones that make consistently hit at least all 3 of these deliverables and often additional deliverables to. those that fall short of all 3 consistently fail. hope this helps scientists, managers, entrepreneurs, and anyone with a creative or problem solving mind. dr. ali alwattari innovation author and practitione","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"highly recommended for personal insights. densely packed with information clarifying difficult concepts. this book will give you some clear insights into things you may not have received along the way and how to get past those. although it is thin, the book has an incredibly large amount of information in it. this is the kind of book you will read the first time with an expression of 'wow' on your face. it will then be something that you will be drawn back to read again and again. even if you do not feel you 'missed anything' along the way, the books insights and examples will provide great insights to you. it will provide great understanding of the self and others, therefore anyone can benefit from reading it. if you liked fromm's the art of loving you will love this book as well. the premise of this book being, we are all gifted and it is up to us to reclaim that understanding. excellent self-help material","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the story of sheriff bell, an insufferable dullard who will not shut up about how criminals these days are really evil (as opposed to all the lovely ones he knew of when growing up?). he's also a world-class boaster, never going more than a few pages without telling us how fantastic is wife loretta is. the same loretta who spends most of her time baking for or writing to evil criminals -- which tells me all i need to know about that marriage. the yakkity-yakking does not stop there. an even bigger gas-bag is chigurh, the motor-mouthed murderer. in fact, he kills people twice. before he shoots 'em, he bores 'em to death. his weapon of choice: lectures about coins. (his final kill took so long, i had to restrain myself from flingling the book across the train carriage.) on the technical front, mccarthy does not structure the drama in the classical way. he chose the boring way. the majority of scenes end exactly as you expect and only one character (moss) has a believable goal. mccarthy also omits the obligatory final scene, between chigurh and his prey moss, which was the only reason i kept reading the book. no doubt this is to defy the expectations of the reader. expectations that this might turn out to be a decent story, in my case. what's more, sheriff bell has no scenes with either chigurh or moss, making him a narrator with zero personal stake in the action. because mccarthy writes good, visual dialogue, he gets away with an inconsequntial narrator for the first half of the story. but when the man on the run (moss) exits the story, there is no other character to invest in, so the plot grinds to a halt. mccarthy cannot resusitate it because there is no connection whatever between the two remaining main players. so, does mccarthy put us out of our misery? no. sheriff bell waffles on for pages and pages about vietnam, not unlike john goodman's character walter in the big lebowski. and that's it. my verdict: i hope loretta runs away with a criminal. preferably one of them new evil ones","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i agree with one the comments posted below. the main problem with this book is mitch is a totally one-dimensional character and it's impossible to find any depth in him. over the course of the book he does not change, he's unsympathetic, and by the time we've reached page 500, we do not know anything more about him than we did on page 10. i found myself dying to get to the end of this book, just so i could start another book with some substance and some well-drawn characters. another major problem is that most of the characters in this book use the same wise-cracking speaking style so there is no sense of the characters being different from each other in any way. overall, i thought this was mediocre and a bit of a waste of time","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"although this book would appear to have a lot of promise, it ultimately fails. like mr. taylor's self-proclaimed 'certified professional landlord' title (fill in your name on page 218 for your own bogus certification!), these phony forms are imaginative but have little to no legal standing. worse, taylor apparently has little respect for his tenants. one form, the 'tenant late rent warning and excuses' form ('to be given to new, renewing, and late tenants.') asks tenants to mark a box as to why their rent was late. sample excuses: i was mugged. 'you didn't come by when i had the money,' 'i didn't have a stamp,' 'i'm dead.' a chuckle for a landlord, but also a cynical and unprofessional suggestion. taylor's advice on handling phone calls from prospective residents is even worse - he promotes using a hard-sell interrogation on the first contact that seems destined to drive away prospective tenants. anyone with intentions to do good business would be well served to get more professional advice than this extremely disappointing book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"most first novels really are not that great but usually when an author produces a sequal there is a definate improvement but i found no such improvement when trying to read this one. i figured i owed the author a second chance by reading his second novel. what can i say, for all the hype, this book is typical of many published this day by members of the self styled 'creative class'. politically correct. as subtle as a hammer. as narrow minded as the generation that the author condemns except far less productive and much less imaginative. hardly any good. truth is i found it rather juvenile. in my my mind i found myself editing out the excess wordage. perhaps half could be deleted without effecting the story. there really isn't much here. indeed it isn't a good story. no challenge to the reader at all. blow away the baddies with modern super technology which to make it sporting the baddies are allowed to have some of. it has all the defects of the first book compounded. toss it.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"patricia mcconnell has written a wonderful book filled with engaging stories and much practical advice for dog owners. she incorporates the latest research findings on the workings of the dog's mind in presenting her own cases from her behavior counseling service. her discussion of counterconditioning covers an extremely valuable concept that is not stressed (or even utilized) enough by other behaviorists and trainers. this technique is invaluable and of nearly limitless potential in alleviating many emotional distresses and disorders in dogs. especially pleasing to see is that in her discussion of counterconditioning and other techniques the author diverges from the decades-old approach of addressing 'behavior problems' (a term that should be killed off and unceremoniously buried - it's not the animal's problem any more than if your husband had a habit of talking too loudly to your liking would you tell your friends that he had a behavior problem) by focusing on simply eliminating the behavior. this mechanistic behaviorism approach may be effective in eliminating the behavior but frequently does nothing to relieve the dog's underlying emotional distress that is causing the behavior. for example, if a dog is suffering from loneliness because he is tied up alone in a backyard and barks endlessly for human attention and companionship there are plenty of ways to eliminate the barking. but there is only one correct one: alleviate the emotional pain of loneliness. mcconnell understands this and focuses on this underlying emotional distress when working with the dogs to change unwanted behavior. in light of the advances in neuroscience, comparative psychology, and brain imaging, this places mcconnell on the leading edge of the changes underway in how unwanted behavior in dogs should be addressed. the primary focus in treating behavior 'problems' is to help the dog rather than the owner. mcconnell gets this. most dog behaviorists and trainers do not. i strongly recommend this book for all dog owners who want their dogs to get the best emotional care and support in all behavior-related matters.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i also bought the hype of nytimes best seller. goes to show you some people have really bad taste. the story was promising and could have been exciting without the awful dialog. it seems like the author was being paid by the word - too much repetition, entire scenes which added nothing to the story, etc. i would never purchase another book by this author. glad it's over and this ones in the trash can... charli","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"dr. schwalbe's commonsense approach to teaching you precisely what you need to know in order to pass comptia's it project + exam should be commended. she did a great job covering all exam topics as well as providing relevant practice test questions. i had no problems at all passing this test and i owe it all to dr. schwalbe's, 'it project + courseprep examguide.' i highly recommend this book if you're serious about passing comptia's it project + exam","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"alright, first of all, i have read dozens of books on nutrition and weight, etc., many of which were inspiring and very helpful. i highly doubt that many women in 2006 lack general nutrition knowledge, but if they do, it can be found easily online or in the library. dr. northrup's advice was ludicrous. 30 grams of carbs per day? i was encouraged when she began by citing geneen roth, but things deteriorated from there until i wanted to throw the book out the window. if anyone is looking for a mind-body approach to food, please, please do not read dr. northrup's chapter on 'nutrition.' instead, i would recommend fed up by dr. wendy oliver-pyatt, eating mindfully by dr. susan albers, any book by geneen roth, or even how much does your soul weigh, by dr. dorie mccubbrey. these books adress eating mindfully, allowing yourself to enjoy the foods you love while paying attention to your body's responses. dr. northrup's 'nutrition' chapter is just another externally driven, trendy, but ultimately ineffective attempt to control weight and promote health (she calls herself a 'sugar addict' and if you want information about that, read something like sugar busters (until you figure out that all diets will never work long-term). anyway, i think she's a nut, and i wish that consumers were more perceptive and less desperate and likely to grasp at straws like women's bodies, women's wisdom.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the amazing power of deliberate intent is another wonderful resource on the law of attraction. while it does not contain as many 'new' insights as i had hoped, the material is (as always) thought provoking and energizing. an easy read with outstanding examples of how to apply the principles of attraction in your life","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i felt it was very scientific and difficult reading. i wasn't able to get past 20 minutes with this book although i am sure by the title it has great information in it. i do not feel it's for the average person more medical / scentific minds. truthfully, i feel my money was wasted and wish i would of took the time to return it. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book provided a clear and tragic story of the invasion. you might want to take notes, however. acronyms and abreviations should be explained more frequently, as well as military organization, for those of us civilian","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"some of the other alex rider books may have been a little predictable, but ark angel is by far the worst book in the series. as if someone with a cheesy tattoo of the world covering their head isn't bad enough, this book really 'jumps the shark', not only does anthony horowitz yet again use the 'corrupt rich guy' plot (this may have something to do with his childhood . . .), but at the end of the book alex gets launched into space. save your $15 and buy maximum ride by james patterson or a scott westerfeld book instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this novel is absolute dreck, at the best. i do not think i could ever pick up another grisham novel without vomiting. pelican brief was okay. but, i honestly cannot read him again, because of this. the reason for this one star rating is this. first, the protaganist is a stupid punk kid, who by the end of the novel you are actually hoping gets shot or something! second, 496 pages filled with 'blah blah blah' there wasn't enough content to constitute a five hundred page novel. maybe one hundred, and then it would have been decent. third, when reading about a murder mystery with the mob involved, you would at least expect more blood-shed, or more death. especially since this is targeted at a group that enjoys those kinds of things. fourth, although written at a fourth grade level no fourth grader should be allowed within three hundred feet for all the swearing that takes place. speech and the written word, are signs of intelligence, vulgarity is something people use when they do not know how to convey something accurately. honestly every page has at least some. now you know,that unless you want your socks bored off, you shouldn't even look in the section that has grisham in it. if you want to read something light, that's believable, not fantasy and not romance, read crichton.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i think the book is very flippant and uninformative. if you are looking for hard facts, skip this one. i'd like to return it for a refund and i'd be embarrased to pass it on","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"why? because this book says nothing more than what he had already said in a brief history of time. however, i will say that unlike a brief history of time, this one is a really, really big book with lots of colorful pictures so that they can charge an extra 30 dollars. and that he also changed the titles of the chapters. that's something...and the pictures were pretty! believe it or not after i read universe in a nutshell i decided to give good ol' steve one more shot so i picked up a theory of everything. however, to my surprise, within those pages i didn't find a theory of everything...but i did find somehting that amazed me more than a theory of everything every could...inside, i found a brief history of time! he had fooled me again! it's a conspiracy, this man is publishing the same book over & over again with different titles to fool people into buying them. and he's including illustrations now because he discovered how well worthless pictures sell! do not buy into it! it's a trick, underneath the new dustjacket, pretty pictures, and new chapter headings, these are same words! i proclaim myself to be the first to say 'i will not be fooled by mr. hawking again.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"poirot is given a case by his old pal spence which takes him to a small village, where the fussy detective must unravel clues behind a crime in which the main suspect has already been arrested and sentenced... hercule's indignities at the run down boarding house he's staying at make up the bulk of the story's humor, but the mystery is great fun, too and i doubt anyone can guess the killer, unless you're paying amazingly close attention. the characters here are some of agatha's most entertaining, and mrs oliver, with her uncanny intuition, always makes a nice flighty side kick..","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book was excellent and easy reading. my 12 year old granddaughter, her mothe , my father and i read all of dave pelzer's series of 3 books. we also read his brother's story","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"some of this book is good and normally i love suzanne summers but.... a few comments like ' no wonder men leave us for younger woman'. like what is that about? woman need to feel better for themselves not some guy. does she not know men also have hormonal problems and aging? when i ran into a few comments like that in the book it turned me off. woman need to feel good about themselves and look good for themselves first. i just felt the book was a push for the s principle book and to be hot for your guy. usually her stuff is good but i wasn't crazy about this one. sorry nothing new in this book. maybe helpful to someone else. jud","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"talk about a waste of time! i was wondering if it was just me so i asked several friends who dutifully read this prize winner and they said they could barely get through it. it is boring, tells you instead of shows you, hyperactively jumps around the timeline like a flea and provides no payoff at all. i also found the protrayal of the grandmother's flirtation with islam to be shallow, un-informed, unbelievable and ultimately dismissive. do not waste your time on this or your money. luckily i had picked it up at a book sale for $0.25, about what it was worth","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"`the villa' was magnificent nora roberts's novel. the basis story is about a family of wine makers who find themselves fighting to save the family business after numerous murders, bad business, affairs and fire ~ all with a mix of romance. this book has some nice twists that you will enjoy. if you are looking for fun romance with a story i would also suggest kate angell `crazy for you' and the ice house by minette walters","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is j.a. jance at her worst and the readers simpering narrations does not help","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"reading this book, you get the impression michael lewis just moved in with jim clark for a year. sadly, these direct interaction stories and anecdotes are not as compelling as the more standard journalistic backstory: the tale of clark's rise from abject poverty, the founding of silicon graphics and his eventual war with management and the board there, and the story of netscape. the up to date stuff is less interesting, unless you are really fascinated with big sailboats. if we were rating lewis books on a scale of 1-5, this would only rate a 3. but since other authors have to also fit into the scale, this gets a 4..","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"since i loved jurassic park and the andromeda strain (way back in high school) i happily picked up congo at the airport. what an enormous disappointment - the book has the feel of having been written in an hour and a half. nonsensical details are never explained (what's with the gray gorillas and the paddles? the gorillas were trained by the zing-ites, back in the day, to execute people with the paddles and they sort of got into it? this is never made clear), the dramatic arc is entirely hosed up, and the characters are ridiculously one-dimensional. this is one of these books where you get to the last 30 pages and you realize that you're sol - the plot is not going to come together, and you're not going to be satisfied. that, plus the obsessive detail about boring 1980 technology, left me entirely cold - this book hit the airport trash can the minute i debarked","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i very much looked forward to the ending of this book not to see what would happen but so that i could be done with it and move on to a different book! i found this book pointless. after reading 482 pages, i cannot even think of two adjectives to describe sally and clare. moody does such a poor job of character development that i do not feel like i know all that much about these two women. i did not like the main characters and i didn't feel as though they had much of a real friendship at all. the book is way too long, the plot is unbelievable, the characters are unlikable, and the writing style is annoying","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"anti-corporate cassandras grind axes to sparse audiences these days. in o'boyle's piddling attempt to make us outraged at ge, he destroys his own credibility. by attempting to pin every social ill of the late 20th century on jack welch-- a good, if ruthless ceo-- his ideological ship spins wildly out of control. downsizing is his fault. (hello, organizations are becoming streamlined all over the developed world) media sensationalism is his fault. (welch personally delights in the bottom dwelling content of dateline nbc) anybody who has ever worked for a corporation, especially one as big as ge, knows a few things that should make readers way of o'boyle's hokey cause and effect analysis: 1. the ceo does not micromanage his or her company-- thousands of important decisions are made under a ceos jurisdiction every day. 2. corporations are not social utopias, and shouldn't be. people get fired sometimes. but people are also given opportunities to do interesting work. and competition is good. 3. if there is a ubitiquitous problem in society, e.g. families are no longer as stable, a corporation, which is sample unit of social organization, will usually reflect, or possibly be linked more directly to that problem. however, small minds confuse this with causality, not understanding the methodological pitfall of ad hoc ergo propter hoc. for example- families break up more, partially because people do not balance work and family very well. lots of people work for corporations. corporations caused the decline of the american family. read the book-- o'boyle is guilty of not understanding these truths and more","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the major strength of this book is that it goes right to the heart of the debate on social welfare policy. who is to blame? is it the person or is it their circumstances? normally hysterics on both extremes of the political spectrum try to place all the blame either on society or on the person. this book makes a run at splitting the difference. frankly, i found this book better informed than the famous nickel and dimed. the truth is that poverty is a tough problem to solve, and many of the best minds on the left and the right have failed us","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am loving this book, but let's get one thing straight. this is not a cupcake book, as the cover would lead you to believe. in fact, i only saw one reference to a cupcake from a regular layer cake recipe, even though it is written by one of the owners of new york's famed magnolia bakery, which has gained notoriety for its cupcakes. at any rate, the recipes contained in this book are pure magic. so far i have made the white layer cake with chocolate chips and peanut butter icing (as suggested), and it was quite a hit with friends and family. other recipes i'm going to try in the next few days are the sour cream coffee cake and the buttercup golden layer cake. this book is all about making things from scratch like they did in the olden days, but you could also mix and match homemade cakes with store-bought icing or vice-versa. read the introductory section with tips and pay attention to the details (e.g., use cake flour instead of all-purpose or self-rising, use butter/sour cream at room temp., etc.), which will make all the difference. the section with icing recipes is short but covers a variety of flavors. it's definitely not an atkins-friendly cookbook or any of that, so you know it's good for your sweet tooth! i would definitely recommend this book to any baker, novice or expert, and am looking forward to buying 'the magnolia bakery cookbook' (co-authored by appel) next","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"in this work, bhagwati offers valid arguments for globalization. he is takes some of the strongest criticisms of globalization and is able to find fault in them, and at the same time, declares the benefits of a globalized economy. however, one need not read the entire book to find out bhagwati's views. bhagwati's stance on globalization is almost so extreme that he instinctively and automatically comes to the defense of globalization without providing a fair analysis. as a harvard professor, i would assume him to provide more academic and holistic defenses and criticisms. however, his book is an easy read and one that opens the reader to arguments for and against globalization whether s/he has previous knowledge of globalization or not","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i wish i had read these reviews before i bought the book. i would have saved myself $26.00. as an american who has traveled and now lives in europe part of the year i was continually appalled at how she maligned other travelers. she writes of being invited to be a guest speaker on a cruise ship and insults in print all of the other passengers. she had a free trip while others paid, but she ridiculed everyone. i was totally horrified of the things that she said about her former father-in-law. those statements had no relevance to the book and they do not belong in public print. this man is the grandfather of her daughter. i am astounded at how she thrashed him publicly. her book consisted mainly of telling the reader what town she was in, what was wrong with it and the rest of the chapter boring us with what books she was reading and quoting other authors, and relaying in detail every morsel that her and her husband ate. i have visited and even lived in several of the towns she wrote about. of the ones i have not been to unfortunately, nothing she wrote made me want to visit them. i am an avid reader of travel books and essays. i will never again read anything by frances mayes. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book was entertaining, but... there is only one 19-page chapter dedicated to the problem of 'inappropriate elimination' (peeing/pooping in the wrong place), even though the author himself describes it as 'the number one behavior problem'. he says 'no other problem causes so much grief and leads them so often to consider the final solution of euthanasia'. i want to ask the author: given that, do not you think most people are buying the book for that reason and you should have dedicated more time to this topic??? the stories in that chapter did not contain any revelations for me - his examples all had fairly obvious causes and were easy to fix, such as the owner changed the litter box, boyfriend moved in, owner had 2 litter boxes for 6 cats, or the cat is doing it out of anxiety and responds nicely to medication (lucky them). throughout the book, i wish he had spent less time making cute anecdotes and more time detailing possible effective interventions","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this concise introduction to critical thinking presents rules for clear thinking, valid communications, and creating and assessing persuasive arguments. its 87 brief pages are readily accessible to high school students, and useful to anyone interested in offering correct evidence and valid reasons to support conclusions. when so much of what we read, hear, and see is intended to persuade us, or even mislead us, it is important to distinguish valid arguments from careless or manipulative ones. if good writing is clear thinking made visible, then this book provides excellent advice for writers. as a rulebook, it begins by presenting 30 rules for clearly constructing a valid case supporting your conclusion. it then turns to applying these rules for writing argumentative essays. it also treats fallacies and includes an appendix on correct use of definitions. the author recognizes this book is only an introduction to these topics and provides a good list of further reading. fallacies are seductive and often go unnoticed and unchallenged. in this book, many fallacies are described alongside the rules they violate. a short chapter then names and briefly describes many types of fallacies. i would have liked to see this expanded. we have long recognized sexist and racist language and work to purge it from use. i look forward to a time when a broader set of fallacies will be routinely recognized and corrected in everyday conversation. perhaps then it will be common to interrupt the speaker to say something like: 'excuse me, but you just used the fallacy of modus ponens by affirming the consequent. please correct that logic error before proceeding.'","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the kind of garbage they teach you to write in college--imitations of what's on the shelf right now, only 'smarter,' which really just means 'condescending to those not born with a silver spoon in ultrawhite marin county.' but you shouldn't be surprised--the authoress also writes a blog which is just as bloated with self-absorption (even if she wants to pretend this is a novel: novels have plots, honey). bypass this and read some dorothy parker instea","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"jim ainsworth clearly demonstrates his extensive financial consulting experience throughout this book. much of the information is valuable, and it covers the important beginners' range of knowledge effectively. however, his 'down to earth' style is not only irritating, it actually makes the book painful to read. good written english is not always the same as good spoken english. surely the man is a succesful financial consultant, but that does not make him a good writer. it just goes to show that in a hot, growing industry like financial consulting a book written by a 'qualified' author will sell even if it is poorly written","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"satirical. sarcastic. ironic. humorous. salinger is the master at the concept of deriding and satirizing the elements of life. this book reveals the emotional roller coaster of a teenage boy's life. the story starts off with a moody teenager, holden caulfield. he is expelled from his third school, pencey, and decides to hang around in new york city before heading back home. in new york, holden experiences the highs and lows of his life. one minute, he is in a very elated state and then the next minute, he is down in the dumps. as holden journeys through the nice neighborhoods to the slums in nyc, he realizes what the true world holds in store for him. holden encounters run down hotels, clubs filled with losers, and plain old phoniness. but he also meets kind and generous people who, in a way, provide a light to holden and shows him that the world isn't all that bad. holden continually criticizes the phony life led by all those he knew through school and friends. when he tries to run away from it all, he encounters even more problems with money shortage, unfriendly people, and just plain bad luck which lead him to complain about everything. salinger masters the art of satire to emphasize his message that being phony causes the person to lose their true identity and makes them assume another identity which they cannot live with at all. as holden tries to rediscover himself and his values, he finds out that his life is not bad at all compared to the bunch of phonies he meets","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am a fan of michael crichton's. having said that, i felt that the writing style of this particular book was incredibly choppy, and that certain characters were not well developed at all (e.g. the wife!) the basic premise was very interesting and the book was suspenseful; it moved along at a fast pace. however, crichton added too many characters, and made the book too dense. i had to skim the last several chapters because i wanted to know what happened at the end, but i was getting extremely bored. obviously, he has come a long way since this book :-) sigrid","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"one of the more interesting topics in this book is the arab-israeli conflict. while there is much more in the book than this portion, i think huband's treatment of this conflict is so far off that it compromises the entire work. and huband begins the section by quoting an arab who says that although israelis say they want peace, they do not really want it. well, what are we to make of this? after all, we know that the israelis, good or bad, do want peace and do need peace. they spent the past several decades building up a nation. and they want to keep it. that is one reason they need peace. and that is also a reason why it is easy to tempt them with bogus offers of peace, just like tempting a fish with bait on a hook. but just as fish need food, israelis need peace. huband didn't say that. but we know that israelis really do want peace. we know that if israelis are innocent victims, they want peace. we know that if israelis are guilty thieves, they still want peace, just to keep their illicit gains. what does it mean for huband to imply that israelis do not really want (or do not really appear to want) peace? well such a claim is surely a falsehood. but more than that, it is a taunt. after all, suppose a bully decides to beat you up. and suppose that bully claims you want to fight! obviously, you may well prefer to be left alone to being beaten up. what the bully is saying is a taunt. it's more than a mere falsehood. it is a blatant way for bullies to tease their victims. that means that huband's book is taunting israelis. that's not a very good thing for a journalist to do. it goes beyond telling mere falsehoods. huband also implies that jews have taken arab land, and admit to it. and that they have taken an arab country! i wonder which one? and i also wonder if buying land at high prices constitutes 'taking' it. after all, we humans are living on the same planet as the one that existed in 1805. not one human who was alive in 1805 is alive today. have we all stolen the planet from them? of course not. we have bought it and inherited it. there has been some theft, but that is no reason to invalidate the right of all humans to live on this planet today. huband implies that the arabs ought to have a greater right to steal jewish land than the jews do to own the land they bought at high prices. that's bad journalism too. and there's more. the author calls former israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu an 'extremist.' now, i might understand making some snide remark about former prime minister yitzhak shamir, who after all was a former leader of the stern gang. one might even do the same for former prime minister menachim begin, who was a former leader of the irgun. but netanyahu? once again, this is poor journalism. and by the way, you might want to see how often the author calls any arabs 'extremists.' it is true that antisemitic propaganda and incitement in the arab world has reminded many israelis of similar propaganda and incitement in germany in the 1930s. and that has resulted in some analogies being made between arab antisemitism today and german antisemitism before and during world war two. huband makes fun of such analogies. i think he should have taken them seriously. more bad journalism. the author does take benjamin beit-hallahmi seriously, though. huband quotes him to explain that the arabs are 'innocent bystanders,' and that the jews are visiting revenge on the arabs for european antisemitism! this is total nonsense, of course. more bad journalism. now, does a 'one-state' solution to the arab-israeli conflict make sense? maybe so. israel exists in order to protect jewish rights and to provide a refuge for jews. it exists to provide a state where jews will speak hebrew natively, attend hebrew schools universities, have hebrew traditions, and so forth. it can do all that in a state which has a large non-jewish population. and israel, even with ten thousand square miles, would be rather small for a state which houses over five million jews. if jewish rights to life, liberty, property, and immigration are protected, a one-state solution may be best. besides, while many people say that another arab state is needed as well, i see no real need for one except as a mechanism to attack or destroy israel. the author agrees that a one-state solution is best. and i think he even acknowledges that israel is part of the middle east. but it seems to me that his reason for wanting a one-state solution is to demolish jewish rights rather than support them. and getting rid of human rights would be bad for everyone in the region. this book is a good one to avoid","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"how many pages should a writer fill to explain that a character is afraid of forks, knives and mirrors? two? well koontz takes over a hundred, and repeats, repeats, repeats. 500 pages should have been cut from this book. repetition weakens writing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i purchased this book for my 17 year old daughter. she needed it for an assignment at school. the book was exactly what she needed. it shipped fast and is in great condition","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"just remember 'a man a plan a canal panama' reads front to back and back to front great book by a great author. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"will people 100 or 200 years from now look around and wonder where all of the rivers are? i hope not","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this was the first book by daniel steel that i laid my hands on....really could not make out how she strikes the chord with the readers. there are so many open ends in the story...chartacters are not distinctly outlined...tremendous scope of improvement on the story is there","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i received what looked like a nicely preserved used copy. the book literally fell apart from the binding the first time i read it. it continued to come unglued from the binding each time i attempted to read it. not a good quality copy. would not purchase from this supplier agai","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"'the andromeda strain' may be an antique in science fiction, having been published in 1969, but that hardly diminishes its excellence. the caliber of michael crichton's research is such that i still found the technology and science in the book impressive (though the computers were obviously dated) despite the book's age. the plotline is thrilling, and though some of the scientific and philosophic asides are lengthy, most are equally fascinating. i was slightly disappointed by the ending; however, the rest of the book was amazing and made the reading worth it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"tuch is very insightful in his observations about this syndrome. having been involved in this kind of relationship myself in the past, i can say that his description of how these relationships progress is very familiar. this book will provide well-needed understanding by all involved parties. this understanding is crucial in order to get unentangled from this kind of relationship...or transform the unhealthy agendas/perspectives that often permeate the relationship and give the relationship a chance to either end or work out","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"in 1990 bill bryson set out to 'do europe'. he says that his motivation was to relive his experiences from tours in europe in 1972 and 1973 when he was a young student wandering around europe with a backpack. in reality it seems as if the primary reason for bill bryson to do this trip was so that he could then write a funny book about the trip. 'neither here nor there' is, in fact, a very funny book, at least in the beginning. bill bryson can describe situations in a very humorous way, and he's willing to make fun of himself, as well as everything around him. unfortunately, after a while the humor wears thin. then it wears very thin. then you begin to dissect the humor, and realize that you've been had. bill bryson's method of traveling is to emulate the kind of tourism we all like to ridicule. he typically arrives by train in a new city in the evening. he has no hotel reservation so he has to spend time finding a hotel that is not really what he wanted. he sees 'the sights' that one is supposed to see in that city. he makes no effort to get in touch with the local people, to learn about their lives, or to understand their country and society. he spends typically 2-3 days in each city and then goes to work on figuring out how to get to the next city or country on his list, which often leads to further complications. this is obviously not the way to travel if you're writing a travel book. nobody in their right mind would want to read about this kind of traveling. but bill bryson is not writing a travel book, he's writing a funny book, and he has a sure-fire recipe: 1. do things in problematic ways, and then make fun of all the trials and tribulations that result. 2. mix in lots of flashbacks to the trips of your youth, with much juvenile humor related to the drives that young men are so driven by. 3. feign incomprehension about everything foreign and satirize everything that is unfamiliar. 4. make funny remarks intended to reinforce national prejudices. this last type of humor can be especially tiring. here are a few examples to illustrate what i mean: 'let's face it, the french army could not beat a girls' hockey team.' (pg 32) 'the (german) women still do not shave their armpits. ... they all look so beautiful and stylish, and then they lift up their arms and there's a brillo pad hanging there.' (pg 91) 'in norway, three people and a bottle of beer is a party; in sweden the national sport is suicide.' (pg 97) 'but the most preposterous law of all, a law so pointless as to scamper along the outer reaches of the surreal, is the swedish one that requires motorists to drive with their headlights on during the daytime.' (pg 110) 'i love the way the italians park. you turn any street corner in rome and it looks as if you've just missed a parking competition for blind people.' (pg 123) in conclusion, if you're someone who 'did europe' in your youth and you want to relive fond memories in a humorous way, then you may well like this book. most other readers will probably start out laughing, then smiling, then wondering why the jokes seem to have lost their appeal, and finally ending up wishing they'd picked a real travel book or a real humorous book. rennie petersen ps. just for the record, here is a list of the places covered: norway (hammerfest, oslo), france (paris), belgium (brussels, bruges, spa, durbuy), germany (aachen, cologne, hamburg), holland (amsterdam), denmark (copenhagen), sweden (gothenburg, stockholm), italy (rome, naples, sorrento, capri, florence, milan, como), switzerland (brig, geneva, bern), liechtenstein, austria (innsbruck, salzburg, vienna), yugoslavia (split, sarajevo, belgrade), bulgaria (sofia), turkey (istanbul)","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the story is quite clunky and contrived, and yet, i still cannot help but feel some affection for it, as, despite my opinions of mr. roeder's talents, he clearly feels deeply for his characters, and their none-to-realistic world. the good things are here--while the characters are cardboard cut-outs, and the fact that the two couples are essentially dopplegangers, their plight is still quite a bit involving. my negatives, though, really spring from the way the plot unfolds--far too quickly and far too coincidental. i know that the chamber of horrors at the 'mental hospital' is not far removed from reality, but for a lot of the story, the amazing circumstances that abound in the novel are a bit too much to bear. and i cannot quite parse the way mr. roeder attempts to ground his characters in a realistic setting, and then throws on paranormal experiences. as escapist literature, i've read worse, but for something that seems to be striving towards realism, i just do not know","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i cannot rave enough about this book; certainly i have not been moved like this by a literary work in some time. gorgeous from start to finish- sometimes whimsical, sometimes heartbreaking, always intelligent, fresh, and full of magic. clarke's writing is impeccable and a pure joy to read. one always has the sense that she's subtly mocking her characters even as she allows us to love (or hate!) them. the story is breathtaking and moves along with exquisite pacing. allow yourself to be lost in her world! ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"when i picked this book up, i expected it to be interesting. as a fat kid, i thought i would enjoy the story, thinking that i would feel connected to the main character. boy, was i wrong. in the beginning of the book, troy, feeling suicidal, wants to throw himself on the tracks, but curt, a skinny druggie, stops him. by the middle of the book, i wish curt had just held back and let troy jump. the book was very slow for me; each new chapter sounded like the last. i read this short book over two weeks because i just could not take it. the end was unsurprisingly predictable. i mean, i could've told you what was going to happen by the fifth chapter. usually, when i read a book, i take something from it, maybe a lesson or a moral. in this book, i just felt a sense of nonclosure... the ending didn't really do it for me. based on the other reviews on this page, you probably think that i'm just a mean person who writes scathing reviews on great books. the first part may be true, but i only write scathing reviews on things i did not particularly like. you may not have liked macbeth, but i sure did. whether it's a good book or not is all a matter of opinion","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"though i'm coming to a review of the search a year too late, i can explain why. i bought the book on its release, very excited to read some good journalism about the hottest business topic of the day. i was sure that battelle, who had been chronically his progress on the book on his own blog, would deliver. halfway through the book (in a matter of three days - a possible sign pointing to its lack of depth) i'm realizing that this is not the case. thus far, i have two major gripes with the book. the first is the writing itself. the book is written in informal magazine style, in keeping with his roots as a 'cutting edge' technology writer (having worked for wired and business 2.0, magazines that try desperately to be 'too cool for the room'). this would be fine enough, except that battelle has a habit of jumping around from year to year, talking about decisions made by players in google's history before he actually introduces them. he never fully explains why it was important for sergey brin and larry page - google's founders - to resign their chairman and ceo posts, nor does he tell the reader what their new titles are. battelle also has a habit of reintroducing people several times, a practice which at times seems a cheap way to up his page count. his writing style thoroughly muddles however much thoughtfulness there was to his project. i considered keeping a tally of how many times he used 'well' as an interjection, but lost interested after i ran out of fingers. on page 150 he discusses a lack of managerial prowess on the part of brin, page and new ceo eric schmidt. according to battelle, one of google's investors, john doerr, insisted that intuit founder bill campbell come on as a leadership coach. battelle uses an anecdote from journalist john heilemann's gq article on google, which quotes doerr as saying, 'i do not know where the company would be without him.' however, battelle does not include any of his own reporting on what campbell actually did. neglecting to explain right away what this `miraculous' shift was is, in my own journalistic view, irresponsible. not to mention that he does not include the actual title of heilemann's article in either the main book or the citations. later in the book on page 172, he tries to play the role of not only a technology writer, and search historian, but also media theorist and critic, waxing about how google ought to be considered a media company - not just a technology company. in the book's final chapter, battelle introduces the idea of having several different kinds of information contribute to 'perfect search,' including every tech writer and journalist's favorite idea, the blog. he bulldozes through a description of the blog and later posits that we have reached the critical mass point, 'but we do not know it yet.' i suspect that battelle means that he's savvier than users and other writers and he knows something we do not, but he does not explain why he thinks we've reached the tipping point, nor what that means in the overall discussion of what the blog can do. though battelle tries to play his book as a 'history of search,' it is nowhere near as comprehensive as such a book must be. it is a book that sings the praises of google, nothing more. however, that the book is a history of google is fine. the company certainly is interesting and large enough to warrant an historical account and battelle ought to be forthcoming with his intent. the short discussions he does include of the company's search engine precursors such as lycos and alta-vista need considerable expansion and deserve to be considered as more than also-rans, if he really wants to be considered the historian of search and not just google's unofficial corporate historian. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"all i can say is pass me some aspirin. this is a dozy of a bad novel. as it says on the dust jacket, a supreme court law clerk grabs a petition and ends up becoming deceased. its up to the brother to uncover the truth by finding the real killer who had let a poor black man rot away for a crime he did not commit. at the same time the brother contends with mysterious bad guys out to get him and stop the unearthing of the evidence. not only does he deal with his family, but his brothers friend, a sexy young law clerk herself and the duplicity on the bench she works for. and that's only the start of the plot. its really pretty bad, it descends into mired pretensions and goofy resolutions. the characters are so shallow that you are left with little notion of who they are except for a faint nasty after taste over their conceded ways. baldacci is along with james patterson and dean koontz one of america's worst authors. if you want an author who writes on a similar vein to this, try one of harlan coben's last four or so stand alone thrillers with out the character myron bolitar in it. or for a more sophisticated read, look for denis lehane, he wrote the amazing mystic river, but his pi series located in boston is pretty good as well.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"there are two ways i can describe this book: as an assigned essay on 'how i spent my vacation,' in which it might receive a passing grade in high school; or as a visit by your brother-in-law, the one you never really liked but tolerated for your sister's sake, who shares his superficial ideas as if they were deep insights. i suppose there are people who will voluntarily submit to either, but i'm not one of them. the author (he can only be called a writer in the most literal sense) has no insight to speak of, is manifestly incompetent at background research, and lacks any useful power of description. he really should look up the meanings of words like 'masquerade' and 'circumvent' before he uses them. . . the real mystery is how something like this ever gets published","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a fan of frederick buechner, i found this volume in our church library and secured it anticipating a summer weekend of ecstasy, reading this book on the back porch while sipping lemonade. i found it disappointing, as he focuses on his collection of buechner family memoribilia. as hard as he tries to universalize it, making it accessible to all of us, for me, it just didn't work. and it reads like a review of one's summer family reunion. sorry. read his other stuff. it's great!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"=== quote pay no attention to the negative criticisms by those who are obviously moonies. this is should be required reading. nansook hong had the courage to endure and to finally escape the clutches of this dangerous cult led by the korean flake who thinks he's god. === end funny, so people should not listen to the story of those who are still within the um, why is this? also rev. moon himself does not claim to be god, this is always said by others, rev.moon stresses the point without god he would be nothing...","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i like john's style in writing this book. when i started studying manifolds, i had little understanding of some of the deep concepts of topology. this book was an excellent introduction. what is so cool about this book are the exercises, and they are all connected with each other. it makes a sumptuous meal. the other book on smooth manifolds is definitely on its way to being a classic among beginners","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have enjoyed reading other books by mr. prosek, however, this one was a true disappointment. i could not figure out if this was a book about fishing or drinking. there seemed to be more anecdotes regarding drinking and getting soused than any fishing action. even if the author loves to drink, the book is supposed to be about fishing the 41st parallel and all that that should entail. i may not have learned much about trout fishing, but i sure know where to find booze joints along the 41st parallel","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"you can read the other reviews to see what the book is about. fascinating stuff if you have any interest in psychedelics whatsoever. the long and short of it is that this book is a great read for being written by a doctor and medical researcher. i found it highly enjoyable. the story is as interesting as the research, and dr. strassman's sincere account of the project's difficulties and the personal toll it took on him made the book even more of a page-turner for me. note that a small fraction of reviewers here did not like it. what's not to like? the book has: a brief history of psychedelics a look into governmental drug-control bureaucracy fascinating stories of weird trips including contact with alien beings the occasional rogue test subject pissed off buhddists an unstable intern hilarious slogans like: 'you do not come back from .04 an atheist' and other fun stuff highly recommended reading. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"very good commentary on revelation, from the viewpoint of everything but the final judgment occurred in the first century a.d","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i'm at home on bed rest and desperate for something good to read. this book did the trick.. the narrator is smart, funny, and clearly aware that it is next to impossible to do much about most of the evil sleaziness of the world. certainly it is impossible to make changes in individual lives, one at a time. (or maybe i'm just jaded, too. some may call it maturity.) clearly, the narrator is the most decent character in a novel full of morally bankrupt people (from both sides of the tracks). ironically, his career is blindsided due to what others perceive to be questionable morals. anyway, join max as he watches pathetic people with and without class, power, and agency screw up their lives even more than they already have, and help him make sense of it. great literature this ain't, but a smart, fun, cynical read it is","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the first (and last) book by david baldacci that i've ever read. he is one of the worst best-selling writers i've ever read. he writes almost every sentence of dialog in the form of a tom swifty sentence ('we've got to get out of here,' said king, menacingly). his flair for melodramatic overstatement is second to none. the actions of the characters make no sense at all. for example, when michelle sees a laser from a gun sight pointed at the chest of her trusty sidekick, sean king, she says, 'sean, do not move!' instead of 'sean, dive for cover!!!' bottom line - save your money and buy something worthwhile","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the story is sweet, set in an earlier time but does not come across dated. there is an opportunity for math lessons (sal keeps eating her berries = subtraction; tremendous mouthful = size/proportion) here. beyond that, kids just love this story. i do not know if it is that there is one main character, a child, and another prominent character, a bear, or what, but i have given this as a gift and it is always a favorite","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i was terribly disappointed with this king release. could a creative writing student done better? perhaps. it was by far the worst published work i've ever read. it was unreadable. throughout the entire first chapter i waited for a plot to be formed. the characters were choppy and the story went nowhere. the book seemed to be published on his name alone. i have been disappointed in s. king for some time now and this book really cemented my idea that he has lost his touch. i am a long time fan, i began reading him in 8th grade and the last good book i read, written by him, was hearts in atlantis. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i was disappointed by this book. it does not help me to understand the 'truth' about global warming. patrick michael's subjective ranting throughout the book can be labelled 'humour', and 'readability', but i have to say that, for me, the rhetorical devices just put me off. it's just sensationalising the subject. i can understand that he may feel he has a point here, and he may have one, i do not know (still), but, as a scientist, i find it impossible to take what he says seriously when it is just littered with remarks that would be better placed in a tabloid newspaper. he makes some good points about the links between science, media and funding - how organisations will link issues to the cute and furry animals and so on in order to get more support. but these have been made many years ago, and are not news to me as a social scientist. ditto for the difficulties for attributing causality (p.128). what i find, as with lomborg's book, is that these authors are so busy building a rebuttal to an argument that they themselves produce 'evidence' that is just as biased, if not more so, the other way, and this reduces their credibility to anyone who is not already convinced that they are right. relying on the rhetoric of powerful soundbites to get those who agree with him is not going to convince those of us who are really trying to learn here. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"dr. steven greer is a well-known figure on the fringe of ufology, and he claims to have 'briefed' senior government figures on the ufo issue, but five minutes with this book reveals why few take the issue seriously. it's an amateurish, sometimes incoherent clip job of unedited, free-flowing interviews with dozens of scientists, pilots and former government/military figures, most of whom say they experienced a highly strange ufo episode (though some of the 'testimony' is second-hand). the firsthand stories can be very interesting and provocative, especially when they purport to cover the government's secrecy, suppression and disinformation techniques. but any impact the content might have is pretty much overshadowed by the hard fact that 'disclosure' is a disorganized, misspelled, contradictory, somrtimes unintelligible, incoherent mess. it's not even 'written' in the strict sense -- it appears to be a bunch of interview transcripts hurriedly set in type, not subjected to so much as a simple spell-checker. names and geographic locations are mangled, punctuation is absent, and the speakers' weird allusions are left hanging. it's hundreds of pages long, but it feels like the world's biggest high school social studies project. the one consistent stylistic point is that dr. greer's name or initials appear over and over and over again -- nobody ever accused him of missing self-promotion opportunities -- but the amateurish nature of the production is a net negative mark against him. it's a mess. in a foreword greer says the material was/is so urgent, because it deals with the future of the entire human race, etc., that it had to be rushed into publication. i would like to think the definitive word on the future of the entire human race will be spelled right and look like it came from grown-ups. tragically disorganized efforts like 'disclosure' warm the hearts of the disinformation masters, i'm sure, because the ufo movement hangs itself with this kind of stuff -- or at least consigns itself to eternal fringe status. it's a serious subject and it deserves serious coverage, but 'disclosure,' for all the nuggets of interest it contains, helps guarantee that the subject will not be taken seriously for the foreseeable future. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am one of those freaks who would look at a bezillion books before settling with one. (talking about computer books ofcourse!). this is especially significant when it comes to xml because there is so much tech jargon out there & it is really hard find a book that does not get lost in the details & instead introduce us to the core right away. this book does exactly that. you will start writing decent xml right away. the following will be helpful. 1. html knowledge (a little) 2. the concept of scripts 3. the concept of css 4. the concept of xml when i say 'the concept of', i am only talking about a surface level, 'purpose of existence' kind. even if you do not know anything about xml, you will be fine with this book. the book gradually introduces the concepts & does a very neat job of explaining new ideas. peace.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a review of the audio book version. this has to be the worst self- help audio book i've bought. i thought this was going to be a reading of the book, but instead the author rambles on and on - apparently paraphrasing the book. i guess its supposed sound like a friend talking to you but i kept getting annoyed at the author repeating herself two or three times. and where were the 100 tips? i guess the were in there, but i could not listen to more than a couple tapes. do not waste your money... there are much better books out there that give you useful, concrete steps for uncluttering and simplifying your life","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my little brother passed away at just 17 years old on july 25th, and i remember when i first started reading year 4, he said that each book only get's better and i have a long way to go. yes, it took me nearly three months to read this novel, but not because i'm that slow of a reader. more likely, the story and characters were so interesting that i preferred dragging out each chapter to save myself from moving forward to year 5. year 4 was an excellent read with plenty of potter goodness, not to mention the building plot's twists and turns, and the mysteries it would take a sherlock holmes to solve. forget holmes...it's all potter and gang in this forth book by j.k. rowling. as a reader, i highly recommend and back the series. as for my brother if he can read this from afar, man i miss you and i'm enjoying reading the stories you told me about. thanks","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"a pivotal look at the development of latin american popular music, novelist alejo carpentier's historical tract was originally published in 1946, and came out of raging, decades-long intellectual debates about the nature of cuban and latin american culture. this is the first english translation of this work and includes a lengthy introductory essay by the editor, explaining the author's role in the cuban intelligensia... 'music in cuba' was an attempt to settle some of the controversies about the 'legitimacy' of cuban music, and to resolve the apparent differences between tony, europhilic art music and the grittier rural style that came to dominate the island's popular imagination. it's an intellectual, somewhat egghead-y book, but rich in cultural depth... the new foreward is also very valuable, giving proper context to carpentier and his work, and a sense of the academic and philosophical life of cubans abroad and at home in the early 20th century","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what a load of turnspeak. g. orwell (deceased","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"everything and anything you've ever wanted to know about our oceans. this book is absolutely brimming with facts, myths, mysteries, and tales of the sea","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it's hard to begin to praise leigh montville's biography of baseball's greatest slugger ever. there's a prelude written in a 'foggy,' uncertain-of-detail prose style which deals with the young george herman ruth's being committed to a 'boy's school,'and then drops into a dead-accurate lowdown which montville researched diligently, right down to the brothers and young 'nigger lips's' discovery of the game and his rapid mastery. montville tells true stories about the babe's slugging, eating, drinking and sexual prowess in sometimes drop-deadpan humour, and he's a hell of a sportswriter as well. three cheers for montville and the babe!!! (but hey,who hit a lifetime .371?","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"if you really want to work on your personal and spiritual growth, you will read this book. the author makes it so easy to understand and implement these agreements into your life","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'disarming iraq' is hans blix's thought-provoking and historically-important memoir of the few but critical months leading up to the u.s.-led invasion of iraq, during which he tried to paint a clear picture -- for the un and the world -- of his inspection team's findings, claiming no need for urgency and lobbying for diplomacy. the polarized atmosphere was palpably tense: while the u.s., the uk and spain insisted that iraq was not responding to inspections, france, germany and russia asserted with equal force that the inspection program had never been fully explored. parting the raging waters (for a few weeks, anyway) was the quintessential diplomat hans blix. as it reads, he was too diplomatic, unwilling to state his results confidently for fear that it might drive un policy. it didn?t help that he had a few doubts of his own; that in spite of not finding any 'smoking guns' in terms of banned weapons, he still sensed that iraq was playing a cat-and-mouse game. either the regime's odd narcissism allowed it to believe that it did not have to comply with the un, or it was hiding something. either way, blix's hesitation was enough to set the stage for colin powell's historic february 5, 2003 presentation of evidence of wmd?s in iraq, which was more or less the proverbial point of no return. apparently, what mr. blix was trying to tell us -- before he was drowned out by the noisy din of a fearful and overzealous media -- is now common knowledge about wmd?s in iraq: blix's commission failed to find anything not because the iraqis succeeded at hiding the weapons, moving them ahead of inspections, but because the weapons really weren?t there. iraq had disarmed at the end of the gulf war in 1991, just as they?d claimed. the un inspection program had worked -- without knowing it. so how did the war move forward under false pretenses? according to blix, 'a deficit of critical thinking' was to blame. he speculates that our congress would never affirm the use of force merely to end a reign of terror (even though blix himself wishes for a un resolution against brutal dictatorships). the bush administration had to justify war in iraq by linking it to terror, and since there was no real link, it had to capitalize on the 'theoretical' link of iraq's weapons of mass destruction. this is as far as his speculation goes. where the phrase 'military industrial complex' would seem most natural and expected -- followed by a salacious tell-all about bush, cheney and nefarious links to saudi oil -- blix cleverly sidesteps the issue of america's impatient itch for war by feigning ignorance. giving blix the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he prefers to be thought of as naive and not sensational. needless to say, dr. david kelly's death (the british scientist who leaked to the bbc that the british government had 'sexed up' a document alleging iraq's nuclear capabilities) was an 'unfortunate suicide' -- and not the work of a shadow government. (the entire document, by the way, turned out to be a forgery.) at least blix observed the 'horse trading' ('intense economic and diplomatic pressures') our government used to obtain votes from other countries -- votes needed to pass the un resolution authorizing the use of force -- as well as he disapproved the bush administration?s spying on un delegations while on their diplomatic visits to new york. blix had other objections to u.s.-led efforts, but they are all based on facts and evidence, and are in defense of iaea (a previous inspection organization, also headed by blix) and unmovic (the un's monitoring, verification, and inspection commission). interestingly, the largest setback to diplomacy was related to a 167-page 'cluster' document released by blix in early march of 2003, which summarized all the inspections for the three preceding months. unfortunately for france and germany, american and british members of unmovic leaked pre-release draft copies of the document. in other words, france and germany had much less time to prepare their official reactions to the cluster document than their british and american counterparts. their positions, in favor of renewed inspections, were not as compelling. while blix?s passion is definitely enough to carry his memoirs, one can easily see why it was so difficult for americans to take mr. blix seriously: he lacks that forcible personality that commands respect. even so, he is gifted with an even temperament, a good sense of humor, and a deeply-imbued sense of integrity, all important qualities for diplomacy. although he may have been the only individual capable of peaceably bridging the large gap between the un and iraq, in retrospect it may have been asking too much from some of our leaders to match blix?s diplomatic efforts in their reasonableness and patience","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book because i need it for my biochemistry class. the book itself isn't bad. it gave detail of how biological systems and chemical reaction affect each other","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have enjoyed baldacci's work before but this book was simply awful. i could not believe any of the characters and the storyline was terrible. i was very surprised to get such stilted writing from baldacci. you can miss this one in my opinion","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"simply put, this was an outstanding book. if you are a guy then vince flynn's books are for you. lots of action with just a touch of romance. you become very attached to the characters, epsically rapp and rieley. in the mitch rapp series it is hard to put one book above any other and the third option stays true to all of that, very well written. i am by no means the fastest reader around and being a soldier myself mt time can be at a primeium but i finished this book in two days, impossible to put down","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book starts out telling of the sack of rome and grabbing the reader's attention. it's all down hill from there. the next third of the book is a long drawn out build up with very little of the book actually dedicated to the finale of the build up. the there is this a bit of drawn out rambling that leads into a sudden ending of the book. it was almost as if the writer either got tired of writing and gave up, or she just didn't know how to end it, so she just ended it. i was highly disappointed. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have never written a review of a book before, but after reading this book i felt i had too. what happened to this series. the first two books were great, but this book dosen't even come close to being as good. somebody should have cut about 300 pages from this book. the first two books in the series i could'nt put down, but this book was very difficult to finish. i dont think i will read the 4th volume in this never ending series","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"at first when i tried to read it i thought the language was a little too descriptive but i realized that it was crucial to the mindset of this time period. in 1870's new york society, detail was everything from what food you served at gatherings to the type of carriage you rode in. everything one did or possessed made a statement about who they are and what they stood for. you get this point clearly in the beginning when the characters are introduced. the main character newland archer comes from a respectable family so it would make sense that he would marry may welland who comes from the respectable mingott family. but things do not run smoothly when may's cousin countess ellen olenska returns to america after leaving her european husband. rumors ensue among members of society forcing newland to take sides with ellen because of may. but soon newland sees in ellen a free spiritedness that he does not see in may. soon he finds himself trapped in a triangle. the whole plot kept me fascinated because just when you think something is going to happen an interesting development occurs. just remember everything isn't what it seems in the book. on the surface a party is given for a member of the family, but underneath are harsh judgments and diversions of person's intentions. by the ending i was surprised but then again not surprised. i can see why this book is still acclaimed after all these decades","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i think before people read this book they should be aware that this 'therapist' is hardly an impartial counselor. she had a strong anti-adoption bias from the start, so any testimony from her on how baby richard is doing is automatically suspect.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am a huge fan of laurie colwin's writing, so i am baffled by the reviewers who didn't enjoy this book as much as i did. to me, her writing is sophisticated yet very comfortable. i can identify most with the main character in this particular book of hers as i also married a bit later in life and am trying to have a child despite being a little long in the tooth. the longings jane louise has for the domestic bliss that other people in her life seem to have so easily are all too familiar. this book will not hit you over the head with a message, and it does meander ... which is just like life for most of us. and i for one sometimes enjoy a book that does not leave me with a headache. reading is so much like eating - balancing what's good for you with satisfying cravings for those things that are not - and for me, laurie colwin's books are like hot tea with milk and sugar on a cold afternoon. grown up, but sweet and comforting - they always hit the spot. and i still find myself in disbelief that there will be no more books by this great writer","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this wonderful book is not just full of recipes, but full of memories. any cook book can list ingredients and directions, but not all of them also contain stories about the recipes. mrs. small's crab cakes are delicious and i do not blame dorothy small for keeping it to herself until the very end. thank you, lari robling and mark thomas","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"russel middlebrook is pretty sure that he's gay. after all, he's not attracted to girls, and he spends every day after gym class studiously avoiding the other half-naked guys in the locker room. he's never had an actual experience with another guy, though, so maybe the attraction he feels toward them is something he'll outgrow--or maybe not. while surfing the internet one night, he finds chat rooms for different towns and cities, where you can talk to other people who are also gay. and amazingly enough, there's a boy he meets with the name gayteen-- who not only lives in his town, but also attends his high school. another gay boy, in his very own school? there's no way that could be true-- especially when he finds out that the kid with the handle gayteen is none other than kevin land, star of the baseball team, one of the most popular guys in school. as kevin and russel get to know one another, outside of school and hidden away from prying eyes, they realize that there's no way for them to be together inside school walls. the same is true for russel's friends min and terese, who although they claim to just be really close friends, are actually in love. so along with a few others, including gunnar, who is straight, and brian bund, the loser of goodkind high school, the boys form the geography club. after all, no one else is going to want to join such a boring club--especially if they knew it was just a front for a gay/ lesbian school group. as events at school heat up, with brian eventually being outed as gay even though he's not, russel, kevin, and their friends will have to learn what's most important in life. and that sometimes, no matter how much you might wish for things to be out in the open, you're just not ready. geography club is a great, quick read from author brent hartinger, about the ups and downs of daily high school life, and the struggle to find ones identity","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"gary b. nash's purpose for the book is, 'to capture the revolutionary involvement of all the component parts of some three million wildly varying people living east of the mississippi river.' (nash, xxviii) nash bemoans how the 'great men' still 'dominate the master narrative [of the american revolution,]' (nash, xv) and that we are struck with 'historical amnesia,' (nash, xvi) because we forgot the stories of those outside of the 'great men' clique. he states that we cannot capture the essence of the revolution without paying close attention to the experiences of the many groups that made up colonial society. these groups not only include the poor farmers, artisans, and other laborers, but also of women, blacks (both free and slave), and of the amerindian population. nash illustrated the problems and plights of the lower order through their myriad of stories. to illustrate the importance of the lower classes of white society, he showed the importance of these individuals in their role as revolutionaries, which include their participation in riots against the various taxes implemented by the parliament. he also shows the tensions between the seaboard inhabitants and their piedmont antithesis to the west which, in his estimation, helped to spur change all along the way. in the case of the inhabitants of what would become vermont, he illuminated their fight against the landowners located primarily in new york city. led by ethan allen, the 'green mountain boys,' as they would become known as, fought to keep the land that they cultivated with their own hands - against the wishes and land deeds that the new york city landowners had for their property. (nash, 110 - 114) he also showed how the piedmont inhabitants of the carolinas had to struggle for their rights to live life as they saw fit as well. (nash, 73 - 79) in the case of the 'green mountain boys,' their struggle proved to be more successful than the struggle of the carolina piedmont, whose insurrection was brutally suppressed by then colonial governor of north carolina, william tryon. nash also shows how this sector of the population became mobilized politically during the course of the revolution. in nash's estimation, these people were spurred on by the rhetoric of equality in society, as championed by the founding fathers in the countless tracts and pamphlets that were produced during the revolutionary war era. in pennsylvania, the 1776 state constitution was heralded by nash as a true revolutionary document because of its unicameral legislature, its weak executive, and its attempt to limit an amassing of wealth within the state. he also praised the fact that artisans and lower sorts also played such a vital role in the forming of the new state constitution. (nash, 271 - 286) in states where the constitution did adhere to these premises, nash equated it with a betrayal of the will of the people, as evident by the problems massachusetts had in ratifying their state constitution because of its more conservative outlook. (nash, 302 - 304) the talk of freedom and equality also spread, according to nash, to the black population in the american colonies. these ideals not only spread to the free black portion of the population, but also to the thousands of enslaved blacks throughout the land. this spread of ideas to the black population, particularly the enslaved portion, troubled white leaders, according to nash (nash, 59) what was more troubling to the white slave owners was their perception that slave restlessness and even revolt was on the rise. (nash, 37 - 39) what else was truly troubling to many slave holders was that the british actively recruited the slaves to fight against their masters - and all other rebels to the british crown. (nash, 157 - 164) nash contributed much of the awareness of the enslaved to their plight the rise rising literature of freedom that the founding fathers were disseminating across the land. nash believes that this rhetoric, and its implications, were inescapable to the slaves. (nash, 64) he also showed us the aftermath of the revolution for those slaves who sided with the british; they were transported off either to nova scotia or to the caribbean islands where they were subjected to an even harsher form of slavery than on the mainland. (nash, 426 - 427) women also were praised in this work, as nash pointed out how crucial this sector of the population was throughout the course of the conflict. first, women were important to execute the boycotts that were prevalent in the preceding years of the revolution. nash argued that without their co-operation in the boycotts, the measures would not have proved effective. this is because women had a great deal of involvement in the running of the household and much of the purchasing power was in their hands. if they did not adhere to the boycotts, the measure would have failed, in nash's estimation. (nash, 141 - 144) nash also illustrated how the women of the revolution became active during the war, specifically in response to rising prices for necessities. nash showed us the response of many women in the boston area to thomas boylston, a merchant whose prices on goods rose as the war progressed. in response to these rising prices, women marched on boylston's shop, and the shops of other merchants throughout the colonies, to procure the basic necessities for their families at what they deemed equitable prices. (nash, 232 - 235) the plight of the american indians was also great as land speculators and land hungry colonists swarmed over the appalachian mountain range to claim and settle upon lands that were seen as belonging to various indian nations. nash showed us how the natives resisted this encroachment upon their lands through a myriad of tactics, from essentially engaging in bushwhacking warfare with the colonists who encroached upon their lands, (nash, 253 - 255) to the fact that many indian nations chose to align themselves with the british in their cause to suppress the rebellion. (nash, 151 - 157) what was more alarming to nash is the colonists' 'genocidal' policies towards the native population. (nash, 377 - 381) although it may not seem like it, there is an underlying premise to nash's illustrations in the struggles of all of the aforementioned groups during the american revolution. that premise with nash, at first alluded to, and then by the end of the book, states bluntly is class warfare. there is, however, a very real problem in this marxist outlook on american society during the era of the revolution, specifically that the colonists did not view the class structure in the same light that we do today, or even as class was viewed in when karl marx wrote his tracts on such matters. as gordon wood pointed out in his work, the radicalism of the american revolution, 'the social distinctions and economic deprivations that we today think of as the consequence of class divisions, business exploitation, or various isms - capitalism, racism, etc. - were in the eighteenth century usually thought to be caused by the abuses of government.' (wood, 5) wood also pointed out that there were complexities and variations to american society, which fell along 'local, regional, sectional, ethnic and class differences.' these complexities made, 'any generalization about americans as a whole,' quite difficult. (wood, 6) wood further illuminated the difficulties of following such a class distinction as nash proposed in his work. wood stated in his review on nash's work in the 'new republic online': nash's evidence for popular resistance to all this class exploitation is the incidents of rural rioting and urban mobbing that took place in the decade or so leading up to the revolution. this mobbing and rioting is exceedingly familiar to historians, who have produced a literature about it. unfortunately, these phenomena do not support nash's argument. not only did the rural rioting have little or nothing to do with the revolution, but the urban mobs, which were indeed directed at british authority, did not represent the class upheaval that nash assumes. the rural riots all arose out of peculiar local circumstances, and were hardly expressions of some sort of coherent class warfare. (wood, 'new republic online review) wood, in his review of nash's work, went on to illustrate exactly what constituted the true dividing lines in american society when he stated: but what of all the rhetoric about the laboring people contesting the aristocratic few that nash draws on to make his case for class warfare? there was indeed a serious division in eighteenth-century american society that reverberated through the northern states over the succeeding decades, but it was not the one that nash describes. instead of being divided between a rich upper class and a poor working class, as nash sees it, anachronistically anticipating a later nineteenth-century division between employers and employees, eighteenth-century american society was in fact still divided between a leisured gentry and the mass of artisans and other laborers who worked with their hands--many of them the businessmen of the future. in nash's work, he viewed many of the revolutionaries as having ulterior motives for their proclamations of equality and freedom. nash, i would argue, hinted toward the idea that the founding fathers only took part in the revolutionary movement to benefit themselves. throughout the course of the book, nash takes great care to 'expose' the double standards of the founding fathers, making them seem as if they merely wanted to continue their 'elitists' lifestyle at the expense of the commoners below. there is no bigger whipping boy for nash than john adams, who, according to nash, was essentially a closeted monarchist who was afraid of the people. to be sure, adams did have his reservations about the people, but it was more a fear of a 'tyranny of the masses' than it was an outright fear that the people would displace the leaders of the new nation. however, what is truly ironic is that nash relied so heavily upon the writings of john adams to illustrate many of his points. not only did he rely on adams' writings, but also the writings of many of the other founding fathers. throughout the course of the book, when nash referred to any of the writings of the founding fathers, i found myself wondering if nash was cropping their words to support his case. it is my belief that this is something that seriously needs to be explored in greater depth than i can provide here. what is also ironic is that nash makes little use of the narratives of those whose stories he claimed he wanted to tell. outside of the use of joseph plumb martin's narrative of his experiences as a soldier in the continental army during the war and the autobiography of ethan allen, he does not make extensive use of the diaries and letters of many people who lived through the war experience, both in the military and in the civilian sector. to be sure, there are many diaries out there from those below who can illuminate their thoughts throughout the era. would their writings bear out what nash proposed? nash criticized the continental congress for not being able to pay the soldiers their salaries. this inability to pay the soldiers wages stemmed from the fact that the government was essentially broke: they were unable to levy taxes on the people of the colonies because of the weak governmental structure from which they operated and many of the colonies did not pay their fair share of the financial burden of the revolution. when robert morris tried to restore fiscal responsibility to the war effort and raise revenue to provide pay and necessities to the army, nash viewed it as an attempt to 'tame the social and political radicalism of the revolution.' (nash, 367) however, i suppose nash chose to forget the fact that morris was trying to get revenue to provide for the war effort. why then would thomas paine, one who nash seemed to have great respect for his principles of democracy, agreed to author a pamphlet on behalf of robert morris in favor of his new fiscal plan. (nash, 395) if morris' plan was so stifling to democracy, intended to roll back the radicalism of the revolution, then why would paine agree to be a party to it? not all of these explanations and questions would mesh well with nash's outlook on morris and the founding fathers at large. further, if the founding fathers truly wanted rule for themselves, there was no better chance for one of them to establish it than with the 'newburgh conspiracy.' it is true that the soldiers and officers of george washington's army were deeply distraught by the ineffectual abilities of the congress to pay wages and provide for basic necessities. (nash, 370 - 371) however, what nash failed to mention is the other half of the conspiracy. the men wanted to march on the continental congress and put george washington in power. washington, through an impassioned speech and performance, quelled all of these thoughts and possibly saved the revolution once again. nash, as stated previously, believed the struggle of the thousands of black slaves in the colonies was heightened by the revolutionary rhetoric that littered the landscape of the era. he believed that such literature raised their awareness and caused more unrest and rebellion than at any time previously. however, i would like to offer my own take on this. did it take pamphlets from the founding fathers to raise the awareness of the enslaved that there was something unnatural about their situation? i certainly think not. frederick douglass' autobiography indicates that from a very early age, he was well aware that there was something wrong with the situation he found himself. in an illustration, a still teenage douglass talked with some of his young white friends on the streets of baltimore and they complained about their lot in life. douglass illustrated the point when he wrote, 'you will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but i am a slave for life!' (douglass, 53) while douglass certainly is an exceptional individual, i doubt that this same premise was lost on the countless enslaved individuals in the colonies and that they wanted freedom and it did not take pamphlets for that realization to come to mind. nash lamented the 'genocidal policies' towards the amerindians adopted by many colonists during the revolution. while it is true that atrocities were committed against the natives, first, this was nothing new by this point in american history. warfare between the natives and colonists was an almost constant from the time that european settlers stepped onto the new world. in such a climate, atrocities committed by both sides in this armed and almost perpetual struggle were inevitable. however, nash is somewhat disingenuous when he makes the native population seemingly innocent or justified in their actions. although nash admitted that the british courted and armed the native peoples to fight the colonists, even after the revolution was over, he cannot seem to find any justification for the colonists to meet force with force. lastly, as stated previously, nash bemoaned how historians and the people at large have lost the viewpoint of those below the founding fathers - how the great men still consistently dominant the narrative on the american revolution. (nash, xv) first, i would ask mr. nash, 'should we discount what the `great men' did during the war?' while historians do deal with the 'great men' of the american revolution, i doubt there is one serious historian out there who would discount the actions and sacrifices that were made by the people below. their deeds do not go unnoticed in narratives of the war. we read about the boston tea party, we read about the non-importation of british goods and how the participation of the common people was vital to such an enterprise. we read about the plight of the continental soldier as they nearly starve and free to death in the service of their country. what nash further discounted was the explosion over the past decades in dealing with various social aspects of the history of the revolution. bruce chadwick's piece, the first american army: the soldiers of the american revolution, he offered the reader a look into the world of the solider in the continental army through their diaries, letters and records. through these written records, we are presented with the bleak situation that so many found themselves in - conflicting interests between home and duty, the want of food and clothing, and their battle experiences. alfred young, in the shoemaker and the tea party, offers a glimpse into the world of the common man on the streets, taking part in demonstrations and actions against the british and their oppressive measures. women's roles in the revolution are far from ignored. mary beth norton authored a book, liberty's daughter's: the revolutionary experience of women: 1750 -1800, dealing specifically with the trials and tribulations of the women during the american revolution, both from the patriot side and the loyalist side. linda kerber also wrote a piece on women in the american revolution entitled, women of the republic: intellect and ideology in revolutionary america, which also draws upon the revolutionary experience of women through their diaries, letters and legal papers. the native americans receive their fair share of print as well. alan taylor wrote divided ground: indians, settlers, and the northern borderland of the american revolution, which offers a rich, sprawling history focusing on the iroquois six nations of new york and upper canada during the era of the american revolution. taylor examines indians' wise but unsuccessful attempts to hold onto their land as colonists encroached on it. colin calloway, in his work, the american revolution in indian country: crisis and diversity in native american communities, explored the internal strife that the revolution brought to indian nations involved with the american revolution. the african-american population in the revolutionary era also received a fair amount of print about their ordeals. glenn knoblock wrote, strong and brave fellows: new hampshire's black soldiers and sailors of the american revolution: 1775 - 1784, which explored the military careers of over 200 black military officers during the american revolution and attempted to reconstruct their ordeal throughout the conflict. sylvia frey, in her book, water from a rock: black resistance in a revolutionary age, explored the triangular relationship between the british, the americans, and slaves in the south. through this triangular relationship, frey attempted to illustrate the complex and confusing options presented to the slaves in the south during the rebellion. beyond the founders: new approaches to the political history of the early american republic, edited by jeffrey palsey offers readers an alternative reading in the same light that nash presents, the conflicting desires of the myriad of peoples during the american revolution. the political historians contained in this work showed that the early history of the united states was not just the product of a few 'founding fathers,' but was also marked by widespread and passionate popular involvement; print media more politically potent than that of later eras; and political conflicts and influences that crossed lines of race, gender, and class. thus, this work is not beholden to one particular point of view on the revolution, as nash is guilty of being caught up in. these are just some of the books out there on the myriad of topics that nash covered and, to be sure, there are many more. these books are not hard to find. just do a search on amazon's or barnes and noble's online stores on any of these topics and you will be presented with a cornucopia of choices - there is not quite the neglect that nash claimed in these fields. to be sure, there will still be authors who write biographies on the 'great men' of the american revolution, but there are many who also explore the social history of the conflict. thus, nash is not the lone voice for these 'forgotten' as he claimed","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"despite what the book title 'grammatically correct', this book is mostly about punctuation usages. grammar is limited to a thin, single chapter. there are not sufficient materials on grammar to alert you on incorrect usages, let alone correct them. i would recommend 'painless grammar' over this title","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"ethan walker's 'the mystic christ' does not at all understand or explain the real jesus christ. i'll return this literature as soon as i get the chance. it's completely bogus (with very little truth to it)i mean this man totally misunderstands the plan for redemption, what real love is meant by christ, and any other reality pertaining to christ. if you want to understand christ, trully, then learn about him from st. francis of assisi, st. john of the cross, st. teresa of avila, st. vincent ferrer, fr. reginald garrigou - lagrange, dom vitalis, henry manning, st. thomas aquinas, sister josepha menendez,. etc....these days it's very popular to twist and distort jesus christ by saying lo here is 'a' christ and lo there is 'a' christ. this book lacks in real knowledge of christ. while some of this litarature has good points (not on christ of course but on buddha and krsna,etc it does) it really only shows the authers lack of understanding jesus' real plan and reason for his incarnation. the book should have been called 'the mystic life' and not 'the mystic christ'. totally misleading and insulting toward christ (not 'the' or 'a' christ).... if you want to be mislead then read this book. if you want to be lead in the correct path then read 'the way of divine love' by sister josepha menendez if you really want to know the real jesus christ (there is no lo here and lo there and there is no word 'the' and letter 'a' in christ). do not fall for this sort of neuro-linquistic programming...","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"...to get a little tilling done before someone steals and eats her. i chose this book for my second read on this subject because it has the highest ratings (on subject) on amazon. heinberg has done a thorough job of discussing every aspect of the coming problems to society due to a lack of petroleum - most of which i had never considered. literature about this are from the point of view of either the politician, the economist, or the geologist. he takes the view of the geologist and the future does not look good. i hold a more positive view: that human ingenuity will prevail - but i could easily be wrong. in any case, this is a worthwhile read for anyone. of particular interest is the chapter that deals with alternate energy sources. the next time you read about an alternate energy source in the news, you'll remember the real pro's and con's from an expert. quick synopsis of 41 page alternative fuel chapter from 'party's over:' natural gas: cannot be shipped from overseas easily like oil - is more difficult to extract economically every year - is being depleted like oil. in view of the precarious status of north american gas supplies, any attempt to shift to ng as an intermediate fuel would waste time and capital in the enlargement of an infrastructure that will soon be obsolete. coal: shortage not so much a problem, however, its eroei (energy return on energy invested) and pollution are a problem. as the richer seams are exhausted, it may cease to be a useful energy source within only 2-3 decades. nuclear: electricity from existing nuclear plants is inexpensive, but only if direct costs are considered. when adding in plant construction, safety, reactor decommissioning, and waste storage - nuclear power is very expensive indeed. there are currently 442 reactors operating worldwide. france in the only country in europe still building them. only asia expects to expand significantly. only a few of the highly touted fast breeder reactors have been built, and they have proven to be prohibitively expensive. the us currently processes enough uranium to fuel existing us reactors for the next 40 years. the mining process is wasteful, polluting, and dangerous. when all things are considered, the eroei on nuclear energy is fairly low and there is significant intangible downside. wind: of all renewables (not depletable), wind power usage on a global scale is being developed the fastest. technology has advanced - it no longer kills birds because it uses slower fan speeds and the fans are mounted on a vertical axis. it can operate in more variable wind speeds and the cost is declining rapidly. soon your own equipment could be bought and used on your own property. wind has the best eroei and germany leads the world in its usage. on a large scale, wind power would require vastly new infrastructure, but it is the most practical alternative so far. problem: cannot easily be converted to fuel transportation and agricultural needs. solar: technology advancing rapidly, photovoltaic the best so far. research is advancing into diverse methods of collection, including such easy methods of application as solar buckyball collectors incorporated into house paint. tremendous potential, would need new infrastructure. problem: cannot easily be converted to fuel transportation and agricultural needs. hydrogen: for now, the process of hydrogen production always uses more energy than the resulting hydrogen will yield. for one thing, hydrogen is not an energy source, but an energy carrier. it's production depends on continued usage of the dwindling supply of natural gas. there is new technology, however, and reason to be optimistic. as with wind and solar, a whole new infrastructure, requiring time and investments of huge amounts of money and energy technology are necessary. like wind and solar, hydrogen fuel cells should be central features of our plans to phase out petroleum. we should be dramatically increasing these investments. hydroelectric: in many regions of the world - and especially in the us - it is already thoroughly exploited. geothermal power, tides, and waves: limited application in limited regions of the world. biomass: wood burning - pollution and limited resources in a world with 6 billion people - imagine the world being one big easter island. ethanol: costs more energy to produce than it eventually delivers to society. brazil is the poster child, but is burning down rain forests to grow sugar cane. cold-fusion: pseudoscience conservation - efficiency and curtailment: will be crucial in cushioning impacts from the depletion of oil. but it is not a panacea - even when you ignore cheaters (individuals and countries). saudi saying: my grandfather rode a camel. my father rode in a car. i fly a jet airplane. my grandson will ride a camel. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"many people have mentioned the embarassing cover art to this book. i agree and it is also very misleading. the characters in the book do not even resemble those guys - the main character's love interest is an artist who looks nothing like the clean cut characters on the book jacket. things we can do without in gay fiction from now on: 1. a spoiled egotistical self indulgent main character. yes this may apply to some gay guys but its just boring now in the books. 2. a distant disapproving father and eccentric mother. yawn 3. the flamboyant gay friend (usually black) first this book starts as a character study - will this selfish debt ridden loser get his act together? - then it morphs into some sort of romance (never worth your time) - then has a whole chapters about the running of an escort service (fairly interesting) and ends with a kind or frenetic black humor. it never gels. i kept waiting for the big romance and it was incredibly lame. was my heart supposed to be warmed about him doing threesomes with his new boyfriend and a client???? if you want a real book about running and escort agency read the mayflower madam's book. at least it's interesting. if you have to read a book about a selfish gay man - i recommend 'california screaming' and forget this trash. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i picked up this book hoping it would live up to its title, but what i found was that it was rather boring and lacking in character development. the ending seemed rushed and many of the issues raised were left unresolved. i was disappointed.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i do not do a lot of reading for fun. but this book i could not put down once i started it. it didn't take long for me to be drawn into the story and i could almost taste, see, and experience with the chracters. i vividly experienced this book. that does not happen to me often. the quiet american is a powerful work. i recommend this book especially to those people who like me do not read much fiction. i wrote a longer review on bn.com if you want to read a more detailed review that i wrote. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"gosh, maybe i shouldn't review this book, but then - any book that i bring home that is so difficult to follow that i just could not finish it probably deserves one star. while the subject matter was of great interest to me, the writing style was not a comfortable read. i was constantly trying to remember who was who, what time period it had just jumped to and then jumped to again and, worst of all, the flow of the words was simply missing. hard to pinpoint the problem, but by page 42 i was so confused and frustrated, not entertained, and wondering why i was working so hard to read it when i had a stack of other promising new works waiting. (now i'm readin 'a long way down' by nick hornby and was mesmerized from the first page. a perfect example of a well-structured story that just glides from page to thought-provoking page. my full review to be posted shortly.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i got this book because i enjoy good literature and the reviews were decent. i know some people say this writer is gifted, but i do not see it. i thought it was a pretentious, depressing piece of crap. the characters were full of self-loathing and the 'bright ending' didn't redeem anything, not the main character or the book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"these stories, as read by the great actor paul winfield, are powerful testaments to life, love, hard times, etc.. these stories and their central character, socrates fortlow, are fine examples of a man, who did wrong, seeks redemption, and tries hard to make amends. the continuing theme of the crime which he committed ties them all together. mr. winfield's reading cuts across all racial barriers, to teach all of us, black and white, about one man's struggle(s) with his demons. his reading also adds passion and depth to mr. mosley's writing. i'd highly recommend these stories (in audio and print). [refers to the audio edition.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"although well written, this book is just left wing socialist blather. most egregiously in error is the author's characterization of catholic social teaching. he wuld have us believe that the catholic church is all behind the us social welfare system. just one quote summarizes where the catholic church really is on this issue: 'in recent years the range of such intervention has vastly expanded, to the point of creating a new type of state, the so-called 'welfare state.' this has happened in some countries in order to respond better to many needs and demands, by remedying forms of poverty and deprivation unworthy of the human person. however, excesses and abuses, especially in recent years, have provoked very harsh criticisms of the welfare state, dubbed the 'social assistance state.' malfunctions and defects in the social assistance state are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the state. here again the principle of subsidiarity must be respected: a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good. by intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the social assistance state leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending. in fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbors to those in need. it should be added that certain kinds of demands often call for a response which is not simply material but which is capable of perceiving the deeper human need. one thinks of the condition of refugees, immigrants, the elderly, the sick, and all those in circumstances which call for assistance, such as drug abusers: all these people can be helped effectively only by those who offer them genuine fraternal support, in addition to the necessary care.' (pope john paul ii, centessimus annus, 1991) i could give you a quote for every other case where the author misrepresents church teaching. the author assumes that poor people are poor because others have too much. this assumption is not shared by the catholic church. i am a conservative largely because of catholic social teaching. