Genetics: A Guide to Basic Concepts and Problem Solving

Customer Reviews:

Simple, clear, and to the point.......1999-03-06

This text makes the basic principles behind genetics very understandable. There are short questions integrated into the text itself in addition to questions at the end of each chapter just to make sure you understand before moving on. It's very difficult to get lost in the information due to this fact. All questions are answered fully and completely at the back of the book, as opposed to short one word answers that don't explain why the reader may have gotten a question right or wrong. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:
Nova Hedwigia
Derek A Reid
Manufacturer: J. Cramer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007JIYAM

Book Description

The only guide on the market to offer detailed information for travelers to these two stunning Caribbean islands. Delve into Dominica's rain forest and Carib Indian culture. Relax on romantic St. Lucia. Whatever you're looking for, this guidebook tells you what you need to know. A top-notch resort high on a mountain slope? Got it. Want to treat that special person in your life to a five-star restaurant? Got it. Or perhaps you want to relax on the best beach sipping a cocktail. Got it!

This exciting Alive guide is absolutely packed with detail, offering hundreds of hotel review and restaurant recommendations. Plus, you'll find out all sorts of tidbits about the islands' history and culture. Maps. Index. Color photos.

Download Description

A paradise for nature-lovers, Dominica has thick forests, towering mountains, aquamarine seas, and hundreds of waterfalls and hot springs plus the last refuge of the Carib Indians. St. Lucia is among the lushest and most beautiful of the Caribbean islands and, as in Dominica, the residents speak English. Island accommodations are often secluded hideaways popular with honeymooners and naturalists. This is the definitive guide to these islands.

Customer Reviews:

Printing disabled!!.......2003-10-18

As interesting as the information in this ebook is, I find it completeley unsatisfactory since the user is not allowed to print any of the information. This includes maps and reference listings such as hotels and restaurants. There is also no copy & paste allowed either. Why buy an electronic-travel-book when useful information needs to be copied by hand? This will be my last ebook from amazon...

Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica & St. Lucia Alive!

Average customer rating:

Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica & St. Lucia Alive!
Lynne M. Sullivan
Manufacturer: Hunter Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LA8V0A

Amazon.com

Almost destroyed because of a man's fear and greed, Sybel, a beautiful young sorceress, embarks on a quest for revenge that proves equally destructive. Winner of the World Fantasy award, this exquisitely written story has something for almost every reader: adventure, romance and a resonant mythology that reveals powerful truths about human nature. Locus praised it for its "marvelous heroine... and chilling sorcery" and The New York Times called it "rich and regal."

Book Description

Sixteen when a baby is brought to her to raise, Sybel has grown up on Eld Mountain. Her only playmates are the creatures of a fantastic menagerie called there by wizardry. Sybel has cared nothing for humans, until the baby awakens emotions previously unknown to her. And when Coren--the man who brought this child--returns, Sybel's world is again turned upside down.

Customer Reviews:

What Price Revenge?.......2007-09-19

Sybel has inherited the gift of 'calling' from her father and grandfather. From them she