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"utter disappointment, i wish i had never purchased this book. however, it will cure any insomnia you may have. check out something else","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a continuation of the mind of the soul by this pair and the seat of the soul by mr. zukav. he has published three others about the soul, yet he is not a psychologist or specialist in this field. this is an extremely simplified textbook which found its way to the library sale. the bold-faced 'highlighted' parts throughout are distracting. from some of the diagams, these ideas: 'the early antidote for painful emotions is love and trust' (combined), 'you continually encounter what your soul wants you to encounter. when you resist your encounters, you resist the purpose of your life, the beneficience of the universe, non-physical assistance. that resistance is your pain,' and 'stress is your indication you are resisting your experience in the present moment. when you resist your emotions, you create stress.' your emotions are the force field of your soul. each emotion is a message for you, a signal from your soul. when you are aware of everything you are feeling all the time (emotional awareness), you are in continual communication with your soul. this book is a lot of wishful thinking. they are a good-looking couple, but hardly qualified to influence educated persons about how to handle emotions or reach deep down to find one's soul. that is a spiritual thing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as an old bostonian and cape codder i bought this book for the sumptious cover photograph. sadly ms broder suffers from the common cookbook author disease of clever fiddling with classic recipes. new england boiled dinner with stout, brown sugar and molasses! made a sickly sweet mess. and my favorite, fried clams, made with japanese panko crumbs! you get the idea. photos are great though","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"quammen has compiled a thoughtful and entertaining collection of his essays for the boilerplate rhino. you do not need to be a nature buff or of a scientific mind to enjoy what he's written. this was a bit of an impulse buy due to a bargain price, but i was pleasantly surprised. i look forward to reading more of quammen's work","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i guess i'd better confess right away: i didn't finish this book. i only made it a third of the way before i was too disgusted to finish it. i'm sure there are many useful things i could learn if i could choke it all down, but it was very difficult. i do not think it helped that i just finished the case against wal-mart by al norman. i think it's great that wal-mart was able to bring goods to smaller towns that really didn't have access to a department store or discount retailer, but i cannot get over the desruction of american businesses, american jobs and the terrible wages and benefits for american workers (not to mention all the foreign workers who produce wal-mart goods) that have become standard operating procedure. lower costs at any cost is not a responsible way to run a business, and while i agree that soderquist did a great job at making himself rich and the company successful, i think the damage is costly","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is a devastating expose of the treatment of children in nineteenth century england. this book written by charles dickens is probably one of his better known works. it has always been thought that the book is autobiographical, but it tells a really good story too, as all of dickens' works do. i love dickens novels for the characters and this one does not disappoint. we have david copperfield himself who is the orphaned hero-narrator, and his mother clara copperfield and his cruel step father edward mardstone. we've also got friends of david's - clara, daniel, ham and little em'ly peggotty, plus a whole bunch of other wonderful characters. it's a coming of age novel for a boy of the nineteenth century, and dickens covers all the pain and joy that goes along with growing up poor in england at this time. we see david grow up and get married. we see his pain as he watches his invalid wife sicken and die and his ultimate success as a writer. do not miss charles dickens' great works in your reading adventures. i've read every one","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i recently discovered sugimoto's pictures browsing the web. this book is beautifully produced and plate after plate demands not only an aesthetic response from the viewer but also a decidedly intellectual and conceptual one (maybe that's the same thing!). it's rare to find art that is simultaneously so beautiful and so profound","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is not a typical read for me, but i enjoyed it. i read the first 148 pages wondering if this was going to be a waste of time, but when i hit chapter 44, i read the rest of the book in one sitting. loved max, frannie, kit & all the others. looking forward to reading 'the lake house'","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am a nevada barr fan and was unfortunately disappointed with 'high country.' the story takes place in a restaurant (boring). the characters were dull and i kept getting them confused. anna's constant thinking of how old she feels is tiresome. i also missed anna's sister, molly, who is only mentioned a few times in the book. sorry, but i really cannot recommend this book as a good read. if you want to get a feel for a real anna pigeon adventure, pick up 'track of the cat' or 'liberty falling.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this guy is totally nuts. i wasn't aware america was full of 200 year old slaves. who else could the reparations possibly be for? what an idiot...keep dreamin randall out of america: a black man confronts africa by keith richburg is much superior and faire","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"one only need read the reviews of this book from both professional and amateur critics to see that, if gross's purpose is to aid the reconciliation between jews and poles, he has utterly failed. unlike books dealing with heroes who surmounted prejudice to create miracles, this book stirs an old cauldron of hatred, freshening the pot. readers without a more complete history of both the jews and the poles are especially at risk. jan karski's 'story of a secret state' which was actually written during world war 2 and deals with the situation in a balanced and informed manner would be a good companion book to this. additional reading should include a comprehensive review of polish-jewish relations, beginning with the charters of sanctity responsible for so many jews living in poland in the first place. when jews were being blamed for the plague and slaughtered throughout europe, the poles opened their doors and gave them a homeland, where they thrived for many centuries. the lutheran armies of the swedish invasions brought anti-semitism. later, poland was divided by germany, russia (with a german queen), and austria, an occupation which lasted for more than a century. these countries waged a cultural war on the occupied poles, determined to convert them to their own. the poland of ww2 had only been liberated for a few decades. the equivalent of ronald reagan's era to today. many of the citizens were of german descent and actually aided the nazis in their fight against other poles, not only jews. and although the sickening atrocities recounted in this book are inexcusable, one must keep in mind that they were committed by people driven to collective madness by decades of oppression, poverty and terror. we've seen similar episodes in recent years in the balkans and africa and elsewhere. even the israeli human rights organization b'tselem maintains a website decrying violations by hate-infected israelis today. poland has only regained her true national and cultural identity in the last two decades, after two hundred years of occupation. pope john paul 2 was emblematic of that spirit, and poland's support for israel and attempts to honor her jewish heritage, embraced by her youth of today, are evidence that she has turned a corner and is nurturing the great ideals of her past. the poland that was once a mighty power, yet never imperialistic. the poland that was the promised land for jews in the middle ages","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i read this book last year. i was born during the vietnam war and remember little about it. i certainly did not experience the build up before the war. the ugly american had a tremendous influence on american foreign policy back then. it highlighted our arrogance and our vulnerabilities when we forget the importance of understanding other cultures. and president kennedy practically made it mandatory reading for his advisors. what was most interesting to me, however, was how pertinent the book is today. instead of sarkhan or vietnam, the book could be about iraq. regardless of your feelings about the war, the ugly american is enlightening and should remind us how important it is to understand others when we occupy their nation. the book is a short -- but important -- read. i recommend it to everyone. it is a classic not so much because of its language or story. it's a classic because its message is meaningful even in today's world","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book opens with both beatrice's illegitimate children living together as cousins. john macandrew is away trying to get his fortune back after beatrice stole it all in an effort to keep wideacre for her children. julia and richard early on seem to represent the good and bad beatrice. julia resembles beatrice, and she has her excellent horse riding skills, plus the ability to farm and work the land. all those were 'the good beatrice.' richard only has the insatiable hunger to keep wideacre for himself and pass it on to his heir. he does not care about anything or anybody else. this represents 'the bad beatrice.' at the end of wideacre all beatrice could think about was raising enough money to secure wideacre for her heirs, and she turned a blind eye to the poverty and sickness that she was causing. i like how philippa gregory weaves historical facts into the story, such as how the poor had to live in order to survive, and how the landowners made such unfair laws, and how they controlled the courts. the parts of the book that were really aggravating to me were the ones where julia had absolutely no backbone whatsoever.... especially after richard rapes her. i think celia and john would definitely have believed her, not richard. i have really liked every philippa gregory book, whether from the other boleyn girl series or the wideacre series. i'm looking forward to reading the last book, meridon. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i would like to think of myself as someone who is fairly well informed of the (short) history and theory of video art. as such, i will say this book is a very basic, sort of bland overview of the langauge of video. it's very well put together in terms of it being flashy and 'hip'; all the stills are well printed and all the big, 'in-vogue' art star names are included (but where are people like haron faroqi? or did he just shoot on film and thus not make the hipster cut?) with that said, there is little to no actual critical content in the writing. it introduces concepts in a very simple way, and does not actually end up saying much other than varying degrees of further artist canonization. i do not know maybe i am just too picky and also semi-brainwashed by more rigorous academic books on the topic, but i actually stopped reading the book because it was so boring. if you're looking for a slick coffee table book with which to impress your friends, one that will let them know that you too have joined that cool club called 'connoisseurship of video art' and a book that they will tend to thumb through just to look at 'all the pretty pictures' (which i find hilariously absurd- a book of still images taken from video), then this book is for you. if you're looking for anything deeper than that, i would look elsewhere to titles like 'illuminating video : an essential guide to video art' by david ross, doug hall, sally jo fifer, and david bolt.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i rank this book slightly higher than season of the machete, simply because i only got to page 25 of that book before giving up on it. i finished this book, but it was hardly an enjoyable read. the one positive is that the chapters are very short, so it feels like the novel moves along at a nice pace. the actual content, however, is very poor. this book is just surviving off the past cross novels. if someone was just picking up this book having not read any of the prior cross novels, they are just not going to understand or care about the subplots involving cross's estranged son, his other two kids, this new love life, etc. i've read all the books leading up to this book, and i barely cared or understood what was going on. compare this to kiss the girls or jack and jill, and it comes up way short. the story and the plot are very thin and very disjointed. nothing about this book keeps you on the edge of your seat, and you will only feel compelled to finish it if you are a completist. this was by far the worst of the cross books.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i like self-reference jokes. i enjoy them quite a bit, actually. but this book beats you over the head with it. i wanted to read the whole thing, just so i could feel like i had a more informed opinion than i would otherwise, but i got about halfway through and there was no sign of it ever getting any better. i see a lot of reviews full of praise here, but for me reading this was incredibly tedious. he lost me forever when he was being interviewed to be on the real world. the only reason i gave this book two stars was because i didn't finish reading it and it could be that the constant self-reference is actually some genius device in which we're shown how arrogant the main character is. but i do not really care, i hated it.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is an excellent resource for church education staff. this book covers some basic principles (or laws as he calls them) regarding teaching in the church environment. the law of readiness is my personal favorite of the bunch, as it basicially states that both student and teacher must be prepared for the teaching environment. this is so true and often followed in higher education, but perhaps not very well followed in church education. the sad news is that typicially the teacher is blamed for the students poor scholarship or lack orf learning. but according to henricks a student must study, must come to class on time, and must be interested in the material to proactively learn. there is much more good stuff in this book. grab it its a great read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"sam intrator has collected a diverse sampling of stories from teachers of all types. they inspire and inform and are enjoyable to read. i would strongly recommend this book for anyone who teaches, from preschool to graduate school","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i had never heard of the borowitz report until a couple of days ago, when a girl in my dorm showed me this book. i opened it up to a random page and saw the headline 'bush may lack gene for human speech.' i started giggling as i read the piece and by the end of it i was laughing hysterically. this happened again and again as i flipped through the book until i realized i was laughing out loud on every page. no book has ever made me done that before. (as for my tv viewing habits, i am a huge fan of the daily show and this book is right up there with it.) the book is based on a daily e-newsletter called the borowitz report which i have now signed up to receive every day. if the guy can manage to write columns each day that are as funny as the ones in this book, i do not know how he does it. this book is at the very top of my list of recommendations. you will not be sorry you got it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i'm so glad to see a history for today's young women about what it was like before title 9 - which, while it wasn't that long ago, seems unreal to my daughter's generation. i remember the days before, when the boys got the gym and were formed into athletic teams while the girls got what passed for pe - calisthenics in the cafeteria! (and instructional time was used to move the tables and chairs aside) in a day when feminism is facing a hostile backlash, ms. blumenthal's book is a valuable reminder that 'what used to be' wasn't as rosy as some claim, a reminder of the gains made in sports by talented girls, and of what we do not want to return to! five stars","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"eternity is a sweeping vision defining the plot vein started with stapleton's starmaker and zebrowski's macroworld. extending from the near future to the universe's end, greg bear paints a vision of humanity (extended to all intelligentlife forms)at it's best and worst, and does it with very sympathetic characters, extensive and involved plots, and ingenious predictions on technology and evolution. plus, the way - a constructed, self-contained universe made by man. quite possibly the best science fiction i have read. if you read eon, by bear, this is a must-read sequal that far surpasses the original","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"recently, i have read a lot of books on creativity and innovation. my big surprise is that virtually none of them mention koestler's the act of creation. this is unfortunate because this book is probably the most authoritative examination of creativity. attention to this classic is worth reviving. koestler examines three types of creativity - humor, science, and poetry. humor, according to him, is cruel (a valuable insight). poetry, and other forms of art, integrate oneself with the world. science occupies the neutral middle. it is amazing how koestler manages to link all three kinds of creativity with a common framework. my two biggest take-aways from this book are regarding the process of creation and its form. as koestler describes beautifully - '..uncovers, selects, re-shuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, faculties, skills. the more familiar the parts, the more striking the new whole.' this is corroborated by all geniuses who have stood `on the shoulder of giants'. even inventors like edison fit this framework. this is close to saying that instead of thinking `outside the box', link several boxes to each other. the other great insight is that the final breakthrough is rarely verbal, but in images. so people see new insights in a dream-like trance, rather than expressing it in language. language, probably, impedes creativity. there are several more delightful and relevant insights on creativity in this masterpiece. nearly a bible on creativity.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"one start , for some very acurate dramatic and terrorific facts about the ebola, but very weak regarding origin of the virus, very unconvincing about possible 'theories'. sound more like that old music of desinformation, he almost blame another monkey for the ebola like they did before with hiv..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is one of those books which needs a little introduction: in australia, the kelly gang is famous the way that dillinger or bonnie and clyde are in the us. this book shows peter carey trying (with much success) to recreate the rugged conditions of australian life, and it is very well-written in a kind of rough-backcountry slang. it shows how incredibly talented peter carey is, and how his talents can be adapted over a wide range of subject matter","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"love, love, love the book. reading his recipes has changed me from an 'adventurous cook' to a truly great one. thanks mr. bittman. but about that binding...my copy is now a 80 volume edition. i am sick of digging though all of the loose pages to find the recipes that i want. after i take the book from the shelf, there are always a number of pages that didn't travel with the cover. ugh. i have no idea how to fix this. i'm here for another copy. *sheepish grin","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the most depressing thing about a book like this is not the outrageously inaccurate content, but, based on the high ratings and adulatory comments by other reviewers, that most people actually believe this drivel. how can we possibly form an effective energy policy when the citizenry are not only uninformed but ill-informed? the answer is that we cannot. i will not bother to go through a detailed criticism, not only because it would take an almost book length document to do it, but because, in the highly politicized atmosphere we live in, no one would believe it. today, the 'truth' depends much more on one's political views than on an objective evaluation of the evidence.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"ok, mr. koontz, could you please write a book that is not about dogs and how they are proof of god's existence. this lame theme is more like preaching than entertainment. leave your retarded religious beliefs out of your books and maybe your stories will be good again. your novels used to be thriling page turners about survival...now they are just lame religious stories about god and dogs. what has happened to you, mr. koontz? are you losing your mind? have fun at church...and do not forget to donate another $1,000 to president bush. i refuse to read any novel of yours that was written after '95 or so. that seems to be around the time that you became a kook","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the left behind series is the best reading i have ever read. i admit my reading is not all that much, but when i read the very first book i was hooked, i read all twelve books in about six weeks. they lead me to understand the bible better. thank you tim and jerry for such great books. corrine robinson ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is such a blessing to me. i'm only up to day 8 (their are 100 days worth of devotions and prayers) and i haven't over-eaten once. god is using this book to bless me. please buy it, read it, and let god use it in your life. giving god your eating habits and your size will be the best thing you can do for yourself. this book is worth getting. please buy it and find out for yourself how much it can help you. it's helping me. it's more than helping me, it's giving me victory","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a fast-paced book with all the formulaic elements required of a political thriller. nothing here particularly surprised me. i would guess that if you have enjoyed mr. flynn's other works you will enjoy this one as well. mr. flynn needs a more assertive editor. his use of language is so sloppy as to distract a reasonably sensitive reader from the finer points of the story. this probably isn't detrimental to the reader's comprehension, but it is irritatng. finally, one very minor quibble: non-standard spellings are used throughout (such as 'harken' rather than 'hearken'). this may or may not matter to any given reader, but i found it to be worthy of mention","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"after a semester using the text i have come to the conclusion that the authors, brehm, kassin, and fein, leave more questions then answers and that their sub-par sense of humor is more then just a waste of money. after reading certain sections i get the feeling that the authors do not clearly understand the issue at hand, but rather throw 15 different research studies at the topic covering their uncertainty and topping it off with a dire attempt at a joke leaving the reader completely ambiguous","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you only read one book in the shane scully series, this book should be it! it offers a storyline unlike the same-old, same-old cop stories one gets used to","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i've just finished page 341, the last page. it's midnight here in these connemara hills and i cannot rest. i'm unsettled. i need to write something about this book. but what? do i love it? do i hate it? in the beginning i felt like quitting after every ten pages, then continuing after the next ten pages, and so on, and so on. i felt myself both repulsed and seduced. eventually i gave in. gave in to nick flynn's words, sentences, story, language, world, universe. the universe of nick flynn's disfunctional family: his alcoholic, delusional, absentee father and his suicidal mother, form the foundation of this memoir. in large measure it's a journey in search of his father, a man who lives by his wits, fuelled by alcohol, driven by the delusion/fear of writing the 'great american novel' (with a million dollar advance and the nobel prize certainties in that delusion), to eventual homelessness on the street. it's also nick flynn is search of himself. but it's none of the above. it's truly a work of literature that sets out, on every page, to capture, and lose, the mystery of the human condition. it's surreal, a glimpse at a parallel universe that we may all be living. this book finds a kinship with joyce and beckett, and it's no wonder that nick flynn chooses an excerpt from beckett's 'endgame' to open the story: hamm: scoundrel! why did you engender me? nagg: i do not know. hamm: what? why didn't you know? nagg: that it'd be you. you will be haunted by this story long after you've finished reading it. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am about half way through the book and i have been greatly encouraged by it. when i am feeling down and read it it gives me some renewed strength. i am personally a realist and reality can get you down. i am from katrina ville which has been mentally challenging. it was hard loosing our home, business location and a lot of friends. although i was fully insured and we are doing well the realization that you can loose it all so fast is depressing. so many that have gone through it are not even as fortunate as i am. so many around the world would love to trade places with me. i am reading this one slowly and trying to absorb as much as i can. joel osteen has been able to reach me with his positive message when others just could not. i want to read it again when i am finished","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a wonderful tool to keep track of all those mystery books on your shelves. this book offers a comprehensive listing of women's fiction mysteries. books are listed by author and title. it is great way to see the order of books written in a series. there is also a check list where you can check off the book once you purchase it, and then check it after you read it. i like to make notations next to the books once i finish the book. books that have been nominated or received awards are designated with a star by the title","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have to admit, i have forced myself to listen to michael weiner's abortion of a talkshow more than once.in a way it's almost humorous, until you stop to think that so many people in this country not only take this man seriously, they view him as a deep political thinker. he is not.he is an ignorant, homophobic, sexist, racist little subhuman troll. an insult to true, honest-to-god old-fashioned american conservatism. william f. buckley jr he ain't. what this is the rantings of a deeply psychologically disturbed individual. one would find more insightful comments at your state's mental hospital, or by a survey of several of your town's homeless population. i cannot wait for the day when savage, limbaugh, hannity, o'reilly and their counterparts on the left moore, franken, janeane garafolo and the rest are off the air and languishing in the obscurity that they so deserve. or even better, we could get nasa to get cracking on building the first solar lander, and have them put these windbags on it. the average iq of the nation would increase, and perhaps we would then be able to listen to real political discourse, instead of a bunch of ignorant, partisan loudmouths with an agenda screaming at one another.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i hope the ending is illogical at least and is fiction. if thoughts are that powerful, they need to be resrained earlier. i do not know who survivied but he might feel very guilty about the others earlier and question if he had to survive. logic can be quite painful when left alone, but sometimes it has to be","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the only thing milton friedman has going for himself is that he says out loud what other reactionaries will only whisper. ayn rand would have loved friedman's disdain for the poor--for anyone, in fact, lacking the 'initiative' famously shown in a 1963 cartoon in which barry goldwater stands in front of a poor person in a southwest ghetto and says, 'why do not you show some initiative? why do not you go out and inherit a department store like i did.' if you think the status quo was ordained by god, or that capitalism is the best that humanity can come up with, this book is for you. if not, start reading trotsky, lenin, and all the people with vision, compassion, and utter disgust for the sad mess that the fat cats have made of this planet. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i bought this book on the recommendation of several people that i know pretty well, unfortunately, this book is filled with errors upon errors and is filled with a typical neo-confederate bias by the author. in fact, the book should be called 'how confederates saved america' as he gives the credit for the peaceful return of the confederate armies to confederate generals such as lee, johnson and forrest, rather than on lincoln's instructions to grant and sherman and generous terms known as the river queen doctrine, 'i want no one punished; treat them liberally all around. we want those people to return to their allegieance to the united states and submit to the laws'. his errors are numerous. he talks of the possibility of the confederates disbanding their armies and moving into the hills and waging a guerilla warfare against the us troops and sights examples of how successful this tactic has been throughout time and he includes in these examples the american revolution. he states that francis marion, thomas sumter and andrew pickens(who all could be called partisans or guerilla fighters), but then he goes on to state that nathaniel greene was a guerilla fighter as well. now only someone completely ignorant of us army history could ever make such a statement. nathaniel greene served in the continental army and was the quartermaster general, he was in no way a guerilla, nor did he use guerilla tactics. he continues on that greene used guerilla tactics in battle at kings mountain and cowpens and guilford courthouse. besides the basic fact that greene wasn't even at the battles of kings mountain and cowpens, neither one could be said to be guerilla attacks. at kings mountain, the american militia found patrick ferguson and his men well entrenched in defenses at the crest of the mountain and formed up and attacked the positions, hardly a guerilla tactic. cowpens was fought by daniel morgan and was a set piece battle where he destroyed tarleton's legion. greene attacked cornwallis at guilford courthouse in another set piece battle and was winning until cornwallis took the extreme measure of firing canister directly into the center of the two massed armies, killing and wounding as many of his own men as he did americans. none of these battles were guerilla fighting and greene in no way can be called a guerilla. the author shows his neo-confederate bias most clearly by restating the apocryphal stories of rape, theft and outright murder by sherman's troops during the savannah and carolina campaigns as matter of historical facts. he continually paints the federals in the worst of lights, while reserving his highest praise and most eloquent prose for the confederates. he incorrectly quotes sherman when he claims sherman said 'sherman himself explained that in his march, he inflicted an astonishing $100 million worth of damage, of which only $20 million was necessary, the rest being 'simply waste and destruction''. he clearly is slanting his own words to convince people that sherman was in fact 'the devil' as the neo-cons believe he is. unfortunately, what he claims sherman said has no relation to what he actually said. from the official records, vol 44, page 13; in sherman's report on his campaign to the war dept, he states 'i estimate the damage done to the state of georgia and its military resources at $100,000,000; at least, $20,000,000 of which has inured to our advantage, and the remainder is simple waste and destruction.' sherman does not, as mr. winik claims state that only $20 million was necessary, what sherman said was that his army confiscated and used(inured means to use) $20 million worth of the property and destroyed the remaining $80 million of confederate civilian and private property that was going to be used against the armed forces of the united states. if you are a confederate 'lost causer' then you will enjoy this novel, however, if you are looking for historical truth, then you should read a different book. william hal","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i would give this book less than one star if that were possible. after reading the reviews, i eagerly ordered 'trust' and anticipated reading it. well....i read it and what a waste of time. stilted, unnatural dialogue and narration, a spoon-fed simplistic plot, robotic and one-dimensional characters, and clunky vocabulary usage made this book one of the worst i have read in many years. the sentences 'he stared into her eyes' and 'he placed his hand on her shoulder' appeared four times in the space of six pages; then for good measure, the author throws them in several more times later in the book. there is no context given; what do they imply--a threat, a romantic interest? the writing is consistently shallow and superficial and the author sums up and reviews the simple plot developments every two or three chapters as if the reader could not possibly remember what is happening from one page to the next. in my case, perhaps that was true because the poor writing and puppet-like characters that behaved inconsistently were laughably distracting. i forced myself to finish the book and was just as bored and incredulous at the end as when i began. did the author self publish this book? please, sir, go to writing school and get an editor","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"stewart o'nan has corrected a major oversight by writing so comprehensively about a topic surrounded by myth and folk legend. apparently, the story of the hartford circus fire of 1944 has never been told in a book, but mr o'nan has dived into the deep end of the myths and legends and surfaced with a factual, well-researched, and eminently readable tale of the tragedy. covering all aspects of the fire and its' aftermath, mr o'nan debunks the stories told as truth but bearing none, reveals new and unsung heroes, and lovingly examines the fate of little miss 1565, the lovely, unclaimed child who lay so long in a grave with only a number to mark her presence. this is an exciting read, filled with the thrill of the circus, the horror of a fire out of control, the fate of survivors, and that of victims ....... both those who lived and those who didn't. while mr o'nan has moved on to the boston red sox in his book with stephen king, faithful, this was his first foray into non-fiction, and he has done himself proud. this is a great story, told well, and with care","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"if this is your first barbara taylor bradford book, you may never pick up another one. i, on the other hand, like to give an author the three strikes rule, so will not hesitate to try something else, but it will not be very soon. if you want to read one of her novels, do not start with this one like i did. this is very boring--like snails serving as soap stars--not to mention slow and predictable. i listened to the entire thing on cd, but think it was mostly because i liked ms. o'karma's narration--she has an appealingly smokey voice like carolyn jones from the adams family. it still could not save this story with its endless self-serving 'what-about-me!' mantras and valentine's overly moralistic attitude. i'm the same way, and i bore myself! you knew from page one where this story was going, and the dialog was as insufferable as the descriptions of everything from food and clothing to moths reproducing on peeling wallpaper. 'i was a war photographer and my mommy was mean to me' resounds every other page, yet she wants to get away from all of that. nothing's worse than a character or real person who brags, then turns around and screams 'look at me, look at me...how dare you look at me?!' ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have listened to (and enjoyed) many books on cd in the past few years. this reader is among the worst that i've had the displeasure of hearing. the content of this book is great, so do not get me wrong. however, the reader makes it impossible to experience the book the way it was intended. he pronounces many character names incorrectly, including carpathia and adbullah. his character voices range from unconvincing to downright abrasive and/or annoying (especially carpathia's). his voice inflection is often very wrong when reading dialogue. he also adds pauses in the middle of sentences without any obvious reason. these are just the most obvious and annoying problems. there are too many to list completely here, so please trust me and avoid listening to this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my favorite piece in this book is 'answers to a questionnaire'-- vintage sontag-- thinking, witnessing, and finally enlightening everything she must. despite the self-loathing revealed by a number of american reviewers below who show themselves apparently ready to detest integrity itself, the naked truth comes clear and comes clear! clear thinking may yet be the last frontier! a worthy argument for such is surely made in the pages of this book. it is even for those who are spiteful without cause to discover themselves lurking in the heart of this book, grevious as ignorance is, & wretched as spite becomes in the end. listen-- vitriolic political sideswiping is as american as dumplings. sontag, characteristically and sympathetically, not only notes its irrevelance, but conjures an antidote called moral patience, so no wonder all the shouts and curses against her! making certain their own avenues of self-discovery venture nothing wiser than a hepped up, but sunless, hyper-nationalism wretchedly disguised as patriotism, it's unfortunately not surprising the chorus of disappoval this woman engenders. thank goodness sontag remains preoccupied with her art!-- a living, teaching, redemptive art burnished, by now, to an holistic glow, as every page of this book bears witness. what in the world are you talking about??! -- susan sontag is american to the core! i reckon that aspect of her identity contributes as much as any other of her native gifts to the beauty and usefulness of her art. wake up, people","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"should you be afraid of your microwave oven? this book discusses that non-issue for several paragraphs, before concluding that no, you probably shouldn't be afraid of your microwave. that embodies what's wrong with this book. it pretends to be reassuring while actually planting a bunch of paranoid ideas. it also assumes that you, the reader, are the mother-to-be, while having very little to say to your partner, in a way that i find subtly sexist. overall, it has plenty to make you extra-worried. for instance, it advises posting pictures of healthy babies all around your house (on the door, in the kitchen, on the bathroom mirror, really, all around your house), in order to continually remind yourself to eat a very rigid diet -- as if the bump in your belly wasn't already making you worry quite enough. if you think that it would be helpful to post a nagging sign on your front-door to ask you daily, 'have you fed your baby breakfast today?' then you may like this book. personally, i found that _what to expext_ left me alarmed about microwaves & air pollution & ambient noise & even exercise in ways that were not helpful. for a book so full of information, it also, curiously, failed to address any of my specific questions. how soon should i begin taking folic acid or other prenatal vitamins: as soon as i start trying to get pregnant, or only after the pregnancy-test comes back positive? is there anything i can do to increase my odds of getting pregnant? what are those odds, anyway, for a woman my age? these seemed like reasonable questions to me, but to find answers, i had to look in the far-more-helpful book by ann douglas, _the mother of all pregnancy books_ -- which also features a nifty week-by-week what's-happening-inside-your-body chart that i love. the other book i highly recommend is armin brott's _the expectant father_, which has terrific & reasonable advice you will not find elsewhere. by those two, not this one.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it broke my heart to see anyone compare this masterpiece to a disney film or a modern work of art. there is no comparison. i first read this book 17 years ago and was so captivated that i could not put it down. i often wonder why hollywood tried to reproduce this book at all, since not one single movie has ever come close to giving us a glimpse of all this book has to offer. the ties and the love and the betrayal, the architectual detail alone, all of it make for one of the most profound works of literature ever written. please do not be spoiled by the quick reads that one is most aquainted with today. take the time to reaquaint yourself with this extraordinary work that will leave you heartbroken and amazed by the end. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i waited a year for this next installment of the series and i started and finished it in under a week, now i cant wait for the next book! it hits home for my husband, he was stationed in the bremerton area in the navy. a good read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this thick soft-backed 'pocket' book has 490 pages. it could be called the complete whitman. it contains hundreds of poems. i am a senior citizen who had not read any whitman for more than 50 years and am enjoying it very much. his descriptions of the 19th century's people, places, and inventions are eye-openers. he was actually a feminist before there was such a concept, and also an abolitionist. he truly believed in equality and democracy. he was a nature lover and wanted to protect the environment. of course, there are parts i could quibble about, but that would be foolish. whitman was a man ahead of his time. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"having a novel's narrator turn out to be the killer is a fairly common staple in the mystery and suspense genre. when this plot device is done well, the reader is pleasantly shocked by the twist, not left wondering what the hell happened. when the twist works best, the author has not actually lied to the reader, but carefully choosen his or her words to create false assumptions. when the twist comes, the reader experiences a `light bulb moment', realizing they were duped, but that they should have seen it coming. in beach road the ending does not make much sense, and the reader ends up feeling betrayed when the twist is revealed. beach road features multiple first person narratives and includes a preface that warns the reader that some narrators may be lying. my question to mr. patterson is: if one of the characters lies to the reader for the first � of the novel, why do they start telling the truth near the end? why not lie all the way through(or tell the truth right from the beginning)? i think it would have been much more interesting if the character's lies were exposed, not by their own confession, but through the observations of other characters. of course the unlikely twist is only one of the problems with this novel. my other major gripe is that so much of it does not make sense. for example, the elusive and ruthless drug dealer known only as loco turns out to be a character that everyone in town knows. somehow loco and the killer maintain a drug dealing operation in a small community without anyone knowing. this is ridiculous. drug dealers need to be known and they need to be easy to find. how else do people buy drugs from them? it's ridiculous to think that they could become major drug dealers in this small community without anyone knowing, even with silly nicknames. second case in point: the killer dispatches a number of people with ruthless efficiency by putting bullets through their brains, yet inexplicably tries to kill the only person who knows their secret by shooting them at close range in the abdomen. they do not notice the absence of blood, and do not check to make sure the shot was fatal. it does not make sense. patterson churns out novels faster than nora roberts these days and apparently isn't worried about quality. beach road is fast paced but the gaps in logic and far fetched ending make this a patterson novel to avoid.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is pretty near worthless. i started reading it knowing that i was unlikely to agree with much of vicki's 'advice,' but i thought it still might be funny. it wasn't. also, lots of her advice is not only wrong it is *completely* wrong--as in, not only not backed up by evidence, but actually *contraindicated* by evidence. i could not even finish reading the book after i got to the complete drivel that was her 'advice' on infant feeding--she presented the section as 'common considerations when deciding to breastfeed' and then proceeded to describe the absolute worst-case-scenario for everything possibly related to breastfeeding (& several things that cannot be blamed on breastfeeding at all!). it was a common considerations section, but would have been more aptly named, 'reasons i think breastfeeding is awful and no one should do it' section. i think it is valuable for women to read books that present a less-than-rosy view of motherhood, because too often we have a strong and persistent 'perfect mother' image in our heads that is very difficult to live up to (especially if we have perfectionistic tendencies). i adore real-life, tell-it-like it is motherhood memoirs--they are validating and supportive. this book, however, is overwhelming negative and baby-bashing. there are much, much better books out there that do not worship motherhood, but do not completely despise it either","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a fairly helpful book for those born before the '70s-- a time when 'a yarn' wasn't an archaic term. does it give some helpful hints? sure, there's the obvious ones like show do not tell and all characters have free will. but fiction has changed a lot since henry james (thankfully), and this book might be better left unread. plus, i do not buy the 'only people who are not well-read do not like it' argument. i've read nearly all the books mentioned and i still wish i never bought this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"all i really wanted was some place where i could keep track of the books i read and my thoughts on them. this book is wondefully laid out but it is oriented more for people who belong to reding groups or book clubs etc. if you just want a little book diary for yourself then do not buy this book. do yourself a favor and buy a regular notebook but if you do belong to a group or like to discuss your books then this is an excellent buy","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"dispossessed and alienated by the death of his grandfather, the divorce of his parents, and the imminent sale of the ranch where he grew up, 16-year-old john grady cole heads for mexico with his friend lacey rawlins to pursue the lives of traveling horsemen. they find a hard, darwinian world where the weak and foolish suffer. cole is scrupulously ethical and strong-willed, and he needs to be. every time he shows love or compassion for another, he is made to suffer for it, and only his own strength of character allows him to persevere. cormac mccarthy's prose style is challenging at first, but i soon grew accustomed to it. his long galloping sentences effectively emulate the rhythm of travel, and his simple yet often startling turns of phrase bring the landscape of the texas/mexico border region to vivid life. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i wish my dad was still alive to see this book, and that i could talk to him about it. he (robert h. hofer) was a machinist's mate on the santa fe for most of its career, and i remember hearing him describe the saving of the franklin, and seeing steel burn as the franklin's magazines exploded and showered the deck of the santa fe with fire; and also what it was like to work down in the engine room while the ship manuvered off the beach at iwo jima, exposed to shore fire. the descriptions in this book are incredibly vivid and exciting, and answer a lot of the questions i wish i could ask my dad today. forgive any errors of fact -- maybe the author has read all the reviews and will put out a revised version in the future. if you've ever wondered what it must have been like to be 19 years old, in the middle of the pacific, fighting the japanese in the biggest naval battles in history, then you've got to read this book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i read this book in the audio form against my will for a political book club. i thought to myself, 'oh great! another liberal tome, telling us liberals how we went wrong and how we need to learn to strategize. blau blau blau...' instead, i was transported into an america of my dreams, lovingly cradled by mr. reich's comforting and hopeful vision of america. possessed with a masterful narrating voice, mr. reich connects the reader to our rich, democratic traditions and applies these tried and true values to our current problems. he makes it sound so easy.... i found myself wishing that he was our president. when i told this to a friend of mine, she noted that 'he's probably too short.' i didn't give it 5 stars because i didn't agree with some of his views on globalism and i thought he was a little too pollyannaish for these times. if our elected officials would just sit down, read this, and follow the instructions, america would look more like the america that we all claim that it is. hopefully, some future president will have this wise and wonderful man on his or her side in the whitehouse again. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"there are a lot of original and wonderful flavor ideas. many of the recipies are quite pricey to make due to the liberal use of dutch cocao powder. the basic cake recipie on which most of the cupcakes are based makes a rather dry cake that has a rough texture. the basic frosting recipie is too dense. i like the flavors but not the recipies. i have adapted the basic cake and frosting recipie making the end products much lighter and airier, with good results","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"deadly feasts: tracking the secrets of a terrifying new plague by richard rhodes is one scary book. it tracks the discovery of prions, the mishapen proteins responsible for mad cow disease, scrapie, and creutzfeldt jacob disease. following human cannibals in the jungles of new guinea in the fifties, bovine cannibals of the british isles in the eighties, and the bizarre history of sheep scrapie from the 17th century on, rhodes does a great job of presenting the history and discovery of this bizarre group of diseases. i especially enjoyed the characterizations of the scientists, from the noble laureate who so enjoyed the new guinea that he often regretted rejoining civiliziation, yet brought thirty natives back to the usa and helped them through school, to the hyper-competitive scientist who named the molecules even though he wasn't quite certain what they were. but this isn't just a story of scientific discovery. as the foreboding subtitle blares, rhodes explores some of the scarier aspects of prions. these include spontaneous formation, responsible for the known early cases of creutzfeldt jacob disease, trans-species infection, including mad cow disease and scrapie, the long long incubation period and lack of immune system response, and hardiness of the disease. one scary factoid: a scientist took a sample of scrapie, froze it, baked it for an hour at 360 degrees (celsius), and was able to re-infect other animals from this sample. for all the uneasiness this book inspires, it certainly does not offer any answers. a condemnation of industrial agriculture, a warning that it's unknown whether vegetarians are even safe, and a caution against using bone meal for your flower garden do not make a recipe for handling this issue. to be fair, it was printed in 1997--perhaps things are under control now. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"covey encourages every parent to do some soul searching to become aware as to what really is priority in life. then, he suggests we put 'first things first.' i believe that most parents would admit that they do wish to have 'family' comes first--above all else. but, in today's busy, often stressful daily routine of life, accomplishing that goal is often 'easier said than done'. covey clearly points out the essentials...such as establishing effective communication lines through family meetings and one-on-one talks with the kids. he makes so much sense as he describes with personal anecdotes how love, values, morality, and empathy for others is a process of teaching and learning from 'the inside out'...in other words from within the family rippling out to society at large. he talks about establishing a family mission statement and helps to direct moms and dads to find the courage and the skills to make changes for the better. covey's book creates the mindset and the outline. if you have young kids like me, i recommend a perfect compliment 'how-to book' with covey's ... called 'the pocket parent.' this handy book, written for parents of 2-6 year olds, is loaded with compassion and humor along with over one thousand tips and skills to try. it literally trouble-shoots many of the problem behaviors we all deal with daily-such as angry outbursts, bedtime, mealtime and clean-up refusals, tantrums, disrespectful attitude, the 'gimmes', morning 'crazies', sibling fights, whining and many more. these 2 books (one more theoretical, the other more 'hands on' practical) have changed our lives. we now have more peace and cooperation in our family---and that gives us more time to enjoy each other. consider both books for your home reference library. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"although the historical parts of this book are great, these moments are few and far between. it seemed to me that this entire work was solely the author's attempt to justify why she did not have children. instead of standing up for her decision she makes it well known throughout the book that she missed her chance(s) to procreate. this book is most likely for women who fall into that catagory and not for the determined childfree","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a huge fan of jim henson, the muppets, and kermit the frog i was hugely disappointed. the recaps of jim henson's life and kermit's were interesting, but the rest was trite nonsense","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the cover is too floppy and the pages too thin. this makes it difficult to flip between pages. also, in the middle of the book, the pages were cut incorrectly (they are folded over). i would not buy this again and as a matter of fact, will need to buy another version to replace this","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"more fish recipes than your normal cook-in-advance books. i didn't want to buy the book, but my cat spilled iced tea on the borrowed copy (helpful kitty). there were a few interesting recipes, but everything was way too complicated and expensive. i have since given my copy to a thrift store. if you enjoy cooking and eating gourmet recipes, but do not have the time, this might be for you. if you can borrow it at the library (via interlibrary loan if your branch does not have it) you can better judge it. i cannot recommend it, because i found almost nothing appealing. but tastes are personal, and ymmv. just keep the book away from iced tea and cats","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you are a christian, this book isn't for you. it is full of blashphemy, concluding that we must '... forgive god' and that we must love god '... even if he isnt perfect'. kusher even has the will to say that '...god would not be god...' without our love for him. at one point he reduces god to an aminal saying that in the garden of eden, when god said '...let us make man in our image' he was speking to animals and creation. kusher explains that god created the world, and in the next paragraph that we came by evolution. since when was god in need of forgiveness? isnt it that '... god so loved the world' and it wasnt us that loved god? i have no words in describing this book. it is full of error, because it does not base it self on the gospel of jesus christ. all this book does is frees you from the thought that you are a sinner, and that it isnt your fault, and that actully you are a good person. why do bad things happen to good people? wrong question. there are no good people in the world in the first place. ' for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god...' the world is in sin. the world does not have good people!! only by the grace of god, through faith in jesus christ you are made righteous. i beg you in the name of jesus christ to stay away from this book. it hasnt helped 4 million people, but it lied to them. kusher, please turn from your ways and come to jesus, then will you understand the life question 'why'","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"sean wilsey is certainly a skilled writer. i found his writing style insightful, lively, and very funny. the story of his childhood is jaw-dropping and if it weren't for his wit, this could be a very uncomfortable story to read. i enjoyed the suspense wilsey builds into his story, which can be missing from memoirs. he leads you along with his child's perspective to keep you turning pages and feel the same jolt he must have felt as a child living through this story. my only real issue with this book was a nagging question in my mind on how much of it was the author working through his childhood pain and how much was revenge or whining. assuming the events described in the book are truthfully presented, i still had a difficult time accepting his parents as complete villains. as he comes to a mild sort of acceptance of his parents' in the end, i felt i was left out of the journey. still, it is a compelling story with lively writing and well worth reading","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"vsto (pronounced visto) is a most interesting product when viewed from microsoft's overall standpoint. it is a very carefully crafted product with the primary purpose of continuing microsoft's continued dominance of the desktop marketplace, and a part of microsoft's thrust to move more heavily into the server marketplace. as best i can tell, it works something like this. microsoft recognizes that servers handling up web pages, processing mail, etc. are a huge market, but that linnux owns a big percentage of that market. consequently microsoft came up with the .net strategy. .net is a bunch of subroutines (if you will) that are written to provides all kinds of utility to programmers. you write your applications using propriatary programming languages such as c# and j# that use the .net library and consequently have to run on microsoft operating systems. in the office environment, packages such as openoffice have gotten to be pretty good, are basically microsoft compatible so you do not have a re-training problem, and are free. i do not know how much success openoffice has had, but it appears to be enough to attract microsoft's attention. enter vsto. vsto adds customization and productivity to microsoft office applications through 'links' that tie office to the .net framework. so to use vsto first you must have and load the .net framework, then you must load visual studio.net - in that order -- then install visual studio 2005 tools for office. all of this is clearly explained by mr. bruney in this book, who then goes on to do an excellent job of explaing how to write programs using vsto. as examples he includes some real world applications. most of the book is on excel applications, but word and outlook are included as well. finally he concludes the book with an excellent discussion on pivot tables. conclusion: a well written, understandable and complete book on vsto. if you're going to be using vsto, this is an excellent place to start","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'decomposition' is by far j. eric miller's best work yet. his 'animal rights and pornography' collection of short stories was only a glimpse of his truly remarkable storytelling. with 'decomposition' we see miller at his best. the story's pace never falters as the reader is pulled into the mind of the tale's protagonist without ever wanting to look back. this was a great read! i definitely recommend this book! ck gaunt","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have read many of anna pigeon books. this is my least favorite. the mystery is not developed and thought about which nevada barr usually does well. this was more of a book on bear/human relationship and a mystery (small) thrown in. i did not enjoy it like and it was more of a chore to read it. i highly suggest superior death or endagered species. these two are nevada barr's best books","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you are a christian, this book isn't for you. it is full of blashphemy, concluding that we must '... forgive god' and that we must love god '... even if he isnt perfect'. kusher even has the will to say that '...god would not be god...' without our love for him. at one point he reduces god to an aminal saying that in the garden of eden, when god said '...let us make man in our image' he was speking to animals and creation. kusher explains that god created the world, and in the next paragraph that we came by evolution. since when was god in need of forgiveness? isnt it that '... god so loved the world' and it wasnt us that loved god? i have no words in describing this book. it is full of error, because it does not base it self on the gospel of jesus christ. all this book does is frees you from the thought that you are a sinner, and that it isnt your fault, and that actully you are a good person. why do bad things happen to good people? wrong question. there are no good people in the world in the first place. ' for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god...' the world is in sin. the world does not have good people!! only by the grace of god, through faith in jesus christ you are made righteous. i beg you in the name of jesus christ to stay away from this book. it hasnt helped 4 million people, but it lied to them. kusher, please turn from your ways and come to jesus, then will you understand the life question 'why'","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"you must own cloudy with a chance of meatballs...please go buy that...then if you love that, you can get this book - which is a really nice sequal.. recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"lonely hearts of the cosmos is the greatest book every written about the search for ultimate answers about the universe. but the science is secondary to the gallery of scientists who are revealed in all their pettiness, persistence and ultimately greatness. the story of allan sandage - from boyhood dreamer to discoverer of mysteries - could be a book in itself. this is a book of almost poetic prose - a real page-turner that i could not set down. get it toda","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"oh my, what a voice, she really gets on one's nerves. in way too much a hurry with all that she is 'trying' to achieve. i could not get past the first couple of minutes of her whinny directions. do yourself a favor and pass this one by","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my son always requests this book before bedtime. he likes to shake his fists and stomp his feet along with the peddler! plus i do not get tired of reading it to him","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the bfg is a children's book written by roald dahl, who wrote such classics as charlie and the chocolate factory, matilda, and james and the giant peach, and illustrated by quentin blake. the book was published in 1982 and immediately became popular amongst children and adults. the book won the federation of children's book groups award in 1982 (uk), and was named one of the 'best books of the past 20 years' by the uk's good book guide in 1997. the story is about an orphan girl named sophie who, one night when she cannot sleep, looks out her window to see a creepy looking giant blowing something into the windows where other children sleep. when the giant looks her right in the eye, sophie jumps to her bed, and hides under her blanket only to be snatched by the giant and taken away to his home. it turns out that the scary giant is none other than the bfg, or the big friendly giant, the only giant amongst the frightening human-eating giants who is a good giant, who satisfies his hunger on weird vegetables known as the snozzcumbers and drinks a delicious fizzy drink known as the frobscottle, which has bubbles that travel downwards that makes the drinker break wind instead of burp. the other giants are named the fleshlumpeater, the bonecruncher, the manhugger, the childchewer, the meatdripper, the gizzardgulper, the maidmasher, the bloodbottler, and the butcher boy. when sophie asks the bfg about what he does at night, he reveals his secret of blowing bottled dreams, nice dreams, into the windows of children's bedrooms, something the other giants have no knowledge of. when he catches a nightmare, he destroys it so that nobody will ever have to experience it. sophie and the bfg become friends, and team up to rid the giant country and the world from the evil giants. so, the bfg mixes a dream showing what the giants do, which in turn becomes the worst nightmare the bfg had ever encountered, and takes it to buckingham palace and blows it into the queen's bedroom, and leaves sophie on the windowsill, for the dream includes the knowledge that she would be there when the queen wakes up. when the queen awakens after the frightful dream, she believes sophie's story, speaks to the bfg, and works along with sophie and the bfg to eliminate the child-eating giants. the bfg is a character that the reader will automaticaly like. his unusual features, and nonsensical vocabulary, are both funny and very appealing to children as well as adults. sophie is the young orphan girl who does an outstanding thing (saving the world from the evil giants), a theme that had been used by dahl in other books like matilda. the book was very easy to read, and extremely amusing. dahl's style and imaginative bfg dialogue tends to make children laugh and attempt to imitate. the story may also give the children a sense of fear or suspense (the description of the evil giants and what they do). of course, the best thing about the bfg is the theme of good versus evil. it also shows that not just because someone might look unusual or scary means that that someone or thing is evil. in other words, you cannot judge others by what they look like or how they look, but you can judge them only by their actions; a very useful lesson of life for children. important note: some elements in the book may be offensive to some ethnic readers (greeks, turks amongst others). recommended ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"considering the massive amount of publicity that this case generated, i could not imagine that there was anything left for a 'new' book to present. sadly, there really wasn't. this book is chockful of unliklely possibilities being promoted by the defense attorneys and scott's family. it reeks of denial and desperation.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"although the poems are beautiful... and i certainly do not mean to bash whitman with this 2-star rating... it's the wrong book. not as advertised. this was supposed to be the original 1855 edition. that's what i expected, and therefore (in my mind) what i was paying for. the original 1855 edition, according to modern literary analysis, was the 'strongest/purest' version. it was the true starting point of whitman's own (and consequently america's) poetic awakening. consisting of just 12 'perfect' poems, it was that edition which emerson praised so highly. whitman never put out another book... just revision after revision, addition after addition, and edition after edition of leaves of grass... until you wind up with 'the deathbed edition' which is a severely bloated and different work from the original. i was very much looking forward to a slender volume of the original edition. which is what the item description says this is. it's not. be forewarned... it's the deathbed edition of 1892... nearly 500 pages. and frankly, there are much better versions of the deathbed edition. sturdier versions with nicer pages exist (this is a pretty weak paperback, printed on pulp pages), with better footnotes and more authoritive introductions. shop around. to sum up... the 2 star rating is because lying about which edition this is, is a terrible way to sell the book. whitman was fantastic and the poetry contained in the book itself is first rate. it just would have been nice to get what i paid for. the 'true' editon, written by a young whitman at the height of his powers..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book covers much of the same ground that clayton christensen explored in his three revolutionary books: the innovator's dilemma, the innovator's solution, and seeing what's next. truthfully, those books do a far superior job of explaining the dynamics of innovation in comparison to the performance of this book. utterback does have very insightful comments on the standardization of product design, but outside of that section, the book is not particularly exemplary. for those interested in mastering the art of innovation, the game begins and ends with clayton christensen","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i would respectfully disagree with those who suggest that 'fabric of the cosmos' is just a rehash of 'elegant universe' with little more to offer, and in fact not as well written. on the contrary, i found 'fabric of the cosmos' to be equally as engaging as 'elegant universe' and to offer a great deal of new material. it is true that some of the background material on relativity and quantum mechanics is covered in both books, but i for one preferred it that way. i read 'elegant universe' several years ago, and although i have a general feel for the concepts, i appreciated the refresher on many of the details. by including the background material in 'fabric of the cosmos' i never felt lost, and i never had to refer back to another book. the background material on relativity and quantum mechanics is similar in both books, but it is not identical, so i never felt like i was rereading the same old stuff. another minor issue i've seen some complain about is the use of the simpson's (and other) television characters in his examples. personally i could care less what characters are used in the examples, but from a practical standpoint, i much preferred names like marge and lisa to names like slim and jim (which were used in 'elegant universe'). i could easily keep track of what marge and lisa were doing in an example, whereas i was often confused about what slim and jim were doing. the similar sounding names drove me crazy. so from a practical standpoint, i preferred the names used in 'fabric of the cosmos'. now what about the content of the two books? for me 'elegant universe' was more of an introduction to string theory, whereas 'fabric of the cosmos' was much more an exposition on cosmology. in 'elegant universe' roughly the first 130 pages gave a background on relativity and quantum mechanics, and then the remainder of the book, some 250 pages, was about string theory. in 'fabric of the cosmos' roughly the same space is devoted to background info on relativity and quantum mechanics, (about 120 pages) but with more of a cosmological slant related to questions of 'what is space' and 'what is time'. then roughly the next 200 pages give an outstanding description of where we're at in terms of cosmological theories about the origin of the universe. if you want an excellent description of inflation theory, higgs fields, and the like, this is the source. and then only in the last roughly 120 pages does greene bring string theory into all of this, and then with the same overarching cosmological slant which is a common thread running through the book. bottom line is 'fabric of the cosmos' provided me with a terrific overview of cosmology that i did not get from 'elegant universe'. both books are outstanding, and i would certainly recommend both. the point being simply that these are different books, and 'fabric of the cosmos' is not just a rehash of 'elegant universe'. finally, as in 'elegant universe', greene takes the reader very logically from one step to the next. i've read many books that make broad statements about how one thing relates to another with zero explanation of how that relationship was derived. in greene's book this is never an issue. sometimes this can make the writing a bit long and dense, but i would much prefer a book that i can logically work my way through, albeit sometimes with a bit of patience, than a book with logical gaps that no amount of patience is going to resolve. do not get me wrong though, even though the book can sometimes be a bit dense, i never found it to be dry. greene does a great job of making the book engaging and enjoyable to read throughout. very highly recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"so that's what joie-de-vivre means. it's really not the point whether the anecdotes are based on real facts. it's d.v.'s attitude, her curiosity, her passion for certain things, and her irreverence for the rest is what's most inspiring. the writing, edited by george plimpton and christopher hemphill, is wonderfully imaginative and poetic, be it about mona lisa or buffalo bill. i recommend it to anyone with an eye for details and a passion for life","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the author has a unique way of keeping you captivated and he will renew your thoughts about wolves. this book was recommended, it was not something i would have read, but after reading it i could hardly put it down, i found myself clued to this book, very funny and touching at the same time. this by far was the most revealing book about wild animals i have ever read. you will not regret reading this book; i bought 3 others after reading it. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book based on its 5-star rating and feel i wasted my money. that's how i really feel, authentically. i have read other works positing a connection between physical symptoms/illnesses and life trauma; the idea is not unique or new. alice miller is fixated on the idea that the fouth commandment (honor thy parents) has poisoned lives and ruined society and restates this theory every page or two. this notion is so compelling to her that she actually went to the vatican to complain. ms. miller gives anecdotal information about famous people who died young and then leaps to the conclusion that their parents were mean to them. maybe they were -- but what are we supposed to do with this information? find a therapist who is willing to become emotionally involved with us seems to be the cure. this medicine carries its own risks. i'm sorry alice was also raised by abusers (which she confesses) but getting tangled up in some codependent parent-figure therapeutic emotional incest with her or someone like her is not really going to help anybody. realizing what happened to you is important, and raging and grieving about it is important, but sooner or later you have to move on. forgiving isn't forgetting or letting the abuser off the hook -- it's letting you off the hook, refusing to be owned by the past anymore. and yes, you can love and hate somebody at the same time. it gets down to knowing you cannot get what you needed from them or any other person in your adult life...you have to become the parent of the wounded child within and help that child finish growing up. good luck and god bless...if you're needing a book like this for yourself. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"what so many past and even some current chelas overlook is that there is a difference between sri harold klemp, the man, and the eck which uses and continues to use him as its divine channel in all the worlds of god. recently i took the fourth initiation in eckankar. yesterday, while in contemplation i sang my new secret word with my attention on the current living eck master and experienced the light of god. ford johnson's assertion that chelas are prevented from becoming masters is a falsehood. before millie moore translated she had reached the ninth initiation, the point at which eck mastership commences. it's sad to see a former high initiate like ford johnson who has become 'twisted by the dark side'","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i cannot exactly say how a non-believer would take this book, there is that guy who wrote something about evilution producing this or that, but other than that i'll have to read the other reviews. anyway the beauty of this book is in how well it illustrates the extreme extent to which god goes to in order to bring us to salvation, while still holding the very fabric of life amidst consciousness and all of it's beauty and glory in careful suspension. i believe this is the notion of his love that lewis is focused on. as a last resort method of god communicating with us, pain plays a - well - painful role, to which i'm no stranger. still i'll bet that when we get to heaven god will truthfully say, it hurt me far, far more than it hurt you. amen.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is not as good as some of grafton's other books but still has the same type of quality that she exhibits in all of her books. in this one, kinsey is asked to follow up a deceased pi in solving a 6-year old murder","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"having chewed and digested 'around the world in eighty days', 'five weeks in a balloon' and 'journey to the centre of the earth', i set out to devour another chef d'oeuvre of verne [the often overlooked 'true' father of science fiction] with much relish. sure, '20,000 leagues' seemed bigger than the others i'd read, but i thought it would be the classic excitement and drama of verne all the way. well, i was nearly right. professor arronax leaves a 'normal' life in france for the us, taking his assistant with him, to investigate the matter that has taken all the attention of the 'modern' or 'known' world. joined by the egotistic harpooner, ned land, they seek adventure, and they find it. again, i see verne's classic touch of the dramatic as the threesome find the monster - the nautilus - or rather, as the nautilus finds them. they awaken to an interminable adventure under the sea. the professor is fascinated, or perhaps, intoxicated with the endless wealth of life in the sea and spends hours, days and months observing and recording. the tireless taxonomist takes in all the eye can see and with the help of his assistant, classifies it all. this is where the tedium began for me as the reader. pages upon pages of pure taxonomy. the accounts of the undersea explorations in specially designed suits offers some relief. the enigmatic captain nemo is in charge; incidents and never accidents. everything about him is shrouded in mystery - pondering on the life of captain nemo offers some useful distraction and provides the fuel to consume more and more pages. however, you can never miss verne's climactic scenes, where he brings drama and suspense to their peak. the almighty nautilus is trapped inside a huge mass of ice at the south pole, and for the first time, captain nemo shows signs of worry, however subtle. yet, he goes on with a steely determination. things are looking very desperate, but as usual, the day is saved. however, i found myself following every detail, sharing all their fears, their toil, their despair. their ecstasy was mine when the nautilus broke free. i was totally drawn in... ...the irritable ned land sparks the fire of escape. he's sick and tired of submarine life as nemo shows no signs of releasing his charges. the adventure ends with the escape of the threesome back to terra firma, or does it? i guess it continued with captain nemo and his longsuffering crew until his death, burying years of useful knowledge and resources under the sea. or did he live forever? a highly challenging but rewarding read for the discerning reader or verne fanatic","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a product of the lazy, latter-day leonard who knows he's a great writer who can just sit back and let it flow. the onetime master of concision now takes a hundred-odd pages just to set things up. even his ear for dialogue has started to fade on him. now everybody like, y'know, talks like, uhh, some kinda boob, get what i'm sayin'? the line of self-parody is lying a little too close in these pages. he still has a hand with the quirky minor characters, though they cannot carry an entire 350-page plus novel. but this one did make it clear to me why leonard is so popular with the pomo crowd: his characters inhabit an utterly amoral universe, one with no values or standards whatsoever. here, e.g., the protagonist is that well-known figure drawn from life, the friendly, easygoing loan shark. in your traditional crime novel--chandler or either macdonald can serve as examples--the action occurs against a hard-edged moral framework that is at least given lip service. now i will not demand that every piece of fiction act as a morality play. but this was a case where i finished the thing, and kind of enjoyed the ride, but didn't like myself for it. in leonard's recent novels, all that matters is who gets to take home the candy. and when you get right down to it, that just ain't enough.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book was part of my professional ethics class. i have to say i was very skeptical (as the textbooks are never fun and one guy gave it a poor review) at first. however, after reading the book i have learned a lot. ethics is not a matter of conservative or liberal (if that's true than god himself has to be a liberal not to mention bible talked about ethical behavior too). this book focused on why we need ethics in business and how proper ethics enforcement can save a business from corruption and other questionable behavior which eventually may bring down a business (think enron). it talked about both sides and didn't force someone's opinion on us rather helped us make our own decision which will be ethical and benefiting to the business. although it was my text book i'd recommend this book to anyone as part of business strategy making. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is widely known as a classic, but the reader is left wondering 'why?' protagonist (cannot call him a hero) of this novel is poor farmer ethan frome, who lives a joyless existence with his hypochondriac wife. he finds some 'excitement' when mattie comes to visit, but again, the reader wonders why, because she's vapid and uninteresting. to recap: we're presented with characters that are not the least bit likable to begin with, and turn pages eagerly waiting for the happy ending. instead, wharton ends with all three characters living together and making each other even more miserable. i feel like i wasted three precious hours of lifetime reading this book. why???","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a wonderful book to read any time, but especially when you are searching for answers to why you hurt and how you can help yourself and your family not hurt anymore. i love the idea that we have the power to heal ourselves (some would say miraculously). we do not have to feel dependant upon the 'gods' of medicine and pharmacies in order receive a false 'cure' heal yourself...for good! read this book then make a way to go to one of his classes. it will change your life","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book has been very helpful. it is easy to read, it is easy to look things up in and provides a nice section on treatments of different disorders as well as describing the disorder","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i know, i know, i am the daughter of the author but i have to say something about the book. (remember one can be objective about a family member). first the quality of the food: i have been cooking a lot of these recipes - some for the past 15 years and they are something to be proud of! really delicious and so easy. exceptional recipes (which i literally dream about) include: lima bean & pea puree, the meat loaf, the split pea soup, the rice pilaf, the bourbon cake, the red velvet cake and the chicken fricassee. just to name a few. second the variety of foods and recipes: which is a tribute to the author and her life experiences and are truly diverse! just look at how many cultures and countries are represented here. finally, tom eckerle's photographs: which are exquisite and transforms the book into not only a well-worn cookbook but a 'coffeetable book' as well. my hats off to you, mom. i'm proud of you. how nice of you to share with everyone","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"now that we have had the benefit of over two centuries of historical-critical biblical studies, we might now very well ask: where do we go from here? i would offer that the fundamental working hypothesis of such studies is that 'they made it all up' and so the scholarly task becomes one of reconstructing that process, but the unquestionable assumption behind it all is that anything, positively anything, is more credible than traditional christian faith (this is amounts to, for the critical scholars, a doctrine of 'justification by doubt'). and so the game proceeds. canonical scripture is called upon, and even appealed to, when it can be interpreted to support the working assumption that nothing at all is what it might seem when it comes to christian origins. but whenever scripture supports a traditional understanding, then it is systematically demolished, discredited, decoded, and rejected as the purely ideological product it most assuredly is. and all of the other texts, the schismatic, heterodox materials and the gnostic drivel--which the church had its apostolic reasons to reject--must simply be seen for what they are, and not evidence of christianity's original 'denominational' condition. bart ehrman is a most clever and educated man, but, contrary to what some might assume, he does approach the material at hand with a clear bias and set of preconceived understandings. so let's forget all the by now stale appeals to scholarly objectivity (not to mention, personal integrity) and letting 'the sources speak for themselves', because that is just so much fantasizing as well. traditional christian faith is dismissed by ehrman and his ilk as being simply one more product of identifiable historical forces and thus it has no intrinsic claim to truth. but try reading the bible with the assumption that it is all true, that what it tells us about who jesus of nazareth is, and the beginnings of his church are a reliable enough account of what did happen. i realize that such an enterprise is inconceivable to the scholarly guild (with the refreshing exception of people like luke timothy johnson and n.t. wright), but philology is not faith, and in the end, it should never even be considered as a basis for it. ehrman's reconstructions are thus of interest only to a person who would treat any kind of 'faith' resulting from it as a kind of personal plaything, and not as the daily challenge to his own being. remember, christian faith is ultimately about god and our relationship with him, and not about the way in which we might choose to arrange the intellectual games we play with faith and our musings upon it. if you are interested in keeping god at arm's length and not dealing with real issues of personal growth and spiritual integrity (the kind that comes not from footnotes but from abiding in the holy spirit), then buy this book, read it, and enjoy whatever feelings of superiority it might give you. but if not, if you are seeking the one, true living god who awaits those who would believe in him through his son jesus, who is the christ, then forget about it and all the other 'ragings of the pagans'. you see, they are the ones you will be able to spot on the closeout shelf. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the first 60 or so pages are just awful. john keegan argues that war is not the continuation of politics rather the result of cultural drives. that may well have been so in historical times, but is hardly so today. he unfortunately tries to explain aggression and violence from a biochemical perspective and is not only dated, he's flat wrong. there's other problems with his knowledge, i.e., claiming the u.s. abandoned the draft after ww ii and didn't use it again until the 60's. wrong again! what is interesting is that keegan's very views are so much a continuation of british political thinking. not a great book at all","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"another great book, which comes as no surprise. the first book ends with him being removed from his home, permanently, due to his mother's abuses. this book gives us an insider's look at the foster home system, flaws and all, which rings quite true. i spent a week there myself, and have some delinquent cousins with a bit more experience. i suppose it'd shock a lot of readers, however. meanwhile, what shocked me was that his mother was still part of his life. grr! great book. it's brilliant as well, and naturally i expect the same of the third part in this trilogy. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i found 23 factual errors in honan's book -- when i mentioned this to someone i was told that a reader in virginia had found 142. there are much better biographies of jane austen out there -- for starters, no one has yet surpassed elizabeth jenkins', first published in the 1930s, and a fine recent one, a good introduction to ja's life, is maggie lane's latest, jane austen's world. do not be put off by the fact that it is slick and, as they say, richly illustrated -- it's readable, sound and remarkably complete despite its size","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book was a bit typical for my liking. the setting was stereotypical only to be mixed in with bland characters, all told through a horribly punctuated journal of a tenth grader who seems like someone who should still be in middle school. through this story jeremy, our lead man, experiences the many things which high schoolers encounter. and what are these things? why smoking, drinking, partying and sex of course! all told through immature eyes, making this book one which i did not enjoy very much..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i loved this book. i picked it up on a whim and spent the next two hours reading and laughing. the patterns are fun and these girls are so funny. i think this is a great book to have in my library. it has several patterns that i really want to make as gifts and i think even the book would make a great gift to any knitter","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"predator is the worst book i have read in 2 months (i read a lot of books). it is too dis-jointed and incongruous and lacks cohesiveness of plot and events. the characters are poorly drawn (i hardly recognized the scarpetta and marino of earlier books). the transition to reveal the perpetrator was abrupt and weak, leaving me feeling: 'huh??' this the fourth (and it will be the last) book by cornwell that i have read. it was totally disappointing and i spent extra time on it just so i could complete it and 'forget about it'","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"like hayek's road to serfdom, this book was written during the secon world war when keynes was busy crafting the post war peace. it is infused with the 1930s' corporatist ideas and tends to favour the communist version more than the nazi/fascist version. keynes is indisputably the 2oth century's most important economist but why does schumpeter and his creative destruction occupy position #2? i put it down to the same reason as marx' theory of alienation gained such sway. as there was little else to salvage from marx' writings, they hit on that to make him apear relevant. marx was a dangerous idiot and the fact that schumeter heaps measured praise on him suggests that schumpeter should also join him in the intellectual trash can of history. i see little relevant in his work which i feel has gained prominence simply because economics has lost its intellectual direction. unlike gary becker and other recipients of the nobel prize, schumpeter tackles big issues. but the big issues shrug him off. nothing here to ponder over","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this has to be my least favorite of my kiyosaki collection. i will sum it up for you...think and know the power of leverage, passive income is taxed at a lower rate than earned income, and you gotta buy assets! there, you can continue shopping","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is so flawed in every which way, it is hard to know where to begin. first of all, we are living in the end times, and when jesus comes, that's all she wrote, folks. there's no seven years, no christians being zapped up, etc. this is our second chance on earth. no tribulation. this book takes figurative visions and tries to apply it literally, and does it poorly. reading this book made me think that if this was true, then what's the point of trying to be a christian. why not just live your life the way you want to, and then when people zap out of thin air, change your life. it's ridiculous and sends the wrong message. plus, the writing is for second graders with no redeeming characteristics to it. but i really do not think the author's care at this point (seeing how many millions they've made printing lies). my recommendation is to read the bible instead of this series; then you'll get truth and the bible is probably shorter (and much better writing). man, not even kirk cameron could save this train wreck. re: j czecholinski hey j, you could not be more wrong! your review is as flawed as lahaye and jenkin's unbiblical writing. first, i am a christian who does believe that jesus is coming back, but i do not believe he is coming back in a secret, silent rapture that the left behind series is making millions of christians believe. i believe in the verse you used (to try and prove me wrong), which is 1 thessalonians 4:16-17 : 'for the lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout,with the call of the archangel,and with the trumpet call of god. first,all the christians who have died will rise from the graves.then,together with them,we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and remain with him forever.' when jesus comes back, we will know it. keys words being commanding shout and trumpet call of god. we're not going to be zapped up while others are standing around for 7 years. in the bible, 7 years refers to completeness or totality, which is time until jesus comes back for good. lahaye and jenkins are taking figurative language from john's revelation and making them literal and adding their own spin to sell books and make movies. this adding to scripture and polluting the word of god makes me think of galatians 1:6-9 which says: 'i am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of christ and are turning to a different gospel--which is really no gospel at all. evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of christ. but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! as we have already said, so now i say again: if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!' this is what lahaye and jenkins are doing: perverting the gospel with their own spin. and your 'belief' in the anti-christ is incorrect as well (along with lahaye and jenkins). check out these verses: 1st john 2:22 'who is the liar? it is the man who denies that jesus is the christ. such a man is the antichrist--he denies the father and the son.' or 1st john 4:3 '...but every spirit that does not acknowledge jesus is not from god. this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.' key words their being even now is already in the world. this is referring to satan who was in the world in john's day and still in the world. the bible says in 1st john 2:18 that many anti-christs have come and anti-christ is anyone who is against christ. there are many people who are persecuting the church and christians (as this is the last days that we are living - check out 2nd timothy 3). why are we looking for somebody like nicholae when there are already those who have the spirit of the anti-christ? why are polluting the word of god to try and sell books and movies. why are we allowing ourselves to be eternally condemned because we are starting to follow this new type of thinking? do you think that the disciples, when jesus ascended to heaven, thought that there would be a silent rapture followed by tribulation? no! finally, you said that 2nd corinthians 6:2 says: 'today is the day of salvation i'm looking so forward to that day when the lord will come for me and all born again believers that we will not have to endure the tortures during the tribulation.' what bible version are you looking at. 2nd corinthians 6:2 clearly states: 'for he says, 'in the time of my favor i heard you, and in the day of salvation i helped you.' i tell you, now is the time of god's favor, now is the day of salvation.' nothing about tribulation and nothing about enduring tortures!!! you are just making up scripture, perverting the gospel! now verse 4 talks about troubles (lower-case 't'), hardships, distresses, etc. that is happening now, today until jesus comes back with a commanding shout and trumpet call of god to take us to heaven and those against him into eternal judgement - no 7 year tribulation period!!! live today like it was your last day, because you could die or jesus could come back (and believe me, you will know it because until you can show me verses where a silent, secret rapture will take place and there will be those left behind battling for seven years, i will continue to follow the god-breathed word of god and not fluff of lahaye and jenkins. 'tribulation' is found once in the bible (rev 7:14 niv) and it is with a lower-case 't' and has nothing to do about what the books suggest. 'rapture' never appears as this is a word that has not been around that long. so in summary, jesus is coming back and we will know about it (whether you are a christian or not). and off the subject, yes, baptism is essential to becoming a christian and being saved (not praying jesus into your heart)...it seems that the same people who believe in lahaye's rapture are usually wrong on that issue as well. please do yourself a favor. read the bible and follow it. if you do that, then you will not be led astray by these false teachings of someone like j. czecholinski who cannot even get his scriptures straight. re: j. czecholinski wow, j czecholinski's perverting of the scripture is uncanny. somehow, he has gotten this vision and received a new gospel along with lahaye and jenkins. most of his words are empty, his verses taken out of context, the use of visions in revelation taken literal, and his best response is this: 'this thought process has dominated rapture writings for the past 25 years.' wow, 25 years! forgot about centuries of beliefs that the disciples have passed down and jesus's own words and the scriptures (again i point to the verses you brought up 1st thessalonians 4:16-17 - loud command and trumpet call of god!!!). and then he tries to debate the baptism issue which jesus and the disciples have passed down, but in the last 100 years new thinkers have changed that to just 'pray jesus into your heart', although there are many verses about baptism being essential and zero about praying jesus into your heart (big one being said by peter, a disciple of jesus in acts 2:38 'peter replied, 'repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins. and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit.' then there is: matt 3:11, john 3 (water and spirit!), acts 2:41, acts 8:12-16, acts 8:36-38, acts 9:18, acts 19:3-5, acts 22:16, romans 6, 1 corinthians 12:13, 1 corinthians 15:29, galatians 3:27, ephesians 4:5, colossians 2:12, and the list goes on and on although the bible never says to pray him into your heart! i think the disciple peter said it best in 1st peter 3:18-22 'for christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to god. he was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when god waited patiently in the days of noah while the ark was being built. in it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward god. it saves you by the resurrection of jesus christ, who has gone into heaven and is at god's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.' do not try to say that baptism is a good work and compare it to ephesians 2:8 and take it out of context. salvation requires: believe, confess, repent, baptism, and living by your faith. that is the belief that jesus and the apostles have passed down for 2000 years. so j, you can go ahead and listen to thought of the last 25 to 100 years by man, but as for me, i will listen to the scriptures and to jesus and to paul and the apostles. for paul says in galatians 1:12 'i did not receive it from any man, nor was i taught it; rather, i received it by revelation from jesus christ.' so there you go.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as i read some of the reviews of people specifically one regarding david ray griffin books compared to this i must wonder about their motives. although i have not read his books i read a few summaries, and concluded on some of the differences between them. david ray griffin seems to put all the blame and cover up on the bush administration; it also seems to claim that there were explosives throughout the towers causing them to come down and not just the planes. it also claims that the pentagon plane never was a plane. so how do you compare; peter lance does not claim that the clinton administration or bush administration knowingly lied, it does however criticize both administrations for not looking into things like they should have. obviously the clinton administration takes a harder hit here because they were in office from 93 - 00 when most of the planning took place. (yes i know it is hard for many bush haters not to put all the blame on bush but this attack was planned well before jan 1, 2001). peter lance goes into extreme detail regarding the people involved in the 93 bombing and the people hunting/prosecuting them. there were so many things that were missed on all levels of our government from local police to the fbi to the white house. he does focus on the fbi's failure more than many other law enforcement because they are the group involved here at home. there are no conspiracy theories, the 93 world trade center attack happened; we know who did it. the uss cole was attacked, khobar towers, the 2 embassies in africa and 9/11. to suggest that some or any of these were committed or covered up by our goverment is insane. peter lance details that there are people out there that are making their living trying to kill americans and their allies. he gives us names, faces actual details. a history lesson in new york city law enforcment. there have been numerous books written about many of the same poeple or by the same people that peter lance mentions; john o'neil, bob baer etc... read those books many say the same thing. so is everyone on the government payroll covering up the white house empires???? this book is based in facts that occured up to 9/11; it gives details and criticizes many people and administrations for not looking past the tips of their noses. it isn't based on conspiracy theories and is a great book. this book should be read by anyone wanting to know how inadequate our domestic law enforcment is at handling the new terrorist threat","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this collection of mad libs were hilarious. it had everybody in the room in stitches. plus, it was a great review of what verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. are","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i purchased this novel nearly ten years ago. at the time of the purchase, i did not realize that it was a series. so, this book lay gathering dust on my bookshelf, until one day i completely ran out of novels to read. i picked it up, and i was captivated after the first few pages. i didn't want to start the book without reading the ones prior. fortunately, jonathan kellerman is a good enough writer to write a series that does not have to be read in order! this novel-the clinic-is one of the most fast paced that i've ever read. i could not put this book down for the life of me. i had to know the who's, the when's, why's, and how's that were so skillfully placed! there are so many twists and turns to keep the reader interested, and so much information into the lives of the characters. i recommend this to anyone that enjoys a good novel, especially one that is just as much of a mystery as it is a suspenseful thriller","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"great idea for the book but spoiled by incorrect facts and explanations on almost every page! thus it is good if you use it for the questions but not the answers. someone (wish i had the time) needs to list all the corrections on a website (just a suggestion) for this book to be fully utilised - until the author can correct the mistakes. (if someone gets the website off the ground, i will gladly contribute correct answers) having said this, i am still glad i got the book for the questions and to be pointed in the right direction. if only the author would correct the answers.... gavin atp","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i remain firmly in agreement with my good friends, who wrote the critique below. the very best of catron's texts, this book inspires immediate enthusiasm and, therefore, interaction with the author. i'll hang onto my original hardcover copy until it turns to dust, and continue to use it while both writing and teaching. an inspired text","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"got a great book the other day called the medici effect: what elephants & epidemics can teach us about innovation by frans johansson. it about what happens when you step into that area called the intersection... contents: part 1 - the intersection: the intersection - your best chance to innovate; the rise of intersections part 2 - creating the medici effect: break down the barriers between fields; how to make the barriers fall; randomly combine concepts; how to find the combinations; ignite an explosion of ideas; how to capture the explosion part 3 - making intersectional ideas happen: execute past your failures; how to succeed in the face of failure; break out of your network; how to leave the network behind; take risks and overcome fear; how to adopt a balanced view of risk; step into the intersection notes; index; about the author the medici effect is all about the intersection of ideas, cultures, disciplines, and strategies in new and previously unexplored ways. the term comes from the medici family in florence italy in the 15th century. a convergence of thinkers and doers all converged on florence, which became ground zero for the renaissance period. new concepts thrived in that environment where people were learning and listening to each other, breaking out of their own fields to combine ideas into revolutionary new areas of study. johansson asserts (and correctly so, in my opinion) that innovation thrives in these 'intersections' that are missed by many, but offer the best chance for breaking away from the 'same old thing'. the book is extremely practical, in that all the chapters are driven by real-life examples of these intersectional thinkers. you'll see how richard garfield combined the idea of collectables and gaming to come up with the mega-hit card game magic: the gathering. the singer shakira takes musical styles from widely different cultures and combines them into a sound that is all her own (and very popular to boot). eric bonabeau studied the activities of ants searching for food and applied the observations to network routing and scheduling. these and many other examples show how being a generalist (or at least open to other fields) can lead to connections not possible for highly specialized thinkers. johansson lays out steps you can take to place yourself in that constant flow of ideas, so that you can start seeing new possibilities in rather mundane unrelated things. i was very impressed with this book, and have already started to look at events and ideas in a different light. i'd recommend this read for anyone looking to spur their creativity beyond the norm...","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"but the simple drawing technique is also useful. great if you want to paint or draw expressively. the pictures are inspiring","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"fran lebowitz is sometimes referred to as the successor to dorothy parker. a few similarities are apparent. both are sharp-witted, female new yorkers famous for their often stinging one-liners. yet, if parker could be considered a painter of the urban american landscape in the 1920s through 1950s, lebowitz should be considered a sketch artist from the 1970s. i do not think she has parker's depth or sense of structure. her essays are playful but often amount to mere list making or an assemblage of loosely connected observations that could just as well belong on a greeting card or cocktail napkin. and she often relies way too heavily on puns. several pieces in this collection fall flat for me. yet others - such as her advice to heiresses, 'at home with pope ron,' and 'the last laugh' - were quite clever. i think she's worth reading as perhaps one of the leading humorists of her generation. comparisons with the more versatile and compelling parker are a bit of a stretch, though","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as a business person, i found helpful and interesting facts on how to market financial products. the topics are discussed in an organized manner and the book is relatively easy to follow. there are separate chapters for each aspect of the marketing program. customer retention issues and regulations are also discussed in quite a bit of detail.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"in her book web thinking, successful hollywood screenwriting consultant and author of numerous books on the entertainment industry, dr. linda seger reveals the real secret to success in any job. she hits the nail on the head--it's about relationships. in my years as a performance improvement specialist to fortune 100 corporations, 80% of success was not just showing up (like woody allen has said), nor is it technical competence and know-how (as our school systems wrongly assume), but rather the establishment of mutually beneficial relationships with our peers, our suppliers and our customers. people get jobs and lose them primarily because their egos are too big to help others succeed. or as seger puts it, we need to be 'connecting, not competing.' regardless, listen to the interviews with a-listers in any industry. more often it's not the project that creates the critical mass for a greenlight, but how much one person wants to work with another. linda's writing was very helpful in the writing of my own book on screenwriting published by michael wiese productions: the moral premise: harnessing virtue and vice for box office success","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i learned a great deal from herr doktor gershom scholem (1897-1982) through his text, 'on the kabbalah and its symbolism'. dr bernard mcginn, divinity school, university of chicago, wrote in the introduction, 'i believe that all students of mysticism should read scholem, not only for his profound insights into the jewish mystical tradition, but also to deepen their understanding of the dynamics of other mysticisms -- christian, islamic, and even those further afield.' professor scholem presents an historical perspective with the full knowledge that there are other approaches. 'from an historical point of view', he writes, 'the sum of religious phenomena known as mysticism consists in the attempts of mystics to communicate their experiences to others.' within this context, this text explores broad sweeping topics in each chapter -- topics that deservedly have receieved attention by intelligent scholars for centuries. in the first chapter, 'religious authority and mysticism' herr doktor scholem presents a thesis fundamental to his research, 'there is no mysticism as such, but only the mysticism of particular religious systems, christian, islamic and jewish mysticism, and so on'. the mystic working within a religious system is, according to scholem, at the same time both conservative and revolutionary. 'conservative' because the mystic tries to preserve the sources of traditional authority, and 'revolutionary' because the mystic also may subsititue his own opinion for that prescribed by authority. in the second chapter, titled, 'the meaning of the torah in jewish mysticism', scholem explains the dynamic relationship between the torah and the mystic. scholem presents three fundamental principles on which the kabbaslistic conceptions of the nature of the torah are based: (1) ywvh; (2) torah as oganism; (3) infinite meaning of the divine word. as an example of the third, in addition to the the concept of written and oral torahs, the author of the 'zohar' speculates four levels of meaning: (1) literal (2) hermeneutic (3) allegorical and (4) mystical. the history of judaism, scholem explains in the third chapter, is a tension between the purity of the reality of god. the dynamic involved is clearly presented in the realization that the price of god's purity is the loss of her living reality. scholem offers that the book bahir, a cornerstone of 12th century kabbalistic thought, introduces myth into judaism. remarkably, it contends evil as an attribute of god. in a similar vein, the commentary on the sefer yetzirah by judah ben barzilai introduced speculative thinking to jewish theosophy. the fourth chapter, 'tradition and new creation in the ritual of the kabbalists' presents a solution to a problem faced by each new generation. namely, how are the traditions passed on in a vital and meaningful medium. the mishnal codified jewish religious law and ritual for an agrarian community had survived for centuries. as the agrarian society diminished, the torah became obsolete and the natural rituals became less meaningful, historical rituals. the spanish kabbalists found a new ritual to express the old traditions. scholem writes, 'the rejuvenation of religion repeatedly finds its expression in a return to ancient images and symbols, even when these are 'spiritualized' and transformed into speculative constructions.' r. yanassan gershom has already succinctly summarised the fifth chapter which deals with the concept of the golem. i will take the liberty to direct you to his comments. if you are interested in historical issues of the kabbalah, this is essential reading for you","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"when michael nyman first published this work in the 70s, it was the only book of its kind to discuss some of the most cutting-edge stuff going around. most musical texts avoided discussing the fluxus group as 'music,' but nyman integrates these radicals easily, and provided the first discussion of the scratch orchestra (cardew et al), and related topics. the book still contains some of the clearest discussions of these topics around. it's great to have it back in print, though too bad nyman could not be bothered to provide updates on some of the folks discussed, like hugh skempton","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"very interesting look at the the makeup of the new hampshire primary and interesting facts and history","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have been waiting days for this book, and it finally came today. honestly, i expected it to have your standard sword exercises and cuts, but it contains stances and techniques that i have never even heard of, while some are familiar to me. thanks to having a hardwood bokuto (which i also purchased off of this website), i can now incorporate new exercises into my practice. even though hatsumi-sensei is a ninja, he is well-versed in the culture of the samurai and the sword as well. i recommend it to all aspiring swordsmen","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is certainly an impassioned defence of beauty, and a 'feel-good' book, but it is so lacking in substance is barely counts as a contribution to the debate. it's incoherent at many levels, most notably concerning the switch from the accepted idea in part one that beauty is always particular, to the claims in part two that it is a function of certain qualities, especially symmetry. asthetic symmetry promotes ethical justice? the idea of beauty as enlivening is also too simple. this is not good enough as a theory of the link between aesthetics and ethics. the account of the so called 'political complaints' against beauty is a set of caricatures. there is also a very weak accounts of matisse, whose nice paintings are regarded by scarry as stand ins for real windows and real palm trees; some sense of what modernist art has done to the concept of beauty and why is needed here. there are many better books on the topic.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i recieved the book faster than promised, in the exact condition listed. thank you","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it seems extraordinary that a man who claims to write about the sixteenth century has omitted some of the key aspects of the period, such as the crusades and the norman conquest. this oversight is deeply criminal and the book flounders for it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"giordano is a pro from way back in the day... he has not been able to adjust to the changing styles and this art book is a sad display of that fact. i recommend getting a straight art instruction book from bridgman, hogarth, or loomis. this book shows his deplorable lack of anatomy knowledge (seemed to be mainstay back in the 50's a la ditko & kirby anatomy), his simplistic 3d construction, and overdrawn oval shaped good girls, etc. he also graduated from the wally wood school of art where if you didn't know how to render anatomy you blacked it out. still, he was one of the prime lenders to the modern comic language, so i suppose this is some publisher's way of patting him on the head and saying thanks for the memories. do not expect to come away with any newer material already covered in 'how to draw comics the marvel way' by stan lee and buscema (very simplistic book but the comic dynamics are much better) or any new sensitivity to modern storytelling. this book can not prepare you for any modern styles. ranks slightly better than a christopher hart book (need i say more...?)","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it's about time somebody published an inspiring photo driven book about western gardens. the sunset western garden book may be the bible for western gardeners for its wealth of information but it does not serve to inspire the way a book full of real gardens can. with more than 500 photos of western gardens this book should be destined to be a classic. the great thing is that it is not just a beautifully designed, coffee table type book. the text is authoritative with dozens of full page charts and it seems to have been reviewed by a who's who of garden experts. the author suggests plants from all over the world that are adapted to a summer-dry, mediterranean climate and the photographer shows them in gardens not just close-up details. hooray for this book. we western gardeners are too often frustrated by books and gardening advice originating from other regions. this book is so beautiful it will frustrate gardeners in those other regions who will want what we now have","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have read this book, mr. moon's 'divide and quit', mr. khosla's work, 'stern reckoning' amongst others on the subject of the partition. ms. butalia's work is so saturated with her personal opinions and idealogy, that it almost ceases to be a work on history than the airing of one's thoughts and mindset. almost a diatribe, if i may. i will agree with what john_galt_who has written. i think he has hit the nail on the head. i did not consider this book worth either the money or the time","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i recently discovered this author and went out of my way to find the other books in this series. good book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the photographs are large and clear. the poses are natural. the models represent a range of physical types. the disk has 360° views of each pose. wow! this is an invaluable reference for artists. really the only game in town. there's also a website where you can get additional poses. highly recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"an interesting compilation of examples of the destruction multiculturalism has played on young minds, where a biased political agenda has replaced academics. my only real complaint is that the author - perhaps incorrectly believing that objectivity precludes passion - suppressed her moral outrage","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"taking history and melding it with fiction, and making it highly readable takes talent. everything is in this book. furst crosses 11 years (1934 to 1945), has characters move in and out of the narrative as well as have a panoramic/epic show going on at the same time, and never for a moment does the story seem thin--actually it's thick with thoughts, intentions, hopes and dreams of the characters, and their utter and dire knowledge that the whole of europe is going to go right down the path of total destruction. also, i must mention the humor. the chuckle is there, right after the sadness or the disaster. traveling from bulgaria to moscow, from stalinist russia to a spain steeped in civil war, furst offers bolshevists, the nkvd, defenders of the republic, partisans, and on and on. there is common crime and the common war, political satire and the poignancy of a common death. reading night soldiers makes you want more. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i could not finish this book and i'm not sure if the problem is in the writing or in the editing. at times the author seems to take these great leaps based on one or two anecdotes from his life and it is just not convincing. there are some interesting details here and there but for me, it was just too rambling and all over the map. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"although this is text for an introductory course of management, this is inappropriate material for the novice or inexperienced potential manager. recommended only for people familiar with business-speak and several years in the field of management","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm reading this book as part of english at my school, and i find it's absolutely brill! allie's a real inspiration to me, as i'm planning to be an actress myself. and though askew seems too dark for me, he's proven of great interest. we're even using kit's style of writing from his story of lak for future stories in the curriculum. we haven't read part 3 yet, but when we do, i bet it's just as white-knuckling and full of suspense as the other two parts","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the german political and social philosopher jurgen habermas is heir to the semantically rich tradition of frankfurt school thinkers. these men (and sadly, they are mainly men, although hannah arendt is in some sense in this circle) were seriously threatened by the collapse of the weimar republic. their decision to go into exile in the united states should probably be controversial. habermas is profoundly influenced by marx, weber, freud, and talcott parsons, and wrote this book in the context of uprisings against the viet nam war. what we are seeing right now, bush versus gore in a contested election in which the very structure of the united states government is being questioned, could be illuminated by careful study of this book. i commend it to the attention of anyone who would better understand a moment in united states history which has been descibed as a constitutional crisis","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"some of the continuations of andre norton's worlds have been gems, and some of them have been disappointments. beast master's ark is the worst to date. the original beast master was one of my favorite books, with norton's classic complexity of phrase, her textured and troubled main character, and her believable yet alien world. this sequel has simplistic language, startling to someone expecting norton's turn of phrase, and no plot to speak of. the story never generates tension, and there is no climax. mcconchie does a great job with characterization, but good characters are not enough. there must be some story. to add insult to injury, there are multiple typos, and some editing mistakes like tense switching that add to the general sense of a book that is not well written. i am sorry that andre norton put her name to this one","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"well, i just had to try another dr. phil book, since it has been a number of years since i read life strategies. to be honest, even though he can be a polarizing figure, i have nothing against him. i think his tv is a source of help and inspiration for thousands of people. this book however, was a real struggle to complete. it was not coherently structured, and the author kept saying things like 'this book will show you....' all the way through the book. it felt like i never left the 'introduction' and he was continually trying to convince me (or himself) that this book really would eventually get to the point and that the point would be profound. instead it really could not ever get moving and instead often relied on crass language as a weak attempt to get the reader's attention. fret not! there are other books out there that tackle the same general issue, but are far better reads. i recommend: 1. failing forward, by john c. maxwell 2. today matters, by john c. maxwell again, i have no issue with the author, and applaud his efforts. however, in writing a review to my fellow amazon customers, i must strongly recommend that you spend your time on more impactful literature within this genre. best of success to you in reaching your goals","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"one of the best writings from hammet, if not the best. i enjoyed it very much. i could not stop reading to look for what happens next. a must","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as many reviewers have commented, prof. lopez does an excellent job deconstructing the many fantasies westerners entertain about tibet. i was very dismayed, however, by his sneering dismissal of the work of trungpa rinpoche and sogyal rinpoche, who he declares are not 'real tibetans' because they dared to try to present a difficult terma text in a manner that they believed would resonate with westerners. while trunpa rinpoche did often present the dharma in psychological terms, he consistently affirmed the conventional tibetan understanding of the six realms and other teachings. surely prof. lopez is aware of the years of vigorous traditional monastic training rinpoche underwent as a tulku in pre-invasion tibet, as a result of which he received both the khenpo degree in religious and mundane studies and the kyorpon degree in astrology. for prof. lopez to think that he is in a position to weigh in on the validity of the teaching choices made by these two lamas strikes me as quite arrogant and presumptuous","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"many people who love latin music and vintage latin album graphics will snatch up this book. be forewarned that there are disappointments to be found inside. the author/compiler seems to look down his nose at the garish, exotic, sexy and sensational album sleeves from the '40s and '50s that we gringos adore, choosing for the most part to showcase politically correct, bizarre abstract art creations from the 1970s. no me gusta! it's not that there are none of the earlier variety of album sleeve on display here, but there are not nearly enough. what's worse, the author interprets 'latin music' to mean cuban, brazilian and puerto-rican-derived product; if you're looking for reproductions of some great old ranchera, flamenco or merengue album sleeves, you're out of luck. the richness and diversity of latin music is missing from this book. cocinando! is certainly a groundbreaking collection, but by no means is it definitive. i hope someone follows up this incomplete history with another that presents the golden age of latin music from a more unbiased viewpoint. i'd like to take the opportunity here to tout the collectability of vintage mexican album sleeves; many of them are absolutely gorgeous, and they need to be recognized as the works of art that they are.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book lacks technical details. this book talks too much about planning and management. i would rather have a book with more step by step instructions on how to accomplish different tasks. this book talks more what exchange can do and less on how to do it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book may not be suited for beginners. it's a great addition to your arsenals if you are an advanced student majoring in control systems or working in an industry with feedback control design emphasis. the added software is great for hands-on practical problem solving technique.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is such a drag- not for the math bit, but the non-mathematical sections. the stories and ramblings are absolutely unnecessary, and detract from the substance. the problem is that the stories are inextricably intertwined with the math, and quite impossible to skip if you do not want to miss the math bit. to the extent i was able to drag on, the calculus portions seemed great, but it became too tiresome going through the flab. the great book on calculus has to be 'how to enjoy calculus' by eli s. pine- a book i regret not having known in my school days","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"an interesting story but only an average read. jumping from one author to another is distracting. there are many other books written about women doing remarkable journeys that make a better read an deserve attention","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this slap dash compilation of short descriptions was probably put together as a quick way to make a few bucks. the authors are indeed esteemed but i bet each one wrote their part from memory on a sunday afternoon. the battle descriptions are dry and confusing--most of the maps are useless in determining the sequence of events. geography seems to be sort of thrown in as a catchy way to snare amateur buffs like myself. i usually read reviews before i buy a book and this time i just 'assumed' good quality due to the national geographic society imprimatur. stay away","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i would have given this no stars if it were an option. the first 20 pages of this book bored and insulted me. judson drones on about every fraud known to mankind, but only occasionally scientific fraud. he seems to hope that if we hear enough examples of fraud in the world, we will get fired up and join him in a lynching. his tone is condescending and assumes that you already agree with him. this is not the type of academician that you could hope to have a meaningful conversation with. he laces his information with references to 'the epidemic' of fraud and nobody being 'immune' to it, as if by the weight of these descriptive terms you will be swept into his inevitably correct conclusions. i suspect that judson would have presented a more objective book if he had more worthwhile information to offer.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"john is a top medium his book is like been in the show well written and a comfort to read as all the others,his personality shines in one last time,i do believe there is more, another book the calling of your true self elizabeth anne bell is another book i could not put down it also rings with truth both well worth reading ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book scrapes greatness in its harrowing portrayal of obsessive love. why isn't it a masterpiece? because it does not so much end as just...stops. still, a must read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"when i first saw this book in the bookstore, i debated about getting it for about a month. the moment i bought, i regretted it. this book was so fanastic, you shouldn't hesitate! the back cover makes the book sound stupid, and the front cover art is slightly freaky, but the book itself was actually really, really good. masterful writing combined with poetic development of characters and setting makes the novel flow. the transtitions and changes that the main characters have to go through, the challenges they face, and the triumphs and discoveries that they encounter will have you devouring the book in a day or less. honeslty, do not hesitate when thinking about buying this book. it will become a treasured piece of your collection","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i really tried to enjoy this book but just could not manage to like it by the last page. this story tried to explore the different aspects of family and self, all through the magical lazelle family. i found it to be simple minded and rambling. i'm not even sure the author was 100% where she was going in this book. the main character, gypsum, receives her powers later in life than her family. she was previously cast as the 'normal' one, alienated for her differences but attached to her family through tradition and magic. her relationships with her family are forced and just seem wierd at times. not once does the author explain how this family fits in with society. most of the story runs like this: 'i almost killed my aunt through cursing a computer that took over our minds. i need a cup of coffee' the author gets lost more than once in direction and the middle of the book is just another magical mistake after another where a point is made then skipped over. everything is so strained and just plain wierd that i could not get into it. there is no personality in any of the characters. if it weren't for the adult situations and language i would have pegged this as a young adult novel. i think it almost was supposed to be until 3/4 of the way through the book where all of a sudden a lot of the characters are swearing and there is a slight homosexual relationship explored. i gave it two stars for some interesting parts of the book that kept me from throwing it away and the fact that there is some effort to include statements about family ties. blah. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"in england though she recently broke up with her boyfriend, seventeen-year-old charlotte feels good about herself and her future as she is doing well in school, lives in a relatively happy all female home, and seems adjusted. that is until she learns she is pregnant. her mom karen is a teacher's aide struggling with her mother nan's mind slowly slipping away with the demands from that side already overwhelming. her patience is over the edge when charlotte informs her she is pregnant. upset and unable to contain her anger, karen cannot believe that history has repeated itself because when she was sixteen she gave birth to karen. though she loves her daughter all her dreams died with her birth. she did marry the father but thankfully divorced that loser soon afterward. as nan drifts deeper into the past including insisting that she adopted karen, the mentally exhausted sandwich generation is not sure what to do as charlotte decides to give birth except to flee in search of her biological mother dreaming of a loving comforting welcome. this fascinating character study is at its best when the audience sees deep inside the three generations with deep understanding of being an unwed mother, a child having a child, the sandwich generation, and the creeping of dementia (as well as a late stroke). when the tale spins off into the biological mother twist it loses some of its depth until karen returns to her 'real' family. somewhat a soap opera, the bad mother's handbook is a strong family drama that focuses on the demands and responsibilities on women without men. harriet klausner","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the advice rand gives writers in this transcription of a series of living room lectures is sound in places: anchor your abstractions in the concrete; remember that art is selectivity; show, do not tell; use actions to illuminate your character, etc, etc, etc. all good advice, to be sure, but to say that rand is proposing anything new or different from what is taught in writing seminars across the country is a little disingenuous. add to this her refusal to praise the work of any author besides herself and victor hugo, her casual dismissal of prominent writers without convincing evidence (and, even more interesting, the relative paucity of authors she even brings up) and a few didactic guidelines (her ban on profanity, slang, and references less than one century old), and there's rather too much extraneous stuff here to be worth the effort of wading in to try to get to the good bits. if it's advice you're looking for, there's an excellent essay called 'dogma' in 'the writing life,' a collection of essays and interviews with a number of authors put together by the national book award that i found both more helpful and less self-absorbed","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"returning more fully to the reformation theology theme of the first volume ('the antichrist 666'), which theme indeed undergirds the entire series, author and researcher wil sutton examines what the bible has to say about 'the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet' the devil's counterfeit trinity at the end of time. he examines all forms of paganism/ spiritualism, satan's original religion from eden until now (the dragon), roman catholicism (the beast), and apostate protestantism (the false prophet). sutton shows how these three forces are working together to effect the downfall of humanity today, in the years immediately preceeding the second coming of christ. too strong a comment? you need this book! things are not what they seem; what often seems good to human beings isn't! the streams of the previous four volumes meet and end in this one. bible prophecy will finally make real sense to you. you will learn what is right ahead of us in time, and what you need to do to get ready: something you owe it to yourself and your family to learn. read this one with your 'king jimmy' open! i urge you to get this book today! thanks, wil, for a wonderful series (and thanks to your lovely wife debbie for her tireless assistance as well!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"not very well known, but one of the most important artists in his styl","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"what can you expect from one traitor? hi vill pay for this","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"finally! a book detailing the most imaginative and thought provoking type of film available: the indie. american independant cinema has consistently produced fresh, off center films, especially from the likes of richard linklater, kevin smith and hal hartley. they're all in here, as well as discussions on films such as the seminal slackers. to sum up, if you're interested in more than just special effects laden pulp when it comes to movies, buy this book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"just in the first few paragraphs alone she makes the same point about the smell of the slave market not being quite as strong because of the cool weather 3 times. it seemed like a redundant effort to fill pages with nonsensical information. if she had a better editor who helped her catch these errors she could concentrate on making an even deeper more rich story which i believe she desperately wants to accomplish. sorry to say i will not be reading another of her stories again","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book holds a lot of thought for only 130 pages. franz metcalf takes his knowledge of buddhism to answer now just the big questions of 'life', but the smaller questions of daily life. what would buddha do or think about such subjects as failure, anger, road rage, gun control, lying, the environment, eating meat, money, sex, drinking, drug abuse, boredom and even prostitution. hard issues, but each is given a page, answered with a quote from buddhist teaching and advice from the author. great gift for a friend or a gift for yourself. it really helps you strip away the fat and get to the very core of the subject in question","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is a must-have for all lennon fans. it has summaries and origins of all his songs from 1970- .it's full of photos, too! [...","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"that is not how it goes down in real life!!!!!!!!! the only reason i gave it a 2 is because i enjoyed the fat girl in that was it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you want a story about real life pick up the coldest winter ever!!!!!!!!!!!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i just finished this book (for the second time, actually) and enjoyed it just as much as reilly's other books. the hero of the story, william race, is what many of us would like to be: a regular guy who, when thrust into extraordinary situations, very capably becomes the hero. of course the action is over the top and unrealistic. it's supposed to be! i tell everybody who asks that reilly is the best action writer i've ever read. i'm not sure why some people blast his books so bad. do a little research and know what you're getting into. if you like high-powered, non-stop action, this is the guy for you. if you're not, then here's a clue: do not read reilly's books!!! sounds pretty simple","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this handy little book packs quiet a punch. it contains history, scientific theories, artistic interpretations, production methods, and detailed glossary of the essential oils and where to get them. a must have for people who wants to experiment with creating their own secented materials","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is the type of history that students rarely get to see. textbooks tend to repeat the same old stories, many of which are only loosely based on the facts. this book goes into great depth, and even shows that many famous 'cures' were nothing of the sort. this should be required reading for psychotherapists, and more importantly, for their clients","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have to say that i was really dissapointed in this book. i know it says there are 23 stories, so i should haev been better prepared for short stories...only some of them were only like 5 pages long, and on top of that, they were just plain stupid. i think this was a waste and i know i will not buy any moer books that have large groupings of stories in them. hey, i like a good hot juicy sex scene as much as the next person, but i think i would prefer a little more depth of the story than what you get with this group of stories. some of the stories in here would have you going 'huh?' after you read it. what else can you say..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i bought the wharton's stretching book and liked it, finding it very useful as a martial artist. this book, however, merely rehashes everything in the stretching book, but in an inferior manner. although it has photos instead of drawings, the wharton's stretch book clearly shows acceptable ranges of motion for each stretch. in addition, the back book has a section on training with weights that bordered on ridiculous. the author's clearly know little about neither weight training as therapy nor weight training for strength and flexibility. this book was a real disappointment. buy their first book, avoid this one","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i do not quite understand why this should be a recommended buk-book. it is a fairly interesting interview, alright. but if you're going to spend money on bukowski: buy his books. and if you want biographical information, go with howard sounes. to get a real good look on bukowski you also might want to check out the 'bukowski-tapes' - film-interviews by barbet schroeder. pivano's interview reveals nothing new is not really worth the money","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"we are reading this book for our book group. i'm not sure if it made me uncomfortable because the perspective was so accurate or if it was because it never went beyond the stereotypes that i already have. i didn't like one character in the book. even the dogs and the kid were annoying. while that may have been the result of good writing, the end product was that i was left feeling nothing but 'ick.' the characters seemed one dimensional even though a large amount of time was spent detailing their thoughts and opinions. i never understood the 'why's' behind any of their actions, just their histories. perhaps i was too slow to draw the conclusion. i felt like a big, over consumerized, ungrateful loser. if that's your thing, you may love the book. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"jewel is on crack. what the hell is this?!? 'women who suck their cigarettes as though they were giving their hatred head' what....?","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm surprised at all the good reviews this book got. not to be snide, i just genuinely am. this book looms in my memory as the one book i had to drag myself to finish. a book that made me tear up with boredom. the plucky heroine wasn't likable, the names were all forced and strange (none making sense in a universe together--more like an assortment of characters from different books) , not on the unique side, really. i thought any originality forced and unfounded, and wished it would have turned out better for me, especially as the 'magic dust' theory was such a nice start. the ending wasn't predictable, but it was trying so very hard not to be, it could not possibly have been anything but what it was: dull. with all these good reviews, and me not having read it in years, it might be worth trying, but i stand firm: take it out of the library","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"after buying and reading the book i realized that i need a lathe to make the gun. lost my money! i think that the author should let the visitors know about that 'little fact' before buying the book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a book about the show that revolutionized the sports tv show by the two guys who were the stars of the show. funniest section is where they talk about those little catch-phrases everyone gets stuck in their head. you know like, 'from way downtown...bang!!' and 'he put the biscuit in the basket'. hilarious!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is awful. what a disappointment after such great success with theodore roosevelt. i forced myself through half this book straining to distinguish reality from the fiction and fantasy that morris interjects willy-nilly throughout. what a chore, what a bore, what a waste. this went in the trash can rather then the bookshelf to insure no one else might pick it up and waste as much time as i did on it. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"item very slow to ship, still isn't here yet.somebody is going to be disappointed with a late christmas gift","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i believe that third and fourth graders would really enjoy this text about this mexican american youngster. children would also enjoy the occasional spanish included in the text. the only problem: soto does not include a glossary this time. oh well, soto does a great job of portraying a family that understands what it means to really work for a living and teaches kids not to take everything for granted. soto stays away from the sterotypical 'lazy mexican'","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i wanted to find out about modern plumbing (like pex)and what kind of tools, code changes, etc. that are necessary for installing pex plumbing. not in this book. that information must have fallen through the cracks (no plumber joke intended). author is stuck in the past. needs to be updated, revised, or recycled. kind of a bummer. now i have a book that i cannot use. sweating copper...come on now. the rest of us have made it to the 21st century","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"bloodline by fiona mountain is the second book in the natasha blake genealogist mystery series. after an elderly man hires natasha to investigate the family background of his granddaughter's fiance, he is mysteriously murdered. the man's son hires natasha to find out why. mountain does a much better job this time of connecting with the reader. natasha's connections to her friends and family deepen and develop as well. there are loads of subplots, including natasha's insomnia which occasionally makes her take actions that had me shaking my head in disbelief. the story takes an unexpected dark turn as natasha finds out that sometimes finding the answers to questions only creates more questions with answers no one wants to hear. this was a fun read that made me think a bit too. i look forward to the next in the series.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"imperial woman is the fictionalized biography of the great dowager empress tzu hsi, the real power behind the throne during the reins of the last four emperors of china. the story starts with her as a beautiful manchu teenager who, along with her cousin sakota, is picked for the emperor's crop of concubines. through guile and ambition, tzu hsi bears the male heir to the emperor she comes to control. when the emperor dies young, tzu hsi makes sure she and sakota are named regents for the young child emperor. through keen intelligence, intrigue, and whatever other means necessary, tzu hsi holds the imperial throne through her son's childhood. buck portrays a woman split between feelings of love for her family and what is the best for the empire, rather than what i gather is the historical feeling - that tzu hsi was some sort of evil spider spinning schemes from the center of her web in forbidden city. through all the machinations and years she is aided by jung lu, her former betrothed and the love of her life. the dowager empress has the ultimate power, but buck shows she is a servant of the opinions of her court advisors and in reality only rules the eunuchs and court ladies in the forbidden city. she is a relic of the past in a time of great change and cultural upheaval in china, when it is besieged by western nations and ideas. the infamous boxer rebellion is the beginning of the end for tzu hsi, and she loses her spirit and resolve after this defeat and the death of her beloved jung lu. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"first, my background: i am not a mathematician, but an academic with fair knowledge of college math and even some advanced materials. i do greatly enjoy reading books about mathematics and mathematicians. this book is obviously a work of great effort by the author. my difficulty probably came from the work's ambitious premise: offering mathematical and biographical history of hilbert's problems. there are simply too many ideas and persons (some well known, others a bit obscure to lay reader like myself) to cover in one book. the author dutifully and honestly gives references to his sources. my impression is that the author collected as much material as he could about each problem and solvers, and tried to squeeze the information as compactly as possible into the pages. the result: the narrative is very methodically told - explanation of the problem, some necessary ideas introduced, who the major solvers were, then a short biography of each solver, when and where they were born, who their parents were, where they went to school, who they married and so on; then another cycle begins. halfway into the book, i began to get bored. i can imagine mathematicians enjoying a quick review of and glimpses into their discipline and heroes, but lay readers much beware. i recommend lay readers to check out a few pages carefully online or at your local library to see whether you like it. i certainly didn't hate it but did not like it as much as i expected","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is a complete watse of time for the educated strength and conditioning coach. this book does not apply the latest theories and conditioning drills that will aid in your athlete's performance. programs are not periodized and relay on outdated principles of reps/sets schemes. if your a beginner to weight training and conditioning then this book may be for you","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"there are some good hints here, but do not be mislead by the title. for a complete book on disneyland and california adventure, i highly recommend birnbaum's disneyland resort 2003, expert advice from the inside source. birnbaum's disneyland is updated annually and published every year","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is written assuming that you already know what went on, and fails to explain the details. i know that carlyle was trying to re-invent the way we write history, but the book is practically unreadible","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"no one with a true understanding of billie holiday would consider her a blues singer. as such to truly study blues legacies, it would be better if a blues singer like memphis minnie, one of the greatest female instrumental blues singers, were included. surely, dinah washington, justifiably named the queen of the blues, or ruth brown, (miss or maybe now ms rhythm) would be more appropriate to a study of black blues women. this hints that the generalizations in this book may be the result of pushing around reality rather than studying it. this is an all too frequent problem in the writing of academics who seem more concerned about creating their own little niche of analysis, than situating their work in the realities of life, culture, and art where the blues or jazz, and billie's real life live. billie did not like to be called a blues singer. if we are concerned with the voices of black women, then someone involved in this book should have at least had the respect to listen to billie holiday's voice on the matter. she considered herself a jazz singer and later a cabaret singer. she recorded very few blues. the two blues she recorded again and again 'billie's blues' and 'fine and mellow' were only recorded because in two different recording sessions there was time to record additional songs, but no preparation or charts existed for any song, so an easy to play blues was selected. billie recorded them and performed these two tunes often because she had the author's credit and publishing on them which made it easier and more profitable. this is despite the fact that the exact word sets had been sung and recorded by real blues singers before billie had the brains to record and copyright them. listen to helen humes sing an exact version of fine and mellow with another name during the first spirituals to swing concert that took place before billie recorded her version. a good contrast with billie, though male, was her friend and often colleague jimmie rushing who served with her in the basie band. despite his penchant for claiming he was a ballad singer as well--rushing actually thought that when billie left basie that rather than hiring another singer, he alone could fill the gap--rushing's recordings with walter page's blue devils in the 1920s, with moten in the early 1930s, and with basie in the 1930s and 1940s are masterpieces of the blues. many of his renditions like good morning blues have become standards for blusicians of all stripes. lesser known but deserving more attention are his great blues recorded with kc musicians for john hammond on vanguard in the 1960s. otherwise she recorded few blues, particularly in her most artistically developed period between 1934 and 1945. indeed, billie's lack of a blues repertoire and disinclination to perform blues cost her her position as female vocalist with the count basie orchestra, a match made in heaven. while there were no doubt other factors involved, many basieites especially buck clayton who was quite close to billy have said billie was replaced because she didn't perform enough blues to suit john hammond who acted as de facto manager and ar man with the basie band. hammond replaced billie holiday with helen humes who had been recording blues for ten years before she joined basie. humes, of course, continued to record blues with basie, and then as an independent singer from then until her death keeping her magnificent jump blues alive for several generations of listeners. clayton's complaint is a standard one leveled at white jazz producers like hammond and norman grantz that they wanted blues, not more harmonically developed music that black jazz musicians really wanted to play. the blues is a specific genre of african american musical, poetic, and cultural expression with its own distinct history, evolution, and practices. simply collapsing every black performer into the blues makes the blues meaningless and demeans the work of the millions of women and men who have created the blues in the last 110-120 years. another insult to billie, is the tendency to see her as a 'blues figure' because of her 'tragic' life. this is the tendency to evaluate billie as the public life disaster that she tended to milk in desperation in the last years of her life symbolized by the fake autobiography _lady sings the blues_. this contrasts than the artistic consideration she deserved and received from other musicians and singers. she was a competent and practicing jazz artist, raised in the music business (her father complained he played guitar for every jazz artist in nyc in the 1930s and early 1940s but billie. her mother boarded musicians and catered musical parties). from a young age, billie was considered as knowledgeable as the top instrumentalists of the music by those top instrumentalists. those who rely on the 'tragedy' to induct billie into the blues express a greater ignorance given that as her own drug addiction advanced, her music had less and less of a connection with the blues, climaxing in 'the lady in satin' which is a vain attempt to take the lady into non-jazz pop. all of her original blues were recorded in her pre-heroin youth in the 1930s, not in the 1950s when billie's self-made 'tragedy' had begun to destroy her voice and musicial viability and then her life. it is quite bizarre for anyone to claim billie's performance of meeropol's song 'strange fruit,' has any relationship to blues music given her very straight reading of the tune, the unblueslike straight minor it is given, and the unjazzlike accompaniment. if one wants to see what a blues singer can do to this song, one needs to listen to the astounding version recorded by josh white which is blusey and also more dramatic and satisfying than holiday's more celebrated version. holiday's performance of 'strange fruit,' tends to be elevated by folks for the justifiable political message the song provided and the controversy involved. however, an honest or even rational evaluation of the performance seems to be unavailable these days. this raises yet another ignorance, the outsider's view that 'the blues' is always sad or 'tragic.' the immense body of the most popular blusicians--that is blues artists that black people listened to-- of the 1930s like memphis minnie, tampa red, and leroy carr served up a bunch of pretty happy, often double entendre, blues. blues music was overwhelmingly dance music, with performers not playing the three minute blues contemporary white blues wannabe's deduce from recordings, but 10 to even 30 minute versions of their songs for dancers from juke joints to the big ballrooms. unfortunately, people who have never studied the blues as a real genre, misplace it as the solo moaning of the 'existential negro,' rather than the jumping music of a century of african american saturday nights. as an african american performer of the blues and other black traditional musics as well as a scholar of african american music tradition, this kind of non scientific, non-traditional, grab bag sloppiness about our music and our culture is a sign that even among our own, the outsider's false generalizations about the blues reign. you would think our own would know the score. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i cannot believe the only 2 bad reviews were given by people who din't know the book was written in spanish. i read the book and i personally give it 10 stars for its historic content among other things. first, the title is written in spanish, not german nor english!!! second, if you feel the vendor didn't provide an accurate description of the book such as the language edition do not blame the book. further, if you want to blame somebody because you cannot read the book, blame the editors for not publishing an english version. not all books are translated into english and viceversa. third, for those who wrote the bad reviews give yourself 20 stars for publicly admitting that you were careless/stup.. enough to buy a book that you could not read. under the editorial reviews you have this note: language notes text: spanish i hope this note helps for those would be buyers. gracias. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"contains many well corroborated general guidelines regarding improved diet and nutrition. however, the author often takes these guidelines to the extreme. discerning readers will carefully consider his recommendations before implementing them. yes, cooking in microwave ovens probably should be avoided especially by health compromised people but they are very much in use in russia today- they were reinstated ten years before the copyright date. and i doubt that microwave ovens render meat protein useless. also, dr. young seems to have too many proprietary interests which of course raise questions about potential conflicts of interest and, therefore, the validity of his dietary claims. i tried to confirm a few of his stated 'facts' by trying them myself;i could not. use common sense when you read about corn, peanuts, and mushrooms. i am juicing green vegetables daily and love it. i expected more from a ph.d. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"nice edition of this work. has good footnotes, and contains much besides the poem itself, including information on milton's life, and a section on sources that milton used, and 'classic' and modern criticism of the work. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what tedd tripp has to say may be true, but he says it without warmth, humor or compassion. if you're looking for a good book on parenting from a christian perspective, pick up a book by dr. james dobson, dr. kevin leman, or gary chapman","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is the best of its kind--nothing comes close to the number and variety of mental puzzles of various levels of difficulty...word games, optical tricks, math puzzles, et cetera. this book is amazing. i've given several to teachers. excellent for third grade up to high school. the only thing i'd change about the book is the color: the book only has black, white, gray and blue","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"these books are great for kids who are reading early chapter books -- they're not terribly long, but they're quite creative. my son loves them","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it takes me a long time to finish this book. i just could not stop going back to the previous chapters, reflected on it and amazed by the insight and spiritual depth of nouwen. i read it in bed times, and in the subway. whenever i go into the lines, my spirit was lifted up high, thanking god who let me know myself and him more. the 3 movements: from loneliness to solitude; hostility to hospitality; illusion to prayer are all essential elements of the answer to the question 'how to live a spirit-filled life in the name of jesus christ'. each sections are as wonderful and unmissable as the others. this book gave me a brand new dimension of understanding on 'christian's spiritual life', on caring and interacting with others and on the nature of our almighty god. i was so impressed that i spent several nights translating around 10 pages in the second part into chinese and read it in my church fellowship. i thank him again and again for leading me to read this","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"lent to me 'cause i'm such a mystery fan. but i could not get over the fact that anne perry is herself a convicted murderer and if i bought her books i'd be contributing to her profit off her murder. from time: 'when mystery writer anne perry was 15, she committed murder. she and her friend, pauline, killed pauline's mother. perry served 5 1/2 years in an adult women's prison. after her release, she left new zealand and has never returned. now living in scotland, perry has fashioned a new life and a successful career. although family and close friends knew about perry's past, it was never known to the general public, including her agent and her u.s. publisher. the new zealand film, heavenly creatures, deals with the 1954 case. a new zealand reporter uncovered perry's previous identity as juliet hulme. perry insists she does not remember specifics of the actual crime.' watch the documentary 'heavenly creatures' for the facts. it's just gross that she got off so light for murder and is now rich because she writes about how to committ murders. she's not wise, she's opportunistic","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"while this was not as good as its predecessor hlno,it was great and provide follow ups on our main guys from hlno. it was sexy and sweet, lots of teasing it will definelty leave you hot and bothered. there challenged in many ways which makes the end all the more speacial. i am really looking foward to the next story i feel it maybe even better than this one! enjoy its worth the rea","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the reason post soviet republics are struggling right now is because the ineffective oppressive state machinery has entered into a transitory mafia controlled capitalism, because of its communist roots. its not the revenge of history it's the resultof it! no poised argument for socialis","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is as another reviewer stated, 'advertising.' completely unpractical from either an engineer or buildler's point of view. steer clear","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is great for identifying problems that may be affecting you, it defines each problem very clearly, and there is a test in the beginning to help you figure out which problem areas are at the top of the list. it even gives examples of how these problem areas affect certain situations to clarify. the problem with this book is the advice. a lot of it is very simple, and winds up contradicting itself. some of it is not even helpful or good advice. take for example the idea that one should ignore insults, in the chapter about personalizing. it states that if you do not consistently ignore someone who is insulting you, it's called 'letting it get to you'. however, it's actually called 'letting someone walk all over you' and a better book would advise you to learn to be assertive and tell the person to stop, the first time, and if the person does not stop, to leave. also, at the end of the chapter, is a real problem as well. he writes a scenario with a mother who made homemade salad dressing and her son does not like it. he then makes it sound as though it is okay for you to sit there and silently demean your own son in your head because of his personal tastes, saying stuff to yourself like he has an inability to appreciate good food, and that he is not the ultimate world judge of salad dressing worthiness (whilst true, this would imply the mother would think that she is the ultimate world judge and is being quietly condescending), and that if she serves him bottled salad dressing next time and he complains, she can explain the error (in this case his personal tastes are considered wrong) of his ways. this right here is an extremely poor model of appropriate thought behavior! obviously the mother in the example is a bit of a narcissist and harmfully not allowing her son to have his own personal tastes without criticism. things like this are why i refuse to give this book any review that makes it sound great. so definitely take this book with a heaping pile of salt. please do not let it be your self-help bible. there are other ways of acting that would be much much better than the advice given in this book. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i picked up this book after reading about it on the simple living network, which i found as an outgrowth of my interest in the work of the late joe dominguez and vicki robin and their work 'your money or your life'. unlike mr. dominguez and ms. robin, who manage to lay out an actual plan for simple living, ms. andrews chooses to ramble and rail against consumerism. after reading dominguez, this book is disjointed, preachy and quite frankly, bad. that's not so say that ms. andrews does not have some good ideas. she does, but as with so many anecdotal books, they're not the basis for changing your life in any significant way. if you live an environmentally sensitive life, ms. andrews will certainly make you feel good about yourself, but if your goal is to simplify your life, you could do better than spending time on this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"why prior books that are far better researched have the lifespan of milk, while goldberg who's story is surely contrived, gets five star reviews. seems like working at the new yorker and washington post trumps... danny rubenstein's 'the people of nowhere' amira hass' 'drinking the sea at gaza' and wendy orange' 'coming home to jerusalem' ...and many others who were deeply engaged journalists drop off the book list. surely these now out of print books covered the same turf but none are connected to goldberg's. why? is it all about connections and pr? i think yes. what do you think?","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"slotkin analyzes the popular texts of early american life--'capitivity narratives' of women abducted by native americans, dime novels, etc.--to show how early americans came to rationalize the gap between their religious ideology and the reality of the wilderness they were meant to transform into the 'city on the hill.' his careful study of the documents seems almost academic at first, and is sometimes rough going, but when i let his argument sink in (as a student in slotkin's undergraduate class which used this book as its text), it profoundly and permanently transformed the way i saw american culture and history. this book is revelatory for anyone interested in 'american studies,' the creation of our national mythology, and in what makes america america","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the 3rd & culminating text of jung's cw trilogy on alchemy (see cw11 psychology & alchemy & cw12 alchemical studies before reading this one). jung obviously devoted considerable time & effort into the study of alchemy--because he perceived an amazing parallel with his theories/model of the psyche & the process of individuation. i think it amazed him that the alchemists intuitively evoked such general principles of transcendental alchemy prior to the development of western science--indeed, they were simultaneously immersed in this development such that modern chemistry evolved from it. oddly, some are now advocating the use of chemicals (drugs) in lieu of psychology--e.g. for schizophrenia. maybe the tail is wagging the horse? of course, this is a difficult text. the alchemical series may be the most difficult of jung's already difficult texts. but, as jung demonstrated himself, sometimes the way to learn is to just jump in feet first--absorb as you can. eventually, the material will start to sink in--subconsciously if not consciously. give it a whirl. this text also has some very interesting quotes: p. 82 'there is something serious in every joke. p. 125 if one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool. p. 200 it seems as if christianity had been from the outset the religion of chronic squabbles, and even now it does everything in its power never to let the squabbles rest. remarkably enough, it never stops preaching the gospel of neighborly love. p. 376 the creative mystic was ever a cross for the church, but it is to him that we own what is best in humanity...'where there is no vision, the people perish...the mystics are channels through which a little knowledge of reality filters down into our human universe of ignorance and illusion: a totally unmystical world would be a world totally blind and insane...the few theocentric saints who exist at any given moment are able in some slight measure to qualify and mitigate the poisons which society generates within itself by its political and economic activities. in the gospel phrase, theocentric saints are the salt which preserves the world from decay.' (quoting aldous huxley in grey eminence 1943, pp. 98, *296. p. 487 fantasies always mean something when they are spontaneous. p. 519 never do human beings speculate more, or have more opinions, than about things which they do not understand. p. 536 nothing changes anything else without itself being changed.' how profound can you get","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as an eco fan, i could not wait to read his latest novel. sadly, i was deeply disappointed by this pompous, self-indulgent, virtually unreadable monster. the cultural and literary references are obscure and incomprehensible unless you are a 70-something italian librarian. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is essentially a grammar, but it leaves out the simple basics and continues where a school grammar would stop. it assumes that you master the hiragana and katagana alphabets, but for the kanji there is almost always a pronounciation guide. it takes time to read, as the text is concentrated, but it's not difficult, and one gladly reads one chapter after the other. generally it's both interesting and useful","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what a wonderful book. quite often, a book is real good until the ending, and then i'm let down, but this has a really good ending too. this tale is really excellent: a verbal piece of art. i liked all the lineage and interconnections in this large musical family. i learned what it's like to have mucic within you -- to write as well as perform. i liked the character developments -- no one all good or all bad, but all very interesting. i recommend this book highly. one learns about us history, country music, human nature, and it's entertaining to boot","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i started reading this wonderful book 6 months before i left brazil towards israel. after finishing the first part (paradise) i just could not keep on reading, and i abandoned the book for a while. after i landed in israel i re-took the book and was delighted again with the realness of it. a thought occurred to me that the reading was so descriptive of the immigration sentiment that i just could not understand it before immigrating myself. the book helped me to understand and to organize the infinite sensations that come with the leaving/arriving to another country. how the language affects the way we think and act, how sadness and happiness are mingled into one strange feeling, how we cope and forget without noticing, and how we urge to succeed and prove that we can be part of the new country. in addition, the book also brought to me new feelings and curiosities about my grandparents, whom also escaped from poland and russia in the late 40's. hoffman describes so well how the old traditions and languages influenced the new live of those who left their country because of prejudice and persecution! one passage that i am specially fond of: 'no, i'm no patriot, nor was i ever allowed to be. and yet, the country of my childhood lives within me with a primacy that is a form of love. (...) all it has given me is the world, but that is enough. it has fed me language, perceptions, sounds, the human kind. it has given me the colors and the furrows of reality, my first loves. the absoluteness of those loves can never be recaptured: no geometry of the landscape, no haze in the air, will live in us as intensely as the landscapes that we saw as the first, and to which we gave ourselves wholly, without reservations.' it reminds me of wordsworth when he writes about tintern abbey. a wonderful life-changing book.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"having read this book in 1992 and recently purchased it for my collection, this a great read with various chapters based on history, politcal,and social mores of african- americans (in the black corner)and our archenemies white americans (in the white corner). got to hype up the race war angle some of you white conservatives who are doing it in your reviews about this book. if you have a politcal agenda you will either like or hate hacker's book based on your politcal afilliation, if you are a liberal, you may like the senstive and fair airing he gives towards the history of why we became two nations.if you are a conservative or neo- nazi type like the white racist from georgia that african- americans have no morals,or you will hate that he's giving black folks a pass on their moral problems. well as a black nationalist who believes that intergration is bad social policy but a majority black commonwealth on american soil may be benefical, i think that historical factors presented in hacker's book would prevent both sides from ever seeing each other in any rational sense as americans because 1. whites see each other as intellectually, morally superior to african - americans (even the lowest white trash person) and will never consider them equal in the eyes of u.s. law or in their hearts 2. african - americans (especailly males) will never forgive or forget what the majority white population did to their families, culture, livelihoods and community structures especailly after slavery. hacker has crafted an excellent book through great research and in many ways he is on point throughout the book, when he states the the majority white population will make hispanics and asians 'honoray whites' demonizing black males for politcal and social advantage against charges of racism by blacks. and many of your reviewers are right about some blacks hating whites, i think 387 years of continual defacto racism would create some blacks who would hurt their fellow blacks (in a self- destructive way) whites and other citizens (some blacks hate whites like the arabs hate jews).i consider that like the scene in the movie 'independence day', when 'president' bill pullman asked the alien, pullman - can there be peace between our worlds alien - nooooooooo no peace !!!! pullman - what do you want from us? alien i want you to die !!!!! let the hate mail begin !!!! at least i was 'candid' in our so- called dicussion on race","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"my son read this at his school and liked it so much we bought it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am delighted with this encyclopedia which i ordered as a present for my six year old. this handsome book has beautiful pictures and lots of information covering many aspects of nature. attractive and accessible, it provides great rewards for the young reader whose love and respect of nature will grow as their knowledge expands. i expect it to be used in greater depth as my daughter grows older. for now, she loves to open it up and see what she finds - and becomes engaged immediately. i highly recommend it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"when i bought this book i thought i was getting a simple living book about how to cook beans. i guess i should have read more about it in amazon, but it reminds me of 1960s hippy commune vegetarian cooking. not what i had in mind. a lot of soy, tofu, honey and all that. i wish someone would write a book about plain cooking that uses beans and meat","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i read the first chapter and i was puzzled. then i went back, read it again, and laughed. my tenth grade creative writing class can make a better effort at a plot, dialogue, and characterization than that, and be witty to boot. as for the quality of the writing, just the dialogue in the quick stop scene was enough to make my head spin around and explode. after reading this, i wasn't sure whether the author was high, or if he just hadn't seen a lot of buffy and decided to make up the show and the characters' personalities (into something so juvenile and whacked out, it was almost incomprehensible). did they let a 13-year-old fanboy write this? no, that cannot be, because there is fanfiction out there that is many, many levels above this. ... do not waste your money on this atrocious mess","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the authors of this book seem to believe that the best individual performers should become managers - that is not something that i can agree with. it is full of pompous language (i do not want to see the word empowerment again in my whole life) instead of real-world advice. i simultaneously bought the book first-time manager and it is much better","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i used to hate lap swimming but now i love it, and it's because of this book. laughlin has reinvented swim instruction. he's made it fun. he's made it easy. and the resulting stroke is heaven. the exercises do take some effort and dilligence to master. but if you go slow do not move on until you have mastered each exercise, as instructed, you'll open up a whole new world of swimming enjoyment. i often feel like i'm flying in the water. this former water buffalo now swims like a fish. note: there's a brand new total immersion book being touted on the ti website, which i haven't read. you may want to look into that, instead. also, some reviews and ti suggest the dvd as the best method, but that wasn't the case for me. in my case, it was the clear, detailed instructions in the book that made it happen.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the master vladimir nabokov approach about a chess player are told brilliantly inside an introspetive mood filled with emotional tension . widely recommendable ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"if i purchased this book in 1995 when delphi came up i would be really satisfied. but when you have around 'developers guide' and 'mastering' books along with the list of other usefull ones, i consider that buying this book is just waste of your money","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"great book! one of the classic shakespeare dramas. full of witty humor","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"of all of the books that i read when i was a child, this is the only one that i truly never forget. i have captivated the attention of my friends and their children by reciting some of the best verses. the rhyme and meter is exquisite, providing an almost musical theme through each episode. the vocabulary is perfect for young people and fun for adults. it utilizes advanced words, while not burying their meaning from beginning readers. the characters lend themselves to creative new voices for each reader to explore. all of theses remarkable qualities, and it maintains a serious lesson for young people, that guns are not for fooling around","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"very disapointed -not really a book on true memphis bbq buyers beware--","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a lifelong cat lover, i normally would not have glanced at this book, but my nephew, now a jr. in high school, has chosen architecture as his career. that, plus his love of dogs, caused me to have a look at the contents of this book as a possible fun gift for him. glad i did! the imagination, the styling, the artistry, and of course, the love that obviously went into the creation of this book, proved to be a great gift choice for my nephew. even if there area no canines sharing your life, this would be a great coffee-table book to keep on display for friends and guests to enjoy","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"...upon actual research it is clearly false. many others have delved into the finer points of menzies' poor methodology and often deliberate exaggeration or falsities, so i will not bother. i'll only list four points that i think stand out even without deep fact checking: 1)niccolo di conti, the venetian explorer and crucial link in the book who supposedly sailed with the chinese treasure fleet in 1421, failed to mention in his memoirs anything about chinese junks or going to the four corners of the world. this seems strange. 2)the fleet sailed to virtually every coastline in the world but missed europe entirely, the one place sure to mark their passing for posterity. this is neither evidence nor disproof, merely a sketchy coincidence. 3)native americans are given startlingly short shrift, both in the book and in many of the reviews. virtually every time something sophisticated is presented in the ancient new world it is attributed to the chinese, reminding me of the easter island 'mystery' of who carved those giant heads. for the record, native populations weren't childish savages; prior to european contact they had very sophisticated civilizations, fully capable of jewelery work, cloth garments, and carving statues. 4)lastly, given the vast numbers of chinese sailors involved(roughly 25-30,000), the presence of domesticated animals such as horses and pigs, and the inevitable presence of huge numbers of stow-away rats, does not it strike anyone as odd that there were apparently no diseases passed on to the various native populations in the americas? it only took a very small amount of european contact to spark the largest, and deadliest pandemic in history that raged for nearly two centuries killing unknown millions of native americans. chinese contact of the scale claimed would certainly have had a similar, if not worse, effect. ultimately menzies' book is entertaining, leaving the reader hoping it is true merely for the fantastic nature of the thesis. in the end, however, the evidence and analysis simply are not there. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"linsey davis makes you feel right at home in roman britai","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i enjoyed the movie claire of the moon, but when i read the book i found it to be a bit sophomoric. i am not a fan of 'cookie cutter' type novels and she walks in beauty would definately fall into that catagory in my opinion. even if i had mounds of free time i would not spend much of it on this book, it's an extreme let down. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"very disappointed in the contents of this book. i expected more information and patterns","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"bukowski writes so well in such an easy to read style that it is hard to put the book down. so i ended up reading this book in about a week. i'm reading ham on rye now and it's the same thing, addicting. you cannot put the darn thing down because you want to see what happens next. he's like a print version of a reality-show.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i thought this was a very solid follow up to gorky park. the characters lot in life and situation make since to me. the same strong character building comes through to thus book and that dark, a bit desperate feel is there also. i look the feel of the book, in describing the fishing ship - i can smell it, the description is that good. i also liked the story, i was wondering how he was going to give us a fulfilling murder mystery to solve and he did it. if you liked his last book in this series then you will really like this one","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"maha means great and yoga means a path of reunion. here the great path is outlined and explained in a truly timeless and masterful way. written by a direct disciple of the great ramana maharshi, this is a very important guide book for the seeker of ultimate reality. first published in 1937, with numerous printings since then, this book is as fresh and new as a perfect spring morning. chapters include the sage, the world, god, the quest, the egoless state, and much more. for the modern day nondualist seeker, this is a treasure chest of spiritual wisdom. the author declares that we all, consciously or unconsciously, are always looking for the supreme beatitude of the egoless state, i.e., direct knowledge of the one, the self. to quote a bit from the book: 'the right thing to do is not to go on framing questions and seeking answers...but to arrest the culprit, the ego, put him in the dock, and dispose of him by the quest of the real self, which he pretends to be. in other words, one should discover the real self, who is the final answer to all questions. every question that arises is vitiated by the ignorance which takes the ego at its face value, as the real self. all questions are therefore reducible to one, 'who am i?'. this question is the quest of the self, by which the egoless state is won.' for the person who's ears are ready to hear, this book is sweet music indeed!!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is a must if you are studying the bible. explanations are given of facts, verses, people and places as you go from one book in your bible to the next. i found out about it in bible study class. my senior pastor, has a copy he got over 40 yrs ago, and still used. one of the best studying guides you can have in your library","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a great book to read so that you can skip the 4 boring ones before it and save yourself some agony. this gives a wonderful, detailed history of the never-before revealed story of magician humphrey while briefly reminding you about all the books before this one. i'd recommend it if you're looking to get alot of books read in just on","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"while i have just begun to enjoy this tremendous work that came highly recommended to me, i am already somewhat disappointed in the limited, male-oriented, patriarchal interpretation of some indisputably feminine symbols like the minoan great mother goddess referenced and pictured under the entry, axe on page 16. described as a 'phallic' representation of her 'parthenogenetic fertility,' and as a, 'solar emblem of the 'sky gods,' and later as an, 'emblem of saint john the babtist,' this is clearly a female iconic goddess figure holding a double-sided labrys (axe) in each upraised arm. the labrys is a feminine symbol associated with the female amazons that were priestesses of artemis, the moon goddess. during their time, lunar energies were associated with the goddess, and feminine power, not masculine, phallic, sky-gods.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book is full of useless fillings. finding your colors is limited to few hair and eye color combinations. it also depends on you doing a test with different colored fabrics & determing how the color reflect against your skin. after reading the book, i still do not know what my colors are. besides, with so many different color hues on the market, how can one tell if what you're buying is an ever green or true green for example, confusing. the lack of pictures showing the types of collars they're recommending for different body types (e.g mandarin collar,cowl,bardot...)...is annoying,to say the least. questionnaires are poorly structured, & the section on makeup, underwear & accessories is trivial. save your money (i'm glad the book i read was a borrow from the library) and save your time. pass","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"many cookbooks are tempting to read but impractical to cook from every day. this one on the other hand is full of fast, easy, and delicious recipies that are great for kids and adults. i have never made anything from this book that didn't dissapear at the table; the microwave carmel corn is especially good. this is an outstanding book to get for your self or to give as a gift to any mom or dad","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i was recently diagnosed as having hepatitis c. the immediate effect was shock and disbelief. i was under the mistaken impression that the way a person contracted hep c was by iv drug abuse or a tainted blood transfusion. this threw me for a loop since the only blood i had ever recieved was in 1950 and 1959 and i had never abused any drugs, i had no idea this virus existed back when i had recieved blood. i was afraid to tell my family what i had and therefore had no support. after reading this book not only did i have more information with which to approach my family but an idea of what to expect in my life from here on out. it is seldom one finds an information type book that is written in a way that makes it an easy read but this one falls in that category. even those in the mid adolescent years would have no problem reading and understanding the information. i have already purchased a copy of this book to give my daughter when i tell her that i have this disease","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i went to the same school as the author of this book, and so it was used for my introductory cmos design class. the book has a lot of great material, but it was rather confusing to me as a beginner. now that i'm a more seasoned designer, i can look back on this book as an excellent reference, but i still find the explanations somewhat confusing. it's clear that the author is a foremost expert on the subject, but he just has some trouble relaying the fundamentals to the novice designer","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i could not put it down. i think it really sets the reader up with a better understanding of iran in the 20th century, and how things have gotten so out of hand there now 26 years after the ordeal ended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i began reading this book with the hopes of picking up some fresh ideas on negotiating. as a lawyer handling divorce and family cases, i frequently see a high-level of emotions between parties and i was curious to see if the authors had some insight into how to this might effect negotiations. however, this book was incredibly basic, and i'm not sure who it was written for because all it did was state the obvious. there are better books available on negotiation and this book does not provide anything unique","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"'plague ship' (1956) was one the first science fiction novels i ever checked out of our local library (i can still close my eyes and see that one dinky little shelf, crammed with some of sfs' greatest juvenile authors: norton; heinlein; del rey; nourse). this book contains the second 'solar queen' adventure. norton's four-book series about the trader-crew of the 'solar queen' ended in 1969 with 'postmarked the stars' but beware! lesser authors have butted into the series, presumably with norton's permission since this remarkable gandalf grand master of fantasy and nebula grand master just recently passed away after a long and extremely fruitful career (her first novel was published in 1934, her latest fantasy in 2005). one 'solar queen' rip-off to avoid at all costs is 'redline: the stars.' norton's 'solar queen' stories are told from the viewpoint of dane thorson, an apprentice-cargo master who is introduced in 'sargasso of space,' the first 'solar queen' novel, as a 'lanky, very young man in an ill-fitting trader's tunic.' most of this author's heroes and heroines are young, uncertain of themselves, shy, with a tendency to trip over their own enthusiasms and load themselves up with guilt at the slightest opportunity. they are very likeable and their adventures are narrated in remarkably lean prose with just the right touch of description. after ten years of schooling, orphan dane thorson is assigned via a computer analysis of his psychological profile--not to a safe berth on a sleek company-run starship that his classmates were vying for--but to a battered tramp of a free trader. to say that the 'solar queen' 'lacked a great many refinements and luxurious fittings which the company ships boasted' was an understatement. but she was a tightly-run ship and what she lacked in refinement, she made up for in adventure. dane soon settles in under cargo master van rycke and learns 'to his dismay what large gaps unfortunately existed in his training.' sometimes i just want to give dane a big hug. 'plague ship' takes the crew of the 'solar queen' to sargol, where the enigmatic feline natives seem very reluctant to trade away their fabulous scented gemstones. when dane thorson discovers an herb that the salariki are willing to swap for their gems, he fears that his eagerness to make a trade breakthrough might have poisoned a native child. that becomes the least of his worries when the 'solar queen' blasts off from sargol with invisible, undetectable stowaways that would brand the free traders anathema to all inhabited worlds. in space, the more senior members of the 'solar queen's' crew succumb to a strange plague that resembles sleeping sickness. dane and his fellow-apprentices, with the assistance of captain jellico's hoobat (a sort of blue parrot-lizard, or at least that's how i've always pictured it) discover the source of the plague: venomous hitch-hikers from sargol. 'it walked erect on two threads of legs...a bulging abdomen sheathed in the horny substance of a beetle's shell ended in a sharp point.' it was only about a foot-and-a-half high and could change color like a chameleon. the hoobat kills and eats the first creature, and then the hunt is on for others of its kind. even with the source of the sleeping sickness discovered, the 'solar queen's' young apprentices must still convince the rest of the galaxy that they are not a plague ship--and therefore eligible to be destroyed on sight without warning. the 'solar queen' novels are prime representatives of norton's lean action-packed brand of story-telling (at least the ones she solo-authored.) if you haven't read them since you were a teen-ager, i urge you to try them again. for a few pleasant hours, you will be immersed in the adventures of a likeable, feisty band of free traders on exotic, carefully-drawn alien worlds.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book led me down the road of jesus' death and i thought it could have done a better job. it told too much detail about the backround of the story and i found it misleading and tiring","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is said to be one of nadine gordimer's finest works, and she is a nobel prize winner, so i hoped for great things when i picked this one out at the bookstore, unfortunately assuming that the nobel prize would be a guarantee that i would love it. well, i didn't love it. while indeed a competent storytelling, i do not really regard this as literature. there is not the fire, imagination or creativity one expects, nor the sophistication that should elevate such a work above its peers. i managed to get to the end, but i cannot say that i felt or learned anything at all. it makes me wonder if there were political, rather than literary reasons that caused the nobel comittee to honor this author.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"entirely involving, entertaining and nuanced (that's the new adjective, right?) novel about hollywood (woo-hoo) during the huac witchhunt. some might call this book a soap-opera but, would that be so bad? most everything the revered faulkner wrote is not only soap opera but, gasp, southern gothic soap opera. loved this book which brings back to public consciousness a black period for the u.s. and for democracy and discusses it with a grey palette. wonderful, exquisite, consuming reading. well written, with very knowing eye and irony; it's a do-not-miss-book!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"dick wrote this in collaboration with another sf great, roger zelazny, though the end result is not really one of either author's best efforts. in a post-world-war-iii wasteland a religion has grown up around the god of wrath, whose human embodiment is one carleton lufteufel, the government official who detonated the doomsday device that contaminated the earth's atmosphere with radioactivity. limbless painter tibor mcmaster sets off in his cart on a quest to find lufteufel to capture the god's true visage in a painting. there's some interesting speculation around the encounter between a vitiated christianity with this life-negating religion (deus irae means 'god of wrath') and a somewhat zen-like spiritual renewal may be found in the novel's conclusion. the religious preoccupation gives the novel interest as a kind of reflection of dick's other greater novels of the late 60s and 70s, despite the somewhat casual and fragmented history of its composition","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i could not get past the first few tales. they left me feeling.... nothing. reading the back of a cereal box would have been more exciting. i would definately not recommend this book. as a fan of earlene fowler and monica ferris. i thought i might enjoy 'the cat who' series but if this book is any indication of the author's writing, i'll pass","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"is it a sci-fi tale about the end of the world, black comedy, novel of inner pilgrimage, or a southern small-town novel like to kill a mockingbird? all of these, and none, quite. you can catch snippetts of the plot and setting from other reviewers. but trying to squeeze this weird, topsy-turvy, yet familiar world into a few words is like trying to put the bubble bath back in the bottle. ideas and images float up in flurries. or maybe we should define love in the ruins by its characters? each is as brilliantly drawn as a blade of grass in the first bright rays of morning. not all are mad, in the conventional sense, though thomas more, the drunken, philandering, brilliant, pious hero, who somewhat resembles the author, sometimes is. 'dear god, let me out of here, back to the nuthouse where i can stay sane. things are too naked out here. people look and talk and smile and are nice and the abyss yawns. the niceness is terrifying.' percy also offers three lovely leading ladies, a tribe of black revolutionaries, 'love' scientists, 'knotheads,' a 'scoffing irish behaviorist, in whom irony is so piled up on irony, jokes so encrusted on jokes, winks and nudges and in-jokes so convoluted' that he has turned orthodox, and a pretty spooky satan in flannel. maybe the best way to introduce this book, aside from saying that it often made me laugh outloud, and often made me think, is to quote a few more lines. if you like the taste, want to sup more on the strangeness of life (the quality by which reality so often surpasses mere novels), you'll probably want to read the book. (1) 'max the unbeliever, a lapsed jew, believes in the orderliness of creation, acts on it with energy and charity. i, the believer, having swallowed the whole thing, god jews christ church, find the world a mad-house and a madhouse home. max the atheist sees things like saint thomas aquinas, ranged, orderly, connected up.' (2) 'ethel's car is both japanese and presbyterian, thrifty, tidy, efficient, chaste.' (3) 'the terror comes from piteousness, from good gone wrong and not knowing it, from southern sweetness and cruelty . . . in louisianna people still stop and help strangers. better to live in new york where life is simple, every man's your enemy, and you walk with your eyes straight ahead.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i started this novel after reading erdrich's love medicine. while it is clearly not as lyrically written, it is more accessible, and i admired erdrich's inventiveness as she creates a very unique set of characters. i never finished 'beet queen', quitting not that far from the end. when celestine's child turned out to be so impossible, it was the last straw. 'beet queen' is just too determinedly bleak, to no higher purpose i could discern or discover in reading reviews here.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it's a good basic overview, but the errors in the code snips are just too frustrating. i bought it because it was recently published (2006). but trying to get pear to work (db.php has been superseded by mdb2.php) and even the simple form were exercises in futility. if you do use it get an amp package (google: uniform server) and skip the install section. you'd think o'reilly could include and amp stack on a cd in the book and use that 20 pages for another exercis","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i had totally different expectations of what this book would be like. i thought it would be mini biographies of strong independant women. instead, i found it very much a victim minded book. the author seemed to go off on tangents often about the men in these women's lives instead of concentrating on the women themselves. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the preface to athena and kain states that the content of the book is revolutionary, and it really is. i looked up revolutionary, and in the context used it means, 'a total or radical change, as a revolution of thought.' there is no other book on greek art or myth like athena and kain. mr. johnson points out that greek sculptures appeared on public temples and other public buildings, and that mythological scenes appeared on the ancient greeks' everyday pottery and storage jars. the average greeks understood the meaning of their myths. because of athena and kain, it is now possible for us to understand them, too","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this bible is not the true god's word. it has been changed too much. i believe that the kjv is the true bible. god died for our sins. he shed his blood so that we might have everlasting life - but, only if we belive. this bible is written to make you feel good about yourself. all we are sinners destined for hell and damnation. god was not brought into this world just to make us feel good about ourselves but to make us feel a need to repent from our sin. we cannot get to heaven in eternity unless we believe in the lord jesus christ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a real look into the world of mountaineering that has not been glamorized or overly dramatized (in the case of other authors). the primary focus is denali, but the book often shifts attention away from it, giving the reader a good look into the mountaineering career of jon waterman and a bit of insight upon many others. for the experienced mountaineer, they can most likely relate to many of jon's experiences. to the less experienced, it will give a sobering wakeup call to the realities of mountaineering. i must disagree with the reader from ny listed below as stating that 'the author falls into the trap of thinking that climbing is going to give him and some other fellow climbers an insight into life beyond that of the ordinary man.' for anyone who has survived a truly epic climb, one does gain a bit of insight into life that they failed to notice beforehand, and that many others do not completely understand...do this regularly enough, and it can in fact change a person. the book was not self-indulgent in the least...merely giving a first hand account of his experiences, both good and bad. if you are planning a trip to denali, this should be required reading...","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"yes, jordan writes well, uses words and descriptions beautifully. one of the many glowing blurbs on the dust jacket described it as 'elegiac' and it certainly is, but elegiac only takes a book so far. beyond that, you need interesting characters that the reader cares about, set in a story that moves with a compelling narrative. perfect example, atonement. sadly, shade joins the pile of books i put down after wading through more than 100 pages. i could not finish it even though i was trapped on a long airplane flight with nothing else to read","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"we are so conditioned to the fix put on the left by the leninist tradition that we forget the crucial role of the left in the 'forging of democracy' as recounted in this history in a 'slow but steady' account that accumulates telling detail. once there were liberals who weren't democrats and then the left, in the wake of the failures of 1848, proceeded to the course corrections we now take for granted, no thanks to the liberals who weren't democrats, now democrats, by name at least, denouncing socialism by a leninist standard where the term was a demand for real democracy. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i read some other reviews about this book saying that it is confusing, etc. i was not confused. i found this book very interesting, although it is not what i originally thought it would be. ultimately, i used ideas from this book combined with the ideas from generative programming to solve a programming problem quite successfully","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is horribly outdated! if you have acrobat 5, - fine. or maybe not so fine... use the money you would have spent on this book and upgrade to the current adobe version: acrobat 7 as of sept 2006. ..and beware of wiley books that do not specifiy the application version - - wiley is notorious for this -- remember, when purchasing a wiley book -- think twice if the version of the application is not specified.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this was my first diskworld novel and i was blown away - the characters and story are both real and entertaining and it's hilariously well-written.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"esta fabúla es fácil de leer para pequeños y grandes, y con una de las mejores enseñanzas. la leí cuando tenía 8 años y ahora 20 años después sigue siendo una de mis historias favoritas. la prosa de esta historia es refrescante. el pricipito se convertirá en una persona real, que te llevará a conocer gente y lugares, pero sobre todo te enseñará una de las más importantes lecciones en la vida. esta lectura la recomiendo a esas personas como yo que les gusta soñar y aprender. es todo un auto-examen de personalidad. que lo disfrute","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i only discovered edgar rice burroughs by accident a couple of years ago when i picked up a copy of this book 'just because'. it turned out to be far better and far cooler than any expectations i might've had. if you think you know tarzan and haven't read this, i've got news for you. you do not know tarzan. he's a hundred times more savage and a thousand times more interesting than all those movie versions of the character. he's also surprisingly complex and sympathetic even as he slaughters nearly everything that crosses his path. i'm amazed this book was written nearly a hundred years ago. it's so graphic and unapologetic for tarzan's bestial nature. that said, there are a few small flaws. elements of the plot can be a bit contrived, but since it usually serves to get to more action, i can forgive that. burroughs's writing, while still engaging, is a little stilted by today's standards. and it does not end with tarzan getting jane. that's the story of 'the return of tarzan'. not ending in a book always bugs me. i hate cliffhangers. i do not need to be blackmailed to read the next one. you can read this book and enjoy it without reading the others. still, even the great edgar rice burroughs loses a star for this flaw because i really hate cliffhangers. sorry, eddie. do yourself a favor and pick this up. it might ruin you for other so-called adventure stories, but it's worth it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"george has always been my favorite beatle. i have been celebrating his birthday and got the concert for george harrison and watched it on his deathdate, and even wrote my 6th grade biography on him. so, i turned to this book. there were plenty of grammatical errors and false information. i think that it said in the front that he didn't 'hassle any of the beatles for this information' then how could he even get information such as this. go to i, me, mine it's a better book because its written by harrison himself! ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the film (one of my favorites) inspired me to acquire the book and as usual i found the book to be far superior to the film. the norm since converting a book to film is similiar to condensing. the book did lack in factual detail which would have made it longer and far more interesting, as a factual historical novel. as a piece on racial discrimination and women's fight for equality it is the best of reading. for those interested in the subject the book and film are well worth adding to your collection. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"how to think like leonardo da vinci was a book i was required to read for a class and honestly was not thrilled about, but i ended up loving it! if you have any interest in da vinci, this is a good book to read, and even if you do not, it will make you think more about what kind of thinker you are. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"you will find the ornithologist james bond's old employer, philadelphia's academy of natural sciences does not sell copies of this book. they will sell you herbert raffaele's updated version of this book instead. why? because, it is at least from the 1930. it contains information which is seriously dated. not to mention that the pictures are mostly in black and white with only about 10 colour plates. the pictures that are contained in the volume are not very representative of the birds you will encounter. this book is acceptable if you intend on bird watching on your caribbean holiday, but we spent much of our time guessing if we were really looking at a bird. yes, you can take a book of eastern us birds with you, but do you want to take a birdwatching library with you on your holiday? not to mention there are birds which will not show up in a us bird book (e.g., bananaquit and parrots). you will notice that the most effusive reviews of this book come from fans of ian fleming's 007, not bird watchers. that is because this book is much more a piece of 007 trivia than useful to modern bird watchers. the story of how ian fleming's agent was named was that fleming was at goldeneye, his jamaican house, and needed a name for the protagonist of his spy novel. fleming wanted a plain name and his eye came upon his copy of james bond's 'birds of the west indies', which fleming described as his bible. fleming thought that james bond would be the perfect name for his spy (no, audobon would not have been a possibility). mr. fleming paid the ornithologist a dollar a year for the privilege of using the name james bond in his novels. serious bird watchers are better served buying herbert raffaele's updated version of this book or james kavanagh's 'caribbean birds'. you could also be sentimental and want this because it was what you used when you were young during the period that this version of 'birds of the west indies' was the only show in town. in case you haven't guessed, i am both a bird watcher and james bond fan who owns two copies of this book. consider this review with that in mind","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you read this book -- you can thank the author for making you dumber. if you spent money on this book -- you can thank the author for wasting your hard-earned cash. if you enjoyed this book in any respect -- then you can thank the author for her talent in writing fiction. not only was this book chock full of crap, it didn't at all confer with the people involved to get the facts straight. this is all hearsay and press coverage that anyone could dig up googling the subject matter. now, if you believe what the press tells you -- then you're a real sucker","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a look inside the real world of modeling and it's past and present stars. tons of information about the history of modeling in here. it drags on a little bit at times but is otherwise very interesting and entertaining. i'd def recommend it to anyone in the biz or interested in becoming a part of it. :","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"even as a child, and as an african, i have always been interested in the true history of my continent not told by the so called conqueror, which has always shown people who rebel in a disgustingly bad and unture light. especially the american majority, who somehow get amnesia regarding the how and why this stolen land got its so called democracy. once again, this book is very detailed and tells how and why really the entire continent of africa, was inflicted with dirty politics (golds,diamonds, mineral wealth, etc.),for the ill gotten gaines and total disregard of the indgenous people by europe and the united hates of america.especially those of colour","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"written for business executives, this book will help you understand the dynamics between corporate identity and value creation in business. lawrence d. ackerman believes that the true strength of an organization is reflected in its identity, and its ability to use its identity to drive the creation of products and services that provide value to customers. ackerman posits that there should be a cycle between the identity of the company and the profit it generates. the wealth produced by the identity of the organization should feed back into the identity that creates it. the author has outlined a set of guidelines to identify value for the organization. ackerman calls them the laws of identity. for example: 1. the law of being: 'any organization composed of one or more human beings is alive in its own right, exhibiting distinct physical, mental and emotional capacities that derive from, but do not transcend, the individuals who make up that organization.' 2. the law of individuality: 'an organization's human capacities invariably fuse into a discernible identity that makes that organization unique.' 3. the law of constancy: 'identity is fixed, transcending time and place, while its manifestations are constantly changing.'","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i enjoy reading many different genres, but historical fiction is one of my favorites......and lately, the cultures of india, sudan, and any of the countries in that exotic section of this wonderful world seems to satisfy my reading addiction. the twentieth wife is a rich, exotic view of the women, their desires, and females' position in society in the mughal empire of 1600's india. i could 'feel' india as i read the story of menhurrisa. this girl knew what she wanted at the early age of 8 and kept her focus on the love for a man she first saw in a parade. almost all woman in that era would consider love for a man like this unattainable..........royalty above her class. this was a book that i could not get enough of. i looked forward to the next page at all times. i enjoy reading a book that takes me mentally to another time and place. by reading this book, i learned a lot about the ancient 17th century indian cultures of women and harem life, which had a class system of its own that the women had to deal with. i highly recommend reading this book if you like historical fiction or if you enjoy reading a story of a strong woman who believes in herself and beats all odds to attain her desires. i read this book about 2 1/2 years ago and the story has stayed in my memory. i bought the sequel, the feast of roses, last year and plan on reading it as soon as i finish the historical fiction novel that i am now reading set in 1500 england. if you are looking for an awesome book, and very good historical fiction with surprising twists and turns spiced with a whole lot of action......this is a book you will truly devour. i highly recommend this read. b harris ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"we recommend this book to everyone who likes to laugh. junie b. jones gets herself into many funny situations. this book is filled strong visual descriptions. -- ms. nickel's 3rd grade clas","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"jackies done it again with a true to life hollywood book. she's already hit the husbands and wives. now those snotty little kids of hollywood got a whole book to themselves. i love it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'pit bull' is the trading memoir of martin 'buzzy' schwartz, multimillionaire stock and futures trader who won the 'champion trader' title in the 1984 u.s. trading championship, the 'most money made' title in 1983, and conquered the futures division in 1992. he made a lot of money too, but mr. schwartz loves the limelight and a good competition. the book starts in 1979, when schwartz abandoned his 9-year career as a securities analyst to trade his own money on the floor of the new york stock exchange, and progresses through his tumultuous, exciting trading career until the mid-1990s. schwartz sometimes digresses to relate incidents of his childhood and youth, illustrating that he was always a gambler by nature, so 'pit bull' has some qualities of an autobiography. schwartz' story is peppered with trading advice, and many of its best moments are when he describes his experiences during specific market events, such as his losses when the market surged after the 1980 presidential election, the idiosyncrasies of trading on the merc, and october 1987's black monday and its aftermath. martin schwartz has a big personality and a frank sense of humor that keep the reader entertained. it seems he was both a success and a failure, having succeeded in making himself quite wealthy but not always wealthy enough for his tastes. but he gives the impression that he enjoys trading immensely most of the time. 'pit bull' concludes with 'the pit bull's guide to successful trading' in 30 pages, for those seeking insight into martin schwartz' success on the markets. it's a pretty handy guide in which schwartz lists the trading tools and market analysis services that he uses, outlines his techniques for using moving averages and some chart patterns, and summarizes how he plays stocks and futures. that's followed by a description of 'my typical day'. 'pit bull' is fun, i instructional, and easy to read. i was surprised that mr. schwartz sometimes tries to anticipate -or bet against- the market instead of following it. but sometimes he got burned. no surprise there","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book for my pre-k class, to go along with our weather unit on rain. the cover looked so nice i thought it would be a great book. in fact, the illustrations are quite nice; the problem is there's really no story here. the language does not flow; its very choppy. the children didn't enjoy this book, and have not asked for it to be read again. good children's literature should have a story to it: a setting, problem and solution; a definite beginning, middle and ending; and well-defined characters. this book has none of that","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the f-105 is a most fascinating aircraft. a superb cold-war design; it was meant to be a sort of man-guided supersonic cruise missile for delivery of nuclear weapons to tactical targets in the european theater. it was, of course, never used for this purpose, but was instead put to a use in the air war over vietnam. the thud was never meant to be a precision dive bomber, or to pass through heavily defended areas at subsonic speeds. all the same, politicians dictated this use (and of course went looking for someone besides themselves to blame when their 'top fighter-bomber' started getting shot down in heroic quantity; so many were shot down, there weren't enough seasoned men to continue to fly them. they were shot down in so many myriads, fresh out of pilot school fighter-bomber jocks, or long grounded middle-aged desk jockies would be put directly into combat (where they would often be shot down). the men who flew this jet were, as the cliche goes, a special breed of heroes. unlike, say, fighter pilots or b-52 pilots, they faced almost certain death, or horrible imprisonment. their survival rate was comparable to that of the b-17 tailgunner over germany in ww-2; very low indeed. oftentimes their missions were secret in nature, so the government could not even acknowledge that the thud had been shot down and work for the release of the pilot. major rasimus' memoire takes place at a crucial escalation in the war; in 1966. the johnson administration decided to escalate the war by 'sending messages' to the north vietnamese via the use of bombing as a psychological and diplomatic tool. the hare-brained scheme was that, by bombing one thing, and not another, the nva would be trained, like a pet dog is trained with a rolled up newspaper. the idea was ridiculous, and of course didn't work. rasimus was one of those unsung heroes who, fresh out of pilot school, grew enormous handlebar moustaches to protect them from evil on their impossible missions. he tells the tales of the base dog, roscoe, and of various of his team, and those who came after. you can practically smell the oil on the tarmac, and the blackpowder charges which combat-started the '105's engines. while americans would rather forget the war in vietnam, i cannot forget the courage of these men who fought in these insane supersonic contraptions. may their spirit inspire a new generation of warriors. thanks ed; for your service and your great book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"rosewell high is any ordinary high school, but the only thing is that you do not know what's really happening. there are 7 caracters theire names are max, liz, maria, alex, michael, kyle, sherif valenti, and isabel. max, liz, maria, isabel, michael, sherif valenti are the main main caracters. max always liked liz and when she was shoot in the stomach max healed her and she thought she was going to die and he told her to lie and she did and after she went to his house and she asked him how and he told her he was an alien and she freaked out. so he thinks she hates him until later. liz never liked him but wounce she found out she found this urge to just fall in love with him and do everything to save his life. max, isabel, micheal, and maria are all aliens and hopes that liz dosent tell sherif valenti about theire discovery.i would really recommend this book to all ages","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"karen rose became an auto-buy for me after i read her latest, you cannot hide, then bought i'm watching you. those two are the most enjoyable romantic suspense books i've read in a long time. rose made me enjoy a serial killer story - something that had become passe for me over the last few years. i cannot give have you seen her the same accolades. first, steven thatcher is a wimp, his whining and hanging on to his baggage made him the most unattractive man i've come across in a romance. that he was the hero truly made this book lose a few stars. special agent, neil, deserved the girl, not thatcher, and jenna should have stuck to her conclusion that thatcher would always be suspicious of any man who so much as spoke to her. i just could not see how jenna could have her hea with a man like that. each time steven went into his childish knee-jerk reaction, i was willing jenna to forget the guy and look at neil instead. i was also disappointed over how dumb the police were not to guess who the real killer was. all i can say is that i'm so glad i didn't read this book first when i decided to try karen rose. it would have put me off completely and i'd have missed the not-to-be-missed books of the two reagan brothers","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i really enjoy travis hunter's writing and would go so far as to say that he's one of my favorite writers, so i went back to his older books to see how he started. i'm glad i started backwards because had i read this book first, i would not have continued. it's not a bad book. two friends, one a [...], the other one trying to make a difference in the black community, two brothers: the [...] from earlier and a crackhead, a sister who's disgusted with her own race and another sister with her head in the church. the book was so incredibly cliche. i would not say it was a bad book, i've just read it a thousand times before and then turned on the t.v. to watch reruns of it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i believe vrml 2.0 is the perfect extension for students who have studied opengl and openinventor. the 'vrml 2.0 source book' brings into the light many concepts in open inventor which seem difficult to apply. interpolators, sensors, collision detection, ...etc. i applied many of the examples, into openinventor file format, rendered the scene graph, and control the scene with an open inventor widget. likewise, i was able to recreate the same functionality using a browser. understand vrml 2.0 is the next level of computer graphics, and the 'vrml 2.0' source book provides the mentorship necessary to get there","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"here's the thing -- i wanted to learn the story of isolde and that is why i picked up this book in the first place. i have read one other miles book (i, elizabeth) and that wasn't very impressive but i thought i'd give isolde a try. it was painful! miles chronically uses flamboyant and overstated language which just feels silly. her characters are very poorly developed. also, the author has a strange habit of often not setting up scenes which is resultingly jolting -- leaves the reader thinking, 'wait! where the heck did that come from?' after reading this book, i could not decide if i was more annoyed with the author for writing like this or with her editors for publishing such weak, unskilled writing. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i ordered this book to give me some ideas and decorating tips, what i got are pictures of old flea market items, that have nothing to do with each other. didn't help a bit, and truthfully if it didn't cost so much to return, i'd return it in a second","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"talk about antogonist, our murder victim will have you hoping poirot lets the guilty walk this time a la ......(will not spoil that title for ya). very nice characters very believable twist. ms. christie proves yet again i am no hercule poirot. how do i always miss the clue","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book absolutly stunk like a skunk. it had no plot and was very boring. just kidding this book was amazing filled with fun laughter and lessons. i could not put it down. not","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i paid for my herbal patent formulas book but you i never got it! could you please find out what went wrong. i recieved a letter saying that i purchased it, and paid for it but i never got it. i even wrote to you thanking you for finding the book. please get back to me. ric cosentino","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a chaplain in hospice care and for a professional sports team i am always looking for books that synthesize larger topics or 'weightier' works and bring practical applications to the forefront. calhoun's contribution does an excellent job of presenting (succinctly) the necessary introductions into the spiritual formation practices that have been a part of the church for so many years. the greatest advantage for myself is the ability to use this book as a launch pad into other parts of the community that cover the various disciplines in greater depth or detail. and the practical aspects of the book make this a necessary purchase! this book is a must read for lay leaders, an excellent resource for pastoral leaders, and a welcome addition to any church, school, seminary, or personal library","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"throughout this book mr. shulman denigrates the contribution of the wright brothers. his bias is so prevalent throughout the book that i found myself shaking my head as i read blatantly contradictory statements within 5 lines of each other. the author's opinions and accusations are either based on his limited research or his intentional omission of fact. if you're even considering buying this book, i would direct you to the author's own words following a completely inane paragraph of conjecture about orville wright............'or perhaps not.' that about sums up this biased inaccurate ploy concealed in the history section","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i just finished this nice long read, and i must say it was very well written: trollope shows us a fascinating view of how the changes in society can affect the people living in it. we are given a view of all sorts of characters: from the volatile, swindler melmotte to the swaggering, gambling coward felix carbury, to his antithesis, his staid, country cousin roger carbury, and felix's silly & conniving mother lady carbury, to his sweet & saintly sister hetta carbury...the mousey marie melmotte, the marriage schemer georgiana longestaffe, the wonderful yet fallible paul montague, and the independent & brash american, mrs. hurtle. these & many other characters collide to give us a fascinating read, as their lives intertwine again & again, on so many levels. the staid & proper upper-crust victorian society of yesteryear is slowly melting away, as english virtue & honor is being overtaken by lying, cheating, swindling, stealing, and much more. where being a proper, honorable gentleman used to bring its own reward, now it is the more 'modern' social rules that are taking effect in london society. will virtue or vice triumph in the end? an excellent read, highly recommended!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"thsi book is for someone who has an extense knowledge of the byzantine empire. i do not posses such knowledge and got lost inmediatly while trying to read this book. the author's style adapts for someone who knows all the history of the people involved in this empire already. i could not even finish the first chapter because i found myself asking: who is he talking about? every two lines","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i really enjoyed this book. kendra marty falls in love and wants to spend time with this young man, but she also feels the need to help her grandfather. the decision she makes reveals a lot about her character, caring and unselfish. a great christian novel that i would recommend to anyone","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the puzzles are great and a lot of fun for my two-year old. she loves anything 'princessy' so the princesses were a big selling point. however, after she did each puzzle a couple of times, the pieces didn't stay in the book. when we'd flip the page, all the pieces from that page would fall out. we ended up taking all the pieces out and putting them in a container, which is not the point of the book at all! at least the backs of the pieces are colored specifically for one puzzle in the book, and my daughter gets practice at sorting her colors for half an hour before we can play with her puzzles. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this was a well-written compilation that provides an overview of the lives and departures of certain notorious film entities over many years. the entries i most appreciated dealt with early icons, now barely remembered if at all, whose names inevitably produce the query: 'whatever became of -- ?' appreciated even more was the author's willingness to reach conclusions about an individual's life and career. he delivered evaluations and even criticisms as warranted. well worth reading - al hooper, edmonds, wa -- al hooper, edmonds, w","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the first section of this book contains philosophical text which is typical and conversational. it is in the second part, named 'the secret of light' where one can find the most clear, pure explanation of the universe imaginable, in the amount of text which normally fills a small booklet. complete with diagrams, the explanation begins with god and flows out to all basic logical systems in a spectacularly balanced fashion. if you are a seeker, dont' miss out on this one","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book a number of years ago for apologetics purposes-- while i would agree with other reviewers that it holds a high view of scripture, and the book definitely represents a lot of research, i think that the approach to symbology used here can be problematic. the entire book is a study of constellations, and how they display the gospel in the stars. while this is an interesting study i think there a oouple of underlying problems with this approach. 1. constellations and star names are simply assignments that man has assigned to stars. usually pagan cultures in association with their pagan mythology. although this does not completely undermine such a study it does call it into question. 2. a second more serious problem is the same problem which underlies numerology and other allegorical approaches-- they can often be made to say anything the author even while at the same time appearing scholarly. those looking for apologetics in the cosmos should consider investigating the 'anthropic principle' which tracks evidence of god's design of the universe. one such book would be 'show me god' by fred hereen. in terms of our faith, in my opinion, god's word itself furnishes a lifetime of study without engaging in speculation of symbols which we really cannot prove one way or the other. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as you may have been reading in the other reviews, this book is very different. most of the suggestions are wacky, and really could only save you pennies to say the least. once in awhile, the suggestions are okay, if you own a home (which i do not because i do not have money) but if you followed every suggestion in the book you would be the laughing stock of your community. there are much better books on the market for the purpose this book is supposed to serve. if only they would update it, it would not be half bad. i mean, they talk about going to the library to use internet when almost everyone has internet on their phones nowadays and other wierd 'hints' that just do not make sense. they spend a whole section on just organizing your bills and putting them in places like a shoe organizer or an empty cereal box because this will help you save money. real frugal people would just save their money and skip the book to read something that will actually help you","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"making friends should come naturally, but to many kids with a range of social/learning difficulties, it's as foreign as hieroglyphics. these special, often exceptionally talented, children become lost in the simplest social situa-tions. murrell's thorough and finely illustrated book covers the basics for navigating our strange world and custom","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"dr. hawkins first book, power vs force was interesting and presented a useful way to dowse using kinesiology. however, he began to venture into misapplication of this method, and has now gone off on a tangent where he seems to wish to delude himself into thinking he has developed a fool-proof way to judge the level of consciousness of any entity, concept, or construct and the truth or falsehood of any statement. there are serious logical, philosophical, and practical flaws in his work, and his attempt to quantify matters that are not quantifiable leads to meaningless data that probably matches the bias & beliefs of those carrying out the muscle tests. this book is a good example to present to show how people can deceive themselves and misuse muscle testing and dowsing techniques. the actual technique is worthwhile, but much of what hawkins presents in the book is utterly meaningless and invalid. the levels of awareness that can be tapped into with dowsing are wise enough to not let us ask just anything we wish to and be able to receive accurate, valid answers. hawkins explores issues about media, politics, religion, spirituality, history, philosophies, healing arts, entertainment, and more, and reveals his own gross ignorance on many matters. he seems unaware that many of the people he trusts in politics and media are professional gangsters, liars, and two-faced sociopaths. he has a negative view of conspiracy theorists, many of whom are genuinely determined to find the truth and do not resort to hawkins' misguided shortcut attempt to identify truth. hawkins also fosters confusion with his description of his muscle test method, as it really has little to do with applied kinesiology, but is a form of dowsing where the muscle is directed to remain weak or strong in lieu of muscle response moving a pendulum or rod. i hope hawkins gets to reconsider his current efforts...consciousness and spiritual research are vital endeavors and there are others doing useful, responsible work in those areas. for now i'd encourage hawkins to recognize that 911 was in part an inside job, many conservative politicians and pundits are corrupt frauds, and the overall maturity of consciousness in america is not greater than the rest of the world","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the big sky is the first in a series of great western novels by a.b. guthrie. the story begins in 1830 as young boone caudill escapes his kentucky home for the plains and mountains of the west. he meets up with jim deakins, a pleasant country philosopher, early on his journey and finally the experienced mountain man dick summers on the keelboat trip up the missouri. i enjoyed deakins' theological disquisitions. 'you cannot beat god for bein' picky. no, sir. if he catches you playin' cards or sayin' one swear word...it's to hell with you forever and ever...even thinkin' is mighty dangerous. as a man thinketh, that's how he is, and to hell with him ag'in. why you reckon he gave us a thinker then?...god is some busybody.' guthrie takes us up the missouri, a slow fight all the way, across the plains, into the mountains and back. he creates for the reader the palpable sense of the openness and wildness of the west. yet the book steps back from fully romanticizing the end of the mountain man era. the story is often disturbing, not the least in boone caudill's quick and often brutal ways. highest recommendation for anyone interested in the american west.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book will be a great disappointment to many stroke survivors and their relatives, as it was to me, a survivor. it tells the story of one man in england, with moments that make you think there is a similarity, only to be disappointed. the only hope for the book is the wife's diary, and her feelings from the event through the treatment. but even then there is the feeling that her diary in censored, knowing that it would be published. the author does direct the reader to some other good books, and gives us a happy ending. the book does teach us that life goes on, even if you have a stroke, but stroke suvivors already know that fact","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if one hears the name sandburg, the first thing to come to mind is probably 'fog' or 'city of big shoulders.' but in reading this wonderful memoir, we are reminded of what a fine prose writer the man was. the tale of his struggling swedish immigrant parents finding their way in late nineteenth century america and young 'charley' as he liked to be called, as the name carl marked him as a foreigner, is a fascinating glimpse of a bygone time and place. the interesting jobs that young carl took on, such as traveling the back roads selling stereo-optican views, and his conversations with a civil war vet are rewarding and insightful. i believe this is a wonderful read for anyone with a love of biography, history, or simply good storytelling","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the story is very boring. a middle class family has high aspirations for obtaining upper class status and this `class consciousness' controls everything they think and do. despite their foolishness, one cannot help but feel sorry for each character (with the exception of the mother) who continually finds failure and disappointment. the characters are not developed to the point that i usually enjoy, and there are quite a large number of characters. an interesting thing about the characters is, none of them are `good.' probably the closest thing to a good character is virgil's boss, mr. lamb. but even he is a business monger, ultimately concerned with his own business. this reflection on man is insightful. in real life, are there any people without flaws? major flaws? even the bible presents the heroes of the faith as people with big problems (king solomon was a womanizer, david was a murderer, peter was a coward, etc.). in general, people are selfish. our motives are selfish, and our own desires drive everything we do. however, often fiction reflects one or two main characters who are flawless. in an attempt to make characters likable- reality is bypassed. this does not happen here in alice adams. i believe this book is about expectations. the adams' family lives in the false hope of a brighter future, all the while neglecting the life they are currently living. i feel that this is the same discontenting experience that westerners face. maybe this is even a reflection of the way the author wrote the book- seemingly slow, but with flashes of brilliant foreshadowing which gives hope to the reader that something more grand is on the horizon. the story is interesting because of the absolute stupidity of this family, and the fact that it probably is a very real experience for many. the story, though slow, is written very well, and was very easy for me to read (a plus for me, i am a bit slow). it is also interesting because even though the story takes place in america- it seems a different culture. this different culture was interesting. i think the difference came in that the story is supposed to have taken place in the south (a foreign country as far as i am concerned), and it probably took place in the very early part of the 20th century. one aspect of tarkington's writing that i appreciated was the way he foreshadowed things. maybe i appreciated the subtle foreshadowing hints because of the drudgery of the story, but whatever the reason- i think he did an excellent job. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i highly recommend this story to all children. i have a young son who is dyslexic--the book was recommended to us by his tutor. but as i was reading this i could not help but feel all children would benefit from hearing it. this book is a wonderful example of how children manage to overcome difficulties. it can also help show children to be more compassionate to those who are less fortunate. it is delightful","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is awful. i read it, and i could not wait to finish it. i would have flipped it in the trash can except i had to read it for school. the characters are pathetic, there is no grasp of dialogue, and the author admits that it is the same thing as an f. scott fitzgerald book that was already written. how it became a newberry winner i will never know","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"how anyone can believe that there is a power to help people live a long life goes beyond my comprehension. this is what estes claims in this book. what about those who live short lives? the whole book is geared at american middle-class readers who in general, even though they have college-education, are very naive. the language is that of the fairy-tale, or close to it, which suits a tv-fed and tv-indoctrinated people. estes says that pain will clarify everything. i pained myself through her book and nothing was clarified","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this was regal in its presentation!! each bride was fun to look @, and think about that wedding. i loved this book, one of tom tierney's best by far!!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"donna jo napoli's trademark technique of fleshing out a fairytale is in fine display in 'the magic circle,' her retelling of 'hansel and gretel'. napoli's stories often reveal motivations behind some of the action that takes place in the traditional fairytales, reasoning out some of the fantastic elements and explaining the behaviour of the familiar characters; which usually results in the villain becoming more sympathetic and understandable. such is certainly the case in 'the magic circle', in which she explores the background of hansel and gretel's wicked witch. the hunchback woman is known as the ugly one by all her neighbours, but has the gift of healing which she uses to aid pregnant women and sick people in her medieval europe community. she is the proud mother of a beautiful little girl called asa, and enjoys her simple life as midwife in her country cottage. but her friend bala has other ideas, getting her work with wealthy families and in researching demonic activity so that ugly one may earn some more money - with much of the proceeds going to bala of course. ugly one is unsure about extending her talents to exclude exorcisms, knowing the danger is extremely great, but as a devout christian and a healer she feels compelled to comply with bala's wishes - surely god will aid her, and no harm will come to her if she places herself within a magic circle that will protect her from the demons' tricks. after cleansing a little boy from a demon's influence, ugly one knows that she has found her new calling in life. but once several years pass, her confidence in her own abilities grow and in a mistake that will haunt her forever, she is careless with the protective magic circle. what follows is an escalating series of events that has her transformed into a witch by the vengeful demons and tied to a stake by the terrified villagers. bartering with the demons for her daughter's life, ugly one manages to use her newfound malevolent powers to escape and hide in the forest. in napoli's book the term `witch' is used in the traditional christian sense, not the new age one, so be prepared for a negative usage of the word (personally i found it quite refreshing this way - evil witches are so rare these days!) however, it's not so black and white, for though ugly one can no longer shed tears, bleed or sleep, has demons whispering in her ears and an appetite for children, she is determined to not give in to her weaknesses. living in isolation, she manages to keep the demons at bay - until she hears the voices of two lost children outside her home... napoli's story is poignant and thought-provoking, as she raises questions concerning the nature of evil, the will of god and the strength of the individual against temptation. like all her other books, her spin on a traditional folktale is fascinating and will change your perception of 'hansel and gretel' forever. although her interpretation of the gingerbread house is a little weak and a revelation concerning bala is raised only to be ignored, 'the magic circle' is an intriguing little book. the demons and magical rituals mentioned are all based in real biblical and occult study (so you'll learn something practical alongside the retold fairytale!) and its length means you can probably finish it within a day. though it is not my favourite napoli novel (that would have to be 'zel' and 'spinners'), 'the magic circle' is a great little read.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a required text for a graduate level rf electronics course i am taking. i am very disappointed with this text. there are multiple mistakes and misprints throughout. it seems that the book was proofed by someone who is not familiar with electronic symbology and notation. there are many instances where inconsistant notation will be used within a single example problem! the author is very short on many subjects and longwinded on others. this book makes for a confusing and frustrating read despite the distinguished ieee brand on the cover. my professor even commented on the sloppyness of the author. i have had to buy additional books to suppliment my studies. this is not a good reference or text book....coming from someone who has read multiple technical text books...beware of this one","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i recently discovered i have multiple food allergies. this cookbook has been extremely useful. i have tried about a dozen recipes in the past 3 weeks. all recipes have turned out well, and have been very tasty. i would recommend this cookbook to other allergy sufferers. i found the sections on the different flours and how to rotate my diet very useful","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"most of these reviews address the book not how the production did with its presentation of the book. my opinion, it was wonderful. i know its a generalization but i wish more audio books were like this, like old 50's radio shows. it makes the book become alive. the casting was well-done. the voices are what i imagined them to be, maybe better. if only one person was narrorating this book (like most are done now) then this book probably would not be as much fun to listen to on cd. so, if you have a choice to either listen to one voice or many voices with some amusing sound effects, pick the latter","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"larry arnhart is a serious, perceptive ethical philosopher whose works deserve praise (and to be read), but this book is a failure. the arguments are weak and will certainly fail to convince most 'conservatives' to embrace darwinian evolutionary theory. evolutionary biology is scientifically correct, which is the main reason it must be accepted by anyone, whatever their political philosophy (arnhart does not stress this). however, darwinian biology can be either used or ignored in making political arguments, so i will rephrase the issue as: are there good arguments flowing from evolutionary biology for conservative political philosophy? we must note that at least in the usa, there are two quite different branches of conservativism, one espousing religious fundamentalism and the other classical economic liberalism. they have almost nothing in common intellectually and are simply politically linked by historical events. arnhart does not stress this point. arnhart's arguments directed towards religious conservatism can be summarized as: (a) evolutionary biology is compatible with belief in god; (b) evolutionary biology recognizes and reinforces the notion that religious belief is a universal element of human nature; and (c) a strong adherence to family values is part of human nature. i agree with these statements, but arnhart never addresses the burning issues, which include abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, and state-religion separation. he does deal with intelligent design, which he rejects as a scientific theory. this is in part why i call his book 'disingenuous:' he simply avoids the hard topics. turning to classical liberalism, arnhart says that darwinian evolution supports a burkean political philosophy. i think this is a plausible argument, although arnhart avoids all the hard questions by choosing as the alternative political philosophy an absurd caricature of the leftist alternative that is more or less 19th century utopianism. societies grow organically, arnhart says, and cannot be socially engineered using the principles of reason alone. of course this is correct, but this is accepted by all relevant political philosophers today (except peter singer and his bizarre ilk). what about the proper extent of government, the treatment of poverty, the environment, and foreign relations? nothing here. i am not a conservative, and i do not think much of conservative political philosophy, but if i were, i would not be moved by arnhart's arguments (i am also not a liberal, by the way, and in fact i think the liberal/conservative dichotomy is a sick joke, but that's a topic for another day...) ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is surely one of the greatest collections of 'linked short-stories' ever written -- it matches calvino's cosmicomics and borges' labyrinths. lem is a total genius. a writer of playful little fables that are also philosophically profound (and logically consistent). this book is a brilliant companion to lem's the cyberiad, with which it shares many themes and ideas. lem has a beautiful style: he can make engineering terms sound poetic. his rigorously modern metaphors are as original as those of j.g. ballard, but more varied and lyrical. for lem, the periodic table is an unwritten poem. this book is the final and true ode, and each line is a fantastic, fabulous, incredible story. i give this book 200,000,000 stars. and that's only because i'm not feeling so generous today. it probably deserves a googolplex (1 to the power of 100 raised to the power of 1 to the power of 100) of stars. at least","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"no serious economist would take such a proposal, well, seriously. in short, murray's argument is foolish. inflation would eat up the redistributed $10,000, and, unless the 'gift' money were indexed to inflation, that $10,000 would be worth about $100 in a couple of years. inflation would come in many forms: higher rents, higher food and fuel bills, etc. for example, an important reason for a food stamp being a food stamp is not just to ensure that the money is spent on food, but also to ensure that more paper money isn't loosed upon the economy causing unforeseen inflationary pressures. food stamps do not cause inflation; murray's program most certainly would. buy the book if you want, but be sure to brush up on your economics as you read this absolute and utter nonsense.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"disappointed with the written content. too much irrelevant, adolescent street jargon. illustrations were poor as were the written descriptions of techniques. overall a disappointing buy","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"after working in a church in boston and another in washington, d.c., minister ed wilcox and his family have transferred to the consolidated community church in emerald springs, ohio. his wife, aggie, initially has her doubts about settling down in a small town, but eventually she, ed, and their two young children find themselves making friends, except for elderly parishioner gelsey falowell who despises ed and wants to get rid of him. gelsey's wish may come true when the naked body of a murder victim is left on the wilcox's front porch and ed, who had been counseling the dead woman, is the chief suspect. aggie knows that ed is innocent but wonders why ed is keeping secrets from her especially when her daughter teddy tells her she saw her father fighting with the dead woman. when a second murder is committed and detective kirkor roussos seems to suspect ed committed both crimes, aggie, with the help of her friend, real estate agent lucy jacobs, begins investigating the murders. the more aggie looks into the crimes the more she realizes that people, especially gelsey, have secrets that have been buried for years and some people will kill to have them remain secret. 'blessed is the busybody' is a good beginning to what looks to be a good mystery series. the characters are well written and well defined. the mystery is written from the view point of aggie, revealing various bits of her unconventional childhood, plus her struggles to raise her children especially oldest daughter deena, who at eleven is just starting to rebel a little bit. both teddy and deena are well written and come across as real children. aggie's friend lucy is so well written that i could picture here while reading the book. ed comes across as a bit bland, but i suspect that will change in future books. author emilie richards does a good job describing small town life and the secrets hidden there and the town itself was like a character in the book. the mystery is well written with plenty of surprising secrets slowly revealed as the book goes on. the mystery is complex yet satisfying, if a bit sad. but there's a nice gentle humor throughout the book that takes the edge off the sadder elements. 'blessed is the busybody' is well worth reading.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"yes, i have seen seventh seal many times, and it is, indeed, stark. the other night i watched the new criterion dvd i was gifted with the lights out, the sound off and volumes one and two of coil's 'music to listen to in the dark' popped in the stereo. i mean, once one has once seen seventh seal, there is nothing to the plot. (i will not say that of the dialog because i do not speak swedish.) it's like oedipus rex. this is a swedish movie. everyone in it looks swedish. (even death). death is beyond anything from bill and ted, yet (without seventh seal) would we even have bill and ted? i just like to watch these swedish people talk. perhaps the longest scene in the movie is shot on a beach, the horizon at mid-screen, and the entire top of the screen contains a horse, stamping, moving about, never still for but a moment. it is imagery that takes your breath away. as an image it is more than i could ever hope for, incomprehensible and compelling. add max van sydow, and, well, whatever! it's not a movie that you should intend to understand. it's just beauty to watch and think about later. maybe always","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book has some good information in it, but it is mostly fluff, filler and repetition. each time i sit down to read it, i fall asleep because there is so much filler. the book could easily be reduced to a pamphlet-sized book without any sacrifice of information. i like to know how and why, and i do not mind reading on and on if the how and why is explained. i even enjoyed the china study, which has a lot of explanatory text to support statements. most people would call the china study a dry read, but every word has a purpose. the miracle of fasting is mostly just empty words with statements only weakly backed up by the author's personal observations, not science. i think there are some useful tidbits in this book, but i would suggest you borrow this book from a friend or the library if you can. i am hoping to find a more comprehensive book on the subject of fasting. any suggestions","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i like eyewitness guides a lot, particularly for their glossy graphics combined with comprehensive information, but this really does not make the cut. how is it possible to cram scotland into 224 pages? well, it is not. besides having very poor coverage on glasgow and particularly edinburgh, it also has - well, more poor coverage. maps for the bigger islands in northern scotland are sorely lacking. more effort has really got to be invested in making this guide before it is worth your money. i know dk can make some really great guides, so it saddens me that they are now churning out trash like this","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the true heros of the mysteries are the sweet animals- who seem to have more common sense and devotion than their human counterpart","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i was very satisfied with this purchase. book was brand new as represented and was shipped in a most epedient manner","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i used this book as a primary preparation tool for the sun certified business component developer (scbcd) exam. being a beginner in ejb, i found this book to be very friendly. i liked the layout of the book in general and the writing style of the author in particular. only relevant pieces of code are presented to focus explanation of topic in question. a complete running application may be downloaded from the author's website. the multiple choice questions at the end of every chapter and alerts in every chapter made remembering main points easier. deployment descriptor elements are clarified in considerable detail and they are explained well. please note that there are errors in this book - some of them are fairly obvious such as using a capital letter as opposed to a small letter (java versus java) while others are not so obvious but noticeable by experienced java developers. regardless of its minor faults, i consider this book to be a valuable addition to my library. normally i would have a cut a star for the errors but because of its content quality, i felt compelled to give 5 stars. i just passed the exam today thanks to this book. i know that i will not hesitate to buy another book from this author. thanks mr.sanghera! i recommend this book highly without any reservations whatsoever","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as usual from michelin, a high-quality, detailed road map that is very useful for anyone doing a driving tour of the region","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'the vietnam plays, volume two,' by david rabe, contains two plays: 'streamers' and 'the orphan,' together with a 1992 afterword by the author. the book includes production information on both plays. 'streamers' was produced and staged in 1976, and 'the orphan' was first produced professionally in 1973. 'streamers' looks at a group of army soldiers who are facing the possibility of being sent to vietnam while the war is going on. rabe focuses on a group of three roommates, all junior soldiers. as these troops talk and argue together with the other soldiers in the play, rabe shows how tensions within the military can create fracture lines along many axes of difference: race, sexual orientation, educational background, rank. early on in the play rabe introduces the theme of homosexuality in the army; this theme plays a significant role as the story unfolds. also explored is the relationship between younger troops and experienced combat veterans. 'streamers' is a play that may seem a deceptively straightforward slice of military life, but i found it to be a dense and complex text, rich in irony, that rewards careful reading. it's a powerful play that effectively presents a group of military personnel as a microcosmic world of tension, lust, anxiety, anger, and violence. particularly piercing is rabe's look at the intersection of verbal 'violence' and physical violence. i found 'the orphan' far less interesting than its companion piece. in it rabe melds ancient greek lore with late-20th century american concerns. although the play has some strong moments, overall i felt it lacked effectiveness. i felt that rabe missed a golden opportunity to really use the trojan and vietnam wars to shed light on each other. nevertheless, the presence of 'streamers' in this volume makes the book well worth owning, especially for those with an interest in the literature of war. recommended companion text for 'streamers': 'a sense of honor,' a novel by james webb","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"equipped with a keen intuition, great confidence, and credentials stacked sky high, kate solisti - mattelon steps up and ably swats one home for the dog lover in us all. she has long understood that dogs run the wide and crooked. it's we humans who took the broad view and tried to fit it into the straight and narrow scope of understanding. an awkward fit at best, if not totally improbable. she presents her material simply, in a parable format of sorts to help us understand the heart and mind of man's best friend. repeated readings pay off. myself, having to resolve grief issues on having to put my thirteen years old siberian husky, riva to sleep this past summer. i now know without doubt that my favorite life companion is a part of me forever. this book can and should be a part of you. highly enjoyable. highly recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book takes too long to get to the point and repeat it at least 20 times! the author should take a course in the art of writing educational books!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"since i am one of the characters involved i can truly say that pete earley captures the events more precise than those of us on the inside looking out. the chilling things he describes are true, and the scary part is they are still happening, everyday. it is a must read for anyone truly interested in how the justice system really works","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"all this information is on the internet or available from your doctor. after many years of struggling with hip pain the water exercises are no surprise. nothing in the book is new. i was very disappointed, if i could do the exercises listed, i would not need the book. good luck to all of you, go to the local y or swim therapy, put the money to good use for a good therapist, hips are not do it yourself","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i read this book in order to see if it would change my opinion about the status of social security. it does not. in fact, it glosses over the key, overriding issue: that the so-called 'social security trust fund' does not in fact exist. the claim that huge surpluses are being mounted is meaningless when all that really exists is an iou that the government writes to itself. the book spends all of one paragraph (see page 28) on this critical issue, suggesting that the reader imagine that the fund is invested in private stocks and bonds, rather than government bonds, and concluding, 'it is difficult to see why the composition of the trust fund's portfolio should make any difference.' i just about threw the book across the room at that point! in other words, the authors see no difference between a fund backed by real assets that can simply be sold and a fund that will require raising taxes or additional borrowing on an enormous scale","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"content aside, whether or not you are interested in the nixon administration, this is a wondeful memoir written in a very readable yet elegant style. i suspect that safire had the earl of clarendon leaning over his shoulder when he wrote this. it's full of wonderful character studies of the major and minor players in the administration. safire is not enitirely candid in what he writes and he does pull his punches, but if you are good at reading between the lines, it's all there. a very enjoyable read. each chapter focuses on a person or key event during the years. watergate is covered but only tangentally","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a beautiful bible. my son gave my a borders gift certificate for my birthday and i wanted to get something i would use daily and this bible is perfect. the devotions are timely and meaningful. this edition is truly a treasure.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"edited by sports illustrated magazine's executive editor rob fleder, and with an introduction by popular football writer peter king, sports illustrated: great football writing compiles classic stories about football and football players from the pages of the venerable magazine, from the modern day to the 1950's. from 'the nightmare of steroids' to 'where have you gone, joe namath?' to 'all the way with o.j.' - an article about simpson's stellar football performance from long before his arrest and trial for murder - the articles cover the both the highlights and the low points of america's long love affair with football. an excellent compendium or giftbook especially for thoughtful football fans, who enjoy pondering at length how the sport and its telling has gradually evolved with the decades","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the series started off so well, it's sad to see it end so badly. this book is just a collection of random events, there really isn't a plot. none of the questions raised throughout the series are answered. the first book was great, i wish i had stopped there.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"''introduction to fall protection' by j. nigel ellis, is a masterpiece in the art and practices for fall protection. excellent resource packed with useful information. the great value in this book is that it simplifies an otherwise tough subject! it will, no doubt, save many lives. how much more worth could you get than that?&quot","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"those of us in the change and transition business are vocal, loud and some would say, obnoxious advocates for recognizing the human side and impact of change. too often our words fall on deaf ears...with 'true partnerships' we finally have a text that deals with new principles for relating to others during, before and after change. we finally have a text that deals with the potential destructiveness of autonomy, power, scarcity mentality and victimhood. instead this book awakens a call to action for relationships that produce extraordinary results by shifting our philosophy to one of connection, communication, expansion and creator/observer. it is powerful, beyond words and is guaranteed to cause you to examine your own approach of 'drift' versus 'true partnership.' it can shake you up and transform your relationships at work, at home and everywhere inbetween. read it and begin relating differently today","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i was taken aback by how convoluted and overreaching this text was. i guess i expected more. i found myself having to read and reread certain paragraphs and sections of this book just to understand what telford was attempting to say. i found his open hostility toward the traditional position of inerrancy troubling. one reviewer says that work 'shows how the paradigm of inerrancy is fatally flawed.' he shows no such thing. he approaches the discussion and falls flat in his efforts. one way to make your point it to denigrate your opponent. this he did do. he seemed to imply that all who believe in inerrancy are lowbrow fundamentalists. ultimately, work's overhaul (i.e., paradigm shift) for viewing the word of god was simply over the top and without warrant. i note that this book came out in november 2001, but i have yet to see bible colleges and seminaries adopting work's new paradigm and dialect, and with a sales ranking of 711,096, his book is likely not going to usher in his 'new paradigm.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"'complete reference' - i thought this would describe/explain the sql code that i need to use in my job. this book sits on my desk at work - for sql code, i get it from the internet","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"ivan lansberg's new book is an excellent resource for anyone living through, or helping to manage, the succession process in a family business! the book is thoroughly scholarly yet practical...it is 'a must read,' for anyone interested in the subject. it is the best book on the subject i have read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"you almost feel sorry for the author. draped in acclaim, among the books of the year, it can only mean that any reader approaches this book with high expectations. more worrying, the author's information on the back of the book talks mosly about all the prizes he won at harvard. and that's what the book feels like, a very well executed assignment. it's written in a fairly convincing pidgin english, but when it wavers, it breaks the rhythm and the belief. it also feels entirely formulaic. it goes through the trials of dehumanisation (murder, rape, sodomy etc) but it never engages the reader's sympathy, just occasional admiration. there's no doubt that iweala can write. i hope he dares to produce something fresh that does not feel borrowed from another culture, another life. i'd risk buying another book of his","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this 1974 novel used sources like 'the politics of heroin in southeast asia' by alfred w. mccoy, and the others listed in the 'preface'. it takes place in washington dc. ronald malcolm works for the 'american literary historical society', and reads detective and mystery novels to summarize its plots for his employer. one day their new accountant tells malcolm there is a discrepancy in the records; of seven crates shipped from seattle only five crates arrived in washington. this had not been noticed previously. the accountant reports this loss in a memo. malcolm reports to work on thursday. it is his turn to go out for sandwiches for lunch, and he uses a basement exit for a short-cut. he also runs an errand. he returns to find the front door locked; he has to use his key. then he finds that all of his co-workers have been killed by professional assassins. malcolm leaves the building and calls the 'panic number' from a public phone to report the maximum damage; he is told to disappear and call back later. when malcolm calls back, he is told to make contact in an alley of a georgetown theater. but his rescue team takes a shot at malcolm, who fires back, escapes, and goes to ground. will malcolm be rescued by he cia or found by the killers? and who is the double agent? after you read this novel you can better understand the film, which is a simplified and condensed version (called 'three days ...). the story was changed from drug smuggling (to censor drug references?), and relocated to ny city. this story seems implausible to me, since eliminating the one link in seattle would avoid the furious investigation that would follow a massacre of seven in washington dc.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i think everyone should go and buy this book. it is worthy of 5 stars.this book trys to help you become a better writer by sharing some of ralph fletcher's experiances. if you like this book i reccomend you read spider boy or a writer's notebook. ( the book before live writing","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i wanted to express my agreement with the september 2005 review of understanding paranoia in the journal of nervous and mental disease, that says, 'this book is an important and useful work...beneficial to laypersons...also helpful for clinicians...a valuable guide.' to me, that says it all. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the favorite book of a friend of mine, she rereads it every year. she chose it for our bookclub, and the rest of us hated it! i think this is the best example i know of a book that either really connects with you, or does not at all. i have a degree in eng. lit. and certainly have encountered a number of books written in an unique or poetic style that i loved, but this one was for me rambling, full of tedious detail that lead nowhere and, since i didn't like a single character, i never felt invested in anything that happened to them. for others what was tedium for me, was poetry. i made myself read the whole book for the sake of the bookclub, but it was like taking medicine--still i can see that every word was a joy for my friend. this isn't a matter of being good or bad, its obviously a masterpiece for some, but if it isn't your kind of writing, you will find it more than a chore to get through","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"after reading robert caro's masterful biographies (volumes 1 and 2) of lbj, i yearned to learn more about the background of lady bird--specifically what contributed to her not only staying married to lbj but to singlemindedly propelling his career forward. well, russell's book certainly disappoints. it is very poorly and awkwardly written and edited. the only new information that i gleaned from this book was gossipy. if one wishes to learn substantive information about lady bird (and of course about lbj), caro's biographies are a far superior source","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book i read was championship ball, by clair bee. championship ball is about a high school basketball player named chip. chip is an extremely good athlete and is a starting basketball player for his high school. everything was going great until something happened that would change chips life forever. during a basketball game chip got tripped up and hit the ground hard. as chip was writhing in pain, the team trainer came out to assist him. as it turned out chip had fractured his ankle in several places. it was pretty bad which would mean that he would have to watch the games from the team bench for the rest of the year most likely. as his team goes on without him, they are doing quite well. they are making a championship run, and they are doing quite well, and they eventually get there. before the big championship game, chip was begging his coach to let him play. chip's coach is not sure if chip is ready to play just yet, but chip is by far the best athlete on the team. will chip get to play in the big game, or will he have to spend yet another game spectating from the bench. i really enjoyed the book because it is very suspenseful, and it is hard to put down. it is suspenseful because throughout the book the author does not tell you chips condition in its entirety, and whether or not he will get to play in the up coming games. there was on thing that i did not like about the book and that is the repetitiveness. it seemed like every time a big game was about to unfold, the same thing happened on the court. also every time chip asked his coach to play, he always said no, so you kind of almost expect it. my strongest reason for recommending this book is that it is very well put together. also if you are into sports or you like suspense and action, then you will probably love this book because it has all of these aspects.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this great work by phil yancey was the christian book of the year in the 70's, and has lasted the test of time. this is easily the best book on the subject of pain and suffering that i have read; it's teachings are on the mark and scriptural. yancey nails it when he writes that the suffering in this world is a democracy; that we are all part of it, we all suffer, and we all can help. he makes some fine points considering all areas of the subject. he clearly balances the sovereignty of god and his will with our blessings as his children and our works. he hits on sowing and reaping, as well as the fact that just like job, sometimes bad things happen to us not as a direct result of anything we did. what i like best is yancey dives right in, going to leper colonies and interviewing with people who have suffered life-time dehabilitating injuries. it's interesting to see how they've coped and how they view god, and how their suffering has changed their personal relationship with god. indeed suffering is universal, yet there is no universal answer behind the causes of it or how to deal with it. i've heard pastors preach that people have died because they smoked cigarrettes, or got a sexually transmitted disease because of permiscuous sex. but the question begs to be asked, what about those who did those things and didn't die? is it different for a christian as opposed to a non-christian? what man on this earth walks close enough with god to have the power to decide what sin resulted in what judgment? if earthquakes are a judgment from god,... are headaches a judgment from god too? and it's certainly an issue that none of us should be pompous about. one reviewer gave this book a one-star rating, saying that 'god gives suffering when believers desecrate his house.' this is a type of religious crap that this book dispells. isn't it true that none of us are righteous; even our righteous acts are like filthy rags to the lord? then are we categorizing sin by saying that homosexuality can destroy a nation, but the hateful attitude of a right-wing pastor cannot? if christians who tithe are to be blessed by god, then why have some 'tithers' went bankrupt, while some athiests (and christian false-teachers) become million-aires? did 9/11 happen because of the liberal and homosexual communities, as said jerry falwell and pat robertson? or did it in fact happen because w and the family have gotten in bed financially with saudi arabia and other muslim nations, none of which give a rats a__ about america, and even profited from 9/11 when america spent billions on weapons and defense programs..... run by saudis. only a true biblical view of the causes and lessons of suffering can help our walk with god to be more fruitful. you'll find no faith/health/prosperity quick fixes in this one. you'll also find nobody on this earth who knows all the answers. this book definitely gives power to that journey with jesus christ, however. just wondering.... a reviewer of this book has declared a 'chinese victory over the usa', and that china is a 'more christian nation'. woa, dude. they must have better drugs in china too, apparently","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i had my copy of memoirs found in a bathtub confiscated by my 9th grade french teacher in 1977. hey, it was a 30 minute free reading period. i learned of kafka's influences on this book ,and their shared heritage, years later. searching for knowledge can be a treachorous endeavor. the authorities and experts cannot always be trusted - especially when they no longer have paperwork to bolster their position","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"excellent,based in scientific research. it is not a 'sexual book' but a well written book about hormones,thinking, acting and why men and women are different","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"just start reading the introduction, or flip to anywhere in this book to see all you need to know about it's readability: a bit rough to say the least. for example, in the introduction, the concept of carrying binary data in a shorter period of time on a wire than several measured pulses was presented in such a confusing manner that i was forced to read it 4 times to understand what was already a simple and understood concept to me. the excessive formality of this book is a killer.. it reads at times like a formal mathematics proof book, however, at other times it is a bit more readable. like people said.. use this for reference.. not for a textbook","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the late dr. f.f. bruce was a well respected biblical scholar and his commentaries and books have greatly benefited the church of christ. it is no different than with this work on the book of acts. this book falls in line with the rest of the new international commentary on the new testament edited by gordon fee. the nic is a solid evangelical commentary on the new testament with the differing opinions stated in the works (see revelation for example). dr. bruce has gone to great lengths to point out the differences among evangelicals in acts. the commentary itself is full of greek word studies, historical and geographical points, maps, and solid exegesis of every passage in acts. my only drawback with this work on acts as well as the other works of the nicnt is that they are not laid out in expository outlines. it would be helpful if every section was given an expository outline to help the reader when moving through the sections of the scriptures that the authors are working through. for a better expository outline see the commentaries of john macarthur or john phillips","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book was neither bad nor good and therefore leaves me with little inspiration to write a review. what must be said is that this book had great potential, which was never fully developed. the idea was good. even some characters were good. well, actually just patrick. and come to think of it, i ended up liking muffin (the cat) more than i did any of the other mulvaneys. though even as a cat lover, i got sick of hearing about muffin and the other animals which were way too many in the first place. the book did go on and on, too much description about the ordinary (and, oh so cliche at times!).i didn't like the way it jumped between 3rd person and 1st person narrative. i didn't find it confusing, i just found it awkward. it didn't give the chance to really get inside judd's head (i mean, it was 'his' story after all). i could not love or hate anyone in the book. it was hard to tell what their motives were and 'who' the real person was inside them. they seemed so in-and-out of character. maybe that was the author's way of exposing them as phonies? i'm not sure. but without love or hate, there's really nothing left to feel as a reader. left to chose between a ditzy mother, a jerk-of-a-father (but not a jerk enough to hate him or care about what happens to him), an eldest son who is like a prop in this book, a brainiac son who gets revenge only to disappear and become someone completely different without warning or reason, a victimized daughter, that you cannot really feel all that sorry for, the youngest son (also a prop), i'm not sure who to root for (if anyone). the worst part was, just when i started warming up to the book (forgiving its flaws, hoping for a great ending), i was hugely let down. it took me about a week to finish the last 2 chapters because the end of the book just dragged and i found myself too tired to pick it up. we are told in a quick (but ironically again, long and tedious) after-the-fact fashion about what has become of marianne and then in the epilogue everything is 'wrapped up' quickly and neatly with no realism whatsoever. i feel if you're going to resolve things in the end, then resolve them---tell us what it is and how it came to be without just glossing over everything. the book was long enough; some pages should have been assigned to the ending instead of all the fluff in between. this is a book that should make you cry, but i felt nothing (and i am one of the biggest crybabies ever). if you want a good book about family and family secrets, read ann-marie macdonald's 'fall on your knees' or 'the way the crow flies' instead. both excellent books.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i bought this book expecting to be able to find exercises that would help me really learn the product. boy, was i in for a big surprise. if you're a mac user, forget it! this book assumes you're using a pc. last i checked, many people who do web design are mac users. when i got to the first screen and saw that what was shown in the book was different than what i had on my computer, i gave up. it may be helpful for pc users, but if you're a mac user consider yourself ignored . . . yet again","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"disappointing tome with numerous factual mistakes and a lack of understanding of those the author is interviewing. the book is far too dependent on paper sources and fairly clueless on the ground","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this has got to be one of the most touching and powerful books i have ever read in all my 48 yrs as an avid reader. for anyone who doubts that god takes broken people and makes masterpieces, this is a 'must read'. to see the hand of god weave these lives together and make a beautiful tapestry was a joy for me. i have very few books that made me cry, but this one evoked every extreme emotion from me. to top all that off, it is a true story. an absolute pleasure and a cherished experience.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i thought this was a wonderful story with exquisite illustrations. my 3-year old was enthralled with it, and checks it out from the library whenever she can. it's a good story about responsibility and treating animals with understanding, as well as getting ready for santa's sleigh ride","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"extremely basic! it would be useful to have on hand, but the $ is way too much for the few quick tips the book offers","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"'space station 7th grade' is a great, funny, and enertaining book. my son is in the seventh grade and reading this book was like reading a real life story of a kid new to middle school. i really enjoyed the part of the book when jason first had to take a shower after pe. students having to run around in a huge shower room together naked as jay birds is many elementary kids 'worst nightmare'. my son's pe teacher has really good pointers, www bganssle com tsshowers html, for parents and kids who share this worry. kids who feel awkward about their first showers at school, trust me and be like jason in the book and give it a try. soon any discomfort will pass. do you have a son or daughter about to start middle school? have them read space station 7th grade. my son had to learn many new things when starting middle school, the book was a like a guide book to prepare him","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"although the work depicted in the photos is incredible, none of it is very useful. nice to look at - not at all practical for everyday painters","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm sorry to see that this delightful, albeit different, book is out of stock. i would never expect it to be a best seller. nonetheless, the imaginative story and interesting art work are worth a look","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i find this book very well writen. info is complete and correct. this is however on an old version of flash. as long as your looking for a flash 6 book this is the best text i have found. works great as a refrence as well","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"reading john simon's latest compilation of film reviews begs the question, does one have to be 'right' to be a great critic or can simply writing cleverly and rigorously in defense of a basically incorrect critical assessment suffice? what i have always admired about mr. simon is his unflappable way of sticking to his own view irregardless of the popular/critical consensus surrounding him. yet stanley kauffmann tended to give negative notices to many of the same films as simon while writing more sympathetically, insightfully and fairly about the works, so where does that leave simon? out in the cold i'm afraid. reading this latest simon book is exasperating as he snootily dismisses one great film after another (au revoir les enfants, saving private ryan, etc.) i finally came to the consensus that however good a writer he is, he is simply too far off the critical mark...too often. simon has a famous reputation for been gratuitously nasty toward female actresses whom he does not care for the looks of and that continues in this collection. as another reviewer notes, this latest collection also appears to solidify his reputation for being a homophobe too. going all the way back to his review of zefferelli's romeo and juliet in 1968 (where he accuses the director of being a [...] because of the nude love scenes) to his recent review of my own private idaho which he quickly dismisses as a 'homosexual fantasy' his reviews have had a nasty homophobic edge to them, something stanley kauffmann, pauline kael or roger ebert's writings have never had. and the fact that he liked outrageous! (about a drag queen) back in 1978 and savage nights (about a bisexual hiv+ frenchman) in the 1980's does not absolve him in my mind for all the nasty remarks he's voiced elsewhere over the years regarding 'homosexuals' (he never uses the word gay, it's always 'homosexuals'. simon's writing is just as caustic and technically proficient as always (and he still loves providing untranslated foreign quotes) but all that effort is at the expense of all too often unappreciative and skewed critical views. for my money, the essential critics remain pauline kael, roger ebert, stanley kauffmann and david thomson, soon to be joined by anthony lane of the new yorker","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"'all life/ has song...' stan rice announces at the start of 'singing yet,' chaotic collection of poems from his prior three releases, plus several new poems. rice (who sadly passed away at the end of 2002) displayed a flair for evocative imagery, but his poetry is so confusingly random that it's almost impossible to decipher. the first parts of the book are a tangle of bizarre eroticism (comparing melons to a woman) and odd morbidity ('it is death's/drizzle we write/checks on/when we die/we bounce'). but in the 'some lamb' section, rice delved into some deeper, more real turf: the death of his daughter from leukemia. 'we stopped beside a hole where she/was put by men who could not see.' with an actual focus, rice's poetry shifts into aching confusion, describing his daughter's illness, death, and burial, all the emotions that came with it. unfortunately, rice's poetry does not improve after that, including in the stretch of new material at the end of the book -- while his style mellows out a little, rice's poems are still surreal and still nonsensical. 'the iceplants/turn to the sun/their purple/sadist flowers...' dreamlike poetry and strange images are not a problem. but rice's poetry goes beyond strange and into incomprehensible. 'golden silver copper silk/woe is water shocked by milk/heart attack, assassin cancer/who would think these bones such dancers?' he announced at one point. okay, whatever. maybe it's about death. interpret that as you will. while his poetry can be intriguing and seductive, most of the time it just seems like cool phrases tossed randomly together. certainly rice cannot be faulted for his lack of description. he could evoke astoundingly weird, dali-esque images. the problem is, they seem strung together like beads. rather than focusing on one and exploring it, he seems just to have tossed them together randomly, assuming that they will see profound despite their lack of connection. 'thunder no more, sky/big sandwich gold & coral' -- it does not evoke anything by itself, and it seems completely disconnected from what comes after it. an overview of stan rice's poetry, with a stretch of new material, 'singing yet' does not shed any more light on what went through his head. nor does it make his random poetry any more appealing.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i can use 'picture book' to describe full moon, as images contributed as the major part of this book. do not think that this book is not worth reading, indeed, it is on the contrary, this is an extraordinary book, because of the photos. there are a lot of astronomy books contain lots of photos, but when you read them, you would find the images are not so good at all, but not because of the photo itself, because of the low resolution. and if you are familiarize with those photos, you would immediately notice that the original photo is not so small in resolution. it is really a very bad idea for the publisher and editor to ignore the importance of image resolution. however, when you first look into full moon, you will find you're getting into a different world as you are already delighted by the spectacular images of the moon taken from apollo mission. normally, owing to the technological limitation in 1960s and 1970s, all images are only mostly available as hard copy and not so high resolution. however, project full moon can turn those hard copies into very high resolution images. i can even tell you that, nasa even do not have such high resolution images before. since these reasons, i would rank this book as my list of top 10 astronomy book. if you really love astronomy, you must not miss this book, miss the extraordinary journey to the moo","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have no doubt the author is well intentioned and may in fact have had some good results with the exercises outlined. however, in my years of working with borderlines in clinical settings i think many of the exercises are unnecessary and potentially damaging. many of the people with bpd i have worked with have astonishingly traumatic abuse histories and to explore self-history without the tools necessary to contain the potentially explosive and re-traumatizing emotions is foolish and even hurtful. furthermore, the author's assertion that the client be able to say that they want to use his text in therapy and the recommendation that if the therapist objects that the client move on to another therapist is totally misguided and naive. i very much agree that it is important for clients to be able to guide their own work, but i am also highly aware of the ways people with bpd can split different providers. there are just too many genuinely therapeutic reasons to approach the author's recommendations with caution to allow what he says to interrupt what may very well be extraordinary work between a therapist and client. i strongly suggest people look elsewhere, perhaps to the work of linehan for more appropriate and helpful interventions. if i could have, i would have given this book no stars","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am interested in succint yet exhaustive/substantive coverage of the topic for use in real-world corporate finance applications. i found the book to be verbose and not sufficiently to the point. the author peppers a few key insights in endless dialogue, which i find a bit tiresome. the text could be better organized to highlight key points and provide greater substance and less fluff. definition of terms could be far better written even for an introductory text. i suspect i am the wrong target audience","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book takes place in the 1780s and is about a boy named nat bowditch. nat is great at figures and he has great perseverance. nat has just been taken out of school to help his dad make barrels for ships. but he wasn't good at it at all. so his dad got him indentured for 9 years at ropes and hodges. afterwards he went on a ship and found out a new way to work lunars. after his first ship ride he went on several others and found over 2,000 mistakes in a book written by scientist. but do not get to atached to the characters","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"sheldon stern has presented a harrowing study of one of the most dangerous events in world history - the cuban missile crisis. in his book, the week the world stood still: inside the secret cuban missile crisis, we are presented with an event whose story line reads like it was written by a robert ludlum-like mystery writer, this story, however, was frighteningly true history. with the careful, thoughtful, and thorough research that is mr. stern's trademark, the reader is presented with the complete inside story of that fateful week. this is a must read for, not only students, but adults as well. kudos","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"with new findings from a scientist of the los alamos laboratory, the main thesis of this book-that the turin shroud is a medieval forgery-has been dealt a death blow. the new information clearly shows that the portion of the shroud used for the 1988 c-14 test was, in fact, an additional weave to the shroud threads made much later than the cloth itself, and that the winding sheet is much older than c-14 indicated. even without this explosive new information, much of nickell's thesis was outdated well before the year 2005. his 'recreations' of the shroud are amateurish and are not clear evidence of forgery. most of his other information-'paint on the shroud', no provenance before the middle ages-has also been debunked many times over. and his star witness, walter mccrone, had his own reputation tarnished beyond repair when it was proven that his analysis of the vineland map was discredited and debunked(ironic, since both nickell and mccrone tried to destroy and besmirch those who didn't agree with them). in short, nickell's book is now passe, and obsolete. it gets two stars for its entertainment value, but the main arguments and ideas of this book have been thoroughly refuted,once and for all.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"blacklisted: the film lover's guide to the hollywood blacklist is the collaboratively effort of paul buhle and dave wagner and an alphabetically arranged encyclopedia of entries concerning the films, directors, stars, writers, producers, designers, and others who suffered being blacklisted because of the house un-american activities committee during their infamous hollywood blacklist era. over 2000 entries point the reader in the direction of grand works that were covered in shadow during a dangerous time in american history, including films such as 'roman holiday' and 'bridge on the river kwai'. blacklisted is a welcome and greatly appreciated contribution to cinematic studies reference collections","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"***** this short and pithy small book contains a wealth of wisdom about mastery, which is described by the author, george leonard in the introduction as 'the mysterious process during which what is at first difficult become progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice', a '...long-term, essentially goalless process...' this book was written in the early 1990's, but its message is timeless. george leonard relates the journey of mastery to his extensive experience with aikido. essentially, the book was inspirational to me, encouraging me to be enthusiastic about perseverence, patience, and most of all, about enjoying the process of learning what i am most passionate about. mastery is seen more as a journey than a destination. chapters explore topics such as loving the plateau, dealing with change and homeostasis, getting energy for mastery, and pitfalls along the path. this book has a different perspective than others i have read. i would highly recommend it. ****","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"jolly captain jack aubrey and his sidekick the bespectacled bohemian doctor maturin return for this 7th book in the renowned aubrey/maturin series. in this segment, maturin and fem fatale diana viller's romance heats up, jack's money troubles become more pronounced, and doc maturin's career as a spy threatens to become the death of him. what can i say about this great series? the character of jack aubrey is just so endearing and doctor maturin is so priceless as the inscrutable doctor, that this series simply cannot be missed! even the presence of diana villers (a character i've simply loathed for quite some time), seems less irritating. i'm listening to the unabridged narrated version by patrick tull, and this series is wonderful. cannot be missed. particularly love the parts where jack/maturin and the swedish envoy are in prison. too funny! wonderful series. i highly recommend it. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the best starting book for anyone who wants to delve into hypnosis. but it is often available as used book only and is the first in a 4-vol set. but soon (sometime in early 2006), there will be a 8-vol (yes, 8 books in a set) set in a single cd that also comes with audio and bonus video and at $75! back about this book... it tells you experiments and findings of tests conducted on hypnotized subjects and how they react to suggestions by the 'hypnotizer' and also what happens when they are told to do things (while in trance) that they would not do in normal consciousness. the sections on trance and suggestions are excellent; perhaps the best overview of trance and how suggestions work. much of the material is suitable for a hypnotherapist to use in a pre-talk to trance induction","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"book was brand new. cannot wait to take it on vacation with me","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this work is a testiment to chester himes' brilliant insight and characterstic of the schitzophrenic relationship most extremely talented black artists have had with america. much praised for his urban crime series, his more politically charged work was often ignored. this book and the truths it reveals about america's ability and inclination to create entire groups of people with nothing to lose speaks volumes about today's society as it did when written by the author. many who read this will be afraid, as well they should. you will be entertained none-the-less, and hopefully inspired to think. the ending leaves something to be desired, i suspect that is because mr. himes was not alive to complete it himself","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book was very disappointing, and quite frankly depressing for a new mother. my least favorite part was when the mother told the son you had better get here quick, and the image of him rocking what may be a dying mother was a little too much. there are sentimental stories, but this is just plain maudlin.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"is there an option for zero. the worst i book i have ever read. he contradicts himself in his points, hoovers over stealing pears (and other evil things) and puts me to sleep. i do not see how this piece of garbage could make anyone a saint, it should be burned. zero stars","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i found this book to not only be shallow and poorly written, but also insidiously demeaning to women. rather than focusing on the individual strengths and weaknesses men and women bring to relationships, the author focused on the weakness and instability of women. in addition, his examples and analogies were often misplaced and poorly devised... certainly not illustrative of his points or of a healthy marriage. i found the content much too general with overuse of stereotypes. my fiancee and i have read chapman's five love languages and got a great deal more out of that exercise","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as i am a scholar and an expert of na-dene groupings, i find this to be one of the most fascinating and remarkable volumes of the handbookd of north american indians. the photos and linguistic data are absolutely fascinating and the authentic information -that so captivates every micro-molecule of my attention- is astonishingly elating! i have recently been able to determine -thanks to the many rare and authentic photos of this book- that many of the northern 'athapaskan' tribes are not totally 'mongoloid', as i had previoiusly surmised. i have discovered indian (from 'india') and turkish strains that are especially, concentrated in northeastern british columbia and northwestern-northwest territory bands. these findings have shed much light on my na-dene origin theories, regarding the genetic makeup of the na-dene forbears. awesome!!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"reagan began his acting career reading cue-cards in the service of general electric during his stint at the 'ge playhouse.' reagan's move to the white house had him doing much the same, reading cue-cards written for him by big business, including ge, a weapons and energy conglomerate that owns nbc. if people want to get a good feel for the reagan administration, i'd recommend the books of michael parenti, who documents the legacy of dirty wars in latin america and the global class war that is turning our planet into a dystopia of haves and have-nots. globalized 'reaganomics' (aka, neoliberalism) is creating a planet of slums and prisons, war and ecocide. the parts of government that served the general public are being shredded, while the entitlement programs of war profiteers and various robber barrons create record profits. it's interesting to see the reverence kim jong reagan receives; but whether people like him or not is immaterial, he wasn't in charge of the country. rather, very rich and powerful corporate executives and an army of lawyers and lobbyists entrenched themselves during the reagan administration. this corporate coup is something that many presidents have warned us about, including president martin van buren who said, 'i am more than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and unbiased exercise of political opinion - the only sure foundation and safeguard of republican government - would be exposed by any further increase in the already overgrown influence of corporate authorities.' if people can break-away from the reagan illusion, and want to learn about real power in this country, i'd recommend the dvd 'the corporation,' and the books and radio show of thom hartmann.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i love this book! it plays, quite successfully, with douglas adams's idea/question of what happens to gods when people stop believing in them? if you like this book you will also enjoy 'the long dark tea-time of the soul' by douglas adams and 'american gods' by pratchett's friend neil gaimen (though this one is darker and gritty - exploring some of the less flattering parts of america). 'good omens' by pratchett and gaimen is a comedy about the end of the world. if you like the first three books i listed here you will like that one too.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the only reason i finished this book was it was a book club pick - i read a lot and it takes a really bad book for me to quit. this book is just never ending - no plot and a useless read. i cannot believe so many people are giving it a good review. the constant narrative sounded like a neat way to write but it turned out very exhausting to read. do not bother","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my son saw my copy of 'yes, your teen is crazy' (which was an excellent book by the same author.) i thought this book would be geared more towards teens--as i planned on giving it to my son to read--to understand why parents act the way they do. however, it was not written for a teenager. it was very similar to the '...teen is crazy' book. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the author of the chapter 1- robert h.heusen is sincere at p.2 saying that other local ethnicities were indigeneous to the area where armenia was established much later-e.g.the khaldeans,the urartians etc.;that ancient authors wrote about it clearly.i would add that strabo in the ic.wrote in his geography of the world that the armenian political unit was created by a certain general of the army of another country on the land snatched from the iberians/moskhians; this is in vol 5 of strabo,the loeb classical library edition in 1936;this is the area where the republic of armenia was created in 1918.i recently learned that its name was planned to be 'republic of erevan'(not armenia) and the league of the nations promised to the government of kartu i.e. georgia that the creation of armenia in caucasia was a temporary measure-f.nansen from that league of the nations desired to create some footing somewhere in the world for refugees driven out from the balkans and that soon the league of the nations would move the republic of armenia and her armenian and other refugees-unwanted citizens of turkey-to the mediterranean.these facts are known from materials published by f. nansen available in english and some translated into russian now on the web.the creation of that republic and that of azerbaijan in 1918 in the area was the gross violation of the human rights of the indigeneous nation called by several names:the iberians,the moskhians,the kardi etc. r.heusen is absolutely right in telling readers that even before world war i,the armenians were a minority in what became the republic of armenia in 1918.after reading those truthful remarks it was a sad surprise to me to see on the next page 'a map of the historical armenia' encompassing greater territory than the great britain.r.heusen wrote the former was 238,000 square miles against 228,000 square miles of the latter.the term armenian plateau is frequently used by the author.it is unwelcome as other names were usually used for that plateau.moses khorenatsi is discussed at several pages.it is over two centuries that he is widely denounced for being a fictitious author and therefore called pseudo-moses khorenatsi.i have thoroughly researched materials on that author in publications,in unpublished archives of prof.mikheil tamarashvili known as michele tamarati in rome and paris.many authors in xix century revealed the absurdity of the writings attributed to him:among them mr.lenormann,ilia chavchavadze criticised that pseudo author and his promoters from the mkhitarist congregation in venice- western europe for spreading false information.'gate of alans' (p.152)usually has a better term in historical sources:the gate of aragvi.metsamor mentioned at p.49 is the distorted term from kartu term 'metsamuli' meaning 'cherry colour'-as nearby clyffs are reddish with minerals.this kartu/kartuli designation was given to those clyffs,the nearby village and the river by ethnic kartu population millenia ago before aliens-armenians among them-immigrated to that area-some as refugees,others as invaders accompanying alien armies.authors of this book mention a huge number of writings of persons- including the ancient persians,greeks,romans,kartu(shota rustaveli,history of kartly,dionysius the areopagite,georgian chronicle(p.242);myriad of modern authors and those of xix-xx cc.the book is clearly addressed to modern young ethnic armenians and teach them that they are entitled not only to what was made the republic of armenia in 1918(itself an abuse of the human rights of another-indigeneous nation that has created a kingdom including the territory of that area in much early days),but to the region'greater than the great britain'.still i give to the authors of this book 'excellent', i.e. 5 stars- for excellent misinformation","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this sounds like an ideal book for a person with an eating disorder. but it heaps loads of guilt and condemnation on an already needy and suffering soul. the idea that over or undereating is sin is one concept. but the fact is that the individuals embroiled in this cannot help themselves. they are already people pleasers and perfectionists, how can telling them the whole problem is because they are sinners be of help? they are already as good as they can get themselves to be. they are not bad--they are hurt and afraid. it has been said no one can overcome an eating disorder without the help of a therapist. this i believe. there are too many important issues involved in this disease to dismiss it as sin. if the person knew the issues they would be a long way to getting help. god loves these dear ones and understands the enormity of their situation and their pain. these are very good people. heaping more condemnation on one beset with self-loathing is surely not the path to freedom. adding god's displeasure to this already mountainous pile of self hate can only be damaging--perhaps pushing some over the edge. a good book to avoid!!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the topic is good but the author crams way too much reporting into the book rather than concentrating on a few chosen stories of families on the home front. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is neither about aristotle nor general motors. do not be fooled into believing it is in any way an application of aristotelian ethics in modern business; it is not. morris consistently contradicts aristotle throughout the book. an example is morris' proselytizing conclusion that leadership requires humility. to make his point morris quotes ancient hasidic verse and the tao te ching to establish that we are all worms. nobility, morris suggests, is lowness. did aristotle ever say this? no. could aristotelian writing lead us to these conclusions? no again. is taoism consistent with aristotelian reason and logic? no, no, no. is hasidic verse? definitely not. so what is going on? did morris forget to read aristotle? aristotle understood man as a rational being with happiness as the moral purpose of his life. morris does not. this book does not. morris peppers his book with quotes at the furious rate of no less than one or two per page. he quotes every thing from fortune cookies to einstein. ironically with all this mad quoting he never once, ever, (i checked) quotes aristotle - never. this book could better be titled, 'if an irrational populist ran a non-profit organization.' the prefaces of basic economic texts usually contain better discussions of the practical intersection of business and philosophy.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i just picked up the guitar again -- i played guitar briefly, and very badly, years ago -- and was hoping for a quick refresher course and a little more. this book, alas, is just terrible. the organization is illogical and confusing, important topics are given very short shrift while unimportant stuff fills page after page. most of the book could charitably be called filler. the book is terrible as a reference book as well; useful stuff like scales and chord diagrams are scattered about the book, and many of the diagrams are hard to make sense of. (he does not even explain the correct tuning for the guitar until page 170, in a section on how to play slide guitar -- i had to look it up on the internet.) i chucked the cd into the trash. for scales, i found 'the ultimate scale book' to be about a zillion times better.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"overall, an 'ok' read, but teaches human sexuality as though his audience was a grade-six sex education class as rather than mature-minded adults. this book is extremely simplistic and vague, and tends to lean towards a more dellusional depiction of human sexuality, often confining it to the contexts of outmodded biblical principles and male-dominated patriarchy. lacking modern approach and intimate sensuality, i would sincerely hope that this book is not a reflection of poor tim's seemingly mechanical sex life!! i would not recommend this book unless you are totally ignorant and clueless about what sex is all about. i would suggest looking elsewhere for a more relevant guide to sexual intimacy","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i hate this book. all the book is the repetition of the same code with very, very few differences. the description lets argue that is pointed to advanced users but the content is so basic that is hard to believe. it uses soap in it's more basic fashion. the code is poor (also the html and the javascript used). the code is written in a so invesive fashion that if you strip it (and is not a bad idea), you will find no more than 30 pages. the multi-tier is just supposed to be good and misuesed. as you may understand, i strongly advise to not buy this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you are a teenager or student in your early 20s and are fascinated with the big mysterious world of i-banking, this book is for you. it starts from ground zero and provides a cursory explanation of what investment banking is, along with some guidance on career paths in the field. if you are anyone else, forget it. as i struggled to maintain interest, i could not help but be reminded of a scene from the movie 'back to school', where paxton whitehead plays a b-school professor lecturing his class on how to start a business and rodney dangerfield plays a veteran businessman with no formal education. as whitehead's character is pontificating about the nuances of how global interest rates affect the construction costs that a hypnothetical business will incur, dangerfield's character cannot help but blurt out 'why in the world would you build when you can rent in this market for half a buck a square foot and let someone else have the headaches of property management?'. it quickly becomes apparent that the real-world experience of dangerfield's character is far more useful than the off-topic theoretical knowledge of the professor. this author reminds me of whitehead's character: thoroughly vetted in academia and obviously having zero experience in the real world, and thus having zero useful real-world insight to share with his readers. the most-cited references in the chapter bibliographies are the annual reports of the big i-banks, and the rest of the book is written at the same naieve, glossy-overview level. in summary, if you want to know what it's like to serve in the navy, you can get yourself a copy of the navy's glossy brochure on what navy careers are supposed to be like, or you can find a vet who's been in the navy to tell you what it's really like. reading this book is like reading the navy's glossy brochure.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the translation of this work is at best clumsy and frequently appalling. as a previous reviewer notes much appears to have been carried out using, poorly, a dictionary. thus we have 'knife' used to refer to what in english is commonly called a sabre. the reason being (i assume) that the character used to describe the weapon commonly means knife. frequently, she has chosen arcane language. thus we get 'myrmidon' to describe a senior captain/bodyguard; the translater not appreciating that the term when used in english literature is either jocular or derogatory. some phrases and clauses are meaningless. it all reflects badly on the editorial team at the chinese university press in hong kong and, unfortunately, tells one much about the standard of english here. where does this leave the reader? frankly, i cannot understand how anyone could give this book a high rating other than out of a desperate desire to read something of this genre. the deer and the cauldron is far superior. this book can only be recommended to somebody who is prepared to persevere with the translation out of an interest in martial arts literature","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i mention that this is a board book because so many parents seem dissapointed by how few pages it contains. your kids will still love it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"while this story is truly an essential writing of dostoevsky, it lacks the appropriate context to be read as sold in this copy. if you are interested in reading 'the grand inquisitor' without reading the rest of the brothers karamazov, i would recommend the guignon edition, sold for only a little more. this work includes the two chapters preceeding 'the grand inquisitor' as well as what dostoevsky intended as the refutation for this tale, 'the russian monk,' which follows this legend. dostoevsky did not intend for this to be separated from the book as a whole, but i think it could be legitimately done when read with a little more context than is present in this copy. additionally, this alternate edition includes a very complete introduction by charles guignon, which is much more informative than the brief one by anne fremantle provided in this copy. it is important to remember that 'the grand inquistor' was not dostoevsky's final answer in the brothers karamazov. reading this edition alone provides a flawed view of both dostoevsky's writing and philosophy and the brothers karamazov. i would recommend reading the book as a whole instead [and i particularly recommend the pevear and volokhonsky translation for that: it is much more accurate to the original russian]. or at a minimum, reading the other edition of this book. either way, you will get a more complete glimpse to the genius of dostoevsky, which this fails to provide. the grand inquisitor is truly an essential read, but not in this presentation of it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"baltasar and blimunda is a wonderful, richly detailed account of life in early 18th century portugal. it is a time when portugal fought the ruthless french, maintained an important colony in brazil, and was constantly under the threat of the holy inquisition. the king of portugal, dom joao v, desperately wants an heir to the throne. one night he promises a franciscan friar that if he can foretell a succession to the throne then he would build a convent in mafra. after the queen gives birth dom joao v fulfills his promise by building a convent that is destined to be the greatest in portugal. meanwhile, after losing his hand on the battlefield baltasar travels to lisbon where he eventually meets blimunda while watching public executions of condemned individuals. an eccentric padre bartolomeu lourenco recruits baltasar and blimunda to work in secret creating passarola, a flying machine that resembles a giant bird. centuries before the modern airplane is created, the act of flying is often beyond the comprehension of individuals and could be seen as a holy sign. the sections of this book detailing the plight of passarola are most entertaining and fun. this creates a good balance with the harsh details of the building of the convent. saramago succeeds in writing entire passages revealing how much work and sweat were involved in such acts as dragging a giant slab of marble a considerable distance. one might think these passages are dull and tedious, but i believe saramago highlights these arduous aspects of life that are often ignored by other authors who create works of historical fiction. throughout the years saramago has solidified his reputation for being a wonderful storyteller who create novels that are both shocking and revealing of the human condition, and bastasar and blimunda is no exception. highly recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i wanted to like this one. i really did. my son loves hand clap games and board books so it seemed like a natural fit. he just seemed to hate the repetition in this one. the sounds/words/rhythm are the same page in and page out and by page 5, he was acting like he does when i try to read a book to him a second time to avoid getting up to get another. (he's seen it before and he knows it.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a health and wellness instructor with the government, i am constantly asked to provide nutritional information and cooking tips for healthy eating. the wellness encyclopedia is one of the best tools i have. with it's clear, concise,writing and colorful pictures i highly recommend it's use in both schools and at home","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"in this collection of 14 short stories by everyone's favorite boogeyman stephen king, there is a one particular story in here called '1408' that is in my honest opinion, the scariest short story that king has published to date. it deals with a haunted hotel room and i'm not telling you anymore than that. what i will say is that i've read this one story at least ten times and it never fails to make the hairs on my neck stand straight up. if you, dear amazon shopper, like the feeling of being terrified this is what i suggest: get your hands on a copy of this book. when you've done that, make sure you save '1408' for a night that you're alone. try to read this one when you're nice and relaxed and really try to let yourself get immersed in king's masterful storytelling. i guarantee that at least nine out of ten of you that follow my suggestions will get spooked something awful. as for the rest of the book, it really is a return to form for king as far as his short story collections go ('nightmares and dreamscapes', the book and not the tnt series, wasn't all that great save for a couple). most of the stories here are hits rather than misses and '1408' isn't the only story here that will give you the chills. 'the man in the black suit' is pretty intense (not to mention king won an o. henry award for that one). 'riding the bullet', the famed e-book from a few years back is here also, as well as a nice little side tale from the dark tower series titled 'the little sisters of eleuria'. i recommend this book to the fans and the non-fans alike as this is a great collection. plus, '1408' is calling","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is one of the worst textbooks i have ever used. the book uses lame metaphors. the style of writing is also horrible. it is very hard to understand and has a lot of 'fluff' information. i do not suggest any ap us history students to read this for the ap exam","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the story starts with an introduction to a somewhat cantankerous, yet highly amusing character, gen. he is stuck in jail, having been caught thieving. he bragged about the theft, which is what got him caught. he is taken from prison and told that the king wishes for him to steal something for him that many believe to only be a myth. gen's only other option is death. so onward the journey goes. he travels with the magus and his two apprentices, ambiades and sophos, plus the admirable soldier, pol. gen is treated as a subservient fool and most times is thought of as nothing but a tool to enact the theft. this viewpoint lends a somewhat snide, yet funny and endearing perspective of the story. i enjoyed watching as the character dynamics changed throughout. plus, on their journey we are introduced to the legends of their gods through campfire stories, which i found a wonderful addition to the story. they added flavor to the history of the lands and gave us an understanding of how the people thought and why they did what they did. i thoroughly enjoyed reading this tale. yes, a worthy read indeed","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the low-point in the great man's career, the book shows little feel for rock and roll and its hippy messiah of a protagonist is almost as embarrassing as jim morrison himself was. the lyrics are especially awful and the whole thing seems dated - like most genuine late 60s / early 70s rock. de lillo went on to much, much greater things, which is what you should read instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book is written with the purpose to be an 'up-to-date [source about] dc/dc converters for students and practicing professionals'. it is a shame how this target is not reached. since from the very begin, the introduction, you will face an answer: what is its usefulness? you'll hope that, going on reading, everything will be clearer, and, from a certain point of view, this is what you get: what you've seen in introduction is eventually explained so that it could be useful even to students. however the text neither is 'practical' nor gives you the 'in-depth-analysis' you were hoping since its title begins with 'advanced'. schematics are rarely useful to understand the following analysis and are often badly sketched/printed. mathematical derivations are quite good but not enough to fulfill designers needs. apart from this it is a good effort. in my opinion readers should have to wait the next edition, if there will be a next edition","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm interested by all the reviewers who claim this book is a good one despite the racist stereotypes of 'savage' natives because, they say, it's 'the truth.' the review before mine is especially interesting; he proclaims to love the book and reads it to his children as it teaches about defending your home against terrorism. reviewers like myself are just spewing 'liberal diatribe.' another reviewer asks 'as for the savages, who was attacking who?' everyone thinks of the scenario of little edward and his innocent family just living their lives until these terrible indians come along and want to wipe them out. in the interest of historical truth, would you look at it another way? think of your home and neighborhood. you may have lived there for years, or you may have just moved from a neighboring town. you participate in community activities, your children are educated with your neighbors children, you attend religious services. then one day, a group of foreign soldiers come into your neighborhood, and say it now belongs to them. as americans, how would you feel if a group of italian, english, russian, french, etc., soldiers did this? they claim the neighborhood in the name of their government and demand that you leave your home and go elsewhere. pretend no telephones, telegraph, or internet exist. you go to your government and tell them about the soldiers, but they have no way of notifying the foriegn soldiers government that this land is already settled. your government sends an army to eject the soldiers, but is defeated. eventually you have to leave. the soldiers keep coming, and it's not long before families from the soldiers land come as well. they keep expanding further and further, and forcing you and your family to keep moving, killing many of your family and friends. eventually all of you have had enough of this treatment - instead of fighting only their soldiers, your leaders get small citizen's armies together to attack their settlements as they have yours. now, who is the terrorist in this case? if you want your children to know the historical truth, you should tell them the whole truth. comparing the original inhabitants of north and south america to the 9-11 terrorists is not accurate. comparing the european invaders - let me see, they killed the natives who wanted to keep the land they'd lived on for centuries, and forcibly converted them to european religions, as the native religions were 'heathen.' if you believe everything i've written is just 'liberal diatribe,' go on happily reading this book to your kids, with no true historical references. i'm just a mixed-blood savage, so of course what i think will not count with you. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i bought this book after see the movie as a child still great loved every minute of it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book offers insightful, thorough, and well-reasoned analysis of every modern president, from fdr through clinton, all in slightly more than 100 pages. greenstein concisely but comprehensively reviews all of these presidents based on various categories -- from charisma to cognitive abilities to emotional maturity. beyond that, he provides a historical backdrop to each presidency, providing context and texture for each tenure. this book offered fresh perspectives to most every presidency, and forced me to reevaluate the bush and ford presidencies in particular. i imagine most readers will find that greenstein's book challenges many of their long-held assumptions too","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"alison mcghee's story is about 17 year-old rose surviving a collision in which she and her older sister, ivy, were innocent victims. rose agonizes throughout ivy's lengthy hospitalization, and the accident is replayed over & over; also the mother's 'coping mechanisms' - keeping her hands busy while her mind and heart cannot allow the release of ivy from the hospital's life lines. this is a heart-wrenching story, like a movie that must be seen again and again - my reading became skimming at times: i identified rose as a middle-schooler & didn't want her story to tell young girls that sex is a good release from the agony of being alive; nor is it safe, or without other consequences. (i was never comfortable about the time our daughters spent on the school bus!) mcghee's characters became a part of my life, not to be sloughed off easily. (do not miss her other teen novel, 'snap' - - also excellent reading for adults.) reviewer mchaiku agrees with the judges for minnesota's 2006 book awards that the author's 'poetic text authentically and movingly reflects the thoughts and actions of a teen who is desperately trying to salvage her life.' alison mcghee's writing, and the characters that developed strengths, the quotes which melded to become prime movers for the telling , and the friends who cultivated the writer's talents - - all are to be admired. (p.s.: i do wonder why alison mcghee left the adirondacks for minnesota?!) ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"think about this scenario. one fine morning you are diagnosed with high blood pressure and you have no idea about this silent killer. then this book is for you. dr alan knows his subject inside out and uses a language which is extremely easy for one and all to follow. you can always give this book as a gift to someone you know suffering from blood pressure. it has everything in it. various treatment options, medicines and its side effects, exercises needed, diets, supplements and a whole lot that will help the reader to have a normal and healthy life. as i'm sitting here writing this review i'm sipping a delicious beverage that cannot stop drinking. absolutely fabulous stuff! made from roasted soya that you brew like coffee. my doctor said my cholesterol dropped 30 points thanks to this. look for it online at www.s oycoffee.com. as for the book, it's pure pleasure readin","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this a compelling true story in which anyone who reads it will be swept up. it is about three men , israel carmi , jochanan pelz and arie pinchuk, who form the jewish brigade , a division of jewish soldiers from israel, in the british army-'the first official jewish fighting force since the fall of the judea to the roman legions'. at the time when jews are being victimized and lead like sheep to the slaughter , the jewish brigade , with a yellow star of david emblazoned to their uniform , fighting for the jewish people , and their homeland of israel, shows the world that jews can fight back and win. it also tells the remarkable story of arie pichuk's sister leah , and her escape from the nazis , surviving as a fugitive in the ukraine , before joining the anti-nazi partisans. after the war , the men witness first hand what the nazis have done to their people, and set off on a course of identifying , finding and killing nazi officers who have participated in the holocaust. their hatred and ferocity threatens to overwhelm them , until a chance encounter with an orphaned jewish girl sets them on a more constructive course-smuggling jewish boys and girls into israel, despite the british blockade which tires to prevent jews from entering the ancient homelnd from which they where forced out by the romans two thousand years before. it is therefore a true narrative about the re-establishment of the state of israel , where jewish children can grow up insafety and live as free men and women , in a free homeland of their own. that is zionism , which has been so maligned by evil forces , who want the jews to fall pray to genocide again. every descent person , jew or gentile , needs to dedicate themselves to ensuring that israel survives as a jewish state in which jews can live freely and safely. anything else will guarantee another holocaust. israel and the jewish people are faced with the same genocidal hate today , that the jews where faced with during world war ii our heroes play a role in defending israel after the fledgling state is attacked by five arab armies , hellbent on genocide. am israel chai. the people of israel live! ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i came to this book wanting to believe, and leaning towards belief, but with plenty of skepticism. this book reinforced my skepticism. it is not intended as a defense of the visions, per se, but friendly non-skeptical interviews with the visionairies, and report of marian messages to the parish at medjugorge, and a smattering of anecdotes of seemingly miraculous events. the interviews with the visionairies were most unsatisfying. the questions were leading and shallow, nothing like the kind of questions i wish i could ask. even worse, the answers were stereotyped, vague, and even evasive. was this a language barrier problem? an artifact of the interviews being condensed and edited? an effort to avoid arguments? perhaps. but i kept comparing in my mind these transcripts with scriptural accounts of conversations with jesus. jesus, despite all language barriers and editing, was always very direct, clear, and substantive, and never shied away from stirring up controversy. jesus also taught us to be on guard against the many false prophets who would surely come. i remain on guard","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am a panama (just cause) & desert shield/storm vet, and after seeing the movie i read the book... well almost all of it. this guy is a problem child period! pissed off at the world, pissed off at life, and very lucky i didn't get my hands on him. snipers are crazy as another review stated, but this guy is that 5% of the corps that that can give the other 95% a bad name. some of the boredom issues were true, wives/girlfriends dumping us was true, etc... but overall this guy just really ticked me off... but that is his goal in life isn't it... books about god, country, corps; things that are still thought, and observed by every marine may just not shock the masses as much as a book aboutsome discontented, nonhacker, shiptbird.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the idea was to have the essentials of ac/dc circuit analysis, linear circuits, electronic circuits, digital logic circuit design, electromechanical machines, and control theory in one handy outline. the problem is, any one of these subjects is way too complex and deep as it is presented in most universities for the book to be helpful for undergraduate electrical engineering students. also, on the whole, this material is far from basic. the material on electromechanical machines and control theory is usually taught in junior or senior undergraduate courses.thus, this book would be most helpful to a professional or someone returning to graduate school for a master's degree in electrical engineering who needs some review on material that they have previously mastered but possibly forgotten. unfortunately, as the other reviewer pointed out, this book is chock full of errors, thus rendering the book pretty much useless in the problem solving department. if a revised second edition of this book ever comes out with corrections to all of the current errors, i would recommend it to the target audience i have already mentioned, but definitely not to undergraduate engineers who are seeing this material for the first time","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"although i found a few nuggets in this book, i was horrified at the author's extremist views. i will not recommend this book to the diversity committee at my school","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a nursing major the book was difficult to get through. possibily due to trouble outside of school. definitly not easy reading, but lots of good information. i recommend this for anyone who is thinking about nursing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"gives you so much insight into your own world. thank you for this book. it has helped me see the truth as it really is. not how i would want to see it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"each story has a different author...however they all use the same verbage. their either all friends or the same person. i do not like this book nor does my husband","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i would like to know what kind of a wuss needs to use a stradegy guide for a first person shooter!? i mean, they're pretty straightfoward - walk forward and kill all the bad guys you see! how hard is that!? halo is an awesome game but it's really not hard to figure out what to do! i mean you'd have to be a complete moron not to know what to do or where to go. it tells you more than once what to do during the game - you got that extrememly annoying cortana yacking in your ear pretty much non-stop, tellin' ya what to do. but anyway i'm done ranting at you wusses","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it's an educational book to read. my child and i like reading it together","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"robert putnam's book bemoans the declne in 'civic participation' among americans since its heyday in the 50's and 60's. although few would argue that bridge clubs are not what they used to be, who would have predicted the rise of 20,000 member mega-churches back in 1962? this underlines the basic problem with this book: it focuses too much on what constituted 'communities' and 'activities' in the past, without looking at how people form new and different kinds of communities today. while i agree that television has dramatically increased the couch potato index, and participation in traditional formal organizations has declined, i would argue that membership and participation in new kinds of groups that are more relevant to people in the 21st century has risen. for example, while young people famously are less likely to vote in our dual-party system, college students today volunteer more that any generation before them. in addition, while participation in mainline protestant churches has stedily declined, engagement in evangelical churches has risen dramatically. while i personally feel that the sterile suburban, drive-everywhere-in-my-suv existance is soul crushing, and the popularity of reality tv may be a sign of the apocolypse, i also do not pine for the days where mom was expected to stay home with the kids and go to the bridge club once a week, while dad worked 9-5, returned home to supper, and went to the men's club on tuesdays at 8. and while putnam's basic premise may resonate with many, its fetishization of days past blunts the strength of his overall argument","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"godel's theorem has been entirely overused! lets get one thing straight people: all that theorem says is that in any decently powerful formal system you are forced to decide between either have a complete but inconsistent system, or have an incomplete but consistent system! it has no relevance to ai, so go find some other argument to bolster your bio-bigotry","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i guess albom will just keep churning out this psychobabble but i'm done with him. at least i can say i never paid for any of his oprahlit. just wasted time at a library. please do not make this huckster one cent richer. buy something more edifying. like toilet paper","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"f this self-help industry crap. quasi-astrological poppycock at its worst. i can tell this book clamps on to the mind and squeezes it to death merely by reading the cliched title. humans are far more complex than the hack man-warrior/female-maiden title what's-his-name gives them. and remember, this 'doctor,' is quietly making mucho mucho bucks off your poor purchase. your goddamned ancestors never needed a book to run their lives, so why do you? let's push all the life coaches off cliffs and put the self-help industry to the torch. that's a great start to a sane life","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i tried many times to finish this book because once i buy it and start it, i hate to just walk away from it. but, this book did it. i was never really interested in the plot, i thought the writing was very basic, elementary actually, slow, and just plain boring. i tried on more than one occasion to pick it back up, but i never did get into to, making this the only book i've ever started and put back on my shelf with no interest in finishing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"not only has this professor studied the country of iraq, he has studied its language and its history. unlike many authors writing about iraq, he has lived there. he was also a policy advisor during the kennedy administration. given this, he has a better perspective than most who have written about it. in highlighting linguistics, polk points out that not understanding the language will inevitably lead to misunderstanding, which will in turn lead to bad decisions. further, by highlighting the history of the country, he underlines the good times and the bad, and in doing so, he points out what is likely to happen. the last part of the book discusses the current situation in iraq and the united states' involvement. here, the author applies the history and language to show what can be expected. however, part of this also goes into critique. regardless on your take of the united states' presence in iraq, this book is a good primer for understanding iraq","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"american lives. hannity receives his talking points every day from the rnc, and then repeats them like the summoner from 'canterbury tales,' repeating his two or three latin phrases. hannity's phrases: - liberals are giving comfort to the enemy when questioning our president when our soldiers are in harm's way. - liberals do not want to defend america and fought homeland security every step of the way (when it was bush who fought it) - howard dean hates republicans, he is unhinged, so is hillary, al gore, john kerry, and every republican except for ben nelson and joe lieberman. - osama bin laden was offered up to clinton on a silver platter. (never happened) so, as al franken says, hannity knows 11 facts, all of which are outright lies, or misrepresentations, so please do not try to confuse him with any nuance or qualifications to the 11 facts he knows. do not waste your money on this book - it, and he, are the reason the right and the left can no longer talk to each other. he is laughing all the way to the bank with his tax cut, begotten on his listeners' backs","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a designer in the new york metropolitan area, i thoroughly appreciate the effort that must have gone into making this book, and in particular its illustrations. they are detailed, accurate (as far as i can tell), and above all informative in a way that infrastructure diagrams from other books are not. it is noted that tw:aoac's lead designer found inspiration in a chance encounter with famed statistician/graphic artist edward tufte - a credible claim, if this book is any indicator. conveying so much about the city yet basking in white space, these spreads are consistently excellent. ascher's writing, too, is impeccable, and while a free-market standpoint is appropriately engaged in her commentary, the invaluabity of new york's public bureaus is not given short shrift. indeed, where politics have clouded issues of development for the city, ms. ascher has deftly surmised the issue and given it full and fair treatment. as a major in economics and a professional graphic designer, i am happily forced to recommend this book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as a long time civil war buff i found this book utterly fascinating. it takes the true story of general sherman and his march to the sea and fictionalizes it just enough to make it intriguing and even difficult for someone to put down who has little interest in the civil war. more importantly it explains the reason why he destroyed everything in his path. william tecumseh sherman was hated in the south and even today, to a great extent he still is. however, his intent was by destroying the food supply, to shorten the war. he did succeed in his goal. read this book and you will have a true understanding of why the civil war began and lasted as long as it did.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i love james patterson and am thrilled that he wrote this book for the younger generation. i bought this book for my [...] year old son and he could not put it down. he loved it, and it was all he talked about. now he's reading schools out forever and is glued to that one too! i hope there will more books like these to follow! i am planning to read it myswelf when i finish reading the james patterson book i am currently reading","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book clearly explains the basic guidelines to becoming a millionaire and taking time to enjoy the little things. michael leboeuf is a great author and knows how to get to the point. the dedication and pride that went into this book is tremendous and it clearly beams whenever you read a passage from any part of the book. always following leboeuf's law: 'invest your time actively and your assets passively.' i advise everyone to do themselves a favor and buy this wonderful masterpiece. it's truly made me a better person","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as a white man, this book offended me several times during the first five minutes of reading it. if an author wrote in the same way about black people the book would not even be published! i am tired of the double standard! thank god i didn't pay for this book and only checked it out at the library","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"big disappointment. i expected this book to be hysterical. her sense of humor is certainly different! very shallow material. marty wurtz author of deceptions and betrayal","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"tim lahaye, jerry jenkins, and others in the pre-trib circle, such as ed hindson, tommy ice, chuck missler, etc., continue to put forth the same deceptions that hal lindsey popularized decades ago. the notion of a pre-tribulation rapture is foreign to scripture, it is foreign to the teachings of the early church, and it is grooming the church for destruction through ignorance and lack of preparation for what is really coming. these men are novices and not prophecy 'experts' or 'scholars' by any stretch of the imagination; they are those who tickle the ears of gullible christians. why continue to be deceived? tim cohen, in his excellent book, 'the antichrist and a cup of tea,' provides biblically sound and testable evidence to show that the coming antichrist is known now. not only that, the same author (tim cohen) has now put out the strongest presentation on the whole issue of the rapture ever offered to the saints of god in christ: 'the real rapture'. if you really want to know the truth about the timing of the coming rapture, then you need to hear tim cohen's 'the real rapture' (based on a volume in his forthcoming 'messiah, history, and the tribulation period' series (see prophecy house's web site, prophecyhouse dot com, for details on these items)","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is about a writer who splits up with his long-term boyfriend, becomes depressed, and then becomes friends with a young boy (i think 10? 12? i do not remember) over the phone who was abused and used in a kiddy porn ring by his parents before escaping only to learn he had aids and writing a book on it. except as the book goes on, it becomes questionable whether the kid actually exists. all well and good, but what really makes the book stand out isn't the storyline. noooo. it's the slashy overtones where there really really squickily shouldn't be any! i should not get the idea that this abused kid is this middle-aged author's fantasy. no, no, no. i felt dirty after reading this. i felt even more dirty after finding out via wikipedia that the author based it on a real life experience of it. this is a scary scary man, and makes me want a long long bath.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my family of five (kids presently aged 9,7,3 yrs) has been to walt disney world before. we love the place and very much look forward to our trips there. however, experience has taught me that a good guide book is still a valuable tool when traveling to disney, and well worth the money for the knowledge and tips you gain. i've bought _the official guide to wdw_ (not worth the $ in my opinion), passporter's (also good), birnbaum's, etc. but this is still the best-- especially if you are in the planning stages of your trip. if you have small kids, i'd recommend getting the smaller, more portable [...","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"possibly the worst book i have ever read. the 'style' could be bested by a not-too-bright fifth grader. the plot is an imbecilic rehash of the divinci code. do not bother keeping track of any details, because everything turns out to be irrelevant. if you want to entertain yourself and your friends, however, check this out of your local library and get mildly drunk. now open the book at random and read aloud. this should cause hysterical i-cannot-believe-this-got-published laughter. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"there was such promise, a woman who had 'escaped' her ho-hum marriage, gone back to her roots was finding herself, starting her art work back up, caring for her mysteriously crazy mother, and then she 'had' to fall for a monk, and turned this story into a romance novel. when she 'married' herself with knots into the sea, and lovingly talked about mermaids, it had some hope of independence, then it failed, going back to her husband after the 'affair' (she got dumped for god.) she didn't go back stronger, she went back wimpier and needy. sure, she had art in a gallery, but whee....where was her growth?? there wasn't any. sorry. this novel leaves the reader disappointed and sad. ugh!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"there is a profound need for americans to read books about non-western cultures. this is especially true for those in political leadership positions. things fall apart, by chinua achebe, is one such book. i learned about things fall apart for the first time recently on somebody's blog. i picked it up from the library two days ago and finished it today. things fall apart is the story of okonkwo, a leader in the village of umuofia in nigeria. the story is told from the point of view that the ibo culture of okonkwo's people. this culture is profoundly different from that of 21st century america. a significant part of this book is spent establishing the culture and society for the reader. in the first part of the book, the cultural constructs hold the society together, even though things fall apart on occasion on a personal level for okonkwo and others in the book. but things fall apart for the culture as a whole as a result of the arrival of christian missionaries and british colonial rulers. the story of how this happens to okonkwo and his village is told in a simple, accessible, but gripping way. if you read this book, do not use the speed reading technique of reading the end first. just read it through, and will find that the very last paragraph provides the exclamation point that makes this book's message so important","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"in order to maintain the legal status of your corporation, you need to pass very specific resolutions and keep very specific records. i had hoped for a 'cookbook' for the legal steps required to set up and operate my corporation, but this is not it. the info on corporate structures is very basic and general - you could easily find this level of detail on the web. that's my primary complaint with this book... it mentions what you must do, but does not give you the specifics of how. instead of this book, i recommend you: (1) get the *basics* from your lawyer or accountant (or even doing some research on the web) (2) buy the corporate minutes book by anothony mancuso instead of this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i wish mr. sparks would find the voice he wrote with in his earlier novels. that flow and voice i understood so well. at first sight felt like i was reading a deadline novel. just words, no insight, didn't make this reader think at all. sorry, just the way i read it.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"generations of sad dingbats have stood on mountains waiting for some all-important 'end time', and when the predicted dates come and go, is anyone dissuaded? of course not. they just re-interpret the same old ambiguities and come up with another date. 'no, really, this time we know we've got it right.' because books like this exploit the terminally self-centred, who want it all to be about 'me'. 'i' will be there when it all happens. it's all for 'my' generation. it's all focused on 'me'. lahaye and jenkins clearly capitalise on these feelings, as have generations before them. nobody ever went broke overestimating the gullibility of the human race","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have read several of nicholas sparks' books, but this one was different for me. it was a very very slow start. i was more than 150 pages into it before i got interested in the plot. i had even considered quitting reading it at times. it ended up being an okay story, but nothing that i could not have lived without reading. what i did enjoy is the way mr. sparks writes about male characters in the romantic way women wish men really were. i would suggest another read from mr. sparks like 'the notebook' or 'the wedding' if you want a good romantic read. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i bought this book as a gift for a friend based on the great categories it has to offer for recording book information. i was so disappointed to find that the spaces allowed for writing are so small. also, the book is hard to navigate. the hard cover and hard binding do not allow for anyone to write it in it (inflexible). i gave it as a gift still, but i had to apologize for what a cruddy book it was","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i've been focusing on some prizewinning books as of late, and i thought this would be a necessary prelude to reading ford's pulitzer prize winnning 'independence day'. ford has insights into what suburban life is and the desire for comfort and mystery in protagonist frank's life. frank's struggle to wrestle with the loss of his son and his marriage presents an opportunity to peer inside his mind and see what makes it tick. what you think of this book will depend on what you think of frank as a narrator. his desire to evade deeper meaning and personal responsibility was maddening to me at times; others will find this a profound truth in the book. i also found him to be longwinded and i had a hard time rooting for and identifying with him as a character. slogged through this book and at the end, i do not think it was worth it for me. 2 star","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i picked up a copy of this pretentious garbage at a library used book sale. i paid one american buck for it, which was about 100 cents too much. it's obvious from the start that rush is extremely impressed with his massive vocabulary. probably giggled himself to sleep each night after he finished his writings, imagining all the ignorant folks who would need the same dictionary he used to write it, in order to decipher his blather. i would recommend any of john steinbeck's novels to any human who plowed his or her way through this dire drivel, simply to clean their mental palate. dumpster fodder.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"nature's way. two of the most powerful words in the english language. and yet we believe it is completely unnatural to relinquish our 'three-squares-a-day' mentality. after all, what could be more natural than eating? problem is ... we are digging our graves ... with our teeth. if nature's way is powerful, then transformation is even more powerful. if you are ill, if your cholesterol is high, if you are atherosclerotic or hypertensive, if you have diabetes, if you have an autoimmune disorder, could there be a chance that you've developed the foregoing condition(s) one bite at a time? could there be a chance that you've eaten your way to disease? if so, dr. fuhrman's claims of recapturing and restoring ones health are valid. this isn't quack medicine. to wit, he cites hundreds of scientific studies which he, himself, collated in his 'chapter notes.' i must admit i was skeptical upon reading this book. after all, how can we improve our health by cutting off our own fuel supply i reasoned? upon initiating a gentle refeeding program at the end of a seven-day fast, i found that i had more energy than ever before. i also made a self-discovery during the fast: i had a sinister food addiction. sinister, because this addiction was unbeknownst to me until i started to fast. i discovered that throughout my adult life, i had simply been eating when i did not need to eat. life-threatening diseases do not always shout at us with warning signs. they rather whisper. toxins in the body do not always announce their presence. i have always questioned the misnomer of 'sudden death.' is a death really sudden if it represents the culmination of self abuse and a behaviorally-driven, ongoing toxic lifestyle? do not we give greater precedence to cleaning our cars, than we do to cleaning the machinations of our own bodies? do we honestly believe that a protein-rich, sugar-saturated, fat-based diet is helping us? look around you. obesity is ubiquitous. perhaps you, yourself, are overweight or obese, or wallowing in a seemingly endless downward spiral of disease and debilitation. there is hope. you can indeed, as dr. fuhrman claims, recoup good health. not only can you function with a few relatively simple modifications, you can also flourish. conversely, you can, as they say, 'continue to do what you've always done, and you will deserve to get what you've always got.' for the price of six big macs, you can do a '180' by simply investing in this book. this book will change your life ... forever. sorry i am indeed to only award it five stars when it deserves a galaxy","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"found recipes dated, layout makes it difficult to use and although some of the how-to is useful, its generally from another era. bought gourmet cook book instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"after reading 'the kite runner' - a deeply involving and heart wrenching story of friendship, loyalty and forgiveness amidst the backdrop of life in afghanistan during the russian war and the taliban rule, i set out expecting more of the same from the swallows of kabul. the latter was quite disapointing. the swallows of kabul focusses on 4 main characters struggling to maintain their dignity and humanity amidst the violence, cruelty and desolation of their surroundings. the dismal context of this story is properly set up. enough time is spent in illustrating the violence and suppression of human rights by the taliban and the desperation of the afghan people is clearly communicated. unfortunately, the novel reads like a short story. proper character development is not established, so the reader ends up having little or no sympathy for its key characters who want for more redeeming traits. the novel is successful in painting a truly depressing picture of afghanistan, making us thank our lucky stars for being far removed from such a place. but if you're looking for an inspiring tale of how the human spirit triumphs over such dismal circumstances, then i would not recommend this book for you. i was glad to have turned the last page and put this book down","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is not one of the better entries to this series. after successfully balancing an intriguing mystery with an important wedding in 'rituals of the season' it is disappointing to have this story be such a mismash. in this book, readers are finally introduced to dwight's ex-wife and his son, cal, but there is no development of either as characters. this is such a strong point to maron's writing--evocative descriptions of people and places--that it disconcerting to put down this book and not feel like i have just been on a trip to north carolina (or virginia.) the characters are flat and unlikeable, the 'mystery(s)' are odd and the plot just isn't there. still, any margaret maron/deborah knot mystery is better than none, and the actions in this story will have an impact on deborah and dwight's future, but do not read this expecting a thrilling or clever mystery; read it as a segue to the next book in the series","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"cannot remember a reading a worse book. boring, uninteresting story, repetitive dialogue. the only good think about it is that it is very short","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am reading the fifth edition of this book. in the earlier editions the book was published in three or four volumes. the fifth edition is a combination of all volumes. so that is good. the book is a dense read. but the content is excellent. there are 163 chapters in this book. each chapter written by different authors - experts in respective areas. so the book provides a best of breed treatment to various assorted topics. however, not all chapters are good (but most are). i'd say about 20 or so are of filler kind of chapters. nothing really special in them. but the book is worth for the rest of the matter. the chapters are also written to provoke further thought into each area. kind of 'first principles' approach - which i like compared to the cissp guide approach of 'here is the information, now devour it for the exam'. however this book is not an exam guide (and i knew that before hand). i bought this book for the matter in it and i am very satisfied. if you are the kind of person who want to quickly assimilate and regurgitate the matter for cissp, then dont even bother. i am kind of person who loves to read things from the basics slowly, getting the concepts and ideas all clear in my mind and hence i plan to finish this book before reading cissp exam guide (which by the way is also sitting on my bookshelf). however i have a major complaint againg the publishers. having charged one hundred thirty dollars for a 2000 page book, i'd expect the quality of paper is decent. the paper is so thin, i invariably turn two pages when i am thiking it is one page. it is so thin, even turning the page carefully damages the paper. i agree that the content is specialized and most authors hold at least two or more certifications (cissp, cisa, sscp etc.), but that does not warrant printing the book on really wafer thin transparent paper. sure, the publishers need to make money, but not by compromising the quality of the paper so much. and you'd expect this kind of book to live on your shelf for a long long time than 'teach yourself crap in 24 hours' books, but the quality of paper will make that unlikely. hence i am giving 4 stars to a book which otherwise would deserve 6 star","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"from the remarkable book structuring (the 'chapters' are organized in alphabetical order) to the intriguingly insightful commentary, seth godin has once again created a work of excellence. the book is an easy read, but at the same time leaves the mind reeling with thoughts of 'oh my, i need to fix that, or do that, or change that.' i found the chapter on 'clean fire trucks' particularly interesting, as i had just 2 months earlier finished an innovation article on 'retiring the fire trucks' -- which deals with the same concept of preventing fires and not letting them start in the first place! (as such, you can then have time to clean the fire trucks, or as i put it, to retire them altogether!). his rants are compelling yet at the same time hilarious (hilarious in the sense of all the silly things we do as a people that we really shouldn't be doing). take for example his rant on 'wrappers' and how the method of packaging both the tangible and intangible create an aura around the product that determines how the product is perceived, received, and applied. one might say, 'it's the wrapper, stupid.' once again, mr. godin has helped to 'validate my existence' (despite my intense self-certainty!) by showing that the crazy, 'outside the box' (hey, can we just shred the box, then burn it in effigy of the outdated strategies and the consultants who promote them?), simplifying, forward-looking, remarkable, visionary adventures we can lead our clients and companies on are really worth the effort. in short, less is more, small is big, and remarkable is just that: remarkable. this book is remarkable. i strongly encourage adding it to your shelf, then spreading the virus of its contents to others. p.s. the entire ending 'bonus section' on blogs and other resources is something not to be missed, and single-handedly justifies the purchase","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"alicia drake writes well, that's a given - she's a journalist. she makes all the excess of paris during the 1970's and early 80's come very much to life. cocaine, heroin, disco, silk and lace. but the main argument of her book, that karl lagerfeld and yves saint laurent are both sociopaths is not that earth shattering. after all, who is she intending to enlighten by this book: middle america? - they could care less - the fashionistas? - they already know all this stuff. drake does not seem to understand that when writing a biography the last thing you want to do is create it in a vacuum. in the end, i didn't know anything more about lagerfeld and ysl than i did when i began this turgid ice-capade. the two enigmas remain enigmatic. her threads are stretched beyond their breaking points through their endless repetition and as with all fashion journalism, there's a heavy air of self-hatred and revenge hanging over the whole endeavor","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"ranks with jerry kramer's 'instant replay' as one of the most insightful books about the nfl. a time when love of the game was as important as (if not more than) the money","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"j.k. rowling successfully put me off this book series within the first two chapters of this book. the characters personalities were wavering in book 5, in this they completely vanished or mutated. i'll only be getting the 7th one because it's the last one and i've read this far so i might as well go the whole way. in books one through four the trio of harry, ron, and hermione were loveable characters tenaciously and cleverly seeking out the answers to the mysteries that came up each year and saving the day. book 5 had them doing more angsting and screaming than mystery solving, and more whining than day saving. book 6 made them stand in paper doll doing a bad job miming the motions the real characters would have done. this book harry seemed to care more about romance. a very poorly done romance littered with cheezy phrases and romantic moments on par with the worst of bad fanfiction; which had no background or build up from previous books. a female character from the background, whom harry barely even notices all through the past five books, is suddenly the most perfect and beautiful girl in the school in mary-sue fashion. several other characters in both the foreground and background were also unfortunately treated to rowlings amature attempts at romance, none of which bore any revelance to plot or story. harry also had a significant decline in morality and intelligence. the clever boy who put clues together with his friends now cheats in one of his classes and makes one stupid mistake after another. the image of harry that stuck with me and seemed to glare off the pages every time he spoke or did anything was of him lying, frozen in a curled position on the floor of the train with blood coming out of his broken nose, under his invisibility cloak and rolling around with the trains motion after a particularly stupid episode with malfoy. as to the general plot of the book. poorly done. continually backstaged by sickeningly done romance and angst it barely made an impression on me. most of the 'revealations' in the book revealed nothing not already known or obvious from old information, and the culmination of what harry was not-quite-solving didn't amount to anything. my final opinion: do not bother to read past book 4 if you're just starting the series and care anything at all about characterization. a very disappointing book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i've been focusing on some prizewinning books as of late, and i thought this would be a necessary prelude to reading ford's pulitzer prize winnning 'independence day'. ford has insights into what suburban life is and the desire for comfort and mystery in protagonist frank's life. frank's struggle to wrestle with the loss of his son and his marriage presents an opportunity to peer inside his mind and see what makes it tick. what you think of this book will depend on what you think of frank as a narrator. his desire to evade deeper meaning and personal responsibility was maddening to me at times; others will find this a profound truth in the book. i also found him to be longwinded and i had a hard time rooting for and identifying with him as a character. slogged through this book and at the end, i do not think it was worth it for me. 2 star","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i usually do not review books i didn't finish reading or movies i didn't finish watching, but this was just way too boring to justify wasting more of my time on, even though i listened to it as an audiobook so i could do other things while 'reading'. i turned it off after six chapters and i'm not likely to finish it. this is my first nora roberts book and if they're all like this i really do not have any clue why she's so popular. i'll try one of her mystery novels before judging her, however. stay away from this one.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i was tremendously disappointed in this book. the cost of $35-50 is definitely a complete rip-off for what you get from the author. all you need to do is refer to pages 227-246. those are the pages that represent the bibliography. i actually was so pissed off after reading this book that i counted them. in total the author referenced the words and work of 488 author people. there are only 223 pages of text and 6 chapters in the book. i am certain you can do the math but i'll do it for you. there are on average more than 2 references per page and over 80 per chapter. it's as though the author has never had an original thought of his own. if i wanted to hire somebody to go out and look up the work of other people i would have done that. i was expecting the author to use his own first-hand knowledge and experience in order to help educate and inform others such as myself about the process. instead, what i got was something a high school student would do while trying to complete a report for homework. my only question is who is less ethical: the author or the publishing company that let this slide through the screening process. for all of those that gave this book 5 stars i can only guess that you do not enjoy actually reading","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i absolutely love paula and this is the first cookbook of hers that i've bought. the book has a great layout (cakes, pies, cookies, bars, etc.) there are a few pictures (they are not on the same pages as their recipes) that make me want to bake even more! everything in the book sounds so delicious but the thing that really got me was her pound cake. now she has about 5 or 6 pound cake variations - i tried the cream cheese variation. over the past 6 months i have been searching for 'the' pound cake recipe and have tried a ton of different ones always with disappointment. when i tried paula's i kept my expectations low and i was blown away!! it actually tasted like pound cake, not too sweet, not to floury--just perfect!!! i cannot wait to try the rest of her recipes, for each ten i looked at i would deffinitely try at least 8 and consider the other 2! a minor disappointment is that some of her recipes call for pre-made cake mixes. although it is great for cutting down on time i suppose, i do not see the sense in putting pre-made mixes into a cookbook. still does not take away from the flavor or temptation of her desserts. excellence","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book is amazing in its amount of topics covered, from gnostic beliefs, the lost city of atlantis, who really wrote shakespeare, who were the rosecrucians,secret meanings of the zodiac, alchemy, pythagorean math, mystery schools and much,much, much, more at 56 chapters. for an introduction to every esoteric religion in history, buy this book.i read it from cover to cover and it was enthralling for all 672 pages.also get 'lectures on ancient philosophy' to go into more depth","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"perhaps malkin would know better than to write a completely idiotic book that disgracefully bashes liberals while doing nothing to prove that conservatives are any better because they are not. all fault finding and no solutions. if malkin really was a conservative, she would not have shown her intolerance to others. the death of conservatism the destruction by the neo-cons of all that was held dear by conservatives has a growing number joining the ranks of independents by samuel a stanson [...","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have read all of patricia cornwell books and love them all. except this one. i just liked it. it was okay. not what i've come to expect from one of my favorite authors. i was excited to see that there were new characters and i did enjoy them - as much as there was to know about them. however the whole story did not develop very well, and it left me feeling like i missed a whole bunch of the 'potential' story. i ended the book feeling like ms. cornwell was trying to make a statement to someone with this book rather than telling a story. very disappointed.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"timeline is equivalent to a 99 cent taco. it's an indulgent bit of junk food. timeline starts with a hillerman-esque scientist turning up in the middle of new mexico - an intriguing idea, but goes to the land of mediocracy right after that filled with cartoon characters. there are so many preposterous story elements that it's just really difficult to take seriously. the story is ever-predictable and ludicrous. but, a 99 cent taco is worth the effort if you're real hungry. go back and read andromeda strain.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is as exciting and convoluted as any of the master's thrillers; prior reviewers have detailed the story sufficiently. i'll only add that the plot's twists, turns and surprises continue right on up to the final paragraph in the epilogue. although i enjoyed the story immensely, i had the sense that the action scenes lacked the 'ludlum strategy' of realism and credibility [after all, how can many times can one super-agent overwhelm four or more opponents singlehandedly; or one untrained woman knock out two professional killers?]. on checking the book's front pages, i learn that the 'ludlum estate' (the author died 12-mar-01 in naples, fl) commissioned a 'qualified author and editor'; the unanswered question remains whether this book -- prominently displaying ludlum's name -- is an updated previously unpublished manuscript, a thriller developed from a premortem story outline, or whether the commissioned author wrote this book singlehandedly. if this is indeed an original de-novo piece of writing, then the true author deserves not only a great deal of credit, but ought to publish under his/her own name rather than remain anonymous; s(he) would make a genuine contribution as an independent, skilled and accomplished writer of thrillers. i have the uncomfortable gut sense that this ship may be flying under a false flag ... unless and until the authorship provenance is more fully clarified","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"excellent compilation on leadership attributes for innovation and is a collection of well written articles which made me think and connect to a real world phenomenon. i enjoy reading peter drucker's books and the content of the book has peter drucker's flavor to it. the clarity and style of this book is truly outstanding","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"...but not all that affective. which is not a bad thing at all. unless there are noble attempts at such a thing, which, i suppose, is really up to debate with this work. but what expectations can one have with a work like this? what the reader has here is not really a 'novel' but something greater, something post-, something meta- (although in a bearable way, at least barnes has taste). it is, however, quite educational, very witty, very stylish (in a good way, see 'barnes has taste' in the previous sentence for more on this) but also often quite maladroit, even if in a skillfull way. sometimes, especially in the times when the focus is shifted to the narrator, it feels like the story is being poked into an uncomfortable position, before it returns to its natural form in the next chapter (like the metal in braces!). but, it is, at the very least, a rewarding book and at the best quite brilliant. very muchso indeed","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is not for everyone. if you do not like to read classics with everything that goes along with that (such as long-winded language that seems outdated to us today), then you should stay away. for lovers of classical and relatively easy to read literature, this is a good book. a lot of things are amazing, considering how long ago they were written and what overall level of scientific knowledge was at the time. some of it just boggles my mind. at the same time, the book is long winded and in the end, not quite as much happens as one would expect. dan brown's davinci code has more things happening in the first 20 pages than verne has in his entire book. but that is ok in a way, because when i read a classic, i do not expect to compare it to modern standards. the entertainment is due to different factors. in fact, the way the book is written is part of the entertainment and not just the story. i do not give this book 5 stars however, because i was disappointed in the end, since not enough of the story really comes to a conclusion. i do not want to spoil the book for you, but there are a lot of unanswered questions, and getting those answers really was what kept me reading. there is quite a bit of build-up, and then in some ways, the book just ends. (i noticed that style in many books of that time, where the narrator just says 'here is what i know... but i do not know the whole story...'). also, to some extent, i agree with some of my fellow reviewers that gave a lower score, in that it is too much of a narration rather than a real story. i do not complain about some of it being like a log book, but i would have wished to get a bit more information about the daily life on board. i just do not buy that the 3 travelers just stayed in their room. they must have found out a bit more about other parts of the boat. or at least attempted it, and that would have been interesting to read about, without breaking with the overall style of the book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is truly a disappointing book. it starts incredibly slowly and i found it very hard to become interested in the plot. another disappointment is koontz's recycling of elements from other novels: (1) plucky, highly intelligent disabled girl (the young female protagonist in 'the hideaway' had almost identical deformities and personality), (2) devoted, super-powered canine companions, (3) bad guys driving around in ultra pimped-out rvs, and (4) evil bioethicists. the leilani character is patently ridiculous. she conveniently has a genius iq, but that does not make the absurdly adult manner in which she speaks any more believable. i found it so disconcerting as to detract from the plot. koontz clearly has trouble writing for children, and this book is no exception. almost all the children featured in his books are either autistic/mr or genius wunderkinds; the latter, however, does not justify his habit of making smart children talk like genius adults. dean heaps the hardships on poor leilani, with all the subtlety of an episode of walker, texas ranger. in case you miss the anvils, you are supposed to really, really like her and fear for her safety. i do not know how or where dean koontz learned about bioethics, but he has a terribly misguided view of the field, taking an extreme sect of it to represent the main viewpoint of the field. further, he states multiple times that these eugenic bioethics principles are being taught to medical students at major universities (who will have to pay for their involvement with evil bioethics) -- as a medical student, i can assure you that this is patently untrue. that koontz could be so off-base on a topic that directly relates to the central motive is disconcerting and makes an already weak book even harder to swallow. the final issue is koontz's near-deification of dogs, particularly golden retrievers, which is a common motif in his more recent works. it is ridiculous and unintentionally funny to an almost painful degree. his obsession with dogs and their mystical powers borders on the psychotic (and i like dogs). this novel probably features the most egregious example of koontz's tendency to create overly sappy, sugary-sweet endings. dean koontz has written many books better than this one. spend your money on one of his stronger efforts","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"for most people, this kind of lifestyle is only a dream, but wow, what colourful and beautiful dreams. this book is choc full of stunning photos that reflect the wealth some people luckily or unluckily have. their houses (or should i say shrines) are treasures in their own rights, but the possesions inside are also gems. the tiffany theme is reflected in here all the way through and there is some stunning pieces. this is a pricey 'coffee table' book, but it's so beautiful, you'll be glad you treated yourself or someone else","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book really helped coalesce in my mind that sometimes it's not the party, it's the man. by serving presidents from both parties, gergen forces republican and democratic readers to set aside their party loyalty to confront the reality that both parties have had recent presidential successes and failures. for example, i was a proud reagan youth who didn't vote for clinton in 1992 however, by 1996 i had to admit that clinton was doing an excellent job of leading the country in spite of my party's obstructionist activities that only hurt the country. gergen explains how clinton was able to overcome and succeed in spite of opponents intent on political destruction rather than serving their country. gergen also provides excellent examples of what many of us realized by 1984 about reagan, that while his rhetoric mainly appealed to the conservative right, reagan was truly a president to all americans and governed from the middle. if are you interested in presidential politics and care more about the country than you do about your party, this is a great case study. if you are a senior manager responsible for large numbers of people, this book is also an excellent manual on managerial success using your own style and approach. if you are looking for ammunition to do battle against ideological opponents, this is not the book for you","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"scientific? i could not get more disgusted. this review is written because it can accomplish much, that is, let no one science-interrested person fall in this trap. i did never read more than 20% of the book, that is a short one, i can only guess that its because there would been to much nonsens even for the most naive readers. i read until i had heard to much about the 'revoloutionating discovery' (that you have not heard of in serious papers as nature or new scientist, why?) this revaloutionary discovery etc. was a machine build by someone, that claims it could measure feelings, so for example it could measure in a black room when there was a big group of people feeling the same thing, maybe an os contestant from usa (where the machine would be) winning the championship in whatever. well, then it was tested in superbowl but failed, the author explains this due to commecials distorting the feelings the public felt etc... how would this machine be able to notice somethings like this? well they must have checked out a list of 'strange' topics from physics and chosen zero point energy that has to do with the vacuum. they could not choose something like electromagnetism, because that might be disregared right away by the public who might know to much about it. claims that the machine is working is based on odds for it not to be this way were apperently about 1:1000 (i do not doubt that more than 1000 of these experiments have been made and failed) the author also claims that there was a scientific explaination with the feeling an moon astronaut felt when he was away from earth, he felt connected to earth in some kind of way. i laugh in disgust, noticing this book is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to others that actually stand out as great books, giving you an 'wooow!' but with a scientificually accepted material as background. examples of these are: qed: the strange theory of light and matter by richard feynman, who was one of three to individually invent quantum electro dynamics, that is the most fundamental description of electromagnetism. this book is based on a series of lectures feynman made in university of auckland, new zeeland, to a public audience. deep down things: the breathtaking beauty of particle physics by bruce a. schumm. a book staying focused on the subject that lies around particle physics, a wooow! i got from this book was the connections between the mathematical lee groups and the quantum forces of nature (electromagnetism, the weak force, the strong force), discribed greatly on a non professional level","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the original worst case scenario handbook was a good guide, essential for your paranoid friends. i enjoyed that one, so for some reason my family has given me all the follow-on books as gifts. none of them really compare to the original, but this one comes close in some respects. many of the scenarios are completely outlandish, so do not buy this looking for practical advice. unlike the original, this isn't a book to buy your paranoid death-fearing friend. some advice is practical, like dealing with swallowed mistletoe, driving in a blizzard, or dealing with a canceled plane flight, but it can get lost in the more outlandish, like fending off unwanted kisses, jumping from a runaway sleigh, fending off a charging reindeer, dealing with a meddling parent, etc. some situations just do not boil down to 3 easy to follow steps and a diagram. i do love the section on repurposing a fruitcake, though. enjoy this for a small laugh and pass it around amoung the adults for the holiday","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"assuming you are an investor as opposed to a trader, fisher's book is an astoundingly important read. you will not find formulas or discounted cash flows, you read a genius's thoughts about the truly long view","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"linnets and valerians is even better than the blue hills, both or delightfully fanciful and intriguing books by my favorite english author: elizabeth goudge.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"let me first say that i've done this program several times over the past few years, and stayed on it each time for at least 6 months. it did not do much for me. my physique did not change, nor did the way i felt. i'm in good shape anyway, but i certainly did not build muscle mass. as far as strength goes, there's no possible way to test whether these exercises really build strength or not. i suppose you could subjectively say whether you felt stronger doing day to day activities, or test yourself with weights but neither of those is optimal. i'd say that if you want to exercise without apparatus, and are interested in improving your appearance, conditioning, energy levels etc that there are more effective ways of doing so. either ross enamait's books, or combat conditioning and combat abs would be an improvement. i do combat conditioning and combat abs most days and they've done me a world of good as far as conditioning, strength and flexibility, which are all things miracle seven did not. and, i do not spend more than 20 minutes a day doing them. for all the silly furey marketing techniques (and he's as egregious as they come regarding his advertising) a combination of both of those furey books will do far more for you than miracle seven, which is a very incomplete program that you'll need to add conditioning and flexibility work to","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"alas, this book was a very disappointing reading. its one of the biggest sins is having a misleading title. 'sql server architecture and internals' ? forget it. the first whole third of the book is win32 in a nutshell. it tells you about memory, processes, i/o and everything. but i already have my richter dog-eared all right, i would not need a reminder in a book on sql server. then, about the sql server. internals ? what a joke. the only internals that you would find are names of the dlls where this or that sql server subsystem resides and a few hardcore debugger sessions to show you those dlls actually get loaded. uh-huh, thanks. can you imagine a book on sql server internals which does not mention pages and/or extents ? in-depth description of different execution plans ? this is the one. what this book really is, is 20 chapters worth of overviews for more or less known sql server features. average-to-good overviews of a less known features. uhm, architecture, internals ? nope - sqlxml, dts, notification services, cursors, transactions. take cursors - it says there are four types of cursors, you know, static, etc. and shows an sql snippet for each. that's basically it. take transactions - acid, isolation levels and usage hints. oh well, it could be worse... difficult to say without reading other books by the same author (not that i have an urge any more), but it appears he has written a whole series of them. you find sentences like 'in my other book...' all over the place. just love it: [quote] i must confess that i was conflicted when i sat down to write this chapter. i wrestled with whether to update the sqlxml coverage in my last book, which was more focused on the practical application of sqlxml but which i felt really needed updating, or to write something completely new on just the architectural aspects of sqlxml, with little or no discussion of how to apply them in practice. ultimately, i decided to do both things. [/quote] isn't it great ? oh, the chapter on full-text search was hilarious. how about this: [quote] communication between sql server and microsoft search occurs via a full-text provider. this provider resides in sqlftqry.dll in the binn folder under your default sql server installation. ... the sp_fulltext_... system procedures interact with it via the undocumented dbcc callfulltext command ... table 16.1. dbcc callfulltext functions [*** a table of function ids taking the entire page ***] ... as a rule, you shouldn't call dbcc callfulltext in your own code. the function ids and parameters listed above could change between releases [/quote] what a heck did i just learn ??? i thought this book would show me how to improve the performance of the applications that i write by knowing the database server architecture deeper. instead, i got a book of not so bad overviews of different things for which there either was no coverage in the previous books or the author thought a quick reminder would be nice. to be fair, some of the discussions were reasonably interesting, like chapter 12 'query processor', but give me a break, it's like 40 pages in a 1000 pages book. do not","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"curt flood forever changed the game of baseball with challenging baseball's status quo. it cost him,but he paved the way for every player that came after him. in fact as far as i'm concerned if you got the choice of leaving one team&going to another you owe this man a salute. brad snyder does a great job at breaking things down with how curt flood took baseball to court. this books goes into detail about curt flood's life on the field&off of it. curt flood took what jackie robinson started&took the baton to a whole different level for the players that would come thereafter. this is a very well written&documentated book. curt flood has never gotten his full due at all","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"rev. dyson dissects the great black man of the last century and attempts to get some insight into how his image translates to modern america. i found the chapter concerning dr. king's embrace of democratic socialism to be enlightening, but i found the rev. dyson handing out alibis for king's adultery disappointing. equally mind blowing is dyson's using overblown language to assail the king family's efforts to control their loved one's image. i wonder why there are hard feelings, since dexter and coretta king talked to him for this book. this is an interesting character study that does draw some modern parallels, but would have been better if it were about 3 chapters shorter","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i actually quite enjoyed this book until the last few pages. the individual stories of the pilgrims are relatively interesting (if a bit clumsy), all having some connection with hyperion. progress towards the story's climax on hyperion seemed slow, but i assumed there would be some kind of closure to the story, which would also lead on to the next book in the series. sadly, there is no closure to the story, leaving me feeling cheated. most authors are able to find a good balance between providing a satisfactory ending to one story, and leaving you keen for the next one. most annoying of all, the author completely pulled me out of his fictional world by dropping in a trite and annoying reference to 20th century fiction at the very end. i felt like the joke was on me, the author was deliberately trying to disrupt my suspension of disbelief. i'm disappointed, i feel betrayed by the cheap ending, and i shan't bother reading any further in the series.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i really enjoyed this book.it was bound to be published,sooner or later.if the library of alexandria did not burn and collapse,society would have seen this kind of book much sooner.many rebels and magicians would have withered in the piazza's stockades,for circulating such an explosive tome about nature.let it be published!through christianity and islam and communism,these power structures have done nothing to promote world peace and caring for the environment.those institutions destroy the haptic pagan ,who then becomes numb to the ways of nature and her earth-magick.scott cunningham has became a lightening rod for ridicule by the pudibund neo-right.the average wiccan today ,was still wearing nappies,when scott passed away.he would be amazed and delighted by the growth of the old religion today. some potentially good wiccans of the 60's were stymied by drifting into the red army faction,malcolm x's panthers and the kirshna-moonies.this is a great beginners book for all open-minded people ,who want to channel their energies in a more positive way.when one destroys an aspect of nature,one destroys part of the whole cosmic-web,in which we all live on. wicca is not about devil-worshipping,or a gateway path into satantism.nor an idle trip into lotusland.the amusing hollywood b-flicks ,hash-out alot of the wrong sterotypes about true wicca.latest being the ridiculously inaccurate ,'wicker-man' movie.use this book as a primer, and then research for more advanced wiccan studies.-as jim morrison once said,'you're all a bunch of slaves!'.so,wiccans of the earth unite! you have nothing to lose but your chains of ignorance! ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"how can a best-selling author like simon winchester take an event as exciting as the san francisco earthquake of 1906 and turn it into a tedious snooze-fest? one answer: write as if you had just discovered an adjective mine and were free to throw in extra descripitive terms on every line until listeners scream for an end to florid phrases. another: strive to break the record for most clich?s in a single paragraph. finally: write about events in 1906 as if no one but simon winchester had ever before thought about their consequences -- thus, everything in this tedious narrative becomes about simon. simon and the raccoons; simon on the failing american economy; simon attempting to reproduce american accents. this is a cd set for avoiding","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book was disappointing because it was billed as a raw cookbook and it is not raw. get juliano's 'raw' and 'rawsome' by bridgette mars and 'green for life' by victoria botenko instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i found very little useful information in this book...not because it isn't there but because the writing style is too 'out there'. i'm sorry i bought it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"trash sells and this is the definition of trash. unfortunately many readers see this as history instead of fiction. shaara who may have had a ghost writer obviously never visited a manuscipt library to do research. readers should stick to reading the history of these events done by people who know how to research and how to write","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm not sure why anyone would want or need a phb2... i mean, come on. the whole reason 3.5 came out was to make money with little regard to how to better the game, and this book follows that example very well. the content is mostly all fluff, about the only thing redeeming about this book is the cover. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have read history books more interesting than this book. when i purchased the book i thought that it would be an interesting work. the book started off interesting. then, as it progressed it got worse. rent the movie. it would be much better. trust me","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it arrived in a timely manner and in great shape. it played just fine and i enjoyed every minute of the story","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is widely known as a classic, but the reader is left wondering 'why?' protagonist (cannot call him a hero) of this novel is poor farmer ethan frome, who lives a joyless existence with his hypochondriac wife. he finds some 'excitement' when mattie comes to visit, but again, the reader wonders why, because she's vapid and uninteresting. to recap: we're presented with characters that are not the least bit likable to begin with, and turn pages eagerly waiting for the happy ending. instead, wharton ends with all three characters living together and making each other even more miserable. i feel like i wasted three precious hours of lifetime reading this book. why???","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a very well designed book for an art teacher with small children. it gives lots of ideas for art projects","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the biggest disappointment of this book is that the comments about the cia - training and operation - are akin to what might have been written at the end of the day into a diary. there was passage after passage that begged for insight that her (limited) experience brought, but i do not remember a single case of finding this. the criticism of the cia training is rendered in terms of the students' shortcomings in the exercises, with no thought to why they didn't do better, or if their performance - while not good - was in fact passable. i suspect that the people from the intelligence agencies that gave high marks to this book are doing so because they find the public criticisms of the cia refreshing and useful/needed, and that they could fill in the insights on their own. despite having read multiple of the reviews here, i was still unprepared for the sheer amount of time talking about her personal life (one reviewer overstates it as being 75%) and how trite it was. the reviews here had prepared me for the arrogance of a 30-something, but what i encountered was more the self-absorption of a teenager. the librarian who shelfed this book in the teen section may have been making a different editorial comment than the reviewer (2006-aug-15) who reported it (reviewer gave it 5 stars for the teen reader). the book has many hints and clues that the author is substantial and interesting, and this may keep you reading. however, that person never emerges","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it really made me think. as a rule, i do not read religious books, but since this one was recommended to me, i ordered it. i wasn't sorry. it's an easy read, and i enjoyed it very much","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"after watching the film, 'finding neverland', i was curious to learn more about the fates of the 5 boys orphaned in the story. although barrie did not gain custody of the boys, he did maintain a strong presence in their lifes. in fact, he did much more than just keep an eye on them over the years. he showered them with gifts; traveled with them; and of course, financially helped them. he seemed particularly obsessed with the older boy, george. barrie loved to photograph all of the boys and some of the photos included in this book show the children naked. was barrie a pedophile of sorts? none of the boys ever accused him of such. and barrie's love and concern for the boys did not end when they became men who were tall enough to tower over the diminutive playwright. this is a comprehensive look at barrie's life without passing any judgement. that is left to the reader. and after reading this book, i have to say that i'm still unable to figure the man out. he is an enigma. there are tons of photographs - one or two on just about every page. original correspondence and notes from barrie's diary/journals add further insight. a fascinating, and sometimes tragic look back in time","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"immediately upon starting dickens' 'our mutual friend,' i was struck by parallels with dumas' 'the count of monte cristo.' both big novels revolve around a powerful character who conceals his identity in a complicated plot to obtain social justice. the count deals with the darker theme of revenge. our mutual friend is an exploration of the corrupting influence of wealth. the novel is lively throughout, as dickens displays his tremendous diversity of writing talents. the tone ranges from heavily ironic criticism of upper-class politics and antisemitism, to delicate romance, to witty visual humor. the characterizations are highly original; even those at the extremes of vice and virtue display engaging ideosyncracies. most impressive to me was the consistency of dickens' plot. our mutual friend was written and published in installments, as was the count of monte cristo. but dickens keeps his story on track throughout, never dropping a character, while dumas' tale is full of gaps and inconsistencies","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book does start with some slight promise. it has a touching opening chapter. and it follows the life story of one of its villains, who is a very unlikely, over-the-top character, but who nevertheless will probably win your sympathy and may even break your heart. the book also has plenty of cornwell's trademark technical detail. you will be treated to a wide variety of how-to tips on everything from how to fly a helicopter, to what gun to carry for different law enforcement jobs, to how to identify watermarks on paper. but overall, i found this book to be a big disappointment. first of all, the book is riddled with egomania. almost every chapter contains some lavish adulation of the protagonist, kate scarpetta. almost every character oozes adoration of scarpetta, lives only to win her respect, longs for her, even in planning to kill her seeks only to unite with her in ecstasy. what's all this about? since scarpetta is so clearly cornwell's alterego, a reader can only conclude that cornwell herself is getting lost in a cult of personality. however, scarpetta does not appear much in person in this book. she remains a presence, inspiring others. when she does make a personal appearance though, the book's tone of adoration does not mute into any more seemly modesty, as would seem appropriate when an author is in essence describing herself. if anything, the deification of scarpetta intensifies in these scenes. for example, a man observing her, notes how deliberately she does everything. even in the act of reaching for her coffee cup, he sees her 'exuding confidence and power.' really, all this reverence for scarpetta turns these pages into absurdity. even apart from their hero worship of scarpetta though, many of the other characters in the book are manifestly improbable, or even impossible. a book could perhaps stand one over-the-top villain, such as the bizarrely afflicted one i mentioned in the first paragraph of this review. however, most of the characters in blowfly, evildoers and presumed good guys alike, are leading lives of such mythic proportions, that the book loses all touch with reality. scarpetta's niece, who has been an on-going character in cornwell's books, turns into a full-blown cartoon superheroine here, with preternatural command and capabilities across international borders. one of the actions this niece involves herself with in this book is so outrageous and of such questionable morality, that this subplot would seem more appropriate as back-story for a nintendo game. there are also specific stylistic problems with the book. cornwell has often used the technique of short chapters, snapshots of sorts, interlacing the actions of the different characters. the technique can be a valid one, building suspense while you are briefly diverted from one character's pending homicide, to the less crucial actions of some subsidiary player. and the technique can be used like a mosaic, to build a picture tile-by-tile. but with blowfly, the chapters have become so short that it seems a mere pandering to readers' presumed short attention spans. i'll admit the tv ad pace of the book kept me going through to the end. snap. snap. snap. now this. now the other. but i'm not proud of my growing addiction to this kind of hit-and-run narration. then there's the persistent, occasionally jarring use of the present tense - in a context in which this could not all possibly be happening in real time. and there are too many ongoing, hackneyed analogies between the brain and various machines. cornwell has always liked these comparisons, but they become constant pebbles in the shoe here. 'no frontal lobe alarm sounds' rang... '...her brain cannot process'... 'jerking her mind out of gear'... finally, there is the problem with the book's ending. it's as if cornwell ran out of paper, or else was ordered by her publisher to simply turn in her manuscript, finished or not. all her knowledge of csi investigative technique count for nothing in the end. none of the plot threads get really integrated into coherence. so there are a few good things about blowfly. you get to inhabit another serial killer's mind and daily squalid living conditions with creepy intimacy. there are also some interesting psychological insights into the motives of female accomplices or 'enablers' of such men. there are things to be learned about defense weapons. but these good things get swamped, like the dead bodies that fall into the bayous of baton rouge where much of this book's action takes place. overall, i'd say if you see this blowfly coming your way - get out the flyswatter!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"before embarking on a 2 month trip to italy a friend let me borrow rick steve's guide and said that it was better. i was skeptical but took the book anyway figuring it might come in handy on such a long trip. she was right. rick steve's organizes information in a much clearer and more intuitive way. this comes in handy when you're standing in a busy square, you haven't eaten all day and everything you've tried so far has been a jip and you just want someone to tell you where you can find a good deal. flipping through lonely planet you might think you've been handed a manual on how to overhaul an engine - overloaded with information poorly organized. rick steve's book on the other hand is a breath of fresh air or, to put it more tritely, a helping hand. not to mention that his guides have a personal touch and some of rick steve's own character sewn into them. after some time you really get the sense that he's there with you, helping you along (- now isn't that sweet!).","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"even though i'm not selling my house, i got some good tips for making my house look bigger and brighter. only downside is that some of the pictures are small on the page so it's hard to see the details of what they're talking about in the text. overall, you get the idea, though.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"to surmise, the book is about an actor who is hired to be a political figure. i will not reveal any more as to not ruin the nature of the plot. i felt that like some of heinlein's books, the book is plauged with politics, less science fiction, the only sci-fi thing about it is that the plot takes place in space, other than that, it's all politics. same thing with citizen of the galaxy, a book that starts off really well and ending with a theme that do not portray sci-fi rather it shows heinlein's knowledge in law. i felt that the book could have been much better and i do not see how it won the hugo award. conclusion: the book is a fun pass, but nothing more. do not expect any groundbreaking plot, or jaw dropping plot twists, just your old fashioned politicians-dear-diary","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is great for students who are thinking of persuing a course in engineering. ferguson adresses what makes a great engineer, and also states that many schools do not stress the courses they should. using this book, students gain insight as to what they should expect from being an engineer, and what is imporant in the profession. i definately recommend this book to those who are about to be college freshman engineers or are thinking of changing over from liberal arts & sciences to engineering","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"hazzard is an elegant, intelligent writer, and great fire is one of the finest novels in recent memory, but i was a bit disappointed by evening of the holiday, a slim novel which tells the summer love affair of a british traveler with an italian landowner. hazzard has great insight into human nature in general and culutral identity as well, and her lyrical descriptions of the italian countryside are lovely. however, the story here never quite engages; the love affair is doomed from the start, we are assured, and hazzard cannot quite keep us enthralled, as she usually does, although, as in all hazzard's work, there are stunning moments of insight and clarity, and one is astounded how easily she can throw off an aphorism","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"stan really did keep and care for james and his family, including when james briefly returned to ireland to establish an art cinema chain leaving his family in italy. excellent insight into the brilliant writer by his also brilliant brother. please read this book for greater understanding and afection for the specifics of joyce's work (how stan was pictured in the story a painful case), although the view of the universal themes grows dim as we can no longer see the woods for the trees essential to any complete james joyce bookshelf and a wonderful and grateful gift for any member of the fervent joycean faith","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i understand that the whole idea of this book is to make the reader think for himself about 'quality', which is a very interesting philisophical concept...this is presumably why pirsig makes time for the reader to think about it by making 90% of the book as boring as possible. this book falls between reference, fiction and biography and satisfies none of these forms. it's quite amazing how by using the right words pirsig can make a simple theory seem extremely complicated","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i liked the story line a lot, the only thing i did not like was that the author -repeatedly- had to say what a perfect body the main character had. lol. i mean after the sixth time.. we got it! lol.. definitely a guy and definitely fantasizing when he wrote it i'm guessing.. perfectly toned, perfect everywhere else. good, now move on! :) other than that, i really liked the description of what the 'bad guy' mechanisms were. too bad i cannot use those kinds of disguises in real life. very interesting :) i'd still recommend the book :","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is the best book about dogs in general and daxies in particular that i have held in my hands. do not let the title fool you - this is a book that, while written in plain english, will teach you a multitude of things - how to care, train, and bond with your dax from puppyhood to old age. i have already recommended it to any dog owner i know, regardless of their breed, because many of the things inside the book are applicable to all breeds, not just the daxies. i highly recommend that you add this book to your cart, you will not be sorry you did","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"turn of the century continues to serve a most useful purpose, months after i gave up on it. i have a door that rattles if it's not wedged open and t-o-c is just big enough and heavy enough to do the job on its own. i struggled, oh how i struggled to try and even begin to understand some of the characters. i stirred the pages wildly while i waited for the plot to thicken. i fought against closing eyelids while the book became heavier and heavier. i searched my abridged guide to good grammar to see if i had missed a couple of chapters explaining that sentences after all do not need a subject, a verb and an object - or even a permutation of two out of three. i left it on the front doorstep hoping somebody would steal it. i offered it to my neighbor so he could jack up his car. i considered lighting the fire with it. i wondered whether, if i took just a few pages a day, i could eat it and get rid of the evidence. i offered it to my mother-in-law for christmas. i took it scuba diving with me instead of a weight belt. and then, eventually, voila! the rattling door! what a fine tome t-o-c is. another few hundred pages [...] and i could have used it as a sea anchor for the titanic","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"after reading this book, i would like to make three points about it: 1.) first of all, do not make this your first dean koontz book. this is the second book of the so-called christopher snow trilogy. read the first book in the trilogy first -- fear nothing. the first book introduces pretty much all the key characters that you find in this book. 2.) second, please be aware that koontz has yet to write the third book in the christopher snow trilogy. this is a real shame, because seize the night ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. koontz has claimed that he will write the third book someday, under the title ride the storm. but since it's been over eight years since koontz has written a snow novel, i would not expect this book anytime soon. 3.) third, i must admit i didn't really care for this book at all, and i say that as a koontz fan. lots of padding -- the action does not really start until page 250. koontz wastes a lot of space repeating things he originally wrote in fear nothing. i found myself skipping through this book quite a bit to get to the good parts. the plot here is also too over the top -- plot elements include time travel, killer monkeys, alternate realities, serial killers conducting government experiments -- and that's just the tip of the iceberg! even the characters in the book do not seem to take any of it seriously. all the dialogue in this book is whimsical and unrealistic. i was therefore never able to suspend disbelief for this book. it was just too silly for my tastes. koontz is a great writer, but his best novels are the ones that have a more believable, fast-paced plot. instead of this book, i would therefore recommend watchers, intensity, odd thomas or velocity. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i learned about debra ponzek from a nick jr. newsletter at my child's daycare center in connecticut. i tried her cowboy cookies recipe from the article and i was hooked on ponzek. it's pretty cool that she is a connecticut resident as well. i love the fact that recipes are kid-friendly with adult appeal. no smiley faced plates,...just yummy food. i've only had the cookbook for 3 weeks and have enjoyed the following recipes: tuna, pasta & celery salad, fresh mayo,spinach salad with dried cherries, almonds, & blue cheese, ham, cheddar & tom quesadillas, arugula and proscuitto pizza, aux delices marinara, rigatoni with ricotta, tomato, and basil, two simple sauces of basil-lemon pesto and sweet tom marmalade which i served with pan-seared tilapia, and vegetable fried rice. my hands-down fave has been the pizza. the aux delice sauce is my fave to date & i've made many from the food tv network chefs","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is an excellent guide for the person that is considering restoring a bungalow, not just a gardener . the pictures show many outside amenities including walkways, doors, fencing, lighting, and porches. great source for ideas and models","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"fascinating look at how architecture and interior design influence our mood and behavior. you gain general priciples and insights into what makes an space inviting or unappealing. this is a great book for an architect or interior designer with an interest in environmental psychology. this is not a 'how to' book for consumers who want remodeling ideas","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"well, my wife and i tried this diet plan, and lost a little, but... con: some of the ingredients and just a marketing ploy. con: it makes no mention of what to do if you're lactose intolerant. con: how do you thicken a sauce without cornstarch? arrowroot? pretty hard to locate in most grocery stores. file gumbo? makes a green gloppy mess out of your meal. con: somewhat poorly written, more poorly compiled into a book, and the person or persons in charge of the index need to be educated (back to school with you now!) in compiling a comprehensive index. facts and figures are just too hard to find in this book. pro: she's probably rich from sales of this re-hash of atkins, sugar-busters, and carb addicts. pro: she's easier on the eyes than atkins was","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"steve schirripa's 'the goomba diet' does for italian cuisine what 'the da vinci code' does for catholicism -- the only difference is that once the pope reads schirripa's book, he's going to make steve an official saint. following in the tradition of his previous literary masterpieces, ('the goomba's guide to life' and 'the goomba's guide to love') schirripa has accomplished the impossible by writing a book that's even funnier than his first two. whether you're italian or jewish, fat or thin, heterosexual or a fanook, 'the goomba diet' delivers a powerful message from which the world can benefit. and by 'the world', i mean overweight italian criminals indicted under the rico statute who enjoy penne arrabiata. not only is 'the goomba diet' superior to any book currrently on the new york times bestseller list, but it proves why steve schirripa deserves to host his own late night network television talk show -- he's far more talented than jimmy kimmel, carson daly, and or that annoying scottish guy on cbs. and if boring idiots like 'jerry r. from montreal' like this book, then it can be enjoyed by everyone.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought and devoured will write for food and completely loved it. it's readable, entertaining, informative, and most of all, inspiring. as a food writer for nine years who is continually struggling to build up my career, i found the book to be full of practical, useful ideas and possibilities for exciting new directions for my work. i cannot wait to see more from this author.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a great book for anyone in advertising or who is in a lead role or is an entrepeneur. that is what the author is: the head and founder of a leading advertising company or at least what he used to be until he sold the company. i find most of the advice to be legit because i've been working in corporate america for a long time and i have come across good and bad managers, but mostly bad ones, unfortunately. there are some ideas or values that are obviously his personal preference or it may be just talk so he stands out from other people. i think it is a must-read for anyone in advertising or thinking of starting a business as advertising is a major area if not the most important area that will help drive your business in the right direction. my only caveat about the book is that it is too long. this is somewhat not surprising since the author is not a writer and the writing is not as concised and well-written as if written by someone more professional in the craft","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"heinlein loads this book up with hooks in the early pages to catch your attention. unfortunately, these hooks turn out to be superfluous and lead nowhere. this shoddy technique is found in all four of hienlein's final books. we are also treated to some of heinlein's stock characters, dirty old men, horny female computers, naked adolescent girls, and dominant beauties who would be right at home in leather and whips. without these archetype characters most heinlein novels written after 1970 would have a sparse population indeed. as if this isn't enough, heinlein drags in his usual cast of characters from his other novels as he is so prone to doing. in spite of all their cameo appearances, this group remains dull and one dimensional throughout. heinlein's earlier novels written prior to 1960 are still fine fare for young people, especially boys. this novel, as well as most of heinlein's later work will be enjoyed primarily by a group of die hard fans and is definitely not for general consumption","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"written in a compassionate and wise manner intended for those who have experienced a very harrowing situation, this book explores and offers emotionally healthy tools for healing the deepest hurts inflicted by someone very close to us. based on real-life case stories the book explores in a reality-oriented manner the paradox of true forgiveness that allows deep and complete healing for a person. this is not about blaming the victim or sugar-coated attempts at glossing over mud with whip cream ... it is getting to the core hurt and really mending a broken heart so it is stronger and wiser and safer than before. a must read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the black jacobins is a timeless classic in both the history and practice of liberation theory.i enjoyed the distinct pleasure of taking undergraduate work with clr james in the early eighties. his undimmed passion and clarity shaped me deeply. he was quite arguably the greatest unabashed dialectical materialist of the harlem renaissance. i heartily recommend that you treat yourself to this,his signature creation","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this cookbook expecting it to have a few fun, easy recipes for wraps that i could toss together with stuff i had around the kitchen. although the recipes and certainly the pictures look delicious, fun and easy they're not. it's not uncommon for recipes to have over a dozen ingredients. when i want to toss together a little lunch, i do not have time to track down 1/4 cup chopped pickled ginger or 2 cups cooked jasmine rice or 1/4 teaspoon orange oil. i have yet to make a single recipe from this book, despite having owned it for over nine months","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is trash written by a man with no faculty for research and no clear understanding of the subject. first define eccentric people as unconventional types who are healthy, happy and functional (unhappy, nonfunctional types are after all neurotic- not eccentric). then make the astounding discovery that eccentrics are happier,healthier and more functional than the average. if this sounds like science to you then you might enjoy the book. the author fails to distinguish between eccentrics who do not care about conformity , and those unfortunates who are grossly deluded or constitutionally incapable of conformity. the author fails to recognise cold-blooded social sarcasm as oppposed to eccentricity. as an experienced eccentric i found the book poorly thought out, self contradictory, and somewhat patronizing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the collection is very nice, with a large amount of clothing for the dolls, and hours worth of play time","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i'll be honest, the last three novels have me thinking that patricia cornwell has sold off the franchise of her name- the 'voice' the writer uses bears no similarity to her other novels, and its very frustrating. leaves a dedicated reader feeling like she'd been attacked by the pod people or something! i hold firm to the idea that she has not been writing these novels. there is just no way","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"great read! love all his stuff. much of a deeper memoir than 'running with scissors'. if you enjoyed that book, you will rip through 'dry' in no time. currently reading 'possible side effects', which is also very good. highly recommend this author in general","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"my main gripe with this book is that there is not 1 picture. it makes it really hard to figure out what you are even making","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i was exposed to this book in what i think is the most unfortunate way possible, it was read to my child in her public school kindergarten class. i was stunned and emotional when she came home and told me her teacher told her that a candy cane was a j for jesus, and that the red stripes were his blood, and if she loved jesus the white would wash it away. my child is five years old, and was disturbed by the whole thing. this book has no part of the christmas story in it, and the tasteless metaphor of it is impossible for a young child to understand. the illustration is graphic and also not age appropriate. the only good that has come from this absurd destruction of an innocent holiday treat is that now i am even more communicative and vigilant about my child's education and exposure, even in the school i trust with my child's life and well-being","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i used the first edition of stroustrip's the c++ programming language until it was dog-eared and the binding fell apart. i'm glad that this edition is hard-backed so i will not wear it out. c++ is a complex language and it's impossible to write a program of any size in c++ without a good reference on your desk. i have not found any other c++ reference that is as complete or as useful as this book. this is not an introduction to c++ but rather a reference book. i learned c++ from lippman's c++ primer but that's on my bookshelf and stroustrip is on my desk. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"dont buy this book! or buy it and tear it in two pieces because it is much to long. wow i mean talk about boreing. is it the best of times or is it the worst of times? you cant make up you're mind on page one sentence one even!?! if i am this guys editer i would have told him to just write about the best of times. thats plenty and people dont need another depressing book in this day and age anyhow. only one star for you but keep trying youll get there","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"daniel b. clendenin's eastern orthodoxy christian: a western perspective seeks to introduce the history and theology of this little-known branch of christianity to protestants. an evangelical protestant, clendenin became acquainted with eastern orthodoxy while teaching at moscow state university. he is convinced that protestants and orthodox have much to learn from each other, and that protestants should approach the east with a 'hermeneutic of love'. the work is divided into seven sections. the first is a general introduction and the second a brief history. the next four sections each deal with an aspect of orthodox theology unfamiliar or confusing to protestants. these are the emphasis on apophatic revelation, the use of icons, the relationship of scripture and tradition, and theosis. in the final section clendenin critiques orthodoxy from his protestant perspective--dealing frankly with the frequency of nationalism and even racism in orthodox churches--but nonetheless trying to appreciate its many fine qualities. clendenin does not have the space to go into much depth on any of these topics, however. i was not too impressed by the book. much of the work is repetitive, and in a volume of only 180 pages such repetition makes the work very insubstantial indeed. clendenin also makes several errors which caused me to doubt his familiarity with the history of the church. he writes, for example, that the slavs were converted in 988, when this marked only the conversion of kyiv rus and most slavs were already evangelised over a century earlier. his focus is entirely on the church in russia and greece/byzantium and the contributions of other regions are ignored. the work is written in a journalistic style with frequent resorts to quotations and a great deal of footnotes, suggesting that the author is not terribly specialised in the subject at hand. for westerners curious about orthodoxy, i think there is no better introduction than kallistos ware's the orthodox church, an instant classic when it was first published over forty years ago, and available in a relatively new updated edition. clendenin's work is admirable for its attempt to build dialogue between protestants and orthodox, but his work is really too short","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book has nice full colour pictures of games, and touches the surface of moddeling in 3ds max, but does't work out real examples of modeling. examples of cubes and primitives are all that are supplied, no professional quality buildings or scenes as the cover suggests. not money well spend. recomended book from quake arena modeler paul steed is modeling a character in 3ds ma","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a beautiful book addressing complex and dynamic elements of parenting. the writing is sweet, dramatic, sensual and educated. it dares to be politically incorrect and encourages a return to intimate mothering that has been lost via feminism and day care. as a new mom, i was overwhelmed with feelings of intimacy for my baby son...i had no idea. i read the chapters, underlined, and tearfully re-read the moving paragraphs to my husband when he got home at night. oxenhandler succinctly captures the power of a child's love for his momma, the smiles that light up a parent's heart, as well as the darker side of sensuality between parent and child. it is a well-researched, albeit brave and scary, text","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"while easy enough to read, if the exact same pages were enclosed in a harlequin romance cover, i would not know the difference. i'm extremely surprised this is a 'best seller'. maybe i should take up writing because i cannot possibly be worse than this. ok, it's a good enough story but wow, it's predictible and boring. i read it completely in 2 days, and i'm a reader that savors pages so it takes me a while. i wasn't intrigued, i wasn't on the edge of my seat, and didn't shed a tear","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book really is an insult. it's 'lesson' and 'assignments' are horrible. they ask you to research in magazines different lighting effects that you think were used in his book. in a field where doing is truly the best learning experience this book is not worth the paper it was printed on. check it out from a library if you must but you will shortly find it is an insulting read","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"regardless of some of the negative reviews i found that this book contains some of the best advice you can get about internet marketing. some have their opinions about his book about 'how to get rich by telling other people how to get rich.' although that has some truth to it, there is so much more to it - if you think of how to apply it in your industry or niche! what some of these reviewers fail to understand is that this book gives you the strategies on how to market your particular business effectively through using the internet, not just 'teaching people how to get rich.' and the subtitle to this book accurately says it all, 'making money online using e-mail' in my opinion that's what this book is about and is accurately communicated in the title. i highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to start an online business. although you could get most of the material for free on the internet, it's much more convenient and saves you a lot of time to have this book around. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"if you're looking for the outrageous, eccentric, with a laugh in at least every paragraph, you just cannot beat bill fitzhugh! plus , his books are great satires on contempary america. cross dressing is perhaps his most realistic, with no sci- fi overtones such as those found in pest control, an even wilder ride! here we have a socially aware nun with an unusual past, meeting up with an ad huckster in some of the funniest scenes ever written, yet everything here is certainly very possible, if not likely. his barbs at organized religion, and the huckster consumer society are all too real! truly, mr fitzhugh strikes a solid punch, and one wishes for more success for this unique, zanily- inspired author","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'undine was fiercely independent and yet passionately imitative. she wanted to surprise every one by her dash and originality, but she could not help modeling herself on the last person she met, and the confusion of ideals thus produced caused her much perturbation when she had to choose between two courses.' p.457 the characters in custom of the country were fabulous, especially elmer moffatt. the story itself proved to be an almost inexhaustible weave of aspirations and setbacks. the up-and-coming young new york socialite, undine spragg, with her country background and concealed past, pushes incessantly to better her personal station. whether it is compromising her parents financial stability to marry into new york's society, crushing her first husband in favor of a richer more social benefactor, or finding her way into a scandalous second marriage with one of france's oldest families, undine never stops aspiring for more. she ultimately concludes (seemingly so) with her very first love, elmer moffatt. wharton leaves the reader with an unpredictable and winding path, to an inevitable conclusion","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i'm sure that somewhere in this book there is a story, but it wasn't worth the cost of finding it. started reading this and got 100 pages into it before saying enough with all the obscure references, historical meanderings, and pointless speculations. seems like this book's real purpose is to test the reader's intellectual bona fides rather than to present a well written, intriguing story. it was a slog and people who want to give it great ratings, i think, do so because they're afraid people will think them stupid if they tell the truth. call me stupid then, but this book needed a good editor and someone to tell this pretentious author to move the story along once in a while and lighten up on the obscure/pointless ramblings. my congratulations to those who managed to get to the end of this 533 page snooze fest. you have my admiration for your tenacity. i note that people usually rate one or two star reviews as unhelpful. but take a look at lots of reviews of this book. the majority of them say it is a long, boring slog, then they give it a 3 star rating. how helpful is that? ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a beginning blogger, i was disappointed with this book. i generally like the dummies series and have found them useful and entertaining. this one is not. the author is sarcastic -p. 3 'what you're not to read - i forbid you to read trashy novels from the supermarket.' really! the information on blogger does not add anything that cannot be found on blogger help screens. several blogging services, for example edublog, are not mentioned at all. last, the part of tens was not as neat as in most of the dummies books. i want my money back","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this collection consists mostly of the last stories in the past through tomorrow. ptt may well be one of heinein's masterworks, a collection of short stories that retells history from the late 1890's but puts the world on a different course. by lopping off the last few short stories, this collection looses the continuity that made the ptt a great read. . ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"while prior reviews have criticized mr. roosevelt's writing style, and justly so, he never claimed in the book to be a novelist by trade. but his description of the way the military operated before the turn of the century is very insightful into a time long gone which will never return. today, there is no way the us military would accept civilian volunteers with only 30 days training to fight on the front lines against battle hardened soldiers from spain or anywhere else. to fully appreciate this book, you need to read it in context of that changing time between the civil war and ww-i. indeed, the way the us military accepted back into its ranks former confederate officers was almost a shock to read, but understandable given the desire for the nation to heal its wounds after the civil war. for those individuals who appreciate learning history from participants instead of modern, revisionist historians who have never spent a day in the military, i would highly recommend this book. this book is one i'll read again","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this novel highly disappointed me and i'm a big james patterson fan. the usual short chapters do not bother me, but this novel was running over with characters...okay...so i do not like too many characters that i have to remember. but i stayed with the book and when it came to the ending, i kept telling myself...no way. but, it ended the way it ended. i purchased this one, but i think maybe i'll get the next patterson release from the library. i think the two star rating pretty well sums it up","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"being a child of the self indulgent baby-boomer generation this book shook me to my roots, not only by how different things were then but by how similar they are now. as i read this book i could not help but be amazed by how the characters, whether on a personal or a societal scale, mirrored those we see today. most of all herman wouk provides a crystal clear view of the events leading up to ww ii. the characters are memorable, though i feel that this is wouk's shortcoming in this book. the historical characters seem to be developed more strongly than the fictional characters of the henry family, around which this book centers. i feel that wouk left the main characters purposely undefined as a way to make them appear more complex. the historic characters didn't suffer from this, perhaps because wouk had to rely on historical accounts of them. this books seems to hold up well for historical accuracy and provides an incomparable sense of perspective for anyone wishing to learn more than just the facts of that era. i prefer to read classics and believe this book might be easy to trash on that level but the story itself and the realism with which wouk tells it makes this one of the very best books i have read to date. this is an imoprtant book that should be read by everyone wishing to understand the events leading up to world war ii. it can happen again and as i write this in late 2005 it seems likely it will.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"so lush and rich and vivid; and yet sullied by racism. what a tragedy that icredibly beautiful writing like this is now compromised by sensitivities that wolfe did not perceive. a flaw that should be forgiven and yet is so difficult to do when confronted with the ugly racism of some passages. however, if one can forgive, wolfe is without doubt the greatest american writer","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i've been a fan of heinlein's sf for just about as long as i've been an sf fan at all (somewhere around thirty-five years). but when i read this collection some twenty-odd years ago, it nearly turned me off to the old man altogether. the fiction is pretty good (although even that isn't heinlein's best). but to describe the nonfiction accurately, i'd have to use words that amazon will remove from the review anyway. for the most part, the pieces collected here represent a side of heinlein i strongly dislike. though i respect _starship troopers_, it's never going to be my favorite heinlein novel no matter how many times we quibble over the precise definition of 'fascism' -- and i'm not going to have much respect for the nonfiction in this collection. and mind you, it's not because i disagree with heinlein's opinions; it's because he gave bad arguments for them and called other people nasty names when they differed. some of the stuff collected here is tendentious to the point of being propagandistic. (at least in his fiction, he was able to create characters with points of view that differed from his and get into their heads well enough to present them sympathetically -- in short, to grok them. not here, boy.) heinlein (who bought into the korzybski/general semantics fad pretty early on) spent a lot of years dismissing philosophers as tailchasers who derive their premises from their conclusions. but his own attempt at philosophy, as represented here in e.g. 'the pragmatics of patriotism', is very nearly the worst writing on ethical philosophy i've ever seen. then, too, people who knew heinlein report that despite his overall gentlemanly demeanor, he could be pretty churlish toward people who disagreed with him. well, he's certainly unpleasant here; anybody who does not agree with him on the need for massive nuclear buildup is dismissed as a poltroon or a custard-head. even in the unlikely event that i thought he were _right_, i would not find this a very helpful approach. perhaps more surprisingly, his popular writings on _science_ are not very good. asimov's reputation as the 'great explainer' is in no danger here. this volume is second only to _grumbles from the grave_ in cementing heinlein's posthumous reputation as a rather mean-spirited fellow whose fictional characters were generally much better company than he was. when i want heinleinian company, i'll stick to d.b. davis, manuel garcia o'kelly davis, and (maybe) lazarus long. and when i want to read some humane nonfiction by an sf master, i'll still turn to asimov. i credit heinlein with three magisterial novels, several imperfect-but-great ones, and a good number of brilliant short stories. but the stuff in this book should have stayed in his drawer","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book could have been so much better since the plot is really good. the writing here is a knockoff of michael crighton and really doesnt juve very well. i found myself skimming the pages after a while. the subject of a super algorithm to translate code that has been corrupted is a good one and almost deserves to be written over again","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i thought this book had some good points. ppl should see this book as advice and not follow things so literally. i noticed many reviews, ppl did not agree with her about breastfeeding. i notice that she tries not to pressure moms into breastfeeding. after my baby was born, i felt pressured to breastfeed.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it had been way too long since i picked up a heinlein title: 'stranger in a strange land' being the last time i ventured into his densely written world 15 years ago. the book touts that this is 'science fiction's most controversial novel'...and i can see that since it was written in 1964. however, the disturbing elements of slavery, incest, and cannibalism cetainlty transcend time. as for the storyline, it is inetersting and well put together. this book seemed to me like two stories in one. the first half could be entitled 'the survivalist guide after the complete destruction of the world as we know it' and i shall be certain to take this book with me for reference in the (un)liklihood i ever find myself in a bomb shelter or lost in the woods. the story finally takes a turn halfway through when we are introduced to the inhabitants of this future earth. the 'color war' has taken a turn and now dark skinned folk are the masters and the light skinned people are the slaves. this new world is explained in detail as well as how the caste system works. our main characters adapt as best as they can according to their individual personalities. i do not entirely agree that there is nothing to like about farnham's clan. it is a cross section of the kind of personalities that make up the world: leaders, fighters, followers, cowards, dependants, etc. the strong survive and the weak get sucked into and accept their lot (even learn to like it). the time travel twist is one of the only features that make this title 'sci-fi'. other than that, it can be looked upon as any other interesting work of fiction. if you can muddle through the first half of the book, dense with dialogue and technicalities that will make your head spin, you're in for a good read. this book will make you think and consider how different a world can be if roles were reversed and democracy was no more. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"like so many bad, bad movies, this book is a beautiful production. it features slick, heavy paper; a million color pictures; attractive, readable typeface; witty contributors. its proportions seem just right for its weight. but unless you just love grazing on hors d'oeuvres (and many do), you're likely to be disappointed by this beautiful but cynical exercise in marketing to the culturally insecure. as somebody has already noted: no iliad. no odyssey. no aeschylus. no euripides. no boccaccio. no chaucer. no dante. no machiavelli. no shakespeare. no marlowe. no old or new testament. no q'uran. no lao-tse, confucius, bhagavda-gita (really short and really good). no beowulf. no sir gawain and the green knight. in fact, only 13 works from before 1700 make the cut - and lest you think fun is the criterion, one of them is john lyly's euphues long regarded as one of the most unreadable and, shall we say, 'affected' works in english literature. you get john lyly instead of john milton. on the other hand, you do get 69 titles of books that have appeared since 2000. that's a lot of 'classics' in record time. how did they pick these? and there's another 700 - out of 1001, if you can dig it, 'you must read before you die' written in the 20th century. the 19th century is well represented, i'll grant. huck finn is here - but not twain's more complicated letters from the earth, the mysterious stranger, a connecticut yankee, or pudd'nhead wilson. they also felt it necessary to fill out the list with a few short stories like lovecraft's 'the mountains of madness' and gogol's 'the nose.' great stories, but two actual books had to go to make room for them. books like the red badge of courage, for example. or maybe the red badge got crowded out by justine or american psycho. this is a book for people who like to read about books in snappy reviews, and look at color pictures of books. you'll find some titles worth pursuing, but you could do better, for starters, just by getting a list of cliff's notes titles and going on from there. you can do that for free","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it is truly astonishing how many competent mds treating acid reflux do not warn their patients of the dietary restrictions facing those who suffer from acid reflex. this applies not only to family doctors but incredibly ents! as such, patients are strongly advised to 'understand their own bodies.' all our bodies are different. some patients will have strong negative reactions to chocolate. others to orange juice. some to red wine. some to apple juice. to fix acid reflux problems - and it is almost always fixable - it is critical to understand what particular foods and beverages are causing it. this book will help properly identify. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"second time i've bought this book because it's so helpful. a must for sales, or any interpersonal dynamics - family, etc. very well written, concise, easy to understand and put theory into practice. read it and then get others to, so you can discuss and appreciate the theory and use it to make daily communication so much easier","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i just wanted to add another vote of confidence for this marvelous dictionary. i got through 4 years of college latin with it, and almost never failed to find the word i was looking for. i particularly appreciate the idiomatic expressions highlighted in bold typeface, to make it easy to skim down the definition to find the one you're looking for. its only downfall is that, as a paperback, it begins to get a bit well-thumbed, leading the serious latinist to think, a little wistfully, that it would be nice if it came in a hardbound edition. but for a mere six bucks, you can easily afford to buy a replacement. personally, i own two","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"a superb literary work ! when i read carlos's writings, it brought tears to my eyes. he was writing about my father and mother's hardships and triumps in the 1950's livermore and pleasanton area of california. we were one of the first filipino families of that area and my parents worked hard through all the hardships to graduate five children from major california universities. as filipino americans we owe much to the manong generation. many of the manong generation are buried with full military honors. many have fought and died alongside their brothers from the midwest, the south and all over america.it's a tribute to a proud segment of the greatest generation of america , the wwii generation","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"since the reviews printed on the inside cover of the book all are blurbs, here are my blurbs: 'really hard to get into ... tough to follow who's who ...' 'opens strong, but fizzles out early ...' 'i literally feel asleep while reading this book one night ...' 'you'll finally give up without really wondering who did it ...","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the 'reporter's notebook' is a great tool to provide to students planning on writing and publishing a newspaper. the notebook provides several tips and ideas for young writers in a well organized format. there are also several pages for students to use for note taking. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"dr. mcd shares delicious, easy, healthful tips and recipes using inexpensive ingredients and simple techniques. even non-cooks can follow these directions to produce food that tastes so good, your family will never guess it is good for them","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"while this book makes some interesting points it comes across more as an anti-tradition propaganda piece than a useful treatise on martial arts. while the author is an experienced, highly knowledgeable practitioner, his understanding of the traditional martial arts that he rails against is incomplete and oftentimes inaccurate. do not get me wrong; i certainly do not believe that the author is an idiot. i believe that he is the victim of bad teaching, an all too common occurrence in martial arts. for example, he states that, 'today's full-contact fighters throw devastating, lightning fast punches from a distance of less than two feet. against this kind of speed, classical blocks and punches simply do not stand a chance. what amazes me is how a flaw of this magnitude - and one that is taught to thousands of unknowing students every day - still exists in what are, otherwise, extremely potent arts...' this is just flat wrong. contrary to mr. orlando's understanding, in classical blocks the hand that is out (e.g. just punched or blocked) performs the actual block, check, or deflection, while the hand that is in chamber executes a technique designed to control the opponent's limb. even though it is often hidden, almost all blocks in traditional karate styles utilize this check/control methodology. in all cases, there is never ever any 'wind-up' preceding anything. in most traditional schools all but the most junior students understand that simple fact. to delve deeper, the word 'uke' translates more accurately to 'receive' than it does to 'block.' when viewed in this context, it may be easier to understand that practitioners typically check, deflect, or control an attack rather than meeting it force-on-force. using the traditional check/control methodology, a practitioner's outstretched hand need only deflect an attack by a few inches to spoil its effect when contact is made close to an opponent's body. in this fashion karateka can easily avoid being hit by even the most 'devastating' of punches no matter how fast, or how powerfully, or even how unexpectedly they are thrown. common misconceptions such as this one are the reason that i believe it is imperative to supplement the traditional modeling approach to instruction with interactive discussions and other teaching styles. regardless, i hate to see this sort of stuff perpetuated... now that i've ripped him down, i will point out that there are some redeeming concepts in this book. for example, the author also promotes practicing martial arts in the same sort of attire one might be wearing in real life. if you have spent your whole life barefoot in a dojo, training with loose fitting clothes, you may well be in for a shock the first time you have to fight in tight-fitting jeans wearing boots. this is a very valid point. i wholeheartedly agree that practitioners should devote some of their training to more realistic conditions though that often must occur at their home rather than in a tradition karate school. all in all, however, there is not enough meat in this book for me to feel like i got my money's worth from purchasing it. it was disappointing. get sifu orlando's book 'indonesian fighting fundamentals: the brutal arts of the archipelago' instead. it's a great read and well worth buying. lawrence kane author of surviving armed assaults, the way of kata, and martial arts instructio","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it is pretty general,there is no such thing as advice or anything the like about practices.he insists in almost every chapter that the mission is the most important thing.the only intersting ideas in his book are some about leadership, but i felt very much that i already knew them,he only confirmed them.this is not to say i am a genius.i am 18, so i guess if you are involved in running a nonprofit for more than one year, you would be able to write a better book. for a beginner it might be intersting to get it from the library, and read it in a train or so. not bad, but getting a book on leadership,and other one on marketing is a much better idea","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i found this book to be based on a kernel of truth wrapped in innumerable layers of unconfirmable speculation (how many people really have access to intelligence agency archives?) and one-sided 'analysis'. it is clear the bin ladin was 'lost' at tora bora when our troops were called back to garrison, allowing him to escape. this goes even farther to the right than micheal moore goes to the left. if you want a look at the subject from someone who was involved through several administrations, read 'against all enemies: inside america's war on terror' by richard clarke. if you buy this book, you are paying for propaganda","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i was dismayed to find that this audio book is simply a laundry listing (in an 'advice o'the day' format) of tidbits of wisdom. the wisdom offered is good, mind you, but if you are looking for something to stimulate and entertain you (eg on a long car ride) you will likely be disappointed. i can only listen to about 4 or 5 tidbits before i lose interest","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"to all who have read this malarkey, and for those who intend to, i have a suggestion. first, read all the articles by tim callahan of skeptic magazine. he is an authentic scholar who specializes in debunking revisionism and bigotry. since he like mr. cahill is irish the 3-5 star reviewers will not be able to condemn him for being anti-irish. he makes certain, unlike cahill that he has a mountain of proof-evidence to verify his thesis. i was so impressed with his methods that it truly surprised me that some people actually fell for this book. in fact he used every point that the 1-2 star reviewers mentioned, and more. i agree with him that the entire 'hinges of history series' largely lacks any in depth research. the first 3 chapters of this book is devoted to rehashing what most of us learned in grade school. the next 2 chapters are clearly the authors reinterpretations of the period. the rest of the book felt padded. what does plato have to do with the title, or premise? where are the footnotes and sources? that makes everything dubious at best. also, cahill did make archie bunker type remarks about other groups that have no place in our society, except in a very tasteless jokebook. read callahan first, or in place of this rusty fiction.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i read this short novel because i greatly admired shaara's pulitzer prize winning 'killer angels,' and because i'm a baseball fan. the novel feels more like an outline or first draft than a completed work about an aging pitcher. it's a bit shallow and predictable in its plot. the characters are what one expects in all too many sports novels and short stories. the feel or atmosphere just isn't quite there. any baseball fan will see flaws in the book right away, flaws that distract and damage the work. shaara sets most of the novel in yankee stadium with the hawks playing the yankees. why the author chose to have one real team against a fictional team is unclear. the hawks apparently are from atlanta, but an atlanta team, braves or hawks, whichever, would not be playing the yankees interleague on the next to last day of the season. finally, when a visiting pitcher goes out to warm up before the game, he does so in the semi-hidden bull pen down the left field line in yankee stadium--not on the mound on the field. this book was published posthumously and mr. shaara perhaps never had a chance to polish his prose--prose that was excellent in 'killer angels.' it's unfortunate. there are glimmers of interest in the book, but not enough to recommend it to baseball fans or fans of the author's other book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"received qickly and in great condition","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"rated three stars only because it was not as extensive as advertised. this is an introduction to the pimsleur method. it gives you a rudimentary sense of the spanish language, and not much else. if, however, your interest is in the pimsleur method and you want a good sample, this is it. a nice marketing tool! i will be ordering the pimsleur method as a result of this teaser, so i guess it works as intended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"there are two types of writers...one writes to inform the reader, the other writes to try to impress other writers. mr. reese tried the latter, but didn't acomplish either. reading this book is like trying to understand a sloppy drunk stranger explaining why his wife left him....it does not make sense and it's b-o-r-i-n-g. it's ironic that a frenchman with a german mother, who also spent wwii in the german army on the eastern front and who never claimed to be a writer (guy sajer), wrote the book that is everything that reese's book wanted to be, and isn't. if you are looking for the ultimate 'cannot put it down' memoir of a soldier that brings home the horrors of war along with humanity at it's best and worst, get 'forgotten soldier' by guy sager. like coke, it's the real thing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a book that you'll read over and over. you'll dog ear the pages and turn them yellow with highlighter. there is pure gold to be mined on every page. what makes this book so valuable is the science behind persuasion that mr. hogan explains in easy to understand language. you walk away with a real understanding of how to persuade and why it works. in fact, i found the chapter on the impact of non-verbal communication to be worth the whole price of the book and even more. after i read this book, i was surprised it wasn't priced in the $80 range like many of the other persuasion books. this book should be considered a primer for everyone who wants to seriously persuade. get it, read it, use it, persuade, profit.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i got strange looks when people spotted me reading war and peace. not many 14 year olds took on the challenge. yet i did, and enjoyed myself immensely. if you read it in a public place, you'll most likely get funny looks for reading the very complicated unabridged book. and i can assure you that you will most likely enjoy yourself almost as much as i did. 'war and peace' tells of many different characters, goes through their lives, and describes the very complicated connections they all have with each other. it is a huge book, and for the first two hundred pages, one cannot even tell someone what the book is 'about', because it's not quite clear. but then it does become clear, and it all starts making wonderful sense. you cannot help but fall in love with some of the characters and the way they act, because they're such special characters, and it feels as though you truly know them. despite its length, this book is totally worth it; worth the time, the effort, the headaches, the angry mutterings about things not going your way... it's worth everything.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the third secret is another entry in the vatican intrigue genre. it has the usual elements: vatican conservatives the usual bad guys vs liberal catholics the usual good guys. the 'third secret' refers to secret revelations given to marian visionaries at such places as fatima and medjugorge, the existence of which is historical fact. if there is any suspense in the novel, it is not with the plot which is remarkably predictable and derivative. the only thing that kept my interest was waiting to find out the actual content of the third secret(s), at least according to the novel's author. in the end, these proved to be rather predictable too, given the author's religious inclinations","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is the story of cassie, who is found wandering helplessly in a cemetery by a young indian policeman who just arrived in la. cassie suffers from amnesia and we do not know what brought her there, until a hollywood megastar recognizes her as his wife. this is by far the most disappointing of picoult's books, and i've read almost all of them and am a big fan of hers. cassie is amnesic, yet she does remember stuff and it is not clear at all in the book how comes she recovers from her amnesia or actually how it happened. the story goes back and forth between the present, the past, the memories, and leaves readers lost in the middle. i was surprised by other reviewers who were surprised by the ending. chapter one gives the ending away in my opinion. what is frustrating is that it takes picoult 350 pages to make her character realise the obvious. i also found cassie to be unreliable and unappealing, let alone her husband alex, a massive egocentric. the story was very confused, mixing hollywood lifestyle with movie sets in africa, with anthropology, indian legends, domestic violence, alcoholism, amnesia - it was just too much for one book and the message was confused. if you want a superb story of domestic violence, read black & blue by anna quindlen. if you want a good picoult book, read the pact or my sister's keeper, but definitely not picture perfect","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this novel is comprised of pretty, well constructed sentences. that's about all it is. pretty, well constructed sentences. the story itself could be interesting, after all it is a tale of multi-generational abandonment but it is told so dispassionately that it was difficult to remain interested, let alone awake. the narrator, although the main character, was so far removed, emotionally, from her own telling of the story, that you wondered why she had bothered. at time it seems that the writer was so enthralled with her own use of language that she seemed to forget that there was a story that needed to be told. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i find it disturbing that john updike can apparently find no female artist worthy of mention in his book...beyond one artist who is practically unknown. and she is included only because his family owned a piece of artwork created by her. updike seems very dismissive of even this one female contributor. he does find room in his book to include a nude photo of the great artist georgia o'keefe, but no actual artwork created by o'keeffe. that should give you a clue what the rest of the book is like. disturbing, too, are updike's dismissive comments about edward hopper; he claims that edward hopper cannot paint faces very well. so even though i purchased this book, i do not recommend it to others. give this one a pass.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my dad bought me this wonderful little book when i was young, & i have always loved the truly off-center humor of it. in response to the query about the meaning of epiplectic, i found a quick online search produced the same type of results as reviewer rhs got--mostly references to epileptic & apoplectic. oddly, i have a clear memory of looking it up decades ago (one of my father's favorite admonitions was 'look it up!') and finding a definition that related it to apoplectic, and described it as referring to something that suddenly and somewhat violently falls to pieces. in fact i have often cited 'epiplectic' as an apt description when watching the blues brothers' faithful retired police car burst into bits once they make daley plaza, lol--so this definition, though unconfirmable at the moment, has been clearly emblazoned in my memory for these many years (right or not)! now if i could just find that dictionary of my dad's to confirm..","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"transaction codes, good explanations, clever questions, well throughout answers and bonus material beyond anything else out there. great book and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning bw or interviewing someone for a bw job","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"timeline is equivalent to a 99 cent taco. it's an indulgent bit of junk food. timeline starts with a hillerman-esque scientist turning up in the middle of new mexico - an intriguing idea, but goes to the land of mediocracy right after that filled with cartoon characters. there are so many preposterous story elements that it's just really difficult to take seriously. the story is ever-predictable and ludicrous. but, a 99 cent taco is worth the effort if you're real hungry. go back and read andromeda strain.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i purchased this book as a good primer for entering banking (specifically indymac bank). when i joined retail banking (previously only having worked in investment banking at morgan stanley) i was able to expand my knowledge on various areas of the retail banking beyond just what i-banking had taught (e.g.,, valuation, sec ii & sec iii stat techniques, tax implications and flippying and insider trading tips of how to find/negotiate the best properties). i would highly recommend this book to others in this field. - jameson thottam","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"having read (and thoroughly enjoyed) levitt's freakonomics, i picked up 'hidden order: the economics of everyday life' looking for more of the same. unfortunately, i was sadly disappointed. i get the impression the author intended to write a freakonomics-type book, but was only able to come up with 40 pages of material (located at the end of the book). facing an irate publisher, he then filled in the initial 290 pages with his old economics lecture notes. as a result, readers who have taken an elementary economics course will find much of the material repetitive, while those who have not will most likely find the material too confusing to be of any real use. (despite the glowing accolades on the cover, the author's explanations are no better than those available in a standard textbook.) the author also posits end-of-chapter questions for the reader to ruminate upon, but does not provide any answers. aside from formal textbooks where such questions are intended to be assigned to students, such tactics are unconscionable. of course, the author may be priming the pump for sales of a 'hidden order supplement'. a final negative point is the author's tone, which is frequently condescending towards the reader (e.g. telling the reader they would not understand the math behind a given theory, so it will not even be presented). while this may be true for a layperson reading the book, being talked down to certainly does nothing to build their confidence or cultivate their interest in the subject matter. overall, if you can borrow a copy from a friend or a library, the last 40 pages are worth reading. otherwise, save your time and money. reviewer's background: b.sc. (computing science & mathematics) m.b.a. (finance & marketing) ph.d. (finance)","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"another in james d. doss' shaman series which began with the shaman sings in the mid 1990s. the series started off good and just keeps getting better. doss marries a wry writing style with well-drawn characters, a clever story line and a fine understated humour. his setting is southern colorado, a land of ranchers, wide spaces and capable country people both matukach (white) and ute native americans. the shaman of the series, wise old ute daisy perika, does not feature to the extent that she has in other books in the series but her contribution via dreams and premonitions is subtle and true. her character is the stuff the series is built on. she is abrasive and annoying, and takes pleasure in being so, yet the writer has made her irascible while likeable and she is the character the reader will remember long after the rest are forgotten. the story's central character is charlie moon, nephew of daisy perika and a ute rancher and sometime policeman for his tribe. charlie's major trouble in life is a mountain cat terrorising his ranch workers and cattle, until he is asked to find out who injured a u.s. senator and at the same time killed billy smoke, the senator's driver. the senator, who runs the neighbouring ranch, has his own agenda and charlie finds himself also involved in investigating a leak of damaging government information from the senator's ranch. charlie finds himself often on the tricky side of guns and dangerous animals (both human and not). it makes for a rollicking and thoroughly enjoyable read. no sex but some violence","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"not only useful for the 'serious adult' improv artist--as a drama teacher who works with underprivileged kids i find this the best book out there for helping them develop a sense of 'mastery' on stage, a drama more alive to them than memorizing lines. recommended for anyone who works with young actors","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the romantic days of the search for the 'missing link' are gone, and as science writer carl zimmer reminds us, that is all to the good since the very idea of a 'missing link' is a misdirection. what we have today is the search for human ancestors and for a distinction to be made between our ancestors and other ancient hominids. this book with its beautiful prints and photos, engaging drawings and helpful charts, and especially the sprightly text by zimmer brings the general reader up to date (circa 2005) on the latest developments. there's a lot going on. there's the controversy about homo floresiensis, thought to be a tiny hominid, found in indonesia in 2004. zimmer presents the arguments. some think that homo floresiensis is an island adaptation of home erectus, the first hominid to make it out of africa 1.8 million years ago. after all, island adaptation often leads to diminished size. there are fossils of now extinct small elephants in indonesia. but others believe that the skull found is an anomaly, a case of microcephaly, a birth defect. i'm betting on the latter. there are wooden spears found that are around 400,000 years old, meaning that homo habilis or homo ergaster (who may be one and the same) or the more recently discovered homo heidelbergensis were accomplished tool makers long before homo sapiens arrived on the scene. there is the idea that homo neanderthalensis is a cold climate, european adaptation of homo erectus. part of the excitement in paleontology is in the new fossil finds, and part is in our new-found ability to analyze dna samples to map the spread of homo sapiens. this allows us to see the 'out of africa' phenomenon in three main stages: (1) homo erectus leaving africa 1.8 million years ago, followed by (2) homo heidelbergensis expanding into not only europe and the near east and china, but into southeast asia as well. finally (3), about 130,000 years ago, homo sapiens begin to move out of africa, first into the levant and then into east asia and australia (50,000 years ago), then into europe and siberia (40,000 years ago) and ultimately into the americas (20,000 years ago). incidentally, this book has homo sapiens coming onto the scene almost 200,000 years ago. zimmer talks about the various hominid cultures and speculates on their social and religious possibilities. on the subject of what happened to the neanderthal, he intimates that he believes it was a combination of things that allowed humans to survive while the neanderthals went extinct, including being better able to adapt to climate change, having a more sophisticated culture and better hunting techniques. i think it's also possible (actually i think it's likely) that humans were better at killing not only herd animals but the competition as well, meaning that one of the reasons that the neanderthals are gone is because we killed them. zimmer more or less skirts around this, waiting (wisely, i think) until further evidence is in. in a final chapter, 'where do we go from here?' zimmer briefly discusses biotechnology and genetic engineering, and how our species might be affected by cultural evolution. this is a handsome book it's like a coffee table book with the high gloss, heavy pages and the beautiful artwork, but smaller in size. most significantly it is a book aimed at the general reader that is well written, well edited, and very well presented. and it is clear. it is in fact the clearest book on human origins--usually a very murky subject--that i have read. by the way, zimmer is the author of several excellent science books. i especially recommend his creepy, but fascinating, parasite rex: inside the bizarre world of nature's most dangerous creatures (2000)","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the story is great, and even educational. asimov's science and visual settings are excellent and, well, fantastic. but the characters were painfully cliche. perhaps they weren't when the book was written, but they certainly are now. you have your main character: a tall, strong, and dashingly handsome take-charge guy of infinite courage. and your sidekick (pretty much): a beautiful, young, intelligent woman who wants only to be respected for her intellect and not her perfect body and flowing hair. the dialogue between these characters is ludicrous at best, and takes up a depressingly large amount of the novel. y'know - him constantly hitting on her in a rather pushy way, and her constantly deflecting his come-ons with a secret physical attraction for him. and yes, his heroic strength saves her more than once. and, of course, they get together in the end. i respect asimov tremendously, but this book was like lucas' episode iii: a great story with a horrendous script and characters. and also like episode iii, i finished it trying to convince myself that i liked it, but was pretty much just annoyed that i gave it the time that i did","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i found the book very difficult to use and almost never had what i was looking for. the small dictionary in the back of my eyewitness travel guide was much more useful","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"dave barry's novel is a quick read, but there's nothing fresh about the story or the characters. the story centers on many different characters that become involved in a potential airport disaster--a columnist, his son, a rich, sleazy lawyer, a wannabe criminal, etc. like elmore leonard's books, the characters begin to collide in unpredictable ways. but the pay-off is just not that great. you may find yourself thinking 'what's the point?' after finishing the novel. this book was made into a pretty forgettable movie that featured a great cast (tim allen, rene russo, stanley tucci, tom sizemore, etc.)","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"'the denial of death' is evasive and lacking in depth, not to mention excessively wordy. it could be seen, for instance, that death is a philosophical uncertainty. the denial of the absolute uncertainty of death (and uncertainty in general) could thus be a more profound form of denial. it could also be seen that a human being is as dead before his conception as after his death, and his prior state of death did not prevent him from emerging into life. death is then life-giving. further, a living being is made of 'dead' matter - atoms as dead as those which make up rocks. where, then, does life begin and death end, and vice versa? is there ultimately a difference between death and life? in the end, this central notion lacks imagination (at least you could credit freud with that), and has not been thoughtfully analysed, only assumed. by contrast, 'the human evasion' is an unblinking analysis of the human condition and our psychological defenses against it. (note: this book is out of print, but can be found online at http://www.theabsolute.net/minefield/humevas.html","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book arrived very quickly and was in pristine condition. great service","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is not a history in the since of most history books. it does not detail how the academy began, or how it changed over the years, or give you any kind of insider view of its workings. instead, it is a complete listing of every nominee and every winner in every category since the award ceremony's inception in 1927. there are plenty of photographs of the nominees and images of scenes from the nominated films for each year, so it is not dry in the way many reference books are. in fact, mr. osborne's love of film and its history really shine through in the book. it is interesting to look through this book and see what we consider to be films that have withstood the test of time versus which ones were rewarded by the academy at the time. for example, in 1939, the academy did recognize that 'gone with the wind' was the best picture of the year, which people were lining up to watch in movie theaters until its television broadcast premiere in 1976. however, in 1941, 'how green was my valley' won best picture, which is a film that hardly anyone watches anymore, while 'citizen kane' was completely ignored. it's also interesting to see how the academy compensated for past oversights by awarding performances that were less than stellar in subsequent years. for instance, in 1934 bette davis was overlooked in her performance in 'of human bondage'. this caused a huge public outcry. the following year the academy gave her the best actress award for her performance in 'dangerous'- a move that has largely been seen over the years as a consolation prize for what happened the year before. this book is full of little insights such as these, and it is a fun book that gives hours of entertainment for film history buffs. i bought my first copy of this history by mr. osborne back in 1987 when he was then detailing the 60 years of the oscar, and i enjoyed it so much i have been updating my copy every time he releases a new edition. highly recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i can not laud this book too highly. it is meticulously researched and intelligently presented. you will be astounded. stunned, maybe. did you know that the deadly form of the religion of peace got its start in boulder, co? can you imagine that the people who were smart enough to bring down the world trade center were such superstitious morons that they thought a glucose iv bottle was attracting soviet bombers? well, you will if you read this. and that's just the start","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"frank oski draws attention to the very real health dangers of commercial dairy products. unfortunately, he does consumers a grave disservice by encouraging the consumption of soymilk, an alternative that is even riskier. soymilk was rarely drunk in asia prior to the 20th century and like other modern, nonfermented soy products has been linked to digestive distress, thyroid damage, cognitive decline, add/adhd, immune system breakdown, infertility, reproductive disorders and even heart disease and cancer. sadly, many people have seen their health seriously deteriorate because of soy milk. children are at such risk that in july 2005 the israeli health ministry issued a health advisory warning parents that they should not feed their children soyfoods or soymilk more than once per day or a maximum of three times per week. for people who would like to explore all sides of the milk controversy, i highly recommend ron schmid's 'the untold story of milk'","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i had to read jared diamond's pulitzer prize winning book because of the rave reviews and acclaim. the thoughts that he introduces in the book are certainly interesting and he presents us with a new way to interpret history which is certainly important. however, there is much overkill in making points about the development of each civilization - crops are the major topic with little discussion on guns, germs (more than the other 2), and steel. of course the arguement for this focus is that the domestication of crops is how civilizations develop guns, germs and steel. i enjoyed parts of the book considerably, but you would have to have a strong interest in horticulture and botany to truely appreciate the book. i guess i was spoiled by first reading his sequel to ggs, 'collapse' - a terrific read that should be of interest to everyone -it relates our industrialization to every aspect of the environment and show historically how this has shaped history. it has major rammifications for our situation on this earth right now. -rk","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is beautifully written. even in translation, i was amazed by how gorgeous pamuk's prose is. some sentences from this book lingered in my head for days afterward. the main character, ka, is a poet, and the novel itself seemed very poetic to me, but not at all in a dense or difficult way. indeed, 'snow' flows so smoothly that i would say it's a fairly easy read. i wasn't sure if i would like this book at first because i didn't think i was particularly interested in islam and politics. i discovered that 'snow' is primarily about god, love, beauty, happiness, death, life, and loneliness. while all the action takes place in a tiny turkish village, the themes are broad, sweeping, vast. this book will not grow dated any time soon, if ever. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it seems that people either love it or hate it and i belong to the latter category. how did this become a classic??? having forced myself to read to the end i'm not going to waste anymore time - just read the other 1-star reviews - poor kids forced by their teachers to read this over-rated garbage","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the variety of material available in 'the war of the jewels' is what makes this volume of the history of middle-earth series one of the best. two things stand out. first is the extensive writings on hurin after his release from angband. in an extension and more fully recounted version of his tale, hurin's character and the consequences of his release are more fully explored, giving greater depth to the account given in 'the silmarillion'. the other is the essay 'quendi and eldar'. this is a treasure-trove not only for the tolkien linguist but anyone interested in the history of the elves. through an examination of the different words used by the elves to refer to themselves and their different divisions, the look at their history as they themselves saw it is priceless. other parts of the essay and accompanying material fill out references found in 'unfinished tales', etc. 'the war of the jewels' has many stories worth reading on their own that are great examples of the depth and the layers of the legendarium","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i was particularly interested in one of the two enclosed disks - 1 cd - same title as the book, and 1 dvd - primal 3d anatomy. the disks are highlighted on the cover, and described in intriguing detail on the back cover. but wait - inside the front cover, the last paragraph on another 'highlight' it says 'the second cd contains a 45-day free trial'. the same note appeared on the disk but it was covered by the notice to consumer. my conclusion was this misleading presentation was intentional! cannot return it now because the disk seals are broken. the management at lippincott williams & wilkins should be sent up the river in chains","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"not at all as interesting as i hoped it would be. the back roads of usa should be able to offer a much more colourful and interesting web than this","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book wasn't that good.. in fact it isn't just good. the topic has been covered before and, to me, it was like i was reading those portions again only drawn out. there was nothing new to the story or even the way the author told it. i regret having bought the book and not sure i would recommend it even for someone to check out, free, at a library","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book struck me as unique on several levels. first of all it is a serious, thorough examination of the 21st century mafia and stock scams, through the eys of a serial swindler working for the mob. but what really appealed to me about this book was its writing style, which was unique among the mob books i've read in being offbeat and satirical. it is very unusual to read either a mob or a business book, and this book falls in both categories, that approaches its subject in that manner. you practically have to go back to jimmy breslin, and his gang that could not shoot straight, to find a less reverential view of the mob. the difference is that breslin was working in fiction and this is a true story. in business, the only parallel is michael lewis' liar's poker, which of course delved into an entirely different side of wall street","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"like other reviewers listed here, i thought this book would focus on the trials and tribulations of cooking recipes that are half-a-century old (if not older)using pithy, witty humor and comparisons of the writer's life and child's life. to be fair, there is some of this sprinkled throughout the book, but as an avid cook and child fan i wish there had been more. i think there is a market today for food writing; good food writing, like mfk fisher and elizabeth david, but i do not think julie powell even comes close. the julie/julia project is a front for this young novelist who see-saws between charming and extremely annoying in her attempts to describe how her life evolves over a one-year period in which she participated (to whatever extent) in some very profound experiences, like working for the government agency dealing with the world trade center memorials, a household move in nyc, dealing with a less than stellar marraige, and coping with very needy friends and family. julie, get a get a grip on your neurosis and narcissism and just write! forget the food, it's just not you. stick to your hoo-hum job, your even more narcissistic friends, and your boring marraige and you could be the next nora ephron, or at the very least, erma bombeck.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"stealing for a living is much than a mystery. the character at the center of the story is razor-sharp and a compelling narrator. great ideas throughout, and a great plot, too","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i was actually glad to read all of the low reviews because i felt like a traitor when i didn't like this book. i wanted to like it, i really did - but it was very dull. i ended up skimming most of it because it didn't hold my interest at all. the first chapter started out with a bang and i was totally hooked. it didn't take long to lose me. boooooring. i didn't like sophie, i didn't like royd (royd - are you kidding? perhaps the author should invest in a baby name book - there are much better choices for names out there.). i wasn't interested in the direction the book went. i thought the action scenes were ridiculous compared to the every day scenes. if sophie could pull off the every day scenes like she did the action scenes we would not have had such a boring book. she was da bomb during breaking and entering and getting away but she was pathetic at any other time. royd was so very unlikeable i could not believe they ended up in bed together. ick. adding jane into the book was very contrived. plain old artist jane and her cop stepfather joe saved the boy from a ruthless trained killer? it seemed like a ploy to connect eve duncan with this book. not at all believable. the one sentence that i found interesting was when michael thought that jane resembled or looked like someone familiar. it seemed to be a lead in to the next book. the first ij book i ever read was ugly duckling. hopefully ij re-reads that one before starting the next one. give us a strong heroine who overcomes her trauma and kicks [...]. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this under-appreciated work is slowly gaining the recognition it deserves from woolf critics... but i would say that, since i wrote my dissertation on it! woolf's fiction is never light reading, but woolf lovers will here find a masterful synthesis of descriptive power, her exhaustive knowledge of english history and literature, her feminism, her passionate hatred of war and her conviction that only aesthetic experience can enable humanity to question the status quo and *perhaps* create a better world... interested readers might consider reading it alongside the years, three guineas, moments of being, the last volumes of the diary, or such woolf essays as 'thoughts on peace during an air raid,' as well as shakespeare's tempest. this slim novel speaks volumes; it is a work of mature genius by one of the 20th century's greatest writers","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"englishman tony judt's postwar is an ambitious and worthwhile undertaking: to give a coherent account of the history of europe from 1945. the outline of events is well known: a continent in ruins at the end of the second world war, the miraculous rise of western europe from the wreckage, the concurrent enslavement of the east, and thence the titanic struggle between the two world systems, culminating in the triumph of liberal democracy over totalitarian state control. it is a great story, surely one of the finest chapters in the history of human civilization. judt seems to take the view (with which most people would likely agree) that great shifts in history ultimately rest upon the underlying economics. in the big picture, communism failed because it was unproductive, capitalism succeeded because it was the opposite. the question he asks is a good one: why did it happen when it did? why, after having survived so long (since 1917, in the case of the soviets) did the eastern block suddenly collapse at the end of the eighties, and so rapidly? his answer is, astonishingly, the helsinki accords. 'against all expectation,' he claims, 'it [brezhnev's signing of the helsinki accords] was to prove mortal.' (p. 503). the argument here seems to be that by having agreed to the helsinki accords (which included some boilerplate language on human rights), the communist leaders were thereafter hamstrung in suppressing those dissidents who dressed their opposition in terms of human rights rather than as political attacks against the party. he thus attributes the collapse of communism to the role of dissenters within the non-soviet eastern block countries. judt seems not to have grasped that these countries were just the playing field, not the actual players. he refers to himself as having been in czechoslovakia at this time; perhaps this is why he seems to think that the minor protest groups within the soviet satellites were something other than marginal--as causal agents rather than benefactors of larger forces. in this book, vaclav havel plays a far greater role than ronald reagan in the collapse of communism. in fact the name 'reagan' itself only appears a dozen or so times--in other words, it is rarely cited, and then usually in the off-hand manner with which those who wish they had influence dismiss those who do. (reagan's speech at the berlin wall is not even mentioned, something hard to fathom in an 800-page history of postwar europe.) eventually, the anti-american streak which runs through this book from the beginning emerges into plain sight: 'but it should not be concluded...that it was american encouragement or support which precipitated or facilitated their [eastern europe's] liberation.' (p. 631) and then later, equally bluntly, '...[despite] the self-congratulatory narrative that has entered the american public record, washington did not `bring down' communism, communism imploded of its own accord.' (p. 659.) really? who would have thought that forty years of american effort in the cold war was just a waste of time? this proposition is such obvious nonsense that it really does not need to be argued against, but the wonder is that someone who appears to understand the function of economics in history can fail to appreciate the central role of america, and specifically of the american taxpayer, in postwar europe. america paid for europe's reconstruction (marshall plan). america paid for europe's welfare states (by relieving their governments of the need to pay for their own defense, and also in the form of endless credits and loans). america paid for europe's economic prosperity (by bankrolling the agencies which funded it--such as the imf & world bank--and by opening american markets to european goods while allowing european markets to remain subsidized and protected; something that is still the case today, from agriculture to airbus). and finally, it was america who paid for the soviet's defeat. without america, modern europe would not exist. yes, it is undeniable that communism rotted from the inside. but rot by itself does not cause collapse (otherwise how to explain north korea, a long-bankrupt thugocracy that survived even the death of the former thug-in-chief?) such states continue to exist indefinitely, until given a push. and so to answer judt's own question: the reason communism collapsed when it did was because america pushed. ronald reagan reversed american policy and stood up to the soviets, and did so at a time when the major western european states were cowering in postures of supplication and appeasement (thatcher's uk excepted). it had nothing to do with the helsinki accords. judt flatters himself in the preface that his book will be controversial, but to this reader his conclusions are too silly to be worthy of controversy. they are simply wrong. it is a pity judt fails here. the fundamental lesson to be drawn from the history of postwar europe is that it is no good trying to make friends with the schoolyard bully--or to give him your lunch money in order not to get beaten up (the european response). the lesson is that you must stand up to bullies. appeasement in all its guises--rapprochement, ostpolitik, engagement, detente, nixon/kissinger-style scheming, or carter's endless vacillation--inevitably leads to failure. and when the bill finally comes due, as it always does, then the accrued interest can be enormously costly in human life. this was true in munich in 1938, and it remains true today. given the current state of the world, we could have used a book which reminded us of this basic truth right now. there are numerous errors and omissions, mostly minor (iceland is missing from the cover maps), occasionally more significant (for example, there is no understanding that the repeated attacks by american hedge funds against the weak european currencies did much more than just blow england and italy out of the erm in 1992. they also forced a hugely embarrassing french devaluation in 1993--in the form of widened intervention bands--and imposed a hitherto unknown market rigor upon the respective governments, basically requiring them to depoliticize monetary policy and rein in fiscal policy--major changes in how these governments governed. the attacks also contributed to the ready adoption of the euro, as a collective defense against george soros.) but any book of this scope will contain errors and omissions; in fact the strength of postwar is its vast collection of facts and figures and statistics (although weakened by the lack of source citations.) it is in the small-scale work of collecting data that judt succeeds. it is in the big-scale work of interpreting those data that he fails. for example, toward the end of the book there is an account of the disaster in the balkans following the break up of yugoslavia. judt correctly identifies the nadir of postwar europe: the slaughter at srebrenica, in which 7400 muslims were murdered under the noses of dutch soldiers serving under un command. he then goes on to contrast the situation when nato took over, at which point the slaughters promptly stopped, and ten years of peace ensued (enduring to this day). surely this is something to which you would ask: why? the answer is simple: the un force, as is usual with un forces, was too small, had a weak and compromised mandate, was composed of soldiers who were inadequately equipped and commanded, and who operated under unrealistic rules of engagement. but the nato force tolerated no nonsense, they came in with the intention of standing up to the serbs, and had the roe to do it. the serb `army' (if thugs who slaughter civilians can be dignified with such a term) promptly collapsed. same lesson: bullies must be stood up to. perhaps it is the fact that the force was american-led which prevented judt from seeing this. (at the time of writing, the un is once again dithering in the same old way on the same old issue--this time in lebanon and darfur--a perfect example of why we should learn from the past instead of repeating it, as seems all but inevitable right now. what a sorry institution the un has become!) judt gives some good detail of postwar political theory on the continent--something usually missing from english-language accounts, other than the obvious observation that such theory was mainly marxist. sartre and camus were predictable, foucault less so (a substantial presence in france, but more or less unknown in america). judt appears to come from the political left himself, but nevertheless he seems not to have understood the basis of foucault (which can be summed up, deep throat-like, as 'follow the power.') in foucaultian terms, the discourse of dissent (which judt claims collapsed communism) was something entirely dictated by the power relations existing at the time. he would have said look not at the surface, look at the constellations (a favorite foucaultian term) of power. any objective survey of the constellations of power existing in europe in 1989 would center on the united states (and might still do so today, despite a united germany, an expanded eu, and the absence of the soviet threat.) in explaining the collapse of communism, historical roads as diverse as euro-marxism, macro�-economics, empirical rationalism or even great man theory all lead to the same place: america. but according to judt, washington had nothing to do with it. by the final chapters, any pretense of objectivity has been lost. 9/11 was not a watershed horror for the free world, but a passing american event that by implication the us deserved for its middle eastern policy. (of all european leaders since 1945, judt reserves his strongest denunciation not for stalin or tito or ceausescu, but for tony blair. why? blair supports american policy--'blindly,' of course.) in summing up what (judt thinks) binds europeans together, it is '...contrast with `the american' way of life.' (p. 748) lastly, not just the content but the style is likely to be tiresome to american readers. there is an overabundance of smug english circumlocutions and double-negatives: 'it was not for nothing,' 'not perhaps terribly,' and the like. meaningless modifiers, such as 'more than a little' and 'decidedly,' are used ad nauseum, so that the text sometimes reads like a student essay in which the author has tried padding it out to make the required number or words. judt could learn from the great english historians of the past, of whom there are plenty, from gibbon to churchill. there is in postwar none of their directness of language, that firm relentless empiricism which at its best ascends into epic prose, noble in conception and majestic in scope. it is what makes reading them such a pleasure, whatever they have to say. reading judt is just a chore. in the end this book, for all its size, is just a sour little pamphlet--an insult to the achievement that it purports to explain. it is the written equivalent of those old photographs of soviet leaders gathered atop lenin's tomb on may day, in which the images of the purged party members have been carefully airbrushed out--except that in postwar, it is not just a party hack but the main player who is missing. postwar is not even bad history, it is non-history, just anti-american propaganda dressed up as scholarship. it should sell well in france.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the best parts of the lost painting: the quest for a caravaggio masterpiece, by jonathan harr, deal with the artist himself. when most artists are considered eccentric, caravaggio was a renegade in his actions. a fighter. he killed a man, and lived his last years on the run. many of his paintings were initially discounted, but his popularity grew in later years. i enjoyed the book, and found the idea of these lost masterpieces, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, to be out there somewhere very fascinating. four stars & recommended. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the riftwar was a good saga. pug was good. tomas was good. arutha was good. everything was good. then feist came out with this series... anyone who wants to know the plotline for this one just save yourself the money and read the atlantis attacks comic books by marvel, the eternals by jack kirby, and the fantastic #337-340 and then you'll easily see where feist stole this storyline from. a dreaming mad god that influences a world around him, that's buried under a mountain, whose thoughts become reality?/a dreaming black celestial from a race of space gods who is buried under a mountain and can control reality around him and is trying to destroy the universe? c'mon, i cannot believe i'm the only who has seen this. everyone takes ideals from someone, hence tolkien syndrome, but to couple it with this sorry book(ie a stupid book where a stupid pug that throws fireballs but cannot dodge them and cannot time travel like in other books and cannot deal with a minor demon captain)insults the people that made the dreaming celestial(king kirby) and the eternals. if he was gonna steal ideas, he should have made the entire book worthwhile. in this book, besides the old guard, erik is the only guy we really care about. characters that were developed in the two lackluster books before are killed off before they have a chance to sign and we're left with characters like miranda, whom we do not reall any thing for at all. all in all, a very poor effort in the serpentwar saga. feist gets an a for stealing storylines and an f for originality. i'll stick to newer guys like simon r green, aaron mccarty, and ferrenzano for new takes on fantasy/sci fi.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this game is great for young computer-users! each page has at least 15 'interactions' -- i.e. clicking on the salt shakers in the kitchen makes them dance. the story can read itself to you are you can read it silently. even clicking on one word makes the computer say it. great for children just learning to read. however, using it too many times can get tiring...after all, it is just a computerized book. great value for the money","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i cannot think of a funnier novel written in the last century. if toole were still with us, he'd be the mark twain of new orleans","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a book that accepts the final outcome being that divorce is ok if you have tried certain steps. too many stories that support divorce are enclosed. i would not recommend this book to anyone who wants a marriage to work. this book should be called 'reasons why i should go'..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"perhaps the most amazing thing about this book is the reaction to it by various readers. those who detested it said it was because of the violence. those who like it apparently liked it because it was by nora roberts. there are the usual nora roberts fixtures here: a beautiful, independent, tough heroine; r-rated sex scenes; handsome and talented lovers; flowers, etc. it has been touted by some as a mystery of sorts, but there's nothing very mysterious about it. anyone who does not know who the arsonist is after the first fire has not paid much attention. in fact, i kept wanting to tell reena to wake up and go get him. perhaps the biggest departure from ms. roberts' previous books (for me, at least) is the rather humdrum atmosphere. ambience is the writer's strongest suit in other works--alaska in winter, an island off boston, chesapeake bay, ireland, louisiana etc. old baltimore neighborhoods and a pizza shop are not quite the same. still, the writing is mostly good and i kept reading. a second-rate nora roberts book is still more interesting than most other novels being published today","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i do not feel that miller made much of an attempt to prove that anna was in fact a 'good' mother. like another reviewer said, i do not think she was a bad mother, but the book really didn't go into much detail about anna's relationship with molly (especially up until anna' ex-husband filed for custody) and instead focused on anna's life experiences and psyche. after brian said he would not send molly back, anna didn't even seem that concerned about molly's mental and emotional well-being. she just focused on her notion that leo's actions were simply taken out of context, and while she wanted to see molly again, i got the impression that it was based on a selfish concern for her 'rights' as a mother, not out of a concern for her daughter. and what was so great about leo anyway?? he wasn't exactly nice to anna, often condescending to her, and from the beginning i felt that his affection for molly was a farse, simply to stay on anna's good side. he also seemed sexually possessive of anna--like the scene when he kept having sex with her after molly came into the bed because of a nightmare. i think anna loved her daughter, but she made the error of confusing sexual attraction with true love, since she had never felt such an attraction before. as a result, her daughter became an afterthought to someone she had known for 2 months, with dire consequences. although she did show some signs of remorse, she spent a large amount of time trying to justify her actions instead of showing a very deep concern for her daughter's welfare. if she had put her daughter first from the beginning, instead of being swept up into a sexual frenzy and creating illusions about the new 'family' she and leo were forming, then she probably never would have lost custody of her child.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i was very disappointed in this selection. maybe a male football fanatic would find something appealing, but i was very bored! take me back to court, to the lawyer's office, to the judge's chambers,...just about anywhere but these bleachers!!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book is narated in a rather monotone, unethusiastic manner. it seems to be filled with colin just narrating a chronological list of things he did with no insight into what these things meant or why he did them.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is by far the most useless book on the subject of the state of education. for instance, while the authors make much of the relative stability of sat scores, they ignore the decline in scores from the naep, ctbs, and mat scores (to name a few) from the same period. they also keep silent about the fact that calculators were once forbidden from the math portion of the sat, playing a role no doubt in said stability. dr. lawrence stedman, an associate professor of education at the state university of new york at binghamton, ph.d. in educational policy studies, and self-decribed progressive 'sympathetic to their concerns,' wrote an article in the peer-reviewed education policy analysis archives. he pointed out numerous examples of the fudging-- whether out of duplicity or incompetence, you judge-- of 'facts' to support the authors' farcical claims, and where such claims went unsupported. in other words, while criticism usually comes from 'the enemy,' one of their own blasted this book for its inaccuracies. since it could not possibly have been written with a straight face, i recommend spending your money on something written with more integrity. there is a real crisis in education, there are manufacturers, and this book rolled straight off their assembly line","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"very underwhelming. if you knew *nothing*, this might be a mediocre starting point, but there are so many other great resources on thyroid disease. you deserve better than this book. like is short. 'thyroid power' or 'fat, fuzzy, or frazzled', mary shomon's books and similar books are *crammed* with helpful scientific information. also 'mood cure' is a great book worth checking out.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the first time i saw this movie, there was one scene which scared me; the scene where mary's parents are dying from the plague (i think it was cholera?). the music they use for this can send chills down someone's back; i know because it did mine. apart from that, i loved the movie. i do not know why they had to have dickon killed, though. (ben weatherstaff and mary talk at the end of the movie; we find out that dickon was killed in the war.) i like how colin and mary meet at the end and how mary held off on saying yes to colin's marriage proposal until they were together in the garden. something else i'm wondering: was this movie set during world war 1 or world war 2?","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have always been fascinated with dr. king as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. i love the work that dr. dyson did in writing this book, because he is authentic in talking about dr. king the man - strengths, weaknesses and all - while exposing the myths about him. being african-american, i can understand why many within our community woud want to scold dr. dyson for exposing dr. king's dirty laundry. i, however, consider it not only essential, but relevant that we talk about the true humanity of our leaders (espcially one as esteemed as dr. king) to avoid the danger of us elevating them as idols. it is a great reminder that god uses people (albeit flawed people) for magnificent works in a fallen world. this is a great book that i highly recommed!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the publishers should be sued. maybe we should get a class-action together. imagine taking an instruction manual for the very first apple computer and putting a new title on it 'how to use your new home computer' and selling it in bookstores today. this book is doing exactly that! also, it is highly doubtful that the tactic ever worked in the first place. the author's website vanished years ago. in a thinly traded nyse stock if you try to repeatedly front the specialist with 2000 share orders he will simply move the price 50 cents against you immediately following your next purchase. game over. [...","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a great great novel! catches you from the beginning and does not let go. you become obsessed and engrossed. collins has the most gorgeous way of writing....drawing you in. and his descriptive ability is astounding","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"robert a. heinleins novel 'starship troopers' still creates controversy, generations after it was first published. indeed, the well-known movie 'starship troopers' was actually a veiled criticism of the book! is heinlein's book racist or fascist? is it a cold war allegory? is it anti-democratic and militarist? how does this novel square with heinlein's reputation for being a libertarian and near-hippie? these questions are still being hotly debated. 'starship troopers' describe a future society in which only people who have served in the military enjoy full citizenship rights. only honorably discharged soldiers have the right to vote and run for office. strangely enough, the non-citizens enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of worship and the right to start businesses. heinlein's future society thus looks like modern america, but with a marine corps-like military caste superimposed on top. in the novel, humanity wages a never-ending war against several races of intelligent space aliens, including the collectivist arachnids, who resemble spiders. many people take the arachnids to be a symbol for communism in general or red china in particular. imperial japan is another possibility. heinlein's novel attempts to solve that ancient question: how can a society make sure that the best people serve in office? this question is particularly acute in democracies, where anyone can stand for office, and everyone can vote. heinlein's solution is to limit the franchise to those who have served in the military. in this way, only the best are selected for the job. and those willing to put their lives on the line must be the best. but does that really solve the problem? a military is not necessarily a good administrator or politician. the best in times of peace might be different from the best in times of war. heinlein's system only works if a total and never-ending war is raging. indeed, the war against the arachnids certainly seem to be such. but if so, it's naive to expect freedom of speech or extensive rights for non-citizens. the system would become a military dictatorship pure and simple, like in the movie 'starship troopers'. the soldiers in the novel are probably inspired by the philosopher-kings and guardians of plato's 'republic'. after rigorous military training, the officers are given courses in moral philosophy, history and politics. but there are also similiarities with ancient athenian democracy. every citizen of ancient athens was expected to serve in the army or navy. there was a connection between rights and duties. but note that many non-citizens in athens were slaves! ultimately, 'starship troopers' is unconvincing, even naive. you simply cannot give political power to the military, no matter how the military is recruited, and expect everything else to stay the same. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i thought it was a good story of boys growing up in a world of hardship","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is analagous to buying a new elliptical, anxiously opening the user manual to find out how this new piece of equipment is going to benefit you, only to find page after page outlining the technical details of the inner workings of the machine with the last sentence or so briefly mentioning the effects the machine can have on your life. the author is obviously an expert on the subject of astronomy and how it relates to ancient historical monuments, but he is so caught up in the technical details that 'the transformation of our consciousness' is brushed aside as an afterthought. instead, the author drones on and on and on about monuments, angles, precessions, measurements etc. it's obviously necessary to briefly cover the technical aspects to build a foundation for the more exciting stuff to come, but this book never builds on that foundation. there were brief moments when i thought the book started to get really interesting, but the author would quickly revert back to the same old empirical, newtonian shallowness with more chapters that should have been titled, 'who gives a [...].' john major jenkins is not really interested in the metaphysical side of this subject, and if you do not believe me, i quote page 239 of this book...'as a reminder, my work is not really to identify a mechanism that could empirically explain why a solstice-galaxy alignment might have transformative effects for life on earth.' my question is then why mention the transformation of consciousness in the title when it's hardly mentioned in the book? you would think that the benfits and effects of the sun aligning with the galactic center is going to have on our consciousness would be the main focus, since after all, it's what most of us should be most concerned with. if you are preparing for a test in astronomy, this book is for you. 2 stars for the misleading title.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"it took me less than a day and a half to read this book. and thats not because i was 'glued to it' or 'thought it was a real page-turner' but basically because it was a real fast read. however, this book, as i stated, is a perfect example of stephen king's boredom with writing horror/fiction. his work within the last decade especially, has taken some well deserved criticism. based on the concept that most of his recent books are churned out in a 'cookie-cutter' method. now, do not get me wrong, king is responsible for some of the most compelling stories ever. stories that seem to transcend the 'horror genre', and incorporate elements of mystery, romance, and drama. however, this is not one. i would rate this book only behind 'insomnia' as the most insipid king novels i've ever read. i do not know how to explain it to those who have not read most of king's work. but for those who have, it will make sense when i say that about a quarter of the way into the book, i found myself thinking 'oh....it's going to be another one of these stories huh?' these meaning a really generic character, and a foreseeable 'generic' villian, ultimately squaring off in a very 'generic' ending. halfway through, i could already see how it was going to end. and this is one of those books where king's references to east coast culture are going to take precedence over the quality of the finished product. some examples of king's finest work would be 'the talisman', 'night shift'(the best collection of short horror stories ever), the shining, the 'dark tower' sieries, and the stand, just to name a few. and if you have not read any of 'the bachman books' (king as bachman) 'rage', 'the long walk', road work', and 'the running man', are some of the most well written, and mind-bending stories ever told. this, however, isn't. and unless you can purchase this book for under $2.00 do not waste your money, or your time. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"postrel forces you to think explicitly about the future. i have 10 children. thus i have more invested in the future than most people. the future my children and grandchildren inherit and create be mostly shaped by people with dynamist views. after all, it is the dynamists who created civilization. to be sure, history is full of examples where the forces of stasis won over the dynamists, sometimes for centuries. however, i think the future is with the dynamists. i'm betting this book will be considered a seminal classic 100 years from now.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have loved each and every one of jane hamilton's other novels and highly recommend them: the book of ruth, a map of the world, short history of a prince and disobedience. this book, sadly, does not rank among them. it feels forced and uninteresting, with outlandish and unrecognizable characters and scenarios. i've already paid for it, so i'll probably try to finish it, but do not waste your time or money. read another hamilton instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"excellent presentation of the material in an easy to follow format. allows the reader to pinpoint exact areas of interest, and contains only information pertainent to the title. a must have for writing resumes with confidence and skill","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i'll admit it, the title got me. i probably read two business books a year, and this one didn't offer anything new. most of it was new twists on the same old rules. it was not inspiring, motivating, or compelling","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have been a fan of j.a. jance since i met her in a bookstore browsing through the mystery section. she convinced me to try one of her books, which i did, and loved it. she had also told me that she would soon start a new series - that was many years ago and i've been enthralled with each new book since the joanna brady series began. these books usually leave you turning pages as fast as you can read, but this one wasn't quite that captivating. do not get me wrong, it was still very good, just not the excellence i've come to expect from jance's writing. this is the ninth novel featuring joanna brady, a tough arizona sheriff who enchants her way into the reader's hearts. in the last novel, devil's claw we leave joanna as she's honeymooning with her new husband butch, after having her home destroyed by a maniac. paradise lost picks up shortly thereafter. joanna is once again caught in the struggle to maintain balance between being sheriff, being a new wife, and being a mother to a 12-year-old. while joanna and butch are at a sheriff's conference across the state, joanna's daughter, jenny, goes on a girl scout campout. jenny and another girl, dora matthews, sneak off after lights out only to find trouble in a big way. they stumble across a dead body. because the girls were breaking rules, they are sent back to bisbee while the sheriff's department investigates this murder in apache pass. when dora matthews, turns up dead the next day, joanna is worried about jenny's safety and the balance between the various hats she wears comes tumbling down around her. added to this second murder, is a third murder - the body of the prime suspect in the first murder turns up. three deaths in a matter of four days are more than bisbee has ever seen and it's up to joanna to help solve them. the end of paradise lost is predictable and not one of the better suspenseful conclusions that jance has created in the past. j.a. jance has always tied up the loose ends, but this time she leaves one flapping in the gentle arizona breeze. the subplot involving a series of carjackings is never fully developed and leaves much to be desired by the reader. she eludes to this subplot several times, but there is no meat to it and nothing ever comes of it - no tie in to the murders, no interesting side journey, just a passing mention every once in a while. and a low point in this book was joanna's wavering attitude towards her overbearing mother, eleanor. she finds neutral ground and 'understands' her mother. i didn't buy it - it was too passe for me. joanna would not buy into the poor, poor me bit, the martyrdom, that her mother is excellent at portraying. but this time she does and it is very anti-climatic - i wanted a good, old fashioned tongue lashing that we've come to expect when these two clash. the one thing that is decided in this book is joanna brady will run for reelection as cochise county sheriff. i'm sure the next book in this series will encompass the campaigning and how it affects butch and jenny. it should be interesting.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i did not like this book very much. the author treats her subjects as if they were some sort of cockroach species under her idealistic american microscope. it is more accurate to say that this book is an account of how expatriates 'survive' in ksa and not a true representation of the nation or its people. it is full of supercilious generalizations and patronizing commentary. it fully conforms to the biased view of muslim nations presented in the western media. i know many saudis and they are nothing like the examples presented in this book. to the contrary, they are some of the most hospitable and genuine people i have come accross. if you want the 'fox news' version of saudi, by all means read this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"once again it is another good read by grisham. it is hard to think what my will would be like if i get over a million dollars. i cannot see leaving it to a woman in some remote southn american jungle","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'we live in the flicker.' need i say any more? as much meaning as can be packed into just over 100 pages. best read in a quiet place with a good bottle of red wine at your side. not for the weak of mind or heart. be prepared to discover. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a great book for parents, pastors, worship leaders, as well as lay persons. she explains worship, educates on why the church does what it does how it does, and challenges churches of all denominations and leanings (traditional to contemporary) to re-examine the way they approach youth involvement in church","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"one of the best i've ever read. i had a hard time putting it down.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book was exactly received as described.would do business again","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i'm a very spiritual person and i was expecting this cd to provide daily inspiration and help me to remember the very few things that are important in life. unfortunately, for me at least, the cd is rather boring and not very inspirational. i'm about 30 minutes in to it and have decided to stop listening to it. fortunately i have a christian radio station that does a lot more for me.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as with most tv series you get statements with out support. so i tracked down the richard shenkiman book to get some background to the statements about american myths. i was not disappointed. it is as if he was reading this book on the tv with more graphic representations for the different media. the book is worth reading. however the format may not be to some peoples liking as it is short choppy statements and the chapters are divided into subjects as, discoverers and inventors, presidents, sex, and art. there is a fair set of footnotes to lead you to further reading. you may need this as he sometimes stretches a point. final analysis, you are better off reading this to give a better perspective on reality. read it to your kids and save them a lifetime of 'legends, lies & cherished myths of american history'. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"living on the ragged edge is a commentary on the old testament book of ecclesiastes. this was a life-changing book for me in 1986. my whole life had literally collapsed right in front of my eyes. and i also had a nervous breakdown all in the pursuit of success and graduate school. this book seems to advocate living the 'simple life', knowing god, having a wife and kids, not overdoing work or success. i have received alot of abuse the past 20 years about why i do not go back to graduate school; and the wisdom of this book is part of the reason. i had written to radio havana cuba once and had said that this is a religious book that even fidel castro could appreciate! i hear that since then he invited to pope to come to cuba to visit. we do live in an insane money-hungry society that has no values, no philosophy, no religion but the pursuit of the 'almight dollar'! this ia a major reaqon for why we see american society disintegrating right before out eyes! it is not deliberate, but i think i see myself as living in the 60's because of circumstances beyone my control. people in authority try to make my life as miserble as they can so as to pressure me into going back to college-this is called persecution. the amazing thing about our secular achievements is that when we die, we do not get any reward in heaven for them. both solomon in ecclesiastes and jesus christ in the new testament say that we get no reward in the next life for being a successful doctor, lawyer or businessman. jesus said to lay up treasure in heaven-good works like charity towards the poor. also i noticed that it is god who gives man the ability to enjoy life. and contrary to religious tradition in puritalical america, i have found on my electronic bible the advice to 'eat, drink and be merry'{within moderation, of course.) the phrase occured five times in ecclesiatstes. god gives the common man and the man who pleases him the ability to enjoy life. the life of the success driven rich man is so full of stress that he may have a fancy meal, yet he cannot taste the food he is eating! you can only live in one house at a time. you can only drive one car at a time. you can only spend so much money in this life because when you die, you will not have it any longer. you can have a house full of adult toys and possessions; yet you are unable to enjoy any of them. i would focus on having a couple of things and being able to use them to the full. solomon spoke from experience. he was the richest man in ancient israel as he was the king. he had all the education a man could want. he had sexual pleasure-a harem of 500 wives like the sultan of brunei. he had more horses that he could ride. he had more achievement than he knew what to do with. yet he could not find satisfaction. his advice was to fear god, obey his commandments and enjoy the simple pleasure of life. he found out that sometimes more is less. in an exotic fashion, i had found out about insight for living while monitoring trans world radio broadcasting from the island monaco to england in 1986. they sent me a magazine promoting the book. i bought it and the study guilde and used them both. i have read living on the ragged edge three times since them. this is obviously a message that god wants me to get into my spirit. and this is actually good advice for all of materialistic, worldly america! another afterthought is this. i do not think that joining the army is the place to go to find god. but i had managed to get away from my home, family, church and social influences in toledo. i read the bible independantly and did not often attend church. i had found ecclesiastes in the old testament; yet the message seemed to offend and irritate me at age 17. i think that you may have to go through a few things in life, have a few misfortunes and find a need to look to god for answers in the bible to really appreciate this book and ecclesiastes! ecclesiastes is a book of godly philosphy! philosophy=the study of wisdom! ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'the tao can be told is not the eternal tao.' so you see, mitchell goes about the impossible task of translating and telling us about something that cannot be told. if you understand this, you understand why rather than a literal interpretation, he chooses instead (and succeeds, in my opinion) in capturing the essence. it's hard for me to imagine anyone not liking this book but to each his own. as for me, i rate it as excellent without any qualifications","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"when i see suzanne somers i just see chrissy from three's company and all that snorting and dumb blonde-ing! i never paid any attention to any of the suzanne somers books because i figured this was just another celebrity attaching their persona to something. my library happened to have this on the shelf and since i had some time to kill while waiting for my daughter to pick out her books i decided to flip through the recipe section since i knew it was a low carb type of diet and i do atkins. i was very interested at what i saw so i checked it out. i have been totally shocked at how easy and terrific her ideas are and in fact her philosophy is quite interesting too. i am really impressed. i have a totally different viewpoint now of suzanne somers. i love this recipe book so much i had to buy it so i'd have a copy","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"nobody seems to realize the personal element in this book.her insinuations of violence as revenge are rhetorical and come from millenia of do i even need to say it?it's not like she is speaking on behalf of the movement but in behalf/against the years. nobody's going to puncture your larynx with a stiletto,alright?i suggest those who think a woman expressing her rage in a violent manner for justifiable reasons to be so taboo read henry miller's black spring.perhaps more to your taste","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"long-time fans of the series will enjoy many elements of this book: sharon and hy finally marry; sharon's birth mother and adopted mother meet one another; sharon's agency expands with some new operatives; and rae finds herself back doing some detection. in addition, there's a dark, detailed plot that builds from a very old, cold case. one of the strengths of this story comes in ms. muller's deft handling of so many past characters and weaving them the on-going story line. it adds a rich texture to the book that builds depth. that texture is nicely developed also by ms. muller's strong ability to build a sense of place as almost another character in the story. the cold case is quite complex and requires an extensive investigation using many resources. but it's not a classic mystery in that you'll be able to put three clues together in the beginning and figure out who did what to whom. instead, you'll be able to figure out the next plot development in the procedural about 5-15 pages ahead of time. the book's main drawback comes in its unappealing characters. most readers like either sympathetic characters or disgusting villains. this book lacked both. the characters were either completely flat, highly superficial or just plain selfish. but there was nothing about them to attract our interest other than the role they played in the plot development. authors often have to choose between developing their plots and their characters. while we get lots of character development concerning the missing laurel greenwood, it's ultimately unrewarding. the plot's needs won, but it's an unsatisfying victory. the book's overall theme is about what it takes to make a good marriage. i thought that element was done well. i especially appreciated the nods to bill pronzini's nameless detective as part of that message. but any long-time fan will enjoy the book. new fans should go back to the beginning of the series and delay this book. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"sometimes, when an author writes a trilogy, it's the second one that lacks the same pizazz you fell in love with in the first or the fantastic ending of the third. this was not the case. in fact, she wrote about the spicy heroine here in the second book and that's brilliant","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"from age 4 to age 7, my daughter has greatly enjoyed cooking from this book. unlike when we cook together from other cookbooks or recipes, when we cook from this book, she can really take the lead, and i am her assistant. at age 7, she is able to make some of the items entirely on her own. using this book has encouraged her to take an active role in preparing foods for our family and dinner guests. she takes pleasure and pride in her creations, because she worked hard and they taste good! because of the thoughtful design of the book, the child does not have to be able to read to figure out what to do, with a little parental help. the recipes included are healthful and tasty. the drawings and layout are appealing to children and adults. i highly recommend this book to families with children from preschool through at least second grade to get your children into the fun of cooking. enjoy! ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book was great, such a heartwarming story. i only gave it 4 stars because i had just read marley & me before and the writing was a little better, but the story is just as good, nonetheless. i'm so glad i know the story of gracie and three dog bakery now!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"mr. galvan's writing about a piece of property, at first, seems strange; however, as you read you become absorbed. he writes of much more than the land, he writes of the people who live that land. it takes a special person to live in the wilds of wyoming, and an extrodinary person to live in the isolated, rugged, raw, and unforgiving areas. this is a book i have given as a gift to many individuals who know what it is truly like to live here in wyoming, want to live here, or seem to possess that independence and creativity needed to live here","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book was required reading at our office and at the time i wondered why, after all we had a great team! after taking the assessment test i realized we had lots of room to improve! the story was a quick and easy read but very effective. we implemented many of the ideas in the book and work much more effectively today than we did a year ago. thanks for a great book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"tofcm was a awsome book. i enjoyed all of the authers different stories that were still under one over all subject. at times this book bored me in to a sleeping stuper but lucky most of the it scared me back into awakenes. at times in could not put down the book. then when that story was over and a new one came i got loney for the old story. over all some of the authers can wright and some of them cannot.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book gemba-kaizen is somewhat disappointing if you have read the book 'kaizen' already. it gives not much new information. the only new idea in the book is the attention given to the 'gemba', the place where the processes are performed. imai is right to stress the importance of the gemba for operational excellence and he gives some nice tools and examples to illustrate the gemba's importance. however, only one nice idea is somewhat poor to fill a whole book. the major message of the book can be told just as well in an articel of no more then 4 pages","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"mr hibbert writes in a very dull, dry tone and i found it incredibly hard to be engaged in the story. he confuses the reader with time, people and his interpretation of what elizabeth was like as a woman and a queen. i only read this because i had to (for school). if you do not have to read it, then do not! it will bore you to death","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is an adapted version of the author's doctoral dissertation. through ethnomusicological study of a music conservatory, prof. kingsbury brought to western music scholars and lovers a widened concepts of music, music talent, and music performance. music is much more than sound structure. music is also 'constructed' by its social context. comparing the book with the dissertation, the sequence of the chapters is a bit different. there are also some additions in the temple university press book version. it is a thought provoking book for ethnomusicologists, musicologists, anthropologists, and particularly western music lovers","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am big fan of pax (armstrong's company)and i own her book, cds, and have attended her seminars. i really liked keys to the kingdom in the book version, however, friends and family that listened to the book on cd hated it. not sure why exactly, but my recommendation is save a few bucks and get the book instead. also, you should be warned that her work can initially seem anti-feminist. hang in there though, because her message is meant to actually empower women in relationships. i cannot tell you how much she forever changed my view and relationships with men. did i also mention that apparently alanis morissette is also an armstrong fan? in a nutshell, get her book, and her other cds like 'in sync with the opposite sex'. also, her cd 'the amazing development of men' is a very condensed version of the concepts taught in 'keys to the kingdom', which usually you can get for free if you attend one of her teaser seminars","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i loved the inferno, so i approached this book with the enthusiasm of a gourmand at an all-you-can-eat buffet. sadly, the bread turned out to be stale, the steak overdone and the desserts moldy. okay. now that i've run that metaphor into the ground, let's talk about vita nuova. i found it to be pretty darn tedious and highly melodramatic. the prose is self-indulgent and dry; the poetry, while slightly better, falls into the same camp. you just want to say to the guy--get a life! at several points during the book, dante's fellow townspeople mock him because of his constant waterworks and woe-is-me-ing. i sympathized with them, found myself laughing at this whiny, timid little man. dante, as he portrays himself in this book, is a bore, a sniveling, spoiled child. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is not only an interesting read, but fun as well! the pictures detail everything from each step of refurbishing a sailboat, including what tools to use and how to use them. i just ordered 3 more copies and cannot wait to give them to my boating enthusiastic friends! whether your re-doing a sailboat or not, i would highly recommend this to anybody who's into boating.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"cosmos no es un libro rápido, lleno de situaciones que nos ponen a pasar hojas y hojas de manera frenética. cosmos es un libro acerca de la vida, de cómo entendernos, de observar cada cosa como si en cada imagen, cada olor, cada movimiento encontraramos el sentido verdadero de vivir. es un libro lento pero rico en descripciones. y es cierto lo que dice la reseña digitial, este libro tiene su lado surrealista. no es una novela en donde pasarán mil cosas, las cosas pasarán en usted si le llega a gustar el libro.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"bought this book as package recommended by amazon. it is not for adobe photoshop album 2.0. many changes have been made to album 2.0 and this book has many inconsistencies not usable in the new program. i highly recommend michael slater's book on album 2.0-it is up to date and useful. i returned this book today","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book 'the resurrection'..the 'title is a way off does not specify 'the resurrection of 'whom' what, who? quite misleading in the 'title' this book contains a paraphrase legalistic view of someone? by the name of jesus christ (inside the book) who is this someone? popularistic homogenous personality of the ad;s era, who resurrected in an abnormal manner, irrational or modelistic super natural sensationalism? this unequal phenomenon of th ad era does not quite interpret an invasion of ethiologial or methodolagical interpretation in any form or manner. precautiosly, hank h. (the author) of this 'strange' book, depicts a man 2thous years ago who was a 'super-artistic' human walking around the earth realm announcing and denouncing his own fate, then 'resurrects' from the dead? quite symbolic and quite 'phenomenal', however, hank h. (the author) does not quite inscripts the powers involving this 'super-natural' heroes of the other decades and eras ad. the author needs more research inside this man called 'jesus-christ', how a super-natural power 'raised' him and made him a 'normal' human again. this jesus christ, hank portrays, has to have an incontrollable humanistic inside his 'human' potentials, physically, a human-being' after burial cannot in any form or manner resurrect from the grave. hank h. (the author) does not specify in detail 'who resurrected him' was the power on the skies, ..like imentioned in my first review 'the big bang? ' resurrected this powerful created who inhabitted the 'earth' 2 thous years ago? if hank analyzes this 'resurrection' power inside the 'einstein' theory' or the 'carl sagan' theory ' relativity, and 'rational - irrational ' theory of both scientists. hank h. (the author) imiplies about the 'myths' and other man made theories...hank h. (the author) ..does not quite interprets the nature of this 'human' called jesus christ in the humanistic form..or other/ super-=natural-instics of a super-naturla power involved.end******","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"stenger believes hill is guilty from the start and tries to make him out to be a common criminal. while joe is no choir boy the truth is stranger than fiction. little is known of hill's buddy otto applequist, but over the years more facts have been uncovered about this man's fascinating life. not the ... son of a swedish minister but one of many sons of a working class family. an immigrant who becomes disillusioned with the american dream after he finds, instead of streets paved with gold, only forests, mines, docks, and streets covered with the blood of his fellow workers. not a romantic bandit, but a revolutionary who chose to use his death sentence to bring the cause of labor to the forefront. if you want a balanced book about him get joe hill by gibbs smith. 'do not mourn - organize!' - joe hill 191","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"like the book very muc","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have never taken the time to write a review on a book that i have purchased from amazon. thanks to all of you who do. this time was the exception. this book is incredible! every recipe can be tailored to your stlye of breadmaking. it has directions for a bread machine, mixer, or the old fashioned way. i have tried a half dozen of the recipes so far and they are all delicious. my compliments to the author. the money has been well spent. thanks","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"a very good book. i have bought two, in order to loan one","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am disappointed with this cookbook. i was looking for a basic cookbook to explain times and techniques to cook standard items in a toaster oven. what i call the 'nitty gritty' of using a toaster oven. obviously i am wrong, the book contains nothing basic, standard or instructional about using a toaster oven","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a lot of character exploration in this collection. a lot of the x-men being the young people they are have started to couple up. there are also some breaks with colossus and nightcrawler having problems after colossus has come out. the major storyling is the phoenix. is jean grey the phoenix? i cannot say without spoiling it, but it does not follow the path of the traditional marvel universe. overall it was a good story, the artwork is a but uneven at times, but it works for the most part","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"an analysis of this sort was sorely needed. this book is factual in addition to being cute. i would highly recommend it to anyone","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"first off, i recommend that you buy this book if you are at all interested in knife fighting. this is one of the first and one of the classical american books on knife fighting. it covers all of the basic techniques that american forces have used for many, many years. at the same time, this book is a little short on techniques, and it is entirely absent the escrima techniques that have become very popular over the past couple of decades. if you do not look at this book as everything for everybody, you will find it a very good buy and not be disappointed. on the other hand, if you're looking for the snappiest way to open and close your balisong, you're going to have to look elsewhere, as this book was written before that time","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"in recent years, routledge has gone from consistently producing excellent language courses to producing some excellent courses and some bad courses. unfortunately, colloquial catalan is a prime example of the very worst colloquial courses. the main error in this course is the fact that it's exceptionally limited. after completing some of the more extensive colloquial courses, you will master the grammar of the language and have a solid basic vocabulary. colloquial courses like colloquial italian, colloquial czech, colloquial albanian or colloquial icelandic list over 2000 words. the average colloquial courses list 1000-1500 words. in sharp contrast, colloquial catalan does not even reach 600 words! in my opinion, the colloquial courses are often a better option than teach yourself courses, but that's not the case with catalan. teach yourself catalan will teach you more than twice as much as colloquial catalan.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you are that 'dummy' who wants to know how to build a web-site, then this is not the book for you. it tells you hardly how to build, it tells more about links which can help you making your web-site look more cool. you have to have some html cq dreamweaver experience to understand the context of what the writer wants to clarify. by reading the book and going through the enclosed cd rom with ty-out software, i soon came to the conclusion that the title of the book is somewhat misleading. see comments above why. if you are that 'dummy' who has not a single thread of knowledge about building web-sites, then do not buy this book. not giving it 1 star (but i was close), there are some interesting chapters in this reference giude, but typing what you want to have inside your web-site (links and related web-sites with loads of info what comprises around 50% of the book). you will get the same information from any search engine. recommendation: concentrate first on a book, that teaches you the basic html-programming language, continue then with either a dreamweaver/frontpage manual. you're much better off..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"all of the books in the dish series are awesome! they are about best friends forming a cooking club. the three original best friends, the twins molly and amanda and their friend shawn take cooking classes in park terrace. they find out that a girl in their school and grade who they do not know really well, peichi is also taking classes. then, there is natasha ross, who spread a mean rumor abot the twins and shawn, is taking cooking classes too. the twins peichi, shawn and natasha all become best friends. then a boy named justin mcelroy, who amanda thinks is pretty cute moves to the neighborhood. their family has an electrical fire in their kitchen and to help them, the chef girls cook a week's worth of dinners for them because they have to stay in an apartment. after this job they come up with a great idea to form a cooking business. will their business take off like a rocket?","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"despite the praise heaped on this text, i cannot help feeling that bernard faure has been constructing the 'straw men' other readers have spotted. it is by no means certain that the ch'an (zen) tradition has functioned as faure suggests. why, for instance, set up the 'anti-scriptural' argument - only to concede - on proper investigation, that it is a myth? there are enough commentaries - on the sutras, by zen monks, to make this sort of thing seem pointless. sorry, but lets place trust in those deluded masters of old - and stay unenlightened, faure style.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"science, properly understood, means proving a hyphothesis and having that proof replicated by one's peers. this was not done with mccrone's 'proof' obtained only by mccrone using his 'instruments'. no verification by reputable laboratories equals taking mccrone's 'proof' as a matter of faith ..........in mccrone. a fool's choice","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"perhaps i didn't read the description closely enough. this book is a historical text, not applicable to today's surveying.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"basically this book is an elaborate defense of promiscuity and hedonism. i have liked his other books in the past (skinny legs and all is one of my all-time favorites) but this one didn't have enough insight to adequately place the elements of the story within a greater understanding of the world around us (usually one the greatest things about his writing.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"an abundance of full-color plates and numerous black-and-white photographs made this book worth the modest price. the text is awkward. it sounds as if english is not the author's first language and certain elements of carelessness in the writing suggest that the author was more concerned with the manuscript deadline than scholarship. picasso's own words, appearing as blocked quotes in the margins are not dated, nor sources given. the reader is not able to chronologically trace the change in philosophy reflected in his words. the text also suffers from an inordinate number of typographical errors. walther's poorly disguised gut reaction of disgust in describing some of picasso's work may reflect the reaction his early critics felt in viewing some of his paintings. walther uses words such as 'horror,' 'grotesque,' 'misshapen,' and 'ugly,' at one point writing, 'picasso wanted to destroy absolutely everything.&quot","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"is this book exciting ? does a bear sh*t in the woods ? this book, a couple of bears (and a couple of beers) is all one needs for some great reedin'. it kept me occupied while i await the release of fox's 'when animals attack iv'. it kept me up all night, and i ain't takin' viagra neither","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i see that some people were helped by this book. i would not recommend this book for someone who has not experienced sex. the advice to virgins was disgusting. the writers say that the sexual act is not natural and that people need help enjoying it. the writer also suggests techniques of preparation for the virgin the month before that most assuredly would either lead to depending on yourself for fulfillment or it would train a young lady to not be responsive. i thought the book was sick. it turns women into an object of function. it also talks about men being 100% head of the household and women being 100% submissive. the authors are a husband and wife but i cannot hear a woman's voice anywhere in this book. the cover is pretty so she probably had something to do with that. i'm sure she submitted completely to him in the writing of this book and that is why it is completely clinical and even crude","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book by reader's digest is wonderful. i know some basic needlepoint and embroidery, but this book also has instructions for knitting and crocheting, of which i know little about. also has section on rug-making! very comprehensive and easy to follow","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is a great resource for all aspiring competitive runners. however, do not confuse this book with glover's other book - which is more for beginning and non-competitive runners. there is a lot of overlap between the two books, so there is not much point in buying both. however, i can see a beginner outgrowing the beginner book and wanting the extra info that the 'competitive' handbook can provide. both are great.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i found that this book contained everything i've been looking for: great new weapons, very useful feats, and lots of new prestige classes (i always wanted to make a samurai!) 'sword and fist' also contains various buildings which can be useful for dms to base, for instance, a guard tower or an elf house on. if there is anything i was dissapointed about was how little information there was on chariots, but then, the book would also be better a thousand pages long. five stars","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought the book for my 11 year old granddaughter who is interested in chocolate to decorate and eat. the book was easy for her to read. she loved it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i purchased this book for a niece who is almost twelve and has recently lost her mother because of a traffic accident. this book offers good advice to young people who wish to make wise, godly choices. i, like dr. dobson, value the bible-based teachings that this country was founded on. secular people will not like this book.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it is a crime that the founders of america are dismissed because they are represented as failing to meet our present pc standards of faux morality. this terrific book takes on every pc misconception about them and sets the record straight. while never presenting them is marble pillars of morality, the author puts all of the issues in their proper context and demonstrates clearly the intelligence, morality, and rightness of our founders. one of the most famous of the old canards that you will still hear is that the founders only considered slaves to be 3/5 of a human being because it says so right there in the constitution. how sad that misunderstanding and misrepresentation is. because each state was given a number of representatives based upon the number of residents, the issue was whom do you count. you have to first ask yourself whom the representatives from the slave holding states would represent. the slaves? of course not! so, if the rights of the slaves were not going to be protected, to give their slaveholders the ability to count those slaves as people and thereby become over-represented in congress would actually work against interests of those people trapped in slavery. those opposing slavery wanted the slaves to remain uncounted for representation. the slaveholders wanted them to count as a full person (does that mean the slaveholders cared about the human rights of the slaves more than the abolitionists?). the compromise was to count them as 3/5. however, it is essential to remember that those who wanted the slaves counted as a whole person were uninterested in the rights of those human beings and those that wanted them uncounted actually had the interests of the slaves more in mind. professor west also takes on the issues of property rights, who had the right to vote and why, women and their rights at the time of the revolution, poverty, and immigration. a good and informative read. every student should read it as an antidote to the misinformation they get during their indoctrination at the public schools. this book will actually aid their education and help them develop a solid understanding of what is really at stake in our country. and it might spark some lively debate when they go to class armed with some information the teacher will likely find inconvenient or even bewildering. one of my daughters actually had to go to the blackboard and explain the 3/5 issue carefully to the teacher and class. the teacher commented that she had never thought of it that way before. which, of course, means, that she had always taught it as a political tenet rather than history. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i thought it was an interesting read, it's a trip to see all the 'marve' heroes get what they want in life. spiderman a hero, logan having his memory and the story is interesting. if you didn't follow avengers disassembled i'd recommend reading that first","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is an excellent way to introduce solids, liquids, and gases. i used it with a 3rd grade class and it was perfect","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i got this book as a gift and i think after reading it' only if it was that easy to forget about your pain!' i think the book tells us the strong link between the mind and pain but does not offer anything new when it comes to solving the problem of pain through exercises which 99% of todays experts say is the best solution to back or neck pain. invest in an updated book that tells you how to exercise anywhere","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"layout of book is really bland and examples are scant. the subject matter is interesting, but the book itself is dry- you can almost hear ben stein narrating when you read it.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"having skimmed the reviews on this site it is apparent i am not the only person who decided the world according to garp was worth re-reading after 25 years. the world according to garp is ultimately about lust and its destructive nature. if you are easily offended (irving's novels tend to revolve around twisted sexual behaviour and garp is no exception) you may want to avoid the world according to garp (and pretty much everything in the irving catalogue). but the world according to garp is more than a series of bizarre sexual encounters. it is a complex, disturbing, and insightful novel. in the world according to garp, irving has created some of the most vivid, unique, and truly memorable characters in modern literature, not to mention some of the best lines of dialogue ever put to paper. the world according to garp is both hilarious and heartbreakingly poignant. i do have to admit that i did find (as i often find with irving's novels) that it meanders a little in the middle (i could have done with a little less on the wife-swapping relationship for example). even though some plot lines didn't engage me as thoroughly as others, all in all, the world according to garp is a well written, enormously entertaining novel. if you haven't read anything by john irving, the world according to garp is a great place to start. if you read the novel years ago, its well worth reading again.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i would refer anyone who would take this author seriously to james randi's comments on his behavior. he represents the modern version of the crystal ball reader and his claims should be eyed with an appropriate degree of skepticism. this would be a benign phenomenon but that his success depends on the suspension of reasoned thought on the part of those who grieve for their lost loved ones","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"great expectations was perhaps one of the worst book ever written. i'm no dickens' expert, but i do know a little about literature- i do not know how this even passed through the editing stage. it is slow-paced, boring, pointless, and an all-out waste of time to read. i have read challenging books with strong points like this before, and have sometimes enjoyed them, but never have i read a book this pointless and difficult to read, with such a stupid ending. dont waste your money and valuable time on it!!!!!!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this was a medieval project in my 7th grade humanities class the summary: catherine called birdy was a conflict type book. it was mostly about her pig head of a father trying to sell her to the richest man. if you like the way it sounds now you should look for a copy. it is quite interesting and has a lot of conflict in the book. a phew funny things were when catherine caught some objects on fire! rating: i rated my book 2 stars because it was kind of boring. why is because all the book was really about was catherine's father trying to sell off to the richest man. when i did like it was when she tried to get out of each man. who this book would be suited for: i would recommend this book to someone who really likes conflict books in the medieval times. also is if you are interested in action books.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"being an avid admirer of manet and of the paintings in which victorine meurent appeared, i was happy to see a book about her. finally, i would be able to learn something of her and her life! i learned that she was a lesbian and died in 1927 and not as a destitute alcoholic as written in some rather sketchy histories of her. but that is all i learned. the book is actually more about the author and her trying to make peace with her past and her mother than anything else. if you want to learn about victorine, you must find another book. if you want to know about eunice lipton, this is the book for you. also very few facts in the book; the author puts victorine in some situations and conversations, but these are all imaginary. definitely would not recommend. author was self-indulgent and apparently not very concerned with her subject","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a very successful introduction to picasso's work and life! whether you just want to admire his paintings or try to learn from him, this book is a good choice. some people do not understand picasso and are insulted by astronomic prices of his 'childish' looking paintings. in this book ingo f. walther sheds light on the phenomenon of this genius by presenting all the phases of painter's development that naturally resulted in the spontaneous expressions of his imagery. or with the artist's words: 'when i was as old as these children, i could draw like raphael. but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them!' thus we can follow picasso from his youth, blue and rose periods to his invention of cubism and all the way to his late works. in addition there are chapters on his sculptures, posters and ceramics. the book also gives a rich selection of interesting aspects of picasso's life. an enormous publicity was haunting him as well as helping him test his brave inventions. whatever he touched turned to gold. when he finally grew tired of publicity and decided to move from paris to a provincial village of ménerbes, he was given a chalet in exchange for a still life. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book contains the complete works of arthur rimbaud in chronological order, in both english and french. there is an excellent short introduction to rimbaud, along with a very nice explanation of the translation process, and the difficulties inherent in translating poetry. sadly, the translations presented in this volume do a grave injustice to rimbaud. in his efforts to render an accurate contemporary translation, mason removes nearly every vestige of poetic rhythm and rhyme from his poems. even though my french is inadequate to enjoy rimbaud in his original language, i found myself turning frequently to the french versions of the poems, as i tried to understand how a poet of rimbaud's reputation could possibly write so poorly. in poem after poem, the french version was more readable than mason's translation even though i could only understand about a third of what i read. i ended up exchanging the book for a version translated by paul schmidt, which was much more readable. ironically, mason offers criticism of schmidt's translation in his book. while this book might be a worthwhile addition to the library of someone already familiar with rimbaud, i would recommend that any person seeking an introduction to his poetry look elsewhere for a translation","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the characters actions, motivations, and planning skills are obscure or non-existent (or a sign of mental imbalance). 2 stars for the history tidbits","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i found the plot of this book impossible to follow. it contains excessively verbose descriptions with a lot of cliches. the hero almost dies twice in a row and is each time magically saved for no reason. and there are only so many times i can read variations of 'he swung his sword really hard' and 'it was a really scary dragon.' the illustrations are quite beatiful, though","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my real rating is 1.5 stars. the book will not put you to sleep, but it's not going to teach you anything you will not have known glancing through newspaper articles for a few years. readers will learn nothing about golf if they have any acquaintence with the sport: though the closest i've ever gotten to golf in my 47 years is frequently passing by a club shop in my neighborhood, i learned almost nothing about the sport from this book save uninteresting gossip about golfers who are now no longer prominent. feinstein makes no attempt at analysis and no attempt to fit any of what he writes into any context: what the reader gets here is a sketch of an insular world with no acknoledgment of that insularity. hence, for any but the big golf fan who wishes cereal-box writing to pass time, the book will be useless. bad points: besides that mentioned, the prose is (as mentioned in my title) in large measure cliches and reads, as other reviewers have pointed out, like a newspaper article knocked out under deadline and length pressure. for newspaper articles, such is no great handicap, but for a book is makes for tediousness. next is a quibble, perhaps, but in the trade paperback edition i picked up the four photos on the cover are far better than the bubblegum snaps in the interior of the book. the book photos do nothing to enhance the content and waste paper. if you're looking for extremely light reading that will tax you none (as i was when i selected this book to read in a period of extreme exhaustion), 'a good walk spoiled' will suffice. if you're looking for a good book, look elsewhere","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if you are a fan of the chicken soup books, you'll love black-eyed peas for the soul, a collection of inspirationl, and stories of hope from african americans of every wake of life","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"although i agree with other reviewers who comment that the connection between this book and the smiths' album is as thin as smoke, i was prepared to enjoy a well-written story just the same. unfortunately, i finished this wisp of a memoir wishing i had purchased the thirty-three and a third title about love's 'forever changes' instead. although i appreciated joe pernice's occasionally clever metaphors, these were too few and far between, leaving us instead with the musings of the book's exasperated protagonist, a teenage male infatuated with girls, alcohol, and new wave music. of course, even as ordinary a topic as that can inspire brilliant and funny writing. but it didn't here. at least not for me, as i found pernice's protagonist niether interesting nor sympathetic. worse, the book's exaggeration-as-a-primary-comedy-device (however accurate to the speech patterns of perhaps many, many average seventeen year-olds) is as unfunny as that dave barry essay. (you know, the one he's recycled for the past decade and a half about how computers are complex and children are expensive and men like watching sports and drinking beer?) the world is already full of crashing bores as it is. so why not save your time and money and listen to the smiths' 'meat is murder' while reading john kennedy toole's deliciously dark 'a confederacy of dunces' instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"while well written this work is simply another example of historical revisionism. not really worth the time.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"unfortunately for the morons who continue to churn out these silly little tracts (i will not insult 'books' by calling this that) the only one of our 'founding fathers' who ever wanted anything even resembling a christian nation (the phrase he used was 'christian sparta') was patrick henry, and he didn't even sign the constitution! the other founders from jefferson to franklin were deists, freebelievers, agnostics, atheists, or at the very least non-comformists like george washington. who, despite 'belonging' to a church requiring it (martha's), never took commmunion in his entire life. jefferson who rewrote the bible, editing out any of the magical 'donkey's can talk, people can fly, and a man named jesus lives up in the sky' nonsense so dear to christians, certainly wasn't a xtian. adams said that the only thing that came out of religion and the state interacting was tyranny. geez kids i hate to burst you 'holier than thou' bubble but america isn't a christian nation, has never been a christian nation, and as long as truely freedom-loving people have breath in their body will never be a christian nation","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as peale was a wonderfully typical yet extraordinary enlightenment man, so david c. ward reflects these sometimes complex combinations in his multi-layered style. written with elegant poeticism yet laiden with fact and academic detail, this book is a joy to read. a wonderful balance between autobiographical insight into peale's character and a scholarly take on 'enlightened' american society, ward triumphally balances both the subject and the reader's attention. by applying, for example, philosophical insight to his subject, to art and to historical events with seamless ease, ward makes a great contribution to the study of an age and a man. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i had really high hopes for this book when i bought it. seemed like an interesting premise. i've read other books by this author and they were interesting, at least. this book was confusing and really quite boring. the first half of the book (200 pages) basically has the very forgettable characters doing not much of anything. when the 'action' finally starts, the menacing artifact is about as scary as a ham sandwich. i have to be honest, i didn't even finish the book. i stopped about 50 pages from the ending because i just could not stand it anymore","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"gingerbread baby is a twist on the traditional story of 'the gingerbread boy.' matti and his mother follow the recipe to bake a gingerbread boy, but when matti opens the oven too early a gingerbread baby jumps out instead. as the gingerbread boy does in the original story, the gingerbread baby runs away and is chased through the town by the townspeople and animals. however, in this version, instead of the gingerbread baby being eaten by a fox, matti stays home baking a gingerbread house for the gingerbread baby to run into. children will enjoy lifting the flap on the last page and seeing the gingerbread baby inside his house. this book would be appropriate for children ages 5 through 8. children in this age group enjoy hearing make-believe stories involving talking animals or toys or, in this case, talking cookies! i think young children especially will be happy that in this version the gingerbread baby does not get eaten by the fox in the end. i recommend sharing this story with children for enjoyment at christmastime. jan brett's illustrations are beautiful and cover every inch of the page. the authenticity of the drawings of the swiss village and the townspeople is stunning. each image is drawn with exquisite detail. the illustrated borders on each page, which give the appearance of being made out of cookie dough and icing, picture additional scenes related to the events unfolding in the story inside gingerbread baby shaped cutouts. the eye-catching endpapers round out the beauty of the book as a whole. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"letter to a young gymnast is a excellant book. my coach recommended it to me, and after reading it, i gave it to my best friend to read. i was barely able to put it down. it is not so much a story of nadia comaneci's career as a gymnast as a story of what life in romania was like. you walk away from this book feeling like you actually were there and know nadia comaneci personally. i rarely find biographies or autobiographies that are this good. defidently a 5-star book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i recently read the thirty years' war 1618-1648, hoping to gain some insight into the holy roman empire by reading about one of its turning points. well, i was left rather disappointed. a short book, it does little to set the scene--clearer explanations of the structure of the empire would have been good, as i was left very much in the dark as to who electors were, and what the political structure of the empire was, and what the rules of succession were, for instance. maps were the most part absent as well, and they would have been very helpful to trace the course of the war, the movement of troops, etc. the thirty years' war is a civil war in the empire, in which foreign powers intervened, and warred with each other as well...yet the explanations of what these foreign powers did against each other outside of the empire is somewhat lacking. so, i'm still left scratching my head as to the structure of the holy roman empire, to some extent. the book did not fulfill the role i had hoped it to play. it certainly did explain to some extent the consequences of the war to the empire, so i did learn something, but not as much as i'd hoped. i would advise caution before picking this book up","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the cover states the book is for 'students and nonspecialist', which i found to be not true. the best example was in the chapter metaphysics, if you do not already understand the concepts and especially aquinas` arguements before reading the book you will definitly not understand them after reading the book. i felt the book confuses much more than enlightens","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a retelling of the canterbury tales, very simplified...in some cases leaving out the best parts! i believe it may have been originally intended safe for children. if you're looking for a translation into modern english, keep looking. i am","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i've loved jeanne ray's other books (julie & romeo, step ball change, and eat cake). i found them all to be well written, funny and entertaining reads, with varied and likeable characters. this book does not come close to meeting the standard set by the others. it isn't funny at all. all of the characters act horribly, including the martyred julie who lets everyone in her family walk all over her. i haven't read a book in a long time where i didn't like a single character. (and i liked these people in the first book - julie and romeo). i highly recommend her other books, but i'd stay away from this one","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this was the bible i used for a project, i loved the ideas and i named the classes after the names in this book. however, 3 years later, after reviewing this book, i would say, many ideas in the book are already outdated and over emphasized in the past. just remember the good old days when ejb was glorious and almost every company went for it. after the ejb rush, now when we are back to basic, we realized that many plain old design patterns are real gold. i would suggest you do not rely heavily on j2ee, focus on domain design instead. many books provide this advice on domain driven development, such as design patterns, refactoring, domain driven design. after you read those books, then read this book again. you will agree with this review. http://www.amazon.com/books-for-professional-java-developers/lm/r34sz976nxxd22/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full/104-7074534-463355","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"there have been a dozen or more 'boy's books' lately, most notably the exceptional raising cain, by kindlon and thompson. most of them are not worth the bother, and this compendium is at the top of that list","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book has not been helpful to me in this first few months of loss. although it does show similarities people have in their experience of deep grief, it does not offer solutions. shakesphere and poe may have had similar experiences, and may have written about them elloquently, but that does not help me today. i think this book needs to be targeted to a diferent population than those of us who are looking for answers","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"when you mix soft core porn and culturly confused cubans, you get this piece of crap literature. i think their must have been at least 30 different sex or sex related scenes and oh so many other odd things. one example is when one of the characters (a girl) masturbates to her mother's old boyfriend's picture, imagining him going down on her...uck! the plot is so badly intwined and mixed together you want to question ever reading again! for the sake of literature do not read this!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i think irridium said it most articulately, but i just wanted to add to the hate for this book. i have never experienced such a strong visceral negative reaction to any work of literature. save yourself some time and read nabokov's ada instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"if - and that is a big if (the book is fully 600 pages long - it helps to fall ill when you read it - i did!) - you have the time and want to invest it for obtaining a first class overview over the great power play during the decade between 1955 and 1965 - the khruschev era - this definitely is the book to read! its authors not only provide a refreshingly new perspective to the (more or less well-) known events of, i.a., the first israeli-egyptian war, the (soviet) occupation of hungary and the cuban missile crisis, they fully succeed in transforming this period of history into a most plausible and very exciting 'story', in fact, into something of a 'thriller' (in the best sense of the word). it is the story of a great power desperate to come up to its claim to possess or at least to be accorded equal status with the other - even greater - super-power, the united states or, more generally, the 'west'. in order to achieve that one goal, almost anything would do, even extreme brinkmanship that several times brought the world close to thermonuclear war. khrushev is shown as a man to have carried within himself the dominating characteristics of the soviet union itself, viz., an enormous inferiority complex, trying to combine it with catching any opportunity that would present itself to bring pressure to bear on the other side, even using or better: threatening the use of force, wherever it seemed this might bring political advantage. fortunately for the world, this mercurial leader who disposed of the means to blow up the world (or at least: great parts of it) was restrained enough (be it on his own reason, be it by his more risk-averse colleagues within the presidium) not to actually let the world go 'over the brink' but to withdraw each time at the last moment. it is the humiliation of these retreats as well as the sense of responsibility displayed by him in making them which, if anything, ultimately cost him his job and earns him the status of a statesman (rather than merely that of a cunning politician). against this background, only two - very minor - criticisms: first, there is a really unwarranted 'blank space' in the book as regards the european economic community (today`s 'european union') whose very creation was decisively triggered by some of the events described in it (suez; hungary), by making the european states mercilessly feel their own palsy vis-à-vis the super-powers. it is ironic - and should clearly have been mentioned in the book - to see how the very institution for whose creation khruschev bore no minor responsibility - would become one of the cornerstones of the west's economic superiority and thus a decisive factor for the eventual downfall of the soviet empire. second, even though this would admittedly go slightly beyond the clear scope of the book (khruschev's cold war, restricting its topic to his role as politician), it might have been interesting for the reader to be permitted at least a brief peep behind the veil of this astounding politician's official role into his private life, if only to underpin/corroborate some of the conclusions regarding this most mercurial character! this leaves only one thing to be hoped for: at least i, for my part, am dying to read part ii: 'the breshnev years', by the same authors, should it ever come out! ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"for anyone interested in a career in aviation this book hits the mark. after reading this book i found out how much i really only thought i knew about flying for a living! this should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in a career in aviation","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"since the end of the cold war and the virtual eradication of the two other great political ideologies of the twentieth century, namely communism and fascism, the victory of capitalism has earned it the right to proceed unmolested and, to a very great degree, unquestioned in its dissemination to every point on the globe. this, as samir amin author of the liberal virus aptly points out, could be dangerous. capitalism is a system that has always been based on the darwinian principal of survival of the fittest and as such 'can produce nothing other than an intensification of the inequalities between people.' true. so true. and anybody who takes the time to actually study adam smith's, the wealth of nations, will see that the twin engines supposed to drive a capitalist economy are greed and competition, with very little regard for the actual well being of humans. this should come as no surprise, as a quick look around at the current champions of capitalist enterprise in america like insurance, energy and telecommunications will readily reveal. any thinking person must agree that it is at least worthwhile to keep a cautious eye on the current trajectory of unfettered capitalism, and inquiring into its possible dangers is undoubtedly healthy. in fact, what's needed is a measured evaluation of capitalism as it exists today, both good and bad, with the kind of unflinching exploration into its darker implications provided by samir amin here. but in the current american political climate where knee-jerk conservatism hold sways and the petty ranting of narrow-minded demagogues is counted as reasoned political discourse, this is no time to inject an analysis of capitalism with anti-americanism and hand-wringing over the demise of socialism. a book like this advances the issue with only the most restrained and open-minded readers and, for the rest, drags the debate back into the muck of cold war hysterics. not only does amin reveal himself as a whiney, vindictive socialist who would love nothing more than to see america brought to its knees, but he is an obtuse and turgid writer of the kind only academia can produce. there were sentences in this book i had to read three times before i could figure out what he was saying, and his annoying habit of loading his sentences with digressive clauses, parenthetical clarifications and coined words, had me grateful that this book was only 112 pages long - i have read 300 page books that took me less time to get a handle on. all in all, the liberal virus explores some issues much in need of inquiry but does so in a way that is so off-putting that it cannot gain much traction among american readers, no matter what their stripe, and can only serve to hinder the debate. what we need is a book about capitalism that can open minds, not scare them closed or befuddle them with the liberal self-indulgence of its author. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a certain rick stanton previously left a nice review saying that unless you were raised by dogs, this book will teach you nothing. in todays' america, there is no time or room for compassion. it's all about me, myself and i. this book, (even if you were raised by educated, compassionate people who took the time to really educate you) will at least refresh the basics in your mind. basics that are probably faded in your mind by the everyday crazy rat race. for those who like most were not raised with compassion and intelligence of the heart, it will open up some unused parts of your being","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"fred alan wolf does a good job of explaining the latest thinking in quantum physics, which he himself concedes to be impossible for us to visualize in many respects, for readers without scientific training. he does this by adopting a historical approach, following the evolution of man's understanding of the nature of motion from the speculations of early greek philosophers such as zeno and aristotle through the work of ground-breaking physicists such as einstein and bohr up to the most current knowledge about the crucial importance of the observer in determining reality. wolf includes some mind-blowing speculations about the nature of human consciousness in the quantum universe which should fascinate you even if you find them difficult to accept","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"beatrice 'bede' dunn became fascinated with wild orchids when she got a summer job with the ontario ministry of the environment. they sent her to the bruce peninsula to map orchids. she spent three months there, wandering around the woodlands, doing some serious hiking and camping-out. when she returned in the fall with fifty rolls of film, she had a new avocation - wild orchid hunting. bede became passionate about 'documenting the existence of a single flower or the breeding ground of a particular species.' in 1984 she and her boyfriend, scott, went on a hiking holiday in the dordogne region of southwestern france. when it began to rain, the couple had an argument about whether to leave their camp and seek shelter elsewhere or to stay put. bede was adamant about remaining and so she did - alone. when scott returned two days later the tent and their things were still at the campsite, but bede was gone, along with her camera, backpack, michelin guide and a book on wildflowers and orchids. no one ever saw the young woman again. after a massive search and investigation, which garnered much publicity, no evidence of foul play was discovered, no body, no crime scene. mara dunn, bede's identical twin, has never resigned herself to the loss of her sister. she moved to the dordogne after her divorce became final and went into the interior design business, all the while maintaining contact with the police. nothing concrete, however, was found concerning the disappearance. during an antique hunting expedition in a near-by town, mara discovered an old canon camera in a pile of junk. she noticed it immediately, even though the case was mildewed and worn, because it was identical to the cameras her parents had given her and her sister for their high school graduation. she was sure it was the camera her sister had traveled to france with. inside the case the initials 'b. d.' were written, and inside the camera was an undeveloped roll of film. damaged by time and dampness, but still viable, thirty-four photographs were revealed upon development, of wild orchids and a dovecote, taken in what appears to be the local landscape. mara is convinced the photographs document her sibling's final days. now, almost twenty years after bede vanished, mara, with the photographs in hand, makes yet another effort to find her sister, or her remains. julian wood is an english expatriate living in dordogne and an expert on wild orchids. he is also the author of 'wildflowers of the dordogne/ fleurs sauvages de la dordogne,' and the man mara wants to assist her. she asks him to help her retrace her sister's footsteps using the photographs as a guide. julian is skeptical about turning up anything new on the missing woman. he does not really want to get involved and he does not care much for pushy, intense women. besides, the police have copies of the photographs and do not seem very excited by them. when julian views the final picture though, he becomes agitated and as motivated to begin a search as mara, but for different reasons. the photo is of a cypripedium - sabot de venus in french, sometimes called lady's slipper in english. and since this rare wild orchid does not grow in the dordogne, or anywhere in europe, he has his own mystery to unravel - if he decides to become involved with mara and her investigation. not only is 'deadly slipper' a good literary mystery, it is really a fun book to read. filled with an exotic cast of characters - from the local bogeyman and his mother, who is even scarier than her son, to the bizarre sauvignac family, (the local nobility), to julian wood's fanatic orchid hunting nemesis and competitor, and the regulars down at chez nous, the town's cafe/bar/gourmet restaurant, plus a french police inspector and his lads, these personages all enrich the narrative. the horticulture tidbits are fascinating, and i'm no gardener. the description of food, wine, the gorgeous countryside - c'est tres magnifique! the setting is france! there is even some romancing going on in between gruesome discoveries. you cannot go wrong, especially if you're looking for something different in sleuthing. jan","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is a huge disappointment-it leaves out 80%of the movie,and the pictures are only so-so.i do not recommend this boring book to anyone who's a die-hard poppins fan.all kids will do is look at the pictures to cure boredom,then toss the book aside and forget about it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have been practicing yoga for several years and was looking for a way to introduce it to my partner. i found this book to be poorly laid out and i did not feel it had a cohesive theme. the poses were awkward, did not have the insight i was looking for","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this volume is a must have golf psychology primer. it is clear, easy to understand, can be enjoyed by any level of golfer","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what a helpful book on understanding our past, present, and future in communication. m. rex miller is clear and precise as to the breakdown of how we have learned from ancient times and how we will learn in the future. if you are worried about postmodern thought then this is the book to read because miller shows how a new way of thinking and processing information can be very spiritually productive in a rapidly changing society and church","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as a novice gardener, i found this book to be extremely informative and inspiring in my quest to create the perfect mulch. the quick reference guide is very useful in that it provides necessary information about each type of mulch, such as decomposition speed, soil moisture retention and relative cost. i also found the section of definitions especially helpful in trying to determine the best mulch for my garden. it's amazing how many different common products can be used to create a mulch that is rich in nutrients, appealing to the eye and terrific in water retention. overall, i view this book as a strong addition to my library of gardening books","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"after reading this book as i did, you may have a great feeling of confidence and a new interest in the game of craps. do not get carried away though. there are studies that refute any influencing of the dice by dice setters. the only studies mentioned are by those who are selling dice setter information. the methods in the book are certainly worth experimenting with, but not with your hard earned money. if you have been to vegas recently its apparent that many people have read this book and are trying out the theory of dice setting. does anyone think if dice setting took even a tiny part of the casinos profit that it would be allowed to continue? i think casinos love people who have read this book and try to beat the game","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is of great use for elementary school teachers. i got a copy when it was first published several years ago and have given several copies to teachers. when teaching elementary school students, as i did, things must be kept simple. this is not only true because of the availability of supplies but, also, the ability of the students and supervision needed in teaching the art process. the author had years of teaching experience and it shows in the instructions given - - - particularly, for those of us who do not have a great artistic talent ourselves. i purchased my most recent copy for a young friend who is starting her first year of teaching in the fourth grade. i hope that she uses it and enjoys it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is an essential part of mine and my partners dessert catering company and was recommended to us by our chef & mentor in baking school. it contains highly valuable information on every level of the spectrum regarding the fine art of constructing cakes and like mediums. often used as a reference manual and has never let us down.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"imagine a world where the church ran everything. sound good? well, it's not. just like in the middle ages, this church rules with an iron hand. since god must be with the church, then opposition to the church is considered witchcraft, and it seemingly comes from satan. a wonderful view of the negative possibilities should one single religion ever really take over the world. lieber is a master writer, and this is one of his very best novels","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"cut and dry.. iowa's cousin rick black is by far the leader with us deer hunters and how we cook our harvest. i got a copy of 301 venison recipes from my uncle. i asked him why he was tossing it out? his reply? 'heck boy, i got the deer burger cookbook and the venison cookbook by cousin rick black'! yepper! like everyone else. 'we will stick with rick' and his deer burger cookbook and bag em and tag em","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as an eco fan, i could not wait to read his latest novel. sadly, i was deeply disappointed by this pompous, self-indulgent, virtually unreadable monster. the cultural and literary references are obscure and incomprehensible unless you are a 70-something italian librarian. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this revised version of the gelb's famous biography from the sixties is an incredible read. it traces the life of o'neill from his early beginnings to his first broadway play, beyond the horizon. one gets an in-depth view of his life with his parents and brother. monte cristo provides the modern reader with an enriched biographical background that really elucidates aspects of o'neill's masterwork, long day's journey into night. this biography is clearly written, thoughtful, provocative, and interesting. it's definitely one of the great literary biographies of an american writer","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is plainly boring in every way. the plot should be replaced and the character was completely and utterly uninteresting. the first half of the story deserved a whopping rating of negative 2 stars, and the second half deserved roughly one star. if you have any intention of reading a book that you will cherish in your heart, then i suggest that you would please disregard this novel and find one that is more interesting, like 'barney goes to the zoo'. do not, and i repeat: do not read this book. if you would like to take interest in this novel, save your money and check it out of the library or borrow it from a friend. you will be disappointed","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"sosa and kim's text is a guide through the most influential and provocative articles in philosophical epistemology. provides a good background for issues regarding knowledge and skepticism, and includes classic essays as well as contemporary journal articles. perfect for an introductory graduate level epistemology course","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it is a fact that the human race originated in africa. it is also a fact that civilization originated in the middle east. so what","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"though the title implies it, this book is not really a sequal to the six easy pieces. they can be read seperately. it treats some of the concepts centered around special and general relativity that revolutionized physics near the turn of the century. it would be impossible to find another book that can dive so deeply into topics such as symmetry and space-time, while bypassing formalism and exposing the fundemental ideas and signficance in every-day terms. the delivery is in lecture form, and while that makes it more authentic and real, the fact that this is a book and the reader is not really in a lecture, makes it a little awkward. one often gets the feeling that one had to be there to get the full benefit. there is little attempt at explaining the historical context and other niceties and focus is solely on the concepts themselves. one needs to have at least college level math background to follow the derivations. feynman has done a phenomenal job in reducing such complex concepts into digestable pieces of conversation. there is no abstraction, everything is quantified. i especially enjoyed the chapter curved space, as i had never seen it treated so intimately. the self consistency of all these topics and how they are interrelated is elegantly presented.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"although in some ways provocative, this book poses a question it never adequately grapples with--namely, can the 'materiality' of race be properly characterized or understood as a 'discursive limit' to ideological constructions of ethnicity without being understood as existing outside of discourse? it seems to me that eng fails to address the question of whether such constructions may be regarded as either a pre- or extra-discursive 'hard kernel of the real,' one the one hand, or simply another aspect of discourse, on the other hand. his work would benefit from a more thorough engagement with, and analysis of, the 'objet petit a' in the work of zizek and lacan. perhaps 'race' in general ought to be regarded a primordial psychic 'hole,' an 'absence' or pure negativity where a 'grounding' for discourse ought to be but proves to be lacking. unfortunately that is a proposition that eng hints at but does not explore.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a good critique of the assumptions made by eurocentric historians over the years about the superiority of europe as compared to the inferiority of the rest of the world. blaut effectively examines and explodes each theory dispassionately but thoroughly. finally he comes up with his own explanation for european success since 1492: america. europe's 'discovery' of and exploitation of north and south america gave it the wherewithall it needed to overtake and surpass the rest of the world. a well written, well documented assessment which deserves a place beside the great divergence and reorient, among others","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"my wife got me this book for xmas thinking it would help. it didn't. it can be distilled down to two points everyone already knows: * selling is job #1 in a startup. forget about every other aspect of the business until you have a steady stream of sales. * do not take on any fixed overhead until the sales are achieved. thanks for the clarification, guys. *yawn* ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a great book. dahut's analysis of the mindset of the lawyer as he goes about marketing and managing his practice is frighteningly accurate - the way we think as lawyers clearly restricts our ability to be good enterprise builders. dahut's discussion on law firm branding and leadership building was right on the money. i would recommend this book highly to other lawyers - in fact, it should be required reading in law schools. finally, while the book is a little on the pricey side, i got my money's worth and then some. i give this book five stars. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"if what i hear is correct, george clooney is making this marvellous book into a movie. joy","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book based upon some of the other reviews that said it was great and they could not have been more wrong. i needed the book on short notice so it cost me $25 and it was absolutely useless. there is nothing useful in this book at all. i ended up just winging the toast because i didn't have time to look for another book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book is written in a way that does explain the japanese karate training experience very well. i've done it for 35+ years and his book sums up a lot of things that take a long time to figure out. i was trained by a former jka kumite champion who came to the u.s. with little english and a goal of teaching karate as it was taught to him and figuring out what he wasn't taught. he is still a great teacher although he has not reached out for the commercial aspects of karate. the book goes a long way in helping students understand the jka and what is the essence of the karate training. it will be interesting to see if the author can write another book in 10 more years about what else he has learned","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"my 4 year old son and i stumbled across this book in the library and i immediately knew we had to have our own copy. the poem that constitutes the text of this book is simple and timeless. the illustrations are breathtaking. each painting depicts the same train at the crossing, the various townspeople waiting at the crossing and the contents of the freight cars. my son loves inventing 'conversations' between the people waiting for the train to pass. a lovely book that is a nice addition to any child's library","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"ron clark is another award-winning teacher who apparently does not have a life away from his students. his 55 rules sometimes cross the line into 'parent' territory, as when he teaches his children how they should answer the phone at home, and his 'abc's of etiquette' is subdivided into 26 rules about table-mannners. he also apparently takes students on field trips that he sometimes pays for out of his own pocket, a questionable practice in most districts. some of his suggestions, like assigning extra work as a punishment, are just wrong. new teachers will perhaps be inspired by this book, but there is nothing here that any veteran teacher could not tell you. save your money","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my aunt recently came to visit me and strongly suggested i read your 'do not eat the marshmallow...yet!' book along with the motivational mini book. since reading the book (just two days ago), one effect your book had on me was to set up a savings account that will transfer funds from my checking account twice a month. my aunt, along with your book, also inspired me use passages and quote some lines that i am using for my midterm paper. i wanted to thank you for the inspiration and additional motivation (that i yes needed!). i am continuing the domino effect and am recommending this book to my friends and even my boss. i will continue re-reading this book and adopt the marshmallow theory/delayed gratification as my own. i strongly believe this has provided a positive change in my life that i will repeatedly profit from","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i found the plot of this book impossible to follow. it contains excessively verbose descriptions with a lot of cliches. the hero almost dies twice in a row and is each time magically saved for no reason. and there are only so many times i can read variations of 'he swung his sword really hard' and 'it was a really scary dragon.' the illustrations are quite beatiful, though","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"michael block is an extraordinary educator and this text demonstrates his teaching abilities and his knowledge of implant dentistry. he sits on the education committees of several scientific academies for a reason. there is content appropriate for all dentists, not just oral surgeons. the text is easy to navigate through, there are ample references that will be helpful to students and educators alike, and the images, etc. are helpful towards clarifying concepts in implant dentistry. it is a must for every advanced implant surgeon and cutting edge restorative clinician","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"my mother-in-law presented me with this book in a poor attempt to convert me into christianity. i tried to read the book as thoroughly as possible. it was difficult to keep interested in the first half of the book. in my personal opinion, the author seems to ramble on about the assassination of yitzhak rabin on many occasions, this seems to be his only method of proving that the 'bible code' does in fact, exist. not to mention his constant reminding that he 'does not believe in god or prophecies.' this gets very tiring. drosnin does not provide solid evidence, no matter how he tries to dress it up with scientific terms. the author kills his credibility on repeated occasions. overall, i found this to be an interesting read, but the author's arguements were not convincing enough for me.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i bought the book after reading a shorter tolstoy story, years ago. at first i was intimidated by the length of this story and couldnt get into it to start. finally, i picked it up again and was dissapointed i waited so long, it definitely doesnt seem as long once you get going. its an amazing book and has become one of my favorite","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i first read martin's hundred when i was in the hospital waiting to give birth to my first child. i managed to stay interested between my labor pains, and that says a lot about mr. hulme's writing! i've re-read it four times since. the archaeological details and interpretations are utterly fascinating, especially those of the pointed-roof coffins and poor 'granny's hairdo.' the colonists who inhabited the carter's grove site really came alive for me. this is an all- time favorite book of mine","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"actually i intended to order another book 'ramp plans: learn how to build vert street mini launch and bowls (2000 edition)', but by mistake seem to have ordered this one instead without realising it before it arrived. must be my mistake where as i should have noticed this in the confirmation email i got. still, better luck next time..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my order came right on time! just like it said that it would. the book was in excellent condition. it was neatly wrapped and packed for safety. i will shop here again in the near future. j. smith cedar hill, texa","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the cookbook does the best it can considering the subject! what foodie wants to give up food? not that one is giving up food per se. maybe trying one recipe per week and gradually replacing high fat foods instead of going it cold turkey would work. there's nothing wrong with the recipes i've tried. i'd just rather be eating foods i need to let go of","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the original edition of this book was out of print for some years and it is delightful to see it out again, and expanded no less. it combines 2 great virtues: highly readable and informative text with illustrations of a quality that are 'suitable for framing.' it is a great book for anyone who takes an interest in botany, cooking, or gardening and you could not go wrong giving it as a gift to one of these types. it's also great for reference. if you're getting it as a gift i suggest ordering 2, because you'll want one for yourself when you see it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the numerous vague flow charts, weak graphics, and conflicting statements did little to promote the learning process. cites many dated studies and implies causation with little statistical relevance. similarly, the author's exam questions led to more frustration as many appear to be developed to trick the reader","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is a really thin book, and for the price, the production value is terrible. the graphic design, and poor layout, takes a lot away from the information of the book. page after page, you wonder if this recent publication was from the 1980s. the information was light, and just skimmed over details. there was way too much emphasis on analog. there are other search softwares out there. the case studies were nice, but no real insight was given. overall - it's an overpriced fluff book. could be summaried in 5 pages","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"emily pigbush is an orphan. in the first few chapters of the book, she loses her mother, and her father is long gone from the war.she is left to live with her best friend annie, the daughter of mary surratt.that night, there is a great outcry in the city of washington, where emily lives. mr. lincoln, the president, has been shot dead. emily is even more stunned when she hears who had done it-- the man who had been staying with the surratt's, john wilkes booth. the surratts are thrust into investigation for connection to the murder. emily is sent to stay with her rich uncle instead, valentine. she gets along well there, until she uncovers a sinister secret from a woman staying in the house -- her uncle could be a bodysnatcher. she pursues the idea, quietly, until she is confronted at school by a reporter's daughter. her fears are confirmed when she sees the proof with her own eyes. she loses herself in her own emotions; love for robert, a man valentine saved, hate for all of them. a very good illustration of the civil war and the unjustly accused.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"based on property right arrangements, henry hansmann proposed in his 1996 book an organizational classification covering most of organizations under the system of private property. with the postulate of cost minimization, he demonstrates convincingly how various kinds of organizations can be placed into the analytical framework of economics. in my opinion, this organizational theory needs only some slight extension to become a comprehensive one that includes all organizations under the private property system. with this extended viewpoint, all seemingly complicated issues of organizations can be placed into a unified and systematic framework of analysis. this is the power and beauty of his organizational theory. my opinion is that henry hansmann has made path-breaking contribution in the study of this filed, following r. coase, a. alchian, and s. cheung","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"oswald allis was a champion of biblical interpretation of the 'end-times' and of the role of the church in the 1930's. he shows very clearly the distortions of the bible that modern dispensationalists and the authors of the 'left behind' books take for granted. as an example of the impact of this book, i gave it to a confirmed dispensationalist in the mid-80's and asked her to read it and then discuss it with me. she read half of it and gave it back to me and refused to discuss it. invincible ignorance had set in, refusing to even discuss the passages of scripture that did not fit her scofield-induced template of escatology. the 1945 preface is prophetic: 'is their [the jews] presence 'in the land' so important that palestine should be regarded as belonging to them exclusively, and should they be encouraged to set up a kingdom there like that of david or solomon? should the christians in all the allied countries use every effort to persuade their governments to insist at the coming peace conference that palestine be given to the jews? is this the solution to the jewish question? or, is the reason that the jew is a problem to be found in something quite different: in the fact that he rejected the messiah promised to his race and was 'scattered among the nations' as a punishment for his sin, that he still continues in unbelief and yet still regards himself as a 'peculiar people,' whose destiny is to rule the earth under a messiah who is yet to come?...or, is his need, his supreme need, that heavenly salvation which is to be found only in the christian church?' another way of asking this is, did the jew's presence 'in the land' usher in peace and harmony for the jews? or for anyone? read the headlines of today's papers and one can see that this whole enterprise was and is folly, and yet christians still wear their dispensational blinders, and it is staggering to behold. if you'd like to know more about the end-times, israel and the church, read this book with your bible open. those who do so will have their thinking challenged and appreciation of the scriptures increased. but i warn you--it does not fit the current evangelical mindset and may make you feel uncomfortable with the multitude of 'bible-teachers' who cannot deal with the facts of scripture","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"along with belinda and the history of sir charles grandison, essential reading for all jane austen enthusiasts. in camilla you will find austen's inspiration for many different characters and situations. the 17 year old heroine of the novel is burney's most enchanting. her adventures are rich and surprising.the color of the 18th century infuses this book. bring handkerchiefs, for there is pathos aplenty, but in a pure, non-cloying form. eugenia, the stunted and unlovely but spiritually and intellectually exquisite sister of camilla provides the soul of the book. this book contains suspense, glamour, romance, great wisdom and greater folly. anyone who adores 18th c lit. will be sorry to turn the last page, though a thousand preceded it. in many ways this is burney's happiest and most hopeful book. it was written as she was celebrating her liberation from spinsterhood into the estate of a married woman at age 40. we would be very lucky if anyone ever thought to turn this one into a film","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the cover is interesting, the description on the back makes it seem amazing! and when i read about 20 pages of the book, i'm in total shock. this is not the book that i had in mind. first of all, this is the !most! unrealistic thing i have ever read. as hard as i tried, i could not get into the story. the language is very .. let me say this: it's complex poetry written in the simplicity for a five year old.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as the title suggests, this is a book about improving your speed. it is a general book applicable to any sport. and so the authors go to great lengths to generalize their program. i expected to read about the latest in exercise physiology concerning speed, recommended training, and exercises. we do get that sort of thing in a manner of speaking, but to put it very bluntly, this book is one of the most jumbled, mixed up, illogical presentations you are likely to read. hard to believe three college graduates put this together. in order to get anything out of this book you kind of have to trudge all the way through it and improvise your thought process as you go. the authors give absolutely zero help. do we get titles to the latest studies on sport speed--in the negative. do we get information on the latest persons doing research on the subject--in the negative. do we get a logical, understandable training program--in the negative. what we get instead is kind of a hodge podge of information coming from all directions without hardly any logical organized presentation. oh--there is the seven step speed training program presented in 7 different chapters. and to give credit--it does look like this is a good speed improvement program. however the information the seven chapters (and you have to get through 3 almost imconprehensible chapters to get to the program) seems to rain down from the sky in a very disconnected fashion. there are few explanations of the whys and wherefores; there are zero explanations on where the program comes from or how it was put together, or where it fits in anywhere in what is being done by any one. it is just there, presented, and i suppose we are supposed to swallow it all on faith. there are presented many descriptions and photographs of useful looking exercises. i do know more about speed improvement after reading the book. but the information was gotten by pulling teeth","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the author has taken his time to present all sides of this important event in south carolina history. by taking a dispassionate look at the contemporary accounts as well as later oral histories he allows one to make up his or her own mind as the the true events. i found no evidence of any political slant. not a novel for light reading, but easy to read. makes a case as a good text, not only in the realm of black history, but in how one event can be looked at from numerous eyes. gives one a perspective on how the history we come to accept can be changed and minipulated depending on ones desires and point of view. highly recommend this in any student of south carolina or black histories library","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is a creeper. a few months after you read it, you will realize that you love it. kerouak mentions the conceptualization of dr. sax in on the road, where jk's main character talks about a book he is writing, and mentions the ultimate scene in sax. the story is full of visuals that stay in the mind. inspiration from bram stoker is evident, and mixes with old radio serials adventure. a coming of age story that is comic book, before comic books were cool, and with a fantastic ending that is unexpected and thought provoking. a wonderful read every time","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"wayne grudem has written a great deal about biblical manhood and womanhood. besides articles in periodicals, he has written recovering biblical manhood and womanhood: a response to evangelical feminism which he co-authored with john piper. he has written evangelical feminism and biblical truth: an analysis of more than 100 disputed questions and then two collections of essays he edited, biblical foundations for manhood and womanhood and pastoral leadership for manhood and womanhood. the latest addition to this list is evangelical feminism: a new path to liberalism?. grudem describes this book as 'an expression of deep concern about a widespread undermining of the authority of scripture in the arguments that are frequently used to support feminism. it is also a way of posing a question: can a movement that espouses this many ways of undermining the authority of scripture possible be right?' the book's argument, then, is that evangelical feminism sets those who affirm it on a slippery slope that will inevitably lead to liberalism. it is important to define terms and grudem, always a deliberate author, does just this. by theological liberalism he refers to 'a system of thinking that denies the complete truthfulness of the bible as the word of god and denies the unique and absolute authority of the bible in our lives.' and by evangelical feminism he means 'a movement that claims there are no unique leadership roles for men in marriage or in the church.' leadership in both the home and the church is to be shared equally between men and women according to their gifts and desires. he leads readers through five points: 1. liberal protestant denominations pioneered evangelical feminism and now evangelical feminists have adopted many of the arguments earlier used by theological liberals to advocate women's ordination and to reject male headship in marriage. 2. many prominent evangelical feminist writers advocate positions that either deny or undermine the authority of the bible. other egalitarians endorse books written by these people without taking a stance against those who deny scripture's authority. 3. recent trends show that evangelical feminists are heading towards the denial of anything uniquely masculine and some now even refer to god as 'our mother in heaven.' 4. the history of others who have adopted these positions shows that the next step is the acceptance of homosexuality. 5. the common thread running through these trends is a rejection of the authority of scripture in people's lives--the very bedrock principle of theological liberalism. these dire predictions aside, grudem is careful to affirm that there are some egalitarians who continue to uphold the authority of scripture (men like roger nicole, walter kaiser, jack hayford, etc) but warns that, while these men may remain orthodox, those who follow them will likely drift further and further from affirming the authority of scripture, for this is a common pattern in the church. these men, despite their good intentions and their love for the bible, may be inadvertently leading the next generation astray. grudem provides a short chapter liberalism and women's ordination, showing that there is no theologically liberal denomination or seminary in the united states today that opposes women's ordination. this proves that liberalism and the approval of women's ordination go hand in hand. the heart of the book is contained in two sections. the first, with fifteen short chapters, examines evangelical feminist views that undermine or deny the authority of scripture. these range from saying that paul's teaching on women's roles was just plain wrong, to suggesting that women may preach or teach men as long as they are under the authority of a pastor, to relying on experience as the arbiter of what is right and true. the second section, with ten short chapters, examines evangelical feminist views that are based on untruthful or unsubstantiated claims. these include those who teach that paul told the women in corinth to 'keep silent' because they were disrupted church services, that the word 'head' actually means 'source,' and that the son is not subordinate to the father in the trinity. grudem concludes 'i cannot say for sure. but i can think of no other viewpoint or movement within the whole history of the christian church (except theological liberalism itself) that has generated so many novel and ultimately incorrect ways of interpreting the bible.' having provided the facts and having provided brief analysis, grudem finally seeks to understand where evangelical feminism is taking the church. he concludes that the next step is to deny anything distinctly masculine. at the foundation of evangelical feminism, he feels, is a dislike of manhood itself. this will lead to a denial that there is anything uniquely masculine about god and allow people to refer to god as mother. the danger here, of course, is that calling god 'mother' 'is changing god's own description of himself in the bible. it is calling god by a name that he has not taking for himself. therefore it is changing the way the bible teaches us to think of god. it is thus changing our doctrine of god.' the final step along this trajectory is the widespread acceptance of homosexuality. those who advocate the morality of homosexuality within a biblical context are using the very same arguments used by evangelical feminists. churches that accept the arguments of evangelical feminists will have very little ground to stand on when they attempt (or if they attempt) to uphold the biblical condemnation of homosexuality. what is ultimately at stake in evangelical feminism is the bible itself. i appreciated grudem taking his argument to its fullest extent and showing what is truly at stake here. too often arguments about issues like evangelical feminism can proceed no further than the doctrine itself. i think grudem has done the church a great service in showing and proving that this discussion is not merely about how particular churches operate. rather, based on this discussion we can see which churches can remain faithful in the future and which will inevitably drift further and further from the authority of scripture and thus further and further from god himself. if evangelical feminism is, indeed, a new path to an old problem, grudem has shown just how seriously we need to take it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i really loved the book i just wish the author of the book would of used kyles origin from the comics","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"think about the premise, it's not only creepy, it's just wrong. the august brothers were sexually abused and victimized as young men and now the only way they can feel complete love from a woman is together. i know, i know it's total backwoods jerry springer crap!!! i really do not like books like this. ones that have a racier theme or kink and wrap it up with a bow and call it 'fufilling' or 'complete love'. where i come from having a threesome or foursome with your brothers is just disturbed!!! and the women in story just buy into this warped way of thinking. i do not know about other ladies but if a guy i was dating suggested this; there would be a me shaped hole in the door, and burnt rubber in the driveway!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"let's start with being the nephew of sigmund freud. mr. bernays witnessed the coming of the industrial revolution in full and his ideas were thus shaped believing that even men operate only as mindless automatons in the larger machinery of society. the author believes that people are incapable of forming their own opinions due to the complexity of modern life. heck, these hickams from topeka just came off the farm. surely we in the elite must help them make their choices. this is the tone of propaganda. keep in mind that also during this time other similar misinformed ideologies were being incubated by bernays contemporaries like hitler and stalin. there is in truth much commonality between all three of these mens views. all ideologies are dangerous and there seemed to have been a great number of squirrely ones developed at the beginning of the 20th century. bernays does have some karma to pay as this book was used by hitler and the third reich as a kind of manual on how to deceive the masses. and the third reich is not the last homeland to use bernays ideas","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"beach boys-related articles from newspapers and magazines during their mid-1960s heyday. a mixed bag, but interesting browsing for fans","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as in many of his books, jack london enraptes the reader, but this time in a story of love. it is extremely refreshing because it shows the good side of true love without that sickening sweetness so many love stories have... i read this book a few years back and read it again just recently. i am sixteen. this book is definetly one that many can enjoy, no matter your age","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this may be the worst book i've ever finished. i was expecting a book that would offer small tidbits of funny information, some shots, and some glorious facts about the great men who have led our country over the various centuries. instead, we are treated to a salacious compendium of president's peeing on secret service men and other president's blaming secret service men for farting. if you are looking for 'the man show' version of the presidents, then by all means fork over your hard earned dollars. we are informed that every republican from ike to bush were bumbling idiots, and every democrat from fdr to clinton were mere victims of circumstance. if you are looking for a michael moore or al franken version of the historical lives of some of the greatest men who ever lived, then by all means add to cart. thanks to this author's portrayal of u.s. presidents, i will forever read an author's portrayal of the two most divisive presidents of our time, nixon and clinton, before i make such a purchase again. nixon and clinton were both failures in their own right. nixon and clinton were both men blessed with an overwhelming amount of potential, but they both flushed it away with their individual incidents. o'brien ends each portrayal with an accurate summary of the unfortunate end of each of the individual tenure, but it is within the body of these portrayals that o'brien lends his creative writing skills to the eventual manipulation of the reader. examples to the point, newt gingrich is snide and rapacious, and kenneth starr is a ruthless republican bloodhound. do we really need these adjectives? we read no such adjectives to describe the behaivor of the democrats in power during nixon's term. we see no adjectives or adverbs to describe the activities of a woodward and bernstein. i would consider it silly for a compendium of this sort to glorify the presidency of nixon, for his tenure was not one to emulate. nixon and clinton had their otherwise promising presidencies brought down by silly incidents that would've been seen as such were it not for the cover-ups that followed. o'brien goes onto to proclaim bob jones university as preposterously conservative, he declares the great society as a legislative success. it maybe true that the great society was a success in accumulating enough votes for passage, but can the great society be considered a success in an historical perspective? he portrays the anti-american carter as the greatest living former president in recent memory. he mentions carter's farcical nobel peace prize as testament to this fact. what is this? everyone knows that that prize was a joke provided by the nobel people looking to make an anti-american statement. it should be noted that the great peace activist yasser arafat also won this award. o'brien fails to mention the johnson administration's propaganda involving the gulf of tonkin incident that johnson used to convince american's that america's role needed to be escalated in vietnam. it was an incident historians are now claiming never happened, but this isn't used to define johnson's administration? he maintains that every republican since ford gained office with shenanigans and slick marketing. he ends the book with the moore/franken style rants against the george w. bush election, which many nonpartisan publications--including the democrat miami herald and the usa today--are saying they could've recounted until the end of time and bush would've won. he comments on bush's slick maneuvering to enter into the war with iraq. i will grant you that this book was written before news of the the oil for food un scandals broke. these scandals involved france, germany and russia, and this scandal may have affected the manner in which pre-war activities were conducted. all in all, shouldn't a book of this variety be written to open debate rather than close it with propaganda material? i found some of the portrayals of presidents one rarely hears mentioned, such as zachary taylor and franklin pierce, but i found myself reevaluating all of these portrayals after reading about those with which i am much more familiar. i am currently an unsuccessful author, but i have written enough, and studied the craft enough, to know a writer's manipulation when i see it. it's a shame too, for this could've been such an interesting idea. as i have mentioned, cormac o'brien has taught me a valuable lesson when buying historical perspectives: try and learn the author's agenda before buying his book. i have read a couple of books of this sort that will lambaste and glorify an lbj or a clinton as often as they lambaste and glorify a nixon or a reagan. while i will agree that it is difficult for an individual to separate himself from his perspective, it should always be the responsibility of said author to keep this to a matter of degrees. it is my hope that the anxious readers who share my love for information, regardless of their individual biases, will search elsewhere","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"while reading ludlum in between more artistic works of literature, i like to follow a good spy/action novel. ludlum provides! bourne identity really provides! it went through all things a good ludlum novel ought to go through: action packed, twisting plots, romance, conspiracy, character thoughts, and, unfortunately, repetition. five of those six are gems, but the repetition wore me out nearing the end. i can only read 'charlie is for delta; delta is for cain' (or something like that) so many times... then i have to cringe, bite my lip and suppress an urge to scream at the annoyance. if you could have someone black-out all these lines in the book before you read it, it would make the read so much more enjoyable","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"samples taken from wtc steel now confirm (soon to be released by professor steven jones of byu and five other universities) thermate was used in the wtc towers to take them down. this meshes with the global collapse times of both towers (and 7 wtc) and the eyewitness reports that day from firefighters, police, tenants and workers who said bombs were in the towers. not only do we have dispicable people in government who, of course, knew this all along, but the u.s. media knew it too. soon both will be out of employment","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is a rehash of stuff that has already been said about this product. it is clear that the author did not close transactions but viewed credit derivatives as an academic. nothing new is said. he could at least have written in an original fashion but decided to write about already exposed concepts in a very dry manner. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"appreciate the stories told by this author about his life and consider the insights that he has gained from reflection on his experience; but, please, do not base your understanding of quakerism on his presentation. in spite of the fact that smith is a lifelong friend and a former quaker educator, he quotes george fox (an important leader in the early quaker movement) and the bible inaccurately or out of context several times. in addition, some of smith's statements about facets of quaker faith and practice are historically unfounded or ignore the diversity within the religious society of friends today. if you are interested in learning about quakerism, read wilmer a. cooper's book, a living faith: an historical study of quaker beliefs (friends united press: 1990). read robert lawrence smith's book as a book of wisdom written by a quaker, but not necessarily a quaker book of wisdom","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am impressed with this book. it's easy to read and understand, and i learned a lot about the importance of magnesium and how it helps us to function. i have shared this book with friends and family so they can improve their diets and learn how a magnesium deficiency affects their health. my daughter has not had a migraine since she has incorporated this mineral in to her diet. that in itself made the purchase worthwhile. highly recommend","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this story of the battle for new orleans is interesting and extremely well written. it is not one of those deeply detailed scholarly works that drags on and on with details that you are not particularly interested in. mr. groom quickly lays out the facts of the matter. what he does best is make the historical figures in his book come alive for the reader. andrew jackson, no matter what his faults, truly loved the united states and was more than willing, almost eager, to risk his life for his country. and, at the battle of new orleans, with the future of the united states at risk, a pirate/privateer named jean laffite took the side of andy jackson. the battle they fought together, alongside the people of new orleans, is amazing. this briskly written book will tell you about some fantastic and tragically brave people","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i enjoyed the book emergency: true stories from the nations er, since the stories were all based on actual events. there are some that will make you laugh till you cry and there is some that are real heartbreaking.but i rate this book five stars, and would recomend anyone to read it","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have to say, a lot of people will find this book to appear unbiblical if they do not know their scriptures exceptionally well. the scriptures do not say, 'the 2nd coming is the final coming' - otherwise the dispensational millenialists ('left behind' ideology) would really be in trouble since they have at least 2 returns of christ, the 'hidden' rapture before the tribulation (book 1 in the left behind series), as well as the 'glorious appearing' (the final book in the left behind series). this book is a good example of what theologians (like myself) refer to as 'speculative theology' - theology based not on what scripture says, but what scripture has not discussed one way or the other. he asks the question: could christ have an 'intermediate return' before the 'glorious appearing,' but nothing like what the 'left behind' ideology is projecting? could the current state of israel be about bringing forth this intermediate return, and not the final one? or could it have nothing to do with the final return? all these questions are thrown out there for the reader to contemplate and consider. excellent piece, well worth the money","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"mr.warren seems to have trouble focusing on the subject matter in the first half of this book, making it seem to be merely a digest of fantasy and science fiction. i guess one can enjoy this book if you are open minded, very open minded. there are however more serious and factual findings on this subject for the more serious ufo fans. if you must buy the book, save your cash and buy the paperback","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"wow...this book was boring and confusing. i got it for my international finance class and it is just really hard to follow. it was a waste of money","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i purchased this book and was able to read it cover to cover in just a few days. glenn shepard has created a wonderful step-by-step guide that i consider a must read for every small-business owner and manager or supervisor. as a national workshop leader glenn combines his own experience as a business owner with the experiences and research from more than 100,000 managers from forture 500 companies and small businesses alike. the author writes in a very straight forward manner -- and i like how he does not pull punches with addressing difficult employee behavior issues. practical and informative -- i will require all my managers to read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have read 3 other sue margolis boks and enjoied them all. this book was really really bad","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"ok, the title gets 5 stars. i haven't had the priviledge of reading it yet myself. gave this as a gift. the recipient praised the author and was eager to begin reading it.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a valid reprint of the pivotal book written by the eugenicist founder of the birth control league - renamed planned parenthood when the world found out what her elitist-racist thinking came to in germany in wwii. every human being in the country and the world really should know exactly what that crackpot's plans for reengineering humanity meant, and what her followerd are intent on, even as you read this. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am very proud to be a korean parent because i read this book. this book explains the suffering of the korean parents all over america. korean children often do not appreciate all the difficulties their parents had to go through to give them the university of california education. many korean parents work in harsh conditions and work long hours and experience all kinds of anti-korean insults by whites. this book explains the pain that korean parents had to go through. it is difficult to explain all my pain to my children. it's difficult when they are young because i do not want to burden them. it's difficult when they are old because it seems petty and they seem to be going through problems of their own. but korean parents suffer in america as immigrants who work hard to reach middle class. this book is great because i can just give to my children to read and they can understand my hardships just by reading about it. i have friends who cannot even speak english so they cannot communicate to their children about their experiences. for such a korean parent, this book is ideal. i recommended this book to them","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a fascinating collection of puzzles from the master of mathemagics. it's clear and undeniable: if you want the best in fun, challenging puzzles, buy anything written by gardner or his heir apparent, terry stickels. you cannot go wrong!!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book has absolutely beautiful paintings that compliment the familiar song over the rainbow. my 5 year old daughter likes it a lot. her absolute favorite in the series is i live in music by ntozake shange, which is part of this series, and might seem odd for a pre-schooler, but her whole class really responded to it as well","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book should have been called 'beautiful interior designs that happen to include some home theater gear', or 'home theater style'. it's little more than a pretty picture book of impressive-looking rooms that integrate ht gear, and often in a laughable way. the text is fluffy, thowaway stuff that is irritating to read. the photos are very well done, but often include speakers and other gear set up with no unsightly cables. of course, without the unsightly cables, there'd be no audio or video, either. i guess that's the main thing that got to me -- if you're going to show a setup with nice speakers and other gear that are out in the room, at least be honest about how to treat cables and make them look as good as possible. do not just leave them out altogether. it's insulting, and is foolish in a book that is supposedly about ht","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"denise swanson does it again. she's created a character that is realistic and fun. this is a series that i do not want to end, i cannot wait for the next book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'envy' is a hard book to pin down. in a nutshell, we have will moreland, a new york therapist who has elected to go to his college reunion. his wife carole prefers to stay home since she does not know anyone and they are still feeling the emotional tug of the loss of their son, luke. during the reunion, most people are more concerned with the whereabouts of his twin brother mitch, a pretty famous long-distance swimmer, whom will is estranged. after reading about some of his former collegiates, he comes across the bio of former flame elizabeth and discovers that she has a daughter that could possibly be his. when he asks her, she justifiably balks at him. he returns home, and seeks out a therapist of his own to discuss his intimacy issues with his wife, as well as his dark sexual fantasies, as they are starting to interfere with his effectiveness at his own practice. he is also having problems with the abandonment of his twin, who he has not seen since his wedding day. mitch was born with birthmark that made him stand out to ridicule as a child. will always felt guilt that his own face was not marred. little does he know that the brother that he protected since childhood made a mockery of his devotion, as he slowly learns the truth behind mitch's absence. a new patient arrives in his office with her own intimacy issues. she is a student and seduces older men. when she relishes in telling him about her sex life in detail, it is evident that her next victim is going to be will. after she makes an inappropriate move on him, he decides to terminate their relationship and refers her elsewhere. soon, she is knocking down his door, insisting that he see her. when she disrobes, will's own lack of willpower triggers a sexual escapade which he will forever wish did not happen, particularly when the patient reveals who she is. suddenly will questions is own relationship with his wife, former lovers, his brother, and his parents. this really could have been a moving story, but i did not feel a connection in any way to the storyline - there was no real emotion, depth, or character development. the revelation of the student's identity is no surprise - anyone can se that coming. all told in a matter-of-fact manner, with little emotion, the story never has any clear resolution, nor any closure, making it a bit of a disappointment","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the text is thoroughly unorganized, it has almost no coherent linear progression. the author often repeats himself, uttering the 'final solution' of the 'jewish question' over and over without giving an studied analysis of what that means. the book is a pistache of accusations and anecdotes about people's involvement in the 'final solution' without offering any studied analysis of any one particular group or person. for example, we are introduced to a commander wohlauf--an office of battalion 101---and his wife. we are told that he killed jews and his pregnant wife watched, but thats about it. the author also infuses his writing with pedantry: rather that presenting the facts as they are, he is compelled to make the reader feel shocked by using exclamation points to drive home how we should feel. undoubtedly antisemitism was endemic not only in germany, but throughout europe, but one gets the feeling that the author is cherry picking throughout history to bolster his outlandish thesis that the germans were predicated to mass murder of jews. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"whether the subject is human nature, race, class, politics, or theology, julian barnes expresses more on a subject in a paragraph than many of us in a chapter. and all of this on top of a fascinating story","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i love this new book by gloria page. the book itself is an art stamping project. each page of the book is created with hand-made graphics. the instructions are very clear and the projects yield very wonderful results. try them as soon as you get the book. you will not be disappointed","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"he gives plenty of stats and fine details but forgets that he's talking about people. it becomes very boring and lifeless, too much emphasis on details and not enough on the players behind the numbers. i recommend ' baseball in 41' ' by robert creamer, a fine book something that 'more than merkle...' should've had more of","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i've lived in china since 1999, and i often read stories about china in the western media that i simply do not believe. others report on abuses that do occur here without giving a reader any understanding of why. so, china remains 'inscrutable.' (i'm rolling my eyes...) china is a complex subject. how can a westerner who has never been here know what's happening? china is so far away and shrouded in a bit of mystery, some due to the sheer length of its history and some due to the power of the party. in my case, i do not speak chinese, so getting past the public face is impossible. ian johnson of the wall street journal won a pulitzer prize for his reporting on china. he speaks the language. and, he's one heck of a fine journalist. in wild grass, he recounts the stories of three ordinary chinese citizens who find themselves fighting the repression of the system, risking imprisonment and even death. johnson understands 'the big picture,' and after reading this book, so will you. a nation is not just a single entity. it's made of people. all nations, not just the one you live in. so what are the people in china like? read this book, and you'll feel like you've met some of them. a peasant lawyer, a young architectural student, a bereaved daughter. poor farmers in yulin and party officials in beijing. johnson also brings the scenery to life, makes the unfamiliar familiar, and captures many little details and episodes and ironies. a compelling subject in the hands of a masterful author. china is experiencing unprecented economic development. what effect will this ultimately have on its social and political system? i do not agree with all of the author's conclusions -- it surprises me how much i agree with the party -- but it does not matter. that's part of the beauty of this book. to bandy about phrases like 'evil empire' is the simplistic idiocy that will (i hope) eventually doom morons like dubya. can we please move past that and try to genuinely understand? there can be no doubt that what johnson reports in this book is factually accurate. if you want to learn about china, this is a good place to start. and then, form your own conclusions. there's plenty of room for you to do that here. which, in the end, is what journalism is all about. i'm quite glad that i read this book. this is literature, same as george orwell, who i also do not always agree with. and agreement does not matter. spurring a reader to think is what matters. johnson can do that with the best of them.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is heavy on jargon and vendor provided information - it is essentially a collection of articles from computer telephony magazine, without much editing or organization. it lacks technical depth and is poorly organized for researching information, e.g., its index is essentially a word occurance listing","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i lent this book to my mil before i read it but told her not to tell me about it or her thoughts on it until after i read it. i could not get passed the 2nd chapter. i found myself skipping pages that soon. i asked her if she liked it and she said she skipped a lot of pages also and found it to be very repetitive and boring. in my honest opinion it is one of the most boring books i have picked up. it just reads boring!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i really enjoy using this book. my 29 year old gelding has found new vigor from the suggested herbs, and my son's 2 year old mare is in peak condition thanks to black oil sunflower seeds and other recommendations. i recommend this book to anyone with horses who's interested in helping them to stay happy and healthy into old age","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"would someone who has read this book please write a review more than 7 words long so those of us who haven't read it will have an idea what it is about","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this was a great addition to the series. i love the way anne bishop writes i could read her books over and over. the book had a great blend of humor and suspense. i wanted more storyline on some of the characters but the book seemed to drop them. ari was not in this book much which was too bad, i like her character. the book left an opening for another book or a spinoff. if there is no plan to write another book i will be disappointed because there are some characters i would like to follow up on","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a fun little book chock full of wise sayings gleaned from episodes of the original star trek. the original was not a space opera, it was a futurized series of life's lessons, very carefully crafted. each episode had a heavy-duty message embedded within--and not very hard to spot either. this book does not necessarily include these thematic messages, but it does excerpt a number of pithy, humorous quotes from the characters. it is highly reminiscent of a poster my dentist has in his office of everything i need to know i learned in kindergarten. i expect there is also a book with that name, but i haven't read it. these words of wisdom also remind me of dr. akin's famous 'laws of spacecraft design' which you can access on the internet. with his permission, i used several in my book 'the knowledge management and information technology encyclopedia' (published by the government and not for sale). my favorite submits from marinaccio's delightful book are: gossip is often confused with conversation. in fact it often takes the place of conversation. take gossip away from some folks and they would turn into mimes. p.61 when everyone is responsible, ultimately no one is responsible. p.52 idiot-proofing is also genius-proofing. p.94 great people talk about ideas. average people talk about things. small people talk about people. p.61 attitude is the top priority; after attitude, talent or gifts are important. p.64 as yogi berra, the great yankees catcher, once said, 'you can observe a lot, just by watching.' p.23 a person who understands a rule knows when to break it. p.50 competent people know which rules to follow and which to ignore ... when people of good judgement are allowed to exercise their insights, good results usually follow. when people=s hands are tied, they are ineffective. p.94 the more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play. pp. 8, 53, & 54 difficult choices expose how we truly feel. what we believe deep inside. p.39 the most important time to help someone is when they need it. p.8 for man, utopia is endless challenge. p.1","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i've read many titles on lincoln and have come to know the man, his words and his deeds. but now i can say that i understand him. american revisionists have lately found it fashionable and all too easy to knock down our heroes and charge them with crimes from the perspective of the twentieth century. yet, boritt's insights are a wonderful celebration of a true american hero. and better yet, boritt makes no apologies for it. perhaps we needed to wait for this foreign born author to remind us what has been really important about the usa all along. wrap yourself in the red, white and blue and feel patriotic again. oh, and by the way, do not let the title scare you. the book is quite an easy read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is an awesome reference tool. it arrived in perfect condition !","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i enjoy reading, but i am a very visual person and was disappointed in this book because while it offers suggestions that make sense, it takes longer to get through the book since it is practically all words and very few pictures for inspiration","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i've read lots of pregnancy books, and this book came recommended as an 'honest' view. it may be honest, but very negative! i realize that motherhood isn't usually the fairytale many of us hope it will be, but this book just dwelled on the negatives: sometimes you cannot figure out breastfeeding, sometimes you worry that your husband might leave you, sometimes the baby will not stop crying.... hopefully there are more books out there that are more evenly balanced with 'real life' stories. i recommend that you keep looking","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"first of all, i'm not jeannine; i'm her husband-she bought the book for me. i have been wanting to build a guitar (and bass) for a very long time, and have been gathering information from a variety of sources. but this book covers it all as far as construction goes, and its not too bad on the finishing side of things. it covers 3 different types of neck construction, and flat top and carved top bodys. definately money well spent","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i am so grateful for this book and to barbara feldon to write it for us. it prepared me for the holidays and how to plan for them so i could get through them. i am thankful that she helped me avoid pitfalls during vacations. and her clear and simple direction about designing my financial independence put me on the right track. her wonderful hints how to have nice highlights with people with whom we interact all the time is making my daily life filled with kindness and friendly smiles. i still refer to her book all the time when i need to remind myself to be kind to myself and when the solo life gets rough sometimes. it is a must-have","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is one of those books that every beginner needs. it starts with the simplest characters with the least amount of strokes and builds on those simple characters to more complex ones. i like the book. i'm an abc and i find it a useful reference as i am beginning to learn and add more characters to my database. in reference to the other review which is warning people to steer clear of this book; traditional chinese is very useful to know. it is after all the original language that is closest to medieval chinese and is the writing which all simplified chinese writing is based. although, hong kong and taiwan will be switching over to the simplified forms of writing in the next few years, i do not believe that means traditional characters will disappear.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"alot of reviews are saying the edgar rice burroughs did not actually write 'john carter and the giant of mars'. the truth is that he did. this is what happened and what causes confusion: a childrens publisher wanted a short version of a edgar rice burroughs' novel. mr. burroughs was concerned that he could not keep it short enough for the publisher so he asked his son to help craft a shorter story. at the same time, amazing stories asked edgar rice burroughs for another mars novel. a full lenght one to serialize. edgar took the short story and stretched it to a full novel. this is confirmed by several sources and by edgar rice burroughs estate. it explains why some of the novel strays from the rest of the series. so, yes his son was involved, but it is wrong to say that edgar rice burroughs did not write it. he did. especially the novel version. anyway, all of the mars books are exciting and i recomend all the books in the series","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"if you are familiar with modular knitting, this book offers nothing new. the patterns didn't appeal to me at all; there was no snap to the designs. if you are not familiar with modular knitting, there are better books from which to learn","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i received a promotional copy in the mail, and i thank the author for that, since i didn't waste any money on it. this is a truly unoriginal book. after reading the first few pages, i could see where it was going. i scribbled a few ideas on a piece of paper and started flipping forward through the book. sure enough, he hit every one, and not much else. this is another rehashing of every rah-rah book you've read on sales, and there are many hundreds of them. i've read several dozen of them, and they all sound the same after a while. the real problem with a book like this is that there might actually be something new in here, but i'd never want to spend the time reading to find it. typical sections: you gotta...visualize success you gotta...think like a winner you gotta...sell yourself you gotta...go the extra mile you gotta...use the power of numbers you gotta...do better than this to sell this book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this comic is one to be careful of! it is displayed and sold linked to harmless pin-up type cartoon comics but it is actually a very graphic cartoon pornographic publication. not one for the squeamish or easily offended!","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"when eleven-year-old art mumby finds out that a visitor is arriving at his run-down home, larklight, which floats in space beyond the moon, he hardly expects to be thrust into a frightening adventure of pirates, plates, and a millenium-long conflict upon which the fate of the solar system rests. he tells the story of this adventure in larklight (occasionally giving his older sister, myrtle, a chance to narrate via her diary), and the story is nothing if not fantastic. philip reeve (author of the hungry city chronicles) has created another fascinating world in larklight. art lives in the victorian society of the 1800's--or rather, what victorian society would have looked like if they'd developed space travel, and astronomy worked according to early speculations about aether (an air-like substance in space that people can move and breathe in), and interplanetary beings (venus, mars, and the moons of jupiter are all home to a variety of life forms). reeve cuts no corners, painting the cities and citizens of the solar system in dazzling detail. the setting is a gorgeous mix of fantasy and science fiction, and fans of both genres will find much to enjoy. if the world wasn't exciting enough on its own, the adventure is of the edge-of-your-seat variety. art and myrtle tumble from one tense situation to another with alarming frequency. most chapters end on cliffhangers, so be prepared to have trouble finding a place to pause. reeve throws in enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing right until the end, and both art and myrtle get the chance to play hero. art, as the main character, is not yet a teen himself, so teens may find his narration a little immature for their liking. if they're willing to give him a chance, though, they will discover that larklight is a fast-paced, imaginative journey well worth taking. reviewed by: lynn cro","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"a very good nontechnical book. kennedy does a great job of providing insight into an often obscure subject. excellent companion book to go along with a more technical book like greene or hayashi","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"a wonderful, lucid, entertaining and informative guide. craig takes the reader step-by-step through some of the principal works of ancient and modern philosophy, and provides us with an essential guide to the somewhat daunting task of deciphering and understanding a range of compelling thinkers and their works. with an engaging, friendly writing style (and an excellent bibliography to encourage us to continue our journey), this is an indispensable little volume","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have read several of barbara michaels' books and have to say that this may actually be the best one i have read! i borrowed it from the library and was so entranced by the story that i read it in one day. now i plan to purchase a copy from amazon for a place on my bookshelf - which isn't that easy to qualify for! only the very best books gain a place there. and this book is a great one","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"lots of fun if you are a parker fan. this jesse stone mystery is a light read that is great for the beach or the plane","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i thought the narrator was terrible. she is under the impression that people in upstate new york have southern accents. or maybe she never figured out where the story takes place. it must be the mint juleps that confused her. you'd think there would be an editor or coach that would notice this discrepancy, but i guess if nobody could be bothered to edit the author's work, they certainly could not worry about the narrator's accents","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"first things firts.....i am clueless as to why the reviews online for this book have stars enough to fill the sky. unless written by friends (that too, the really good and loyal ones) the book would not deserve even a 2 star. infact i looked for 1/2 a star and couldnt find one. the narration is plainly put, silly and yada yada. rambling without a direction and generous usage of indian words like chambu is totally uncalled for considering the that the target is a world audience. amulya should read and re re re read arundati roy's god of small things to see how the soft balance between something indian yet talking crystal clear to the western soul is acheived. i read blurbs of the other books written by amulya and the narrative is as blah as it is in this one. i am not trying to be vicious here, but plain frank since the other reviews are so unreasonably off the target. a very boringly, tedious, soporiphic rambling of a book. i would not recommend this to any one","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"boy, i hate to point out a negative here, but to say that fundamentalism is a way of holding a belief and not about content is historically ill informed. fundamentalism began as a reaction against denominational seminaries adopting theological views that were viewed as against scripture in their content. here are a few of those issues. you tell me if you think they are content or ways of holding it: jesus was not born of a virgin. many of the miracles of jesus were fictional. jesus did not necesarily raise from the dead. most of the more outrageous old testament stories were not to be taken as historically accurate. i could go on. has he not read what really happened historically to create that movement??? big mistake, or real dishonest! even now rollins goes about building what they reacted against. rollins says he will not be undermining chrisitan content, but he is opening the door for those who will. in fact, for him to make the following statement about life after death makes me wonder if he really cares about truth or his post modern posture. 'death is a term that refers to the end of all experience. regardless of what, if anything, happens after this event,...'page 47 he strives to make his own point at the expense of christian truth. fundamentalism, even today, in it's popularly decried 'no fun, too much dam, and not enough mental' caricature is really primarily about content and only secondarily about how they hold their views. it was born in a fight and rollins wants to take us back into the fight. evangelicalism is the answer as to content and holding it rightly, but rollins really does not believe in answers.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the story is about a young boy called jp whose life falls apart after his grandmther's death, but chaos really starts to heat up when they win an old farmhouse. soon the house is ffilled with people he can not stant they are against all the morals he believees a person shold have. so at first jp defies his mother and ehr group of friends, then he tries to fit in but either way he cannot. everything jp holds dear and dependalble unraveld withen the firdays at his new home so he is left with nothing but the bare threads of his once normal life. while this happened his mother and her group of lost friends are starting to weave the threads belonging in ther lives and to find themselves. the books strength is that the book grabs the floor benth you and there is no cushio to soften the fall on the hard really on the issues of love","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"another masterpiece from donaldson. pick it up and read it.... if you like it try out his other books. the story of angus and morn continues, even more gripping and well developed than in the first book. like the real story, there is bleakness and desolation, but they only serve to highlight the characters. the extremes that they are forced to experience shape them and make them believable as individuals, and make this book very dramatic and powerful. you are brought to understand and care about the characters, and by the end you will find yourself looking on to the next book. after reading this book i went out and bought the rest of the series.... i had no fears about being disappointed by any of the books, and i wasn't. two other people in my family were hooked on this series as well, once i showed it to them(they almost strangled me for losing the third book :) ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"obviously includes all the 'a' list sites but everything else. if you get bored, do not blame this book.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"considering that it's now been a year after the title date, and no comet has struck the earth, let alone greece (during the olympics, yet), this book is a flop. put a prediction and date in your title, trot out nostradamus, and you may find that your audience expects results. to quote marvin the martian: 'where's the kaboom? there was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!'. do not worry, i'm sure welch will write another book with amended predictions. it gets a whole star because it's fun to check off the misses on major predictions as they pass","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"being an avid simon kenton fan, i was really looking forward to this book but found it quite boring. i suppose after reading allan eckert's 'frontiersman', any accounting of the life of simon kenton pales in comparison","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"our family has loved this book through three kids - both boys & girls. now our family refers to each other as daddy bear, momma bear, brother bear, sister bear. it is a fun, sweet book for little ones. toddlers will relate","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what a difference three years can make. between 1930 (when hammett finished 'the glass key,' perhaps his bleakest work) and 1933 (when he published 'the thin man,' his last novel), hammett had discovered two things that transformed his outlook on life: a steady income from book sales and from hollywood filmwriting and, perhaps more important, lillian hellman. there's surely nothing like being unexpectedly wealthy and suddenly in love: hammett's changed outlook on life is even more apparent when one compares the 65-page outline of 'the thin man' he set aside in 1931 with the final version of his book, which seems to be more of a light-hearted and satirical tribute to the traditional whodunit than a continuation of the gloomy noir of his earlier novels. while his first four novels, as well as the early draft, featured an anti-establishment loner (the continental op, sam spade, ned beaumont), 'the thin man' introduces nick and nora charles as a pair of unlikely crime-busters breaking off their vacation in new york (which consists mostly of drinking at any available venue) to solve a murder. readers with only a passing knowledge of hammett's biography will recognize both hammett and hellman as the inspirations for the alcoholic ex-sleuth and his socially savvy wife. what also separates 'the thin man' from hammett's other full-length works is its giddy humor, which revolves around seedy nightlife, early-morning alcohol consumption, and nick and nora's freethinking rapport, while the dialogue pokes fun at the tough-guy image and the mystery form itself. the morning after being grazed by a bullet, nora asks nick: 'how do you feel?' 'terrible, i must've gone to bed sober.' this playful banter takes up much of the book and supplies one of its greatest pleasures. many hammett fans have long regarded 'the thin man' as his weakest novel, and i tend to agree--up to a point. this book lacks the quality for which the others are famous: uniqueness (for lack of a better word). although it's a sophisticated manhattan comedy, hammett's last detective novel is a lot like many other whodunits, and his unexpectedly relaxed and newly satisfied voice often does not ring true. even so, it's a shining example of the traditional mystery and a lot of fun to read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is incredibly boring and tedious to read. it has no plot; i fell asleep every time i tried to read it. it isn't realistic, as some attest, becuase the indians have the ability to talk to animals. remarkably, their dreams are always perfectly accurate prophecies; james welch takes foreshadowing a little too far. a final warning: this book is not appropriate for younger readers due to excessive descriptions of sexual desires and acts, including adultery and incest","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"we read this book as a part of our homeschool history curriculum this year. it was very informative and entertaining. my children (ages 6 and 8) absolutely loved it. we have the older version, and my kids didn't even mind the lack of color and the sparse illustrations. they begged me ,'one more chapter...please, mom?!' i would say the only thing i did not care for in this book was the way they portray the indians. other than squanto, samoset and massasoit, all of the other indians are viewed as 'savages' (and not very intelligent ones, at that.) in the last few chapters, they are even used as 'comic relief.' she also has them speaking the word 'ugh' a lot...such as 'ugh! white squaw bring me cider!' i thought that was a little unrealistic, and insulting as well. the information on the pilgrims is wonderful, and she really brought their journey alive. if you can overlook the indian parts, i would highly recommend this book.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i had not read much from this author except her 4 book series with beverly lahaye, but when our library had this one in large print, i just picked it up 'accidentally' and decided to read it. i had not gotten into many pages when i was grabbed by the plot. i did not even know there was a second chance series and i rather wondered how a secular book could be re-written sucessfully as a christian fiction book, but this one was wonderful. when wes first met laney, he suspected her of being a stalker and/or kidnapper of children, and he had her arrested. his fears seemed rational until he heard her story. the child of wes and his deceased wife patrice, was adopted right after birth, and laney, the birth mother had finally found them through illegal means. the story then unfolds of two people who have absolutely nothing in common except their love for one little girl, amy. through it all the ghost of wes' dead wife patrice hangs heavily over both their heads as well as amy's. i felt terri blackstock drew upon some incredible experience as an author to format and carry through with this suspenseful, love-hate story and the twists and turns which led to a very, very strange and almost unbelievable bond between wes and laney. i wish to thank the author for re-writing this book and for using her talent for her new 'boss', god. i am now searching for other second chances books by this author. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"seth rogovoy has written a rich history of klezmer music that should prove to be an important contribution to the field of jewish music. he has captured the spirit and meaning of this most wonderful and expressive musical traditon that is currently in the midst of a significant rebirth. this is an intelligent and loving tribute both to the musical tradition, and to the men and women who have performed klezmer from generation to generation","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"ok i love everything else i have ever read by dara joy, so when i picked this one up i thought i would be in for a good read. now normally i'm the type that starts a book once the kids are in bed and before i know it the sun is coming up and i'm wishing 'why cannot anything like that ever happen to me'...well it took three days to force myself through this one and once i was done, instead of wishing i was the herione caught up in some adventure, i was pretty happy just to be me. i could not get close to the characters, or into the story surrounding them. and what kills me is that the story line had sooo much potential...haunted manors, kitchen ghosts...i guess i'm even more disappointed because i really do enjoy dara's other works. if you are going to check this one out i would suggest buying it used","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this has to be one of the worst ever organic chemistry books ever devised. the author will give a detailed explanation with illustrations and at the very end of the discussion , once you have committed the information to memory, the book will say that it does not happen this way. the author seems to wax poetic, however, he gives no simple list of rules for common nomenclature problems, for example, i defy you to find a list of how to name alkanes under iupac rules. all you want is a simple list , for example, 1) find the longest chain of carbons, 2) ......... instead of this you will be exposed to extraneous quotes from plays and movies as well as anecdotes from the authors life. another complaint is that the book gives several good questions in the text and at the end of the chapter, but no answers in the back. if you want the answers, you have to purchase the 40.00 solution manual. my condolences to you if your o-chem teacher has been hoodwinked into using this book by the publisher, the only advice i can give is that you purchase the solutions manual, because this gives some very detailed explanations. good luck, because you will need it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i could not put this down, from the first fishing trip that turns into a life-changing trap, to the final decisions two young men--and older men--have to make about their history, their lives and their role in re-living or changing history. powerful book. highly recommended","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"as an introduction zen, what has been presented in this book is fine though it could have been done with lot less elitist overtone. i agree zen and its true comprehension does not come easy (i am talking of regular mortals such as myself here) and words as mere symbols for concepts are distorting when conveying zen. i do not propose that i am an expert on zen or even buddhism in general but i have read a few books on buddhism by thich nhat hanh, dalai lama, chogyam trungpa and others. though an agnostic who does not care for much for organized religion, i do believe the most fundamental benefit of any spiritual/ religious framework is to instill a sense of compassion toward other beings. you need some kind of cultural creation (religious or otherwise) to counter act the natural tendency of a human to be self-serving. in this aspect, i have high regards for non-theistic buddhism and the inclusiveness of vedanta (hinduism) that proposes all religions eventually lead to the same attainment. from this viewpoint i was surprised with this author. this author may have been one of the leading authorities on zen in his time, but unfortunately he comes as an arrogant, elitist, full of prejudices. he does not miss any opportunity to put down other religions or even other sects of buddhism. only zen as practiced by the rinzai sect is pure, strong and generally worthy of pursuit. any form of spiritualism from the west is of course hopeless since the western mind cannot escape the conditioning of logical thinking. any spiritualism from india is complex, ceremonial and not practical. other sects of buddhism generally do not have true comprehension, lost their way focusing on non-essentials etc. he reserves his most disparaging remarks for indian religions and monks (and does his best to show that though buddhism originated in india, it is really the chinese and japanese due to their practical nature made something of it). is this just the standard fundamentalism/ misplaced racism? i will definitely read other books on zen and go beyond this author.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have always had a fascination about porfirio rubirosa and this book makes me realize that he really was the latin james bond and an inspiration for the subsequent books and movies. the book contains truely interesting no where else to be found facts and is written in such an easy to read way. i think that anybody that has ever enjoyed a james bond movie or book should read this book. i am sure that one day this book will be turned into a move","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a great book. it not only gives a feel for life after the end of the show ds9, but very creatively incorporates the time frames and characters from the eras of dax's previous hosts. e.g. bomes makes an appearance. highly recommended if you loved the dax character, or star trek in general","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"jonathan kellerman has been one of my favorite authors for years, particularly the alex delaware novels. this - non-delaware novel - starts slow but delivers in the end. the only reason i didn't give it a 5 star rating is because of the slow beginning. i even put it down a time or two thinking i'd never get where he was going, but i'm glad i persisted. it turned out to be very well worth it. this is an old fashioned cerebral murder mystery with our hero and amateur sleuth the psychologist doctor lover of the first victim. eh? got the hairs standing up? he is befriended (in an odd circumscribed manner) by an older pathologist who invites him to dinner with friends one evening. as the murders continue our hero begins receiving obscure clues - and he's not sure who to ascribe them to. this is a well plotted, very satisfying read if you can make it through the - sorry - slow beginning. kellerman reveals a whole new side to his writing abilities in this deeply thoughtful mystery. loved it!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i really liked this book. it was funny and well-written and all those things that you like in a book. however, all of the reviews i read of this book said that mary anne was to blame, but i think dawn was a little, too. what i mean is, she wasn't very sympathetic to mary anne. poor mary anne was moving into a brand-new house with a new family-a whole new lifestyle. and even though she had wanted to live with dawn and wanted their parents to marry, any big change is hard. i wish dawn had seen that. oh, well. great book! perfect for a funny read","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i owe my latest payday to jack chapman's negotiating strategies. my newest employer aimed pretty low for their first offer, lower than what i had made at my last job, considering all of the skills and experience i was bringing to the table. but by applying some of the techniques in the book, i was able to get 22% more money. i've never negotiated my salary before: i was just glad someone thought enough of my skills to make me an offer. now, i know better","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book, hoping it would go farther than getting into the 'front door' of dming. i kept reading, telling myself, no it is going to go into depth, it is going to hit on some substance, but it never did. it spends too much of its time, focusing on the 'dummy' concept. it repeats itself over and over again, stating 'you are the dm, you are the one that runs the game'. yes i know that, now get on with the book, i kept saying! if you are a totally new dm, then this book will be helpful. if you have run a game, a couple of times, then you have probably already figured out all of the concepts mentioned here.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"sorry, this guy's voice gave me the creeps. he sounds like a preacher. who can meditate without the ability to respond positively to the leading voice","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"before i read the last 100 pages of this book, i would have given it 3 stars. woken furies suffers from a common affliction among many sci-fi series: same-samey-ness. once you're introduced to the world, the technologies, the aliens, whatever, unless the author can keep the creative curve balls coming (peter hamilton often has the ability to keep things fresh), the joy and surprise of discovery quickly fades. and so it goes with woken furies. two thirds of the way through and i thought harlan's world just wasn't different enough from venice beach to keep me riveted. and assembling the decom team, going into battle, using the cybertech - i might as well have been re-reading broken angels, morgan's best by far. but! just when i was resigned my disappointment, the last few chapters cranked the book out of its nose dive. morgan lets loose with some big ideas, and the final showdown is spectacular fun. sci-fi writers often have problems ending their books (stephenson, gibson anyone?), but morgan always ends with a satisfying crunch, and this one wrapped up the nicest of them all. a word of warning - this is by far the most violent book i have ever read, and that includes morgan's previous books. if you cannot take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. and morgan's graphic sex scenes seem gratuitous and perfunctory to the point of being boring porn. in morgan's favor, as usual his prose is taut as a drum and hits hard. characterization has always been his strong point, and this is perhaps his best: kovacs's anger seethes off every page. the self-loathing loose cannon may be a cliché, but with kovacs you can feel it, to the point where character is basically a psychotic serial-killer, and you're right there with him. i think morgan was wise to retire kovacs with this novel. one more and the sameyness would have made the series a bore. (i've given up on hamilton and reynolds for that reason - i get it already.) if you're a fan of the kovacs books, this is definitely worth some tedium (albeit entertaining tedium) to get to the payoff. i'm looking forward to what morgan will do next","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"david levithan's newest novel, 'wide awake,' is a political novel set 'in the near future.' here's the set up: 'the greater depression happened. the events of 3/12 and 7/23 happened. the andreas quake and hurricane wanda. the president launched his war to end all wars, which only managed to create more wars and the tragic events of 4/5. the greater depression deepened. millions of people died, and there was no way to erase their faces from the more renegade open news channels, which wanted to remind everyone how bad the government had let things get. the decents and their program of denial education reached their peak.' the hero and narrator of 'wide awake' is a jewish, gay teen named duncan who is engaged politically for the first time in his life. after all the troubles of his childhood and the generation(s) before, it seems as if a new era is on the horizon. his presidential candidate, abraham stein, a jewish gay man with a partner and children, has been elected. people are behaving differently, celebrating their ethnic, cultural, and sexual differences. and supporting them all is a sizable group of jesus freaks. 'for the jesus revolutionaries, the answer was clear: jesus would not be out waging 'preventative' wars. jesus would not be withholding medicine from people who could not afford it. jesus would not cast stone at people of races, sexual orientations, or genders other than his own. jesus would not condone the failing, viperous, scandal-plagued hierarchy of some churches. jesus would welcome everyone to his table. he would love them, and he would find peace.' sounds like a utopian novel so far, right? but there's a hitch. a hitch in the form of kansas. stein's election is being contested. to the tune of 1,000 votes. (sound familiar?) stein calls all his supporters to kansas and duncan and his friends head to topeka to support their candidate. while 'wide awake' is a political novel, levithan does not abandon the everyday. duncan struggles in his relationship with gorgeous jimmy, teachers can be kind or belligerent, parents are sometimes more conservative than you'd like, and friends take sides in everyday breakups. but, in the end, levithan's message is one of hope. people can be good and good people can change even the worst-case scenario into a better present and future. 'wide awake' is for older teens, ages 15 and up.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i had to read this book for my highschool literature class. now i enjoy reading a good book now and then but the only reason that this is a bestseller is that all highschools across america must buy the book for summer reading every year. this book put me to sleep. the only reason this book gets two stars is because of the trojan war chapter which i wished was longer. it was rich in detail and made you want to keep reading, unlike the rest of the book. i only recommend this book if you have to for a school class but other than that do not waste your time","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i am reading the book 'the westing game' and i say that this book absolutely awful. the book has very little details, and the plot is oh, so boring, and i never like this before. the characters names are pointlessly appropriate such as 'crow', 'turtle', and 'uncle sam'. the scenery is bad, and i could imagine better places. the ending was also absolutely terrible in all ways ever. i would rather drink tea from a gutter then read this book again. the book starts as a pointless scenario and progress to a field of writing horror. i think the author had a huge writers block, and wrote down what ever she could think of first. i do not now how, but newbery award. i would have slapped a biohazard sticker to the book just to so how i really think of this book. my summary is that this book is extremely terrible, and should be destroyed. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"not all sections are included. only one or two solutions per section. very rarely they'll have an extra sentence or so of explanation, but that's about it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"tempting tropicals is a horticultural tour de force, packed with detailed information about growth habits, propagation tips, and the soil, temperature and light requirements of more than eight score tropical plants. the fascinating, well written text is ornamented with full color photographs of these exotic beauties that marvelously display each plant's unique attributes. the superb text and photos are presented with the exacting production values that the publisher is well known for in the gardening community. this book is a must for all real phytophiles","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i saw the movie, i knew the story, but nothing could have prepared me for this account of it all. the different parts of the whole scandal, all the involved people from rothstein to gandil, this book is full of detail. i could not put it down as i wanted to keep learning more and more about what happened and why these players corrupted the game. i started to sympathize for them even though what they did was wrong. they were being cheated by comiskey and there was no way around that. well you can read it to find out how and learn more about the scandal as it unfolds","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"stephen writes for the growth oriented astrologer. not a book for beginners, yet one you will use contiually as a reference as you develop your skills in understanding major aspects. indepth analysis of important aspects between two or more charts for those interested in synastry. i've had this book on my shelf for twenty years & still find it insightful","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this story of a football team illustrates a much more profound element of human psychology - how to handle success. whether success is a relationship, career, business, or any other endeavor, the lessons here are to be heeded or the result will invariably be the same. to put this in context, the 1985 chicago bears football team is arguably the best ever assembled in the modern era. while other teams may have had more success over time, or had 1 less loss, this team is widely regarded as the most dominating. in addition to the on-the-field success, the team created media stars like mike ditka, jim mcmahan and 'the fridge', along with established all time greats like walter payton, mike singletary and dan hampton. so what happened? how did it blow up so fast? a classic tale of forgetting to continue what made you successful in the first place. the players and the team became successful by playing harder, and using an almost desperate intensity to how they played the game from a play design perspective to personal and individual motivation. at first this focus (the 46 defense, the frenetic play style) took the league by surprise and gave them a decided advantage, but like most of us with any kind of success, once it was achieved they forgot to keep changing to adapt to the world they created. in addition, they succumbed to the temptation of starting to believe their own press, and became infatuated with their own greatness. once that happens, it slips away quickly. the detail behind the strategy success and infighting that eroded the spirit of the team, are depicted clearly. after reading this book, which is full of delicious insights and salacious comments amongst the team about each other, it is hard to find where to place the blame. everyone seemed so wrapped up in the media circus that they all seemed to drift away from the mission. for the football fan, this is a great book, full of strategic detail and player reactions. for the person who wants to better understand the dynamics of how to keep themselves or their organization from getting too full of themselves and their success, the lessons here are easy to see, though often difficult to avoid. the book is written exceptionally well, in that it flows easily, is always interesting, follows a nice chronological progressions, and does what it intends - describe the amazing success and quick burn out of perhaps the greatest football team ever assembled.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what's the deal with glorifying gangster behavior? this cat is a poor role model for youngsters with his swagger and gangster affectations. the author needs to straighten out this feline","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"before i read this book, i was a fanatic of the movie bambi. i still am, but it's very different from the book and it seems like 15 minutes after you read the book. i could see everything that was described in the text of the book. it really has an effect on emotions. some things are lighthearted, some things are truly heart breaking, there's even a few laughs. everything is described in much detail. i felt like, at one point, that i was bambi running for the first time in the meadow, drinking in the warm air. i could hear the dogs barking, the hoofbeats, and the gunshots. i highly recommend it to nature lovers and fans of the film. now i just need to read bambi's children","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'figures of speech' sets itself apart from other guides to rhetorical devices by its use of quotations to illustrate the terms it defines. citing the bible, shakespeare, and many other authors, quinn shows the power, purpose and effect of each device","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book promised the world, the author and his friends sounded reputable and knowledgable; it was only the cover art that looked dodgy. we have often been told to not judge books by their covers, but in this instance, the cover illustration gives a good indication of the content: cheap and childish. the font is large and type set far apart, which makes the small amount of content fill the many pages. there are dozens of spelling and grammatical errors in the book, and a remarkable amount of irrelevant stories. (matt, do you think your readers care that you just bought a new mercedes? we do not. there is nothing in this story for me, unless you are going to teach me how to do the same thing. the story needs to have a point and some benefit to the listener or reader!) much of the book's 'million dollar tips' can be found faster and for free on the internet, just by doing a google search on 'marketing techniques'. indeed, much of the book (when it is not self-congratulation) refers to websites where one can find more information. i gather that at least some of the websites may be owned by, or affiliated with, matt and his team. if this is a sales brochure for another online course, it does not advertise well or read well. look elsewhere for lessons on how to market and sell effectively","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i would highly recommend this book to anyone seeking better fit in dressmaking. the seam method of pattern alteration is pretty easy and straightforward. judith presents alterations for the bodice, skirt, and pants. with the information in this book, you can alter your pattern for square or sloping shoulders, wide or narrow hips/waist, thin arms, rounded back, and many other necessary alterations. i did not find the bust alteration to be very helpful to me, however. i prefer other methods, but i often use the seam method for widening my waist and hips in my own patterns. additionally, judith offers style suggestions to flatter various figures. it is an interesting and useful book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book was somewhat helpful. i used it during a course offered at my college campus. however, i would say that it is just as beneficial to use the powerprep cd they send you in the mail.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is actually an excellent introduction to short term trading. everything is well explained and pleasantly written. day trading 101. however, it's not really marketed as that, so it gets 2 stars. if you read this book and much of it is a revelation, you need to spend the next 4-6 months doing research, reading, and paper trading. if you were to start trading based on what's in this book you would lose your shirt. it's akin to a book on football that explaines the field, how far apart the lines are, where the end zone is, who the players are, what the positions do, what a pass is, the three things that can happen when you pass, etc. it would even have a few basic plays, the 'long pass', 'student body right', etc. everything you need to know about football, except how to actually play and win. basic, well explained information is what this book has. and if you're just getting into trading it's a worthwhile read. it'll give you a foundation that will help you understand more advanced books like secrets of an underground trader or technical analysis of the financial market (murphy). but even the lack of advanced technical stuff is not really a strike against toni's book. the technical books really are just research books for helping you design your own system. they are practically outdated as soon as they come out and even if they're not, it's a dangerous thing to rely on someone else's system. you need to design a system that you can trade and you're comfortable trading. if you cannot do this, no book can help you. which leads to the main reason i gave the book 2 stars. lack of any real discussion of trading psychology. the book you need to buy if you're going to trade is reminiscences of a stock operator. it's 80 years old and explains the mentality of trading as well as any book out there. the psychology of risk is another good book. understanding what it takes to trade and determining if you have that is critical. as is understanding if you can make split second decisions when it's $40k of your own money on the line. toni devotes a few pages to it, including a silly 'psychology quiz' which is probably the same quiz they use in the back of cosmo to determine whether you're an agressive lover or a passive one. she also devotes a page at the end of each chapter to 'self-help' tips. it's true that you cannot design a system for yourself if you do not know yourself, so these are helpful. at the end of the day tho, they will not explain what it takes mentally to be a trader. personally, i find yoga to be a good way to clear my head in the morning and get focused. but it's a means to end. not the end itself. such are the self-help tips in the book. if you do not know what you're trying to achieve, they are only so useful. so if you've read several books on trading you can skip this. there are much more advanced books out there. if you're new to trading and are looking for a well written book explaining the basics and a bit more, this is worth the money. but it's not a classic or something you'll find yourself referring to as the years go by","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the summoning and the seige were both enjoyable, but despite a decent first half, the last 200 or so pages of the sorcerer were more or less unreadable. shame, because this was otherwise a pretty good series","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"grand hotel, the translation of menchen im hotel, is about a group of strangers staying at a posh hotel in berlin. each of them have their troubles and become connected throughout the novel. baron von geigern is a down-and-out man who steals to maintain his lavish lifestyle. he falls in love with the aging dancer grusinskaya one night when attempting to steal from her. she immediately latches onto him because he is young and she feels rejuvenated by his affection. the best scene in the book is that between the baron and grusinskaya the morning after; it is filled with psychology and understanding of the two characters. kringelein is a pathetic man who comes to the hotel to spend his life savings on the last few days of his life, hoping to finally find happiness. he meets the baron who takes him under his wing to show him a good time. flammchen is a stenographer employed by preysing at the hotel who falls in love with the baron. preysing plots to cheat on his wife with flammchen who he becomes obsessed with, but is more concerned with the possibility that his company could completely deconstruct. dr. otternschlag is a sad man who always checks for mail at the front desk but never has any. he observes the hotel and acts as sort of a narrator at times to the story. each character is made realistic by the author, and the plot twist at the end serves as an appropriate and exciting climax. i read the book because i loved the film starring john barrymore as the baron, greta garbo as grusinskaya, lionel barrymore as kringelein, joan crawford as flammchen, wallace berry as preysing, and lewis stone as otternschlag. it is a wonderful adaptation and a beautifully photographed film. however, there are some differences, as there always are when books are made into films. the baron is slightly more likable in the book than in the film because more attention is paid to him. one needs to read the book to understand grusinskaya's motivations; since a young star played her in a very exaggerated way, the character seems more insane than justified in her actions. kringelein is somewhat less respectable in the book but just as likable. flammchen looks differently in the film, but is better developed and more realistic in it as well. preysing is just as dull in both. dr. otternschlag is paid much more attention in the book than in the film. overall, the book is more philosophical about the characters and their relationships to each other because it does not rely solely on dialogue like the film","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i bought this book for my 1st-grade daughter and she loves it! each time we read this book, she selects a new favorite first lady. it is not the best history book ever written, but it has sparked a young childs interest in history and learning about our country. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book's case studies, code and build files assume that j2ee 1.4 comes with the pointbase database server. j2ee 1.4 currently only comes bundled with the derby database server. as a result, the book is useless. emails to the publisher failed to resolve the problem","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is trash. badly written, melodramatic, utterly silly. my copy is already in the recycle (not: re-use) bin.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book was a new choice from our professor who was teaching our mechanism design class. in my opinion, the three authors who wrote it each took a section and slapped their parts together. totally different writing style as you go throught the book. in addition t is a small book and you constanlty are turning pages to makes references to figures which makes it hard to read with good flw. n addition a lot of the diagrams are unclear and dont necessarily say what they represent. our professor ended up hating the book himself. a good reference maybe but not for the beginner","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"michael seid's extensive experience yields some useful insights and he explains many of the steps involved in franchising, but the book reads too much like advertorial and seid spends way too much time trumpeting his own accomplishments. (wendy's founder dave thomas' contributions to the book are woefully slim and including him as a coauthor seems to serve more as a marketing tool.) franchising for dummies would be a worthwhile addition to your library on the subject, but if you're looking for a single, objective, authoritarian source on the subject, keep looking","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i found this book well written and deals with key issues that are importnat in todays world such as immigration, nationalism, democrasy and terrorism. the book is divided into 4 parts. each of these parts include issues that examine nationalism, immigration, governments and racism. also anti-immigrant sentiments, the 'war on terror,' muslim and jewish semitism as well as importnat issues of power. i found a section particularly interesting dedicated to helping people understand where trouble and violence may erupt in volatile areas. due to rifaats personal experience with turbulence and war, he became alerted to several factors which lead him to predict where aggressive nationalism may occur. he formalized a model to help foresee where trouble and violence might erupt. he states this modle proved useful over the years, as he prevented a multinational corporation from putting its head office in beirut a few years before civil war broke out. he read the signes indication the possibility of violence on a large scale. the four factors which rifaat formulated to reliably indicate a probable outbreak of violence is the instinctive nature of group formation coupled with fanning the falmes of nationalism, the lack of human inhibition for killing and the power leaders possess. the book offers an interesting, exciting and sometimes humorous view into world politics, racial profiling, terrorism and above all, lessons in human nature. if you want a witty insight into these issues get this book. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the lexicon is the most comprehensive source of rand writings and ideas. however, it is not all inclusive: she has spoken about parenting, child-rearing, and children. one example is a radio interview that she did discussing romantic literature which led to a discussion on children and parenting. also, look at 'objectivist epistimology' where she discusses how a child develops cognitively (which would have connections with raising a child)","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"save your money and leave this book on the shelf. this guide to summer programs is disorganized and unclear. moreover, most of the information is duplicated in its heftier sibling, peterson's 'summer opportunities for kids and teenagers'","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"jeff bigger's book is well written; however it offers little to our understanding of the unique ethnic contributions of the german and scotch-irish settlers who dominated the cultural landscape of appalachia. this is seen in his treatment of twentieth century women. loretta lynn (a native of eastern kentucky) is briefly discussed on only one page while four pages were written about billie holiday (born in eastern pennsylvania and raised in baltimore) and janis joplin. dolly parton (an east tennessee, native) earned only one page of text and rosa parks (born in tuskegee alabama) received five pages. janis joplin was born and raised in port arthur, texas. it seems biggers is confused about the geographic boundaries of appalachia. he, like many non-appalachian natives who regard themselves as enlightened scholars of culture, want to see appalachia as anything but white and nearly homogeneous with regard to ethnicity. rediscovering the south's celtic heritage does a much better job of showing the region's culture as it developed over time","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"living in a milieu far removed from his intoxicating days as a rising painter gaining increasing esteem for his flattering portraits, henry macalpine has isolated himself in a form of penance... perhaps the penance is for the things he did, for his past selfishnessnes, his past surrender to the 'establishment', the easy painting that would please and sell swiftly rather than the more difficult portraitures that strip down, as he puts it, to the skull and even to the soul. but my sense is that his penance is not really for these things. it is for what he will do... iain pears is a writer of distinction. more than that, although he writes literature that i believe will be enjoyed by readers of wit centuries from now, pears is also a writer who can tell a rattling good story. his turn of phrase - delicious! i grew to know this henry macalpine as he unburdens himself to his subject, so that macalpine was not just painting a portrait of the self-satisfied old friend, the 'great' critic william naysmith, but he is also painting a portrait of himself. we see it all - his attitude to sexuality, religion, penance, art, men, women, crime, superficiality, everything. we see how he has altered and developed, and how he has remained what he is, for in the flowing change and in the constancy both... that is where the truth and validity of a human being lies. we change. we do not change. that is our lot. perhaps in this sense, at the mercy of events, we are true to macalpine's vision of humanity - ludicrous in the face of the great forces such as a storm. but macalpine in all his imperfect self is also revealed by his monologue... and we know we do not take his view as a point of absolute truth (a lovely trick, that. pears did the same thing in 'instance of the fingerpost', leaving an unsettling notion that the last narrator was the 'real' truth, but careful reading reveals that it is all just... points of view, self-deceptions, however true the narrator attempts to be). perhaps, then, we are not so ludicrous, and perhaps we transcend the forces of nature. iain pears's palette-rich writing shows such a balance of line and colour in the careful choice of words, phrases, flow of written thoughts. i can almost smell the texture - it is like 'reading' a painting. the book glows with colour, the subtle highlights of the artist's brush. some reviewers have not taken to the monologue style used in this book - i found it extremely effective, and also such a delicious irony in that the critic, wordy and pompous as he clearly was, has absolutely no say here. he is drawn to macalpine's retreat in what seems at first his own choice, but right from the start, i sensed that this was not exactly the case. iain pears leads the reader through an extraordinary thread of narrative that is remembrance through the eyes of one man. we learn of macalpine's fascination with the image of death, the futility of man in the grip of forces greater than he is, an image of decaying flesh washed up on the shore. we learn also (but suspect it early on) what macalpine considers the real crime that would impel a certain act of murder. that the denouement is inevitable and foreseen by the reader does not diminish the fascination of this wonderfully dark novel. pears could have written a different book, a book in which the reader is 'fooled' ? la typical thriller plots. but this book is not a thriller. it is a portrait that creates knowledge, and paints ever more deeply to find motivations and reasons and shadings and colourings, not merely the bare facts. consider this: we know within quite a few pages what is to come. but like garc?a marquez's extraordinary 'chronicle of a death foretold', it's not what... it's why, how... give us the details; it's the details we want. i found this work very satisfying. i did not find the monologue style tedious at all, and as soon as i realised pears wanted us to suspect what was coming, i read not to find out the end, but to 'read' the brush-strokes. for those who will approach it in this way, i think that there is a gripping and fascinating reading experience waiting for you. for those who want a twist in the tail with an unexpected ending, no... this miniature portrait of a book is probably not for you. read the book as a revelation of the skull and soul of two men, and perhaps you too will love this book as much as i did","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"reviewed by debra gaynor for reader views (10/06) from the moment i saw the cover of this book i knew that i would find pain within. the pain of a young man facing the abusive life he's survived. 'emmy, the events we lived through taught me to be sure of nothing about other people. they taught me to expect danger around every corner. they taught me to understand that there are people in this world who mean you harm. and sometimes they're people who say they love you.' chillingly matt recounts the night he sneaked into the kitchen and took an oreo. his mother, nikki, held a knife to his throat and cut him, to teach him to never again steal. this is just one incident in the nightmare he calls childhood. matt's father was gone but matt could not blame him, after all he too was terrified of nikki. for a while murdoch seemed to offer some protect from their mother, but, he too found himself unable to cope with the destructive behavior of nikki. he cared but was it enough? matt knew it was up to him. he knew he had to find a way to get his two sisters and himself away from, their mother, nikki, before she destroyed them all. matt turned to his father ben for help, but ben was too afraid of his former wife to rescue his own children. this is the story of a brother's attempt to protect his younger sister from their abusive mother. the story is told in the format of letters from matt to his dear sister, emmy, trying to explain and warn her about life with their abusive mother. 'as i sit here writing, part of me hopes that you go along happily your whole life and never need or want to know the details.' this book is painful to read. but it should be read. there are many children facing the same situation and we, as society, must stop turning our backs on our precious children. this book is well written. the type is large enough for tired eyes to easily read it. the characters are so real that you cry for them. i found myself wanting to snatch them from their mother's insane antics and give them safety. i highly recommend 'rules of survival' for older youth and adults. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"watching fred over the years has brought me alot of respect for the game. this book brings me more respect for him as a person. we all wonder what it takes to be a superstar, this book details that very thing. i am proud to see a writer who can step inside and describe a person like kathlene bissle did. fred touches so many people in our precious game of golf. we fred thank you and your author for allowing us to step inside of your life an explore","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it appears the the release of previously secret information from world war ii will never end. in this book, the authors have examined the files of the british air intelligence (ai) for every scrap of information they could find on every airplane that the germans had. then they organized this information so that each airplane has a chronological report of what the british learned, when, and from what source. the main sources are photo recon (pr), prisoner interrogation, and examination of crashed planes. from a standpoint of studying the planes themselves, there are only a few tidbits of new data (and some of the things that the brits learned were wrong and didn't show up until later). from the view of trying to see what the british were learning and how they learned it it is a fascinating piece of work. it gives an insight into how intelligence is gathered. it makes it much easier to understand about how big intelligence lapses (pearl harbour, 9/11) can happen. a specialized book, but very interesting","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"we are in the logistics business and i reviewed this book as a potential teaching tool for management. the book is unfortunatley of little to no value. most concerning is that the mathematics for inventory management, a critical factor in understanding logistics, are simply wrong. even a quick look by anyone familiar with inventory management would find this concerning.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the best book for college grads to read. written by real people for real people. it's a must buy!!","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book would be more aptly titled, 'equiptment you could and should buy for photographing interiors'. it's designed for amateurs who do not know anything about photography and want to be walked through the process of buying the right equiptment and then left in the dark as to how to properly use it. i know something about photography, and was looking for a book that would talk about photographing interiors and some exteriors. i was interested in uses of perspective, lighting to add drama, that sort of thing. the writer, once explaining the theory behind photographic principles, talks, not about how he was able to take successful pictures, but just that he did. he mentions the equipment he used and tells where he set it up, but for all his superflous text, leaves the reader with only the knowledge of how to re-create his shot in the same location under the same conditions. it began as an interesting read, as he explained about what the pros use. then he explained what the beginner could buy, but why it's not really as good. he showed a few examples of how lighting effects a scene and alters color, but in general, his 'shooting by beginners on a tight budget' should be 'shooting in these locations by beginners with several grand to spend on equiptment'. i was hoping for a book that talked about the uses of lighting, the uses of color, actually shooting something besides huge, open, commercial structures. this is my first return to amazon","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"a book on style that starts from the inside--yes, please! it's great to feel good in your clothes, but that's frosting on the cake. to feel beautiful inside and out takes so much more than a great scarf or well-cut jacket (fabulous as those are!), and this book is one of the very few that truly recognizes that. it's a shame that some people spend a huge amount of time and money on trying to perfect their outer image without realizing that there are people who feel (and are!) beautiful in thrift-store clothes and there are people wearing clothes from vogue and w who feel flawed and ugly. this book goes much deeper than many books on style, and for that reason it's a fantastic addition to the books that focus only on fashion tips","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book is about dolphins. a baby doilphin is born. the book tells how the mother dolphin has a baby. first the baby dolphin's tail comes out. then his head comes out too. then it tells how a baby dolphin is protected by its family. my favorite part was when the baby dolphin was born. i think other kids will like this book because they will learn about dolphins","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"peter falk's book was nothing but a few stories. he only talks about a few columbo episodes, he is so brief and uninteresting. also , he talks about his buddies too much. who cares about john cassavetes! he talks like he's some filmmaking genius. if you want to read about peter falk and his life as an actor, it's sadly left out. he does not even talk about how he met his wives. sadly, a very dissappointing book. not recommended! ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"thia book is out-dated.. the information it provides is to broa","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"... i was so happy to see that someone wrote a book about protools 5.1... and of course i did buy it right a way.... then i was shocked when i started to read it.... this book is only a really simple reduction of the protools reference guide.... and actually a lot, lot less ..... i was hopeing to learn some new staff and some tricks ... well, i lost my money..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"you can read some of the other reviews to get an idea of some of the specific errors... the book is loaded with them from wrong moves to other typos... how can this book help anyone if half the battle is trying to figure out whats going on... he has quotes from people in years that they already were dead... games with wrong year and people listed... sad that they still publish books from this author... i do not understand why they let books out with so many errors... when i buy a chess book i expect it to have almost no errors... this book has more errors than actual things that help players... if you give this to someone and tell them to find all the errors... they woudl probably have grandkids and still not find them all... i dunno what he means by golden nuggets... i think more work went into thinking of name of book than content... books like this give chess books a bad name to say very least... if you want a book on chess strategy try watson's advances since nimzo... even the mammoth book of chess will help you more than this item... perhaps even consider silman's strategy grandmaster techniques from a to z book. hopefully one of those books might help you in your game and give you value for your dollar..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the book 'a sense of duty: my father, my american journey' is really an american story about coming of age and about father son relationships but with a huge twist of circumstances. we are dealing with a family torn apart by the loss of the vietnam war and their subsequent separation. author quang x. pham is shipped to the usa after the fall of saigon with his siblings and mother. his father who is a member of the south vietnamese air force stays behind doing his duty to the very end. thus begins 12 years of imprisonment in the so called 're-education camps' while his family adjusts to a new life in america. the author deals with cultural and language issues and some degree of racism and bigoted treatment. however, the deeper issue for him is not having his father there for him. there is also his lack, at that young age, to fully realize the significance of what his father had done with his life and how well he had served his old country. the book is an eye opener for those of us who have wondered what it was like for these new comers to our shores. when his father does come to the usa after being released from the 'camps' he found it tough going. his marriage fell a part and he found that all those lost years with his children, who had grown up without him, haave created a huge gap between them. his children do not really know or understanding who is or even who he was. the book follows the growing appreciation and understandings that quang eventually gains for his dad. as he learns more about his father's past and sees his personal courage and sense of duty and what drove him to become the man he was. when the author himself wears the uniform of marine aviator and fights in the gulf war, he begins to gain more insights on the sacrifices that his dad had made for his own country of south vietnam. we take this spiritual and emotional journey with the author as he gradually begins to sense what factors and motives drove his father on his own personal journey. the book also details and addresses some old history from that time period and that war. most americans have either forgotten or never knew about our national attitudes and polices with regard to the war and lack of regard for our allies the south vietnamese. it may make for some interesting but uncomfortable reading. it is a well-written and poignant story that embraces two very different wars. his story unites two different generations into an emotional bridge between father and son. it is touching and deeply moving. the author does a great job of making the reader feel a part of the experience. this book receives the military writer's society of america's highest book rating of five stars! this book also receives my personal endorsement","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"out of the despair of a young woman needing guidance and affirmation for her existence, my soul to his spirit is born. melda beaty longed for the type of love that tells a young girl she has worth, beauty and unlimited potential. for a male love that is disconnected from possession, obsession or penetration; love that only a father can give. never knowing that magnitude of love, she harbored ill feelings for her father. traumatized since she was a little girl, her nightmares ended only after she became a woman with a legitimate voice, and truly forgave her father. since her atonement, ms. beaty has been blessed to meet and share stories with other black women with similar histories of overwhelming father-daughter relationships. relationships that more often than not, define how we relate to the men in our lives. my soul to his spirt speaks of the totality of our lives as black women and the full spectrum of kinship with our fathers. my soul to his spirit does not bash fathers, however, it does present a penetrating view from every possible angle. the six powerful chapters, loving: daddy's girl; distant: every once in awhile; abandon: one day he was gone; non-existent: could pass me on the street; amended: time and forgiveness heals all wounds; and deceased: gone too soon, cover the gamut of emotions daughters have felt for fathers. i applaud ms. beaty and all the daughters who contributed to this book of healing and strengthening for the family unit. i venture to say each reader will be familiar with at least one of the offerings. this is a humbling read; an epiphany. reviewed by ann of the rawsistaz™ reviewers","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i have been reading book after book for my upcoming police tests and this is by far the best book for interviews. the information i have learned from this book applies to almost any interview not just the police one. i found that i had already begun categorizing people so i knew how to communicate in their language in my interviews for my small business. i am excited to try these techniques in the police oral interview. i feel extremely prepared for the interview thanks to this book","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"ziegler certainly gives an inside look into the business, but for me, having been to two joe verde seminars, it came as nothing new. for someone new to the business, i'd certainly recommened it. for someone with several years in the business, it'd still be a very good refresher course. it's all too easy to get into a 'rut', and this book can help you see where your mistakes are possibly being made, so that you can correct them. it would also be a good read for a car buyer, as it would give them a lot of insight into how some dealerships conduct business.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the new page edition of this book is a true piece of cr*p! every single page has multiple typographical errors, obviously deriving from shoddy proofreading of the text they scanned. i thought i could deal with it, but it reached the point where it was distracting, so i ordered the dover edition instead. i was an idiot not to get that one in the first place. do not repeat my mistake","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"of all the reasons to be interested in pi, surely curing your father's belly ache is the least inspired. this book is about politics not mathematics","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i wasn't sure if this was from a s. king writing or some child night mare of a writing! it's obvious that any one can write then have that book published. only the most outrageous of imagination could come with this fairy tale type of fantasia. sorry, but the author is searching for the truth in the wrong place! you know? ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"though this novel is supposed as a psycological materpiece i have found it to be sordid and incongruent. stendhal should have spent less time on his discriptions of julien sorel's superficial love endeavors and 'rendez-vous' and more time on his character's true personality. after reading 508 pages i found the main character to be a complete stranger. all that was revealed about julien was that he stuck to his morals all the way to the end. stendhal should have learned from his creation's ideals and stuck to the basics","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"my daughter is just learning to read, so she can manage only the simplest text when reading a book herself. however, she still wants a good story that will hold her interest. 'nine men chase a hen' was the perfect combination of silliness and simplicty for her to both manage the book on her own and to enjoy the aburd text and illustrations","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"it wasn't as impactful as i thought it would be. some of the people that gave comments gave some great comments and others, well, other gave comments. the selection of people was a good cross section but it didn't have meaning to it. i was looking for more in depth commentary. maybe what i was looking for should have been said between each of the comments in the book. it might have looked like hugh just collected a bunch of email and old letters and thrown them together","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is the first volume of churchill's noble prize winning six part chronicle of world war ii. the gathering storm depicts the rise of hitler and the indifference of the leaders of the european democracies to the clouds of the gathering storm. churchill incorporates contemporary documentation and his own reminiscence in this opening memoir. churchill was a great statesman with great literary ability - a winning combination. the gathering storm a unique work and has a message for us in today's world. read and reviewed by jimmie a. keple","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i would not even give this book one star if i had a choice! although some people state that this book may be informative and easy reading, and one poster even stated that it helped him pass a different exam, it fails miserably in preparing you for the 70-291 exam. the book should have been titled 'some really really basic windows server infrastructure info and just barely scratching the surface of the 70-291 exam!' the book was short and easy reading and i aced all the questions at the end of each chapter. but when i took a real practice test by selftest software, i got 5 questions out of 50 correct on my first try. not a good start for the exam which i wanted to take next week. the questions on the practice test that i got wrong were not even covered in any respect in the book. i've passed 70-290 and 70-270 and i can tell you that i know what to expect from a book and from the ms tests and this book does almost nothing for you in regards to the exam. sure, it may be nice reading and it may have some interesting info, but if you are planning on buying a book to prepare for the 70-291 exam, skip this one. i am going to reschedule my exam for a few weeks later and buy a real book! ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i have been a sci-fi/fantasy reader for over 30 years. this book blew me away. the characters were 'fully fleshed out.' the plot, which would have come off as inane in less capable hands, resonates with, well, reality. that's it! emma bull got me to buy in to this story line - with all the 'diversity' in the fey - and yes! it works. i enjoyed it. i loved the love story of eddi and the phouka. all in all, a great, fun read. what more can you ask for","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"gonzalez's 'flash professional 8' underscores a deficiency common to many flash instructional texts, where they spend half the book examining very basic subjects such as timeline-based animation and drawing tools. granted, this book does a nice job illustrating some basics to flash, but the level of discourse here does not inspire conceptual creativity. good books should lead to greater things, and not simply review the same basic subjects discussed since flash 4. one reason why books like this exist is that flash is poorly documented out of the box. yet any decent used book on flash mx will upstage this one. while this book may lack instructional spirit, the most glaring omission is found in its actionscript chapter. ever since mx, the emphasis behind flash has been the power and flexibility of actionscript. granted, actionscript has become rather complicated, but a good author should at least prime the reader to the coding power available in flash 8. instead, we're treated to a weak smattering of script usage, without touching on the real power behind flash today: classes and object-oriented structure. as if that deficiency weren't glaring enough, the author provided examples of button coding that were outdated since flash 5! there is no excuse for such weak writing. you the reader deserve a better challenge to expand and hone your flash skills. i'm giving this book special scrutiny because lynda weinman's textbooks have such visibility and apparent acclaim. while her books may be well marketed, they are not always the best use of your money--or time spent reading. let me suggest a few texts which i have read personally and can recommend. if you want a good beginner guide, check out russell chun's 'visual quickpro' flash books. more inspiring, project-related books are found under the friends of ed publishing line by sham bhangal. the most detailed and authoritative books i've read are colin moock's definitive guides, the other texts by o'reilly, especially those which touch on oop in detail. the last ones are tough at first, but they really open you up the power of flash. and that in-depth actionscript power is what your future employers will be looking for. good luck.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is not a book for believers. anyone of the jewish, christian or muslim faith should not pick up this book because you will be seriously offended. mr. kirsh takes several biblical passages out of context to use in his argument. his attitude towards anyone who believes is devoutly religious and believes strongly in the words of the bible is extreemly condeceding. he says 'if you read the bible with open eyes and an open mind'. therefore presuposing anyone who does not see things his way is narrow minded. it was not until i got trough the first 30 or so pages did i realise that none of the 'rave reviews' he received were from any clergy or religious orders. further i realised that mr. kirsch views are not stated out in the open. you do not see his perjorative view towards the bible, moses and god until after you've got into reading the book. i would only recomend this book to aetheists and others who are contemptuous of the bible and the above faiths","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"jean-marie potiez has produced a wonderful book. the fantastic photos (many of which have not previously been published) are worth the price of the book alone. the photos must have been very carefully selected: they are all, unfailingly, flattering and the band never look less than achingly glamorous. the informative and enjoyable commentary, pieced together from a mind-boggling number of interviews, is clearly a labour of love and there are many surprisingly revealing and poignant quotes. particularly sweet (and, ultimately, sad, given the couple's subsequent history) is frida's statement that the best thing that ever happened to her was benny, not abba. the history of the ultimate pop group is traced on a year-by-year basis, from the mid 1960s, following the pre-abba careers of each member, through the romantic encounters, to the eurovision win, to the will-we-ever-have-another-hit? tension, to (phew!) world domination. every step is lavishly illustrated with great photos. abba's story reads like a film script - humble beginnings, beautiful people in love, amazing talent, runaway success leading to a heartbreaking denoument. there is even a 'where are they now?' epilogue. this book wipes the floor with potiez's video documentary of the band ('thank you abba'). while it will certainly be a treasured luxury for abba's huge army of fans, this excellent book will also be of interest to anybody with an interest in perfect pop","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"'the book of j' is an attempted restoration and critique of the original source document of the pentateuch. bloom first introduces the proposed author of this book - an original and provocative ironist, a lady of solomon's court, who has been totally misunderstood. the next section is a translation of the reconstructed book of j by rosenberg, who has also authored a brief appendix about the translation. the following two sections include bloom's commentary on the book of j, its narrative, personalities and themes. this is the silliest book on the hebrew bible that i have ever read. it is obnoxious, almost totally unsubstantiated, and replete with simple misunderstandings of the hebrew text. bloom's somewhat euphemistic admissions that he is neither a historian (12) nor a biblical scholar (41) are the only parts of the book that i agree with. he mocks religious jews, christians, the 'abominable jeremiah' (176) and, with particular frequency, j's god. to the unprejudiced reader the god of the hebrew bible is majestic, awesome, and holy throughout, nothing like what bloom describes. the arrogant claim that the hebrew bible or its proposed substrate has been misunderstood for millennia by people devoted to it needs much stronger support than the speculation that bloom provides. among other things, we learn that god sits in the terebrinths of mamre eating curds (12, 258) (a total misreading of genesis 18), that god loves david but not moses (41) (contrary to exodus 33:11-12 and numbers 12:7), that moses becomes the founder of circumcision (245) (contrary to genesis 17), and that god does not punish moses for good reason (34), without much explanation. however, we are told that traditional jewish and christian expositors are 'weak readers' (34) and 'mad' (246). virtually no secondary sources are offered for the assertions made in this book, though we hear occasionally about noth, von rad and van seters, among a few others. to his credit, bloom mentions the opening words of cassuto's commentary on genesis (20), but fails to engage at all with cassuto's stunning rebuttal of the documentary hypothesis. i recommend cassuto's 'the documentary hypothesis' as the perfect antidote to 'the book of j'. not a shred of archaeological evidence is offered in support of bloom's assertions. other literature of the ancient near east receives no treatment. the content of the pentateuch places its composition firmly in the late second millennium bce, and its style and structure parallels other ancient texts of the near east of that time - until it is mutilated and divided into its putative sources. for the relevance of this evidence to the dating and composition of the hebrew bible generally, i recommend kitchen's monumental 'on the reliability of the old testament'. bloom and rosenberg's transliteration is very inconsistent, and we're even treated to the non-existent form 'v'yhi' (329). rosenberg translates from standard editions of the masoretic text; but i think that for a task like his a critical edition would have been better. readers looking for an introduction to theories about the composition of the hebrew bible should look elsewhere. in my opinion, the documentary hypothesis is speculative, unsubstantiated and discredited by archaeological evidence, and the hypotheses of this book add assertion to assertion, and speculation to speculation. i do not recommend it","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i had heard wolfe described as america's premier social critic before i read this book. i did not come away disappointed as wolfe tackled many issues in modern life from a proper critical perspective, ignoring ideology in favor of reason. he finds the flaws in both left and right, feminism and laissez-faire capitalism. written at a level where the average reader can understand, unlike many scholarly works, this book still offers in-depth analysis. wolfe is certainly one of the more impressive authors i've read lately","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a good introductory book about radar. i would recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn about radar.","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"what a disappointment! it is only lacking cartoon illustrations to make it seem competely childish. but more disturbingly it is deceptively simplistic. told through rose-colored glasses, leaving out what is convenient to ensure a 'happy' ending. save your money, wait for it on vue-master","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"as a convert from protestantism, i have struggled with the place of the blessed virgin mary in my personal spirituality as well as my defense of the faith. father mcbride's images of mary has been a turning point for me. he has treated the reader as a thinking adult and as a pilgrim. his synthesis of personal devotion with the writings of the church fathers, church councils, and contemporary writers has resolved many objective and subjective dilemmas for me. i have given the book to many friends. my wife and teenage children are studying it with me. i am particularly thankful for his tender use of iconography as way of catechizing from the heart","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"i found that this book was not very helpful and it is outdated","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i read this book because i really enjoyed southgate's the fall of rome. third girl from the left; however, is no fall of rome. southgate attempts to create a link between three generations of women from the same family by imbuing each of them with a love film. despite her valiant attempt, the stories just do not come together well. yes, each of the characters finds escape/ solace at the movies, but in spite of this common link, as well as the link of emotional distance between mothers/daughters, and artistic aspirations, there are too many distractions in the book to make it work well. southgate tries to cram too much into one book- a cursory look at the infamous tulsa race riots; an exploration of black women and lesbianism/sexuality; familial estrangement; and the history of the blaxploitation movement in film. an entire novel could be written about any one of these topics, but to shove them altogether in one novel, gives short shrift to them all.","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this is one of the most disappointing knitting books i've ever purchased. i expected patterns that would highlight the beauty of ribbon yarns but all i got were a bunch of basic patterns for purses, halter tops, square cushions, etc. author assumes that her reader does not know how to knit; at least a quarter of the pages in the book are how-tos that apply to any kind of yarn","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"even if you have other eclipse books at home, totality provides fresh information about this fascinating phenomenon. this book describes in clear language what makes a total solar eclipse so special. the authors explanation of the science behind eclipses helps to demystify the eclipse, while the chapter devoted to impressions from a group of dedicated eclipse chasers, gives a sense of the magic of a total solar eclipse. there are plenty of drawings and photographs complement the writing, with an excellent set of references in the appendix. highly recommended, jerry levy ...","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"boring, outdated ex-patriate story of life in paris between the wars, focusing on a young american actress, a psychologist dr. diver and his wife, an american baroness with issues. lots of drinking and gossip","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"the 30 second spot is dead. the 30 second spot is dead! the 30 second spot is dead! alright, i get it already. at least i did after the first 60 pages or so. unfortunately this book does not end at 60 pages. never have so many words been used to say so little. the first third of this book (plus one chapter online) (parenthesis meant as a tribute to jaffe) tells you why the 30 second spot is dead. to illustrate the demise of the 30 second spot, jaffe uses a dead horse and beats it repeatedly. perhaps jaffe is quite funny and clever at a party, but his schtick gets a little old when trudging through 276 pages of his quips (plus one chapter online). jaffe fashions himself as a modern day don rickles, passing out insults to everything and everybody who uses a 30 second spot. unfortunately, this increases the page count of the book by about 90 pages. the final two-thirds of the book is a survey of everything you can use instead of the 30 second spot. jaffe says you have 10 options and he has designed 10 little logos for each of them (which you can see on his website) (again parenthesis meant as a salute to jaffe). this is not any ground breaking information. if you have been paying attention and made occasional contact with society, you will have realized that you can use the internet as a marketing tool. mostly, jaffe's observations are re-hashes of stuff you can find in a trade journal or two. and because this is an adweek book, i suspect most of this stuff was available in an adweek article. the important thing about this survey portion of the book is that it gives you very little insight on how to use these tools more effectively. it's just jaffe telling you that you are ignorant if you are not using his 10 alternatives to the 30 second spot. save yourself $20 and get a subscription to adweek instead","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is a wonderful resource to use with children of any age. i recently read this book to my 2nd graders and they loved it. it has beautiful pictures and is wonderfully detailed. this book would be an asset to any teachers classroom and would definately be a favorite among the children","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this book has a lot of information most of which is useless calculus integration with vary brief summery which seems to me being derived from other books just thrown into the mix with general categories. the book is basically an oversized machinery's handbook but with a poorly written index and with a lot of inapt formulas that do not have a explanation for formula variables used in the equation. if you do a lot of strength of material design i would suggest a machinery's hand book, or the mcgraw hill mechanical engineering design book which is an excellent p.e. exam reference book. stay away from the roarks formulas for stress & strain book its more poorly written then the marks","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"long time fan, but didn't get much out of this one. stories were cute. didn't finish it, not worth more time","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is not for people of color. paula begoun only devotes 10 pages to information regarding black hair, and actually has the audicity to say, 'suffice it to say that the natural state of black hair is currently not an acceptable fashion statement for women of color.' is she crazy??? this statement is extremely offensive. (would anyone ever say almond shaped eyes are unacceptable on asian people?) this is a part of our genetics and our looks. does paula notice all of the models, actresses, singers and even politicians who are black (women) who wear their hair natural??? even white people and asian people try to braid/lock their hair to look like ours!! if she thinks natural black hair is unacceptable, then she should not write books abour hair care, and go live by herself on an island (which is obviously where she has been). paula sweetie, stop sniffing hair care products..","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm giving this book two stars instead of three because the author felt compelled to waste so much white space on her leftwing, feminist agenda. ms. harwood has published several articles on the supposed sexism of latin textbooks, and so litters her book with largely pointless textboxes containing 'gender-specific historical tidbits' which she calls 'hysteria's herstory.' (something tells me that does not have quite the alliterative ring the author intended.) likewise, what ms. harwood refers to as 'the christian church' of the so-called dark ages is in reality the catholic church. presumably, the correct identifier didn't sit well with her progressive sensibilities. for an agenda-free discourse on latin, get the dummies book or stick with wheelock's latin 6e","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"heard the cassette version of jackie, ethel, joan: women of camelot by. j. randy taraborrelli and enjoyed it--in a guilty pleasure sort of way. it is a tell-it-all about the three kenney wives and listening to it helped me relive some days of my younger days when john, robert and ted kenney were alive and running for various political offices. for some reason, i never followed too closely the dirt behind their respective careers . . . yet this book more than made up for anything i may have missed. if everything in it is to be believed, i now know that joe kennedy offered jackie $1 million not to divorce jfk and jackie allegedly replied, 'the price goes to $20 million if jack brings home any venereal diseases.' . . . also, that bobby had an affair with actress lee remick who actually called ethel to tell her that they were sleeping together--only to be told by ethel that he was home in bed (when he was actually with remick) . . . and that ted once showed up for drunk with a prostitute for dinner with the king and queen of belgium, whose priceless antique coach ted's date ruined by wetting it. overall, the book left me feeling sorry for the kennedy women . . . although they appeared so glorious from afar, how they were forced to live their lives because of the constant spotlight made life anything but easy for them. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"sorry to disagree with the rest of the positive reviews but i was a bit disturbed that the cat kept dying over and over again in this book. maybe i should have expected such based on the title, but i found it unsettling nonetheless","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"we certainly live in a time of change. and it seems that even the rate of change is increasing. in this fascinating book, mr. kozak-holland draws comparisons between the problems that churchill faced in assuming leadership of the british government at the start of world war ii and the modern business world. the changes in the military situation facing england were quick and sudden. the changes in the business world only slightly less so. consider, for instance, the marketplace for cameras. in a matter of very few years, the shelves at your local discount store basically no longer have film based cameras. the author discusses a technique called adaptive enterprise that churchill used in modifying the way an organization behaves in the face of change. the comparisons are very interesting to a history buff, and have direct applicability if you are manufacturing buggy whips when henry ford comes along","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"one of the many things i love about 'rosemary's baby' is the magically timeless quality of the story. yes, it takes place in 1966, but it could conceivably be anywhere, anytime, even perhaps right in your very own home. aside from the brilliant story telling, i think that magical quality is one of the key reasons why the story remains popular. it also goes without saying that the novel and film are both satanic masterpieces, filled with little nuances and gems that continue to reveal themselves with each reading / viewing. an informed eye sees much. however, this novel almost felt like a christian fanatic's response to the original story. i do not know of the authors religous affiliations or lack thereof, but one gets the feeling that he ( like many others ) is trying to compensate for their diabolical work. if you have any appreciation or love for 'rosemary's baby', i offer you this advice. accept rosemary smiling smugly as she rocks her baby in the midst of the coven as the ending of the story. no sequeal was needed. of course, you will read it. i did myself in one evening, even as i told myself how much i would regret it later. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i've read this book several times, and i would place it second only to jehovah unmasked in its impact on the watchtower sect. i am a former jehovah's witness who attended the international convention of jehovah's witnesses in chicago in 1969. i was there when then-president of the watchtower society, nathan homer knorr, announced to the audience that '1975 marks the end of six thousand years of man's existence, and begins the seventh millennium since adam's creation. this seventh millennium will run concurrently with the one thousand year earthly reign of jesus christ. therefore the great tribulation and the battle of armageddon must occur sometime before 1975!' this prediction can also be found in old watchtower books no longer published by the society, such as the 'freedom of the sons of god' book. the jehovah's witnesses of today are either unaware of this 1975 prediction, or they swallow the watchtower lies about it. when i was a witness i was taught to 'lie for the truth.' this practice was called theocratic warfare. the idea is that it's commendable to lie in the furtherance of 'the truth.' this oxymoronic hypocrisy goes right over the heads of jehovah's witnesses. anyway, that's why jw reviewers of this book lie and say the watchtower high command never made a prediction about 1975. the watchtower society has even managed to get some of the witnesses to believe that it was the lowly witnesses themselves, the rank and file, that made this false prophecy, not the brooklyn oracles (watchtower high command). talk about mind control! so, crisis of conscience is a marvelous nail in the coffin of the watchtower cult and it's mounting pile of dead children whose parents denied them life-saving blood transfusions. as well as the growing scandal of pedophilia as more and more watchtower 'elders' are exposed as pedophiles. the watchtower high command shields these sexual predators from prosecution, and instead disfellowships the victims of watchtower sexual abuse! jehovah's witnesses promote ignorance, superstition, medical quackery, and encourage pedophilia by covering it up and punishing the victims! the watchtower high command controls every aspect of a witnesses thinking, telling them they cannot vote, cannot join a political party, cannot join a union, cannot join a lodge, cannot serve in public office, cannot serve on a jury, cannot join the armed forces, cannot salute the flag, cannot celebrate holidays, cannot celebrate birthdays, cannot step inside a church even to attend a wedding or funeral of a non-witness loved one. they forbid jw's from reading any religious material other than their own, and even forbid married couples from engaging in oral or anal copulation. they work hard to keep women 'in their place' and even strongly admonish their youth against going to college, preferring to keep jw's ignorant, credulous, and malleable to their will. all of these prohibitions (and hundreds more) carry the punishment of shunning, complete ostracism, from the group. this winds up destroying the lives of witnesses, and tears whole families apart, when they can no longer speak to their loved ones, nor their loved ones speak to them. the watchtower high command (the 'governing body of jehovah's witnesses') knows nothing of the grace and love and mercy of god, but are the most harsh, merciless, pharisaic, legalistic, mean-spirited, judgemental group of bitter old men with delusions of grandeur ever to walk the earth! i was trapped in the watchtower religion for four long years. i know whereof i speak. it is an un-american religion that exercises far greater mind-control and life-control over its members than even the pope does over roman catholics. yet the witnesses condemn the pope for dictating dogma to his people. the witnesses are unable to see this double-standard, the hypocrisy. they're blind, as all religious zealots ultimately are. so, by all means purchase crisis of conscience as well as jehovah unmasked! for a one-two combination to the face and head of the watchtower high command. you should 'pity the fool' who becomes ensnared in the watchtower cult or has been raised in it, for they are a slave to the watchtower and exist to do its bidding. thankfully, the jw growth rate has slowed to a crawl and young people raised as jw's are abandoning ship in record numbers! :) would you like me to go into more detail as to why crisis of conscience was penned? i will assume the answer is 'yes' and will extrapolate. 'demons' inhabit the literature of non-jw christians according to the watchtower high command, so witnesses must be careful not to touch it and never read it. 'you never know when a demon might be lurking inside a gospel tract, just waiting to invade your body and mind!' so witnesses are told never to read or even touch any books or literature from other religions. in reality, this is a transparent ploy to make sure the witnesses are ever exposed to what non-witnesses have to say about the failed prophecies, doctrinal flip-flops, and theological somersaults regularly engaged in by the governing body of jehovah's witnesses. the watchtower society holds it's slaves in the steely grip of the primitive fear of demons. the watchtower society strongly discourages it's slaves from owning a personal computer or surfing the internet. their ostensible explanation is again 'demons.' the demons will infect your sin-infested mind if you dare to read anything on the net that displays the failed prophecies, doctrinal gyrations and theological flip-flops of the governing body. this is also why jehovah's witnesses are strongly discouraged from reading old books the governing body no longer publish. they do not wish their slaves to know how much their doctrines keeping mutating and evolving into one monster after another. the watchtower society claims it speaks for almighty god himself, and you'd better believe what they say unquestioningly, and obey them explicitly, or you are doomed to be destroyed in the battle of armageddon. therefore, jesus christ isn't the savior of the rank-and-file jehovah's witnesses, the governing body is! the governing body officially and openly teach the 'earthly class' (the rank-and-file jehovah's witnesses) that jesus christ did not die for them, but only for the anointed class of 144,000 who will go to heaven. also, even though the watchtower high command claims to speak for god, and insist that rejecting their words will insure your doom at god's hands, they claim they are not divinely inspired! the watchtower high command tells jehovah's witnesses, in the pages of the watchtower magazine, that they speak for god almighty himself. then on the next page they declare the exact opposite, and claim they are just poor imperfect folks stumbling along just like the rank and file witnesses, and are not inspired. right after claiming to be god's earthly representatives, speaking for god almighty!! so, the brooklyn oracles have it both ways. they demand unquestioning and total obedience as god's earthly representatives, but plead 'imperfection' and say 'but we never said we're divinely inspired' when caught in a failed prophecy or doctrinal flip-flop. which happens a lot throughout their history. old discarded doctrines and failed prophecies are called `old light' and today's doctrines and prophetic speculations are called 'new light.' the problem is that 'new light' quickly becomes 'old light' and often even 'old light' becomes 'new light' again! people who have been shunned (and therefore become as one dead to their families and friends) because they didn't submit to some ever-changing watchtower flapdoodle, are never apologized to or allowed back into the group when the doctrine is rejected for something new. the watchtower high command are callous old fools with delusions of grandeur, squirted full to bursting with hubris. going door-to-door and obeying every whim of the watchtower society is how the earthly class of jehovah's witnesses prove their faithfulness to jehovah and thereby earn salvation. they are taught they are not saved by jesus christ. they are taught that if they have any chance at all at salvation, it will come by belonging to the watchtower society and believing it unquestioningly and obeying it explicitly. so, do not admire witnesses for their zeal. they're just trying to earn brownie points with god by fearing and obeying what they mistakenly believe to be god's mouthpiece. in reality they do not really care about you. they only care about saving their own hides. the governing body of jehovah's witnesses have passed thousands of 'theocratic laws' about everything one could imagine. from banning blood transfusions, oral and anal sex even between married heterosexuals, to prohibiting such things as celebrating holidays or birthdays, voting, holding public office, serving on a jury, saluting the flag, or going to college! to list the thousands of laws they have enacted against their slaves would take hundreds of pages. if you think the orthodox and chassidic jews have a lot of religious laws, you'll change your mind if you study watchtower literature. even when i was a witness, i knew that some of the watchtower pronouncements were quackery both medically and theologically. such as the blood transfusion ban. i'd never been able to take seriously their belief that 'the soul is in the blood' but went along with it rather than be ostracized. to jehovah's witnesses it is literally a matter of life and death. a lot of witnesses (including children) die because they refuse blood transfusions. in the past, the watchtower high command has enforced other types of medical quackery upon the poor victimized jehovah's witnesses, including ridiculous 'cures' for cancer that resulted in the deaths of many witnesses. do not just take my word for all this, buy and read crisis of conscience and jehovah unmasked! both are fascinating reads. ","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"the book was to hard to follow and used words that the common person does not even know. it seemed more like a novel to me and didn't help me understand much at all. i would not suggest this book there are better ones out ther","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i'm wallowing in bad feeling after finishing the horse whisperer a couple of hours ago. i'm pretty tired of reading books about people throwing good relationships out the window because they allow themselves to become interested in someone else. not only are marriages broken, but trust between parent and child. i'm also tired of authors portraying these situations as something the character 'can not control,' 'just feels right,' etc. and then ending the book as if everyone has made the best decisions and everything has worked out for the best. i am saddened that these people do not understand what love is, or for that matter what marriage and a family are. the pain and heartache, the wreckage of ruined lives that accompanies adultery are suspiciously missing. i'm writing this review in an effort to dispell the black cloud that has lingered since finishing the book. i think that all i need now is to hug my sweet, honest husband and dear children, who know that the greatest gift i can give them is to love their father. that is all. my vent is over. thank you. ","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i read the book on a flight from phoenix to denver with time to spare. the chapters are well organized and the material is reinforced to the reader by the use of worksheets and a self-test. though the depth of each of the topics covered is not extensive, the scope of the topics and the logical way they are presented allow the reader to develop a good grasp of the gist of project management. i am looking to make this book a mandatory read for employees going through our company's project management curriculum","sentiment":"2"}
{"review":"this is a horrible, horrible book. it does not deliver what readers have come to expect from a good romance novel. first, this novel is full of interesting history that the author does not describe in greater detail. she is a very poor historian and should concentrate more on the romantic part of the plot. all she does is confuse the reader with her vaguely described historical events. second, the male protagonist is mostly unpleasant and often cruel. very rarely do we see a soft spot in his heart for the heroine. i was really hoping that there would be a major confession of the 'hero's' love for the heroine at the end of the story, especially after the way he treats her throughout the book. but no. he never even says the 3 little words we have come to expect at the end (at least) of a good romance novel. we are just supposed to assume he loves her. very unfulfilling! third, there are numerous loose ends at the end of the novel. definitely a book to avoid at all costs","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"this book is really geared toward women who are into feminism. all the quotes in the book are from women in her groups. if you're not into the female-identity world, pick another book","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"i like block and rodenbarr and have read many in the series. this one is a real letdown. recently authors appear to be having more and more problems bringing their tales to a satisfactory close. that's true in spades in this book. at the end the author actually has bernie review what the police will say happened, what really happened, and what could have happened. it is all jumbled and unintelligible. the book ends with a classic showdown in a drawing room like some '30's series. that's no problem but the reader does not really know who half the people are or why they are there. it's just too much confusion for a story that's pretty dull to begin with. the author does take time to praise bernie's illegal immigrant doorman. apparently block feels that the high crime rate, astronomical high school drop out rate and appalling illigitimacy rate are nothing compaired with the joy that comes from rich manhattanites being able to find good menial help who know their place. people do not get much dumber than upper west side liberals","sentiment":"1"}
{"review":"hunter is an enigma - an assasin by trade, but with a gentleness that is enchanting. while hunting for food, she witnesses a car accident. she saves the car's inhabitant. she later finds out that someone has put a million-dollar contract out on her. she has no idea who will come after her, why the contract was put on her, or who her mysterious visitor is. this is not a romance - yes, there is a romance, but it is not the focal point of this novel. this book is a thriller - an action packed, well written thriller. baldwin is expert at building the tension from page one to the end of the book. there will be times when you might want to put the book down because of the tension, but it will not be long before you return to it. as baldwin builds toward the final confrontation, you will find yourself reading feverishly, and staying up long after you should have turned the lights off. baldwin shows none of the first-book problems that so many other authors do. in this book, we experience baldwin's considerable writing talents. one can only imagine that if she is this good with her first book, she will be extraordinary very shortly. you will certainly want to add baldwin's other two books, force of nature and whitewater rendezvous, to your cart immediately","sentiment":"2"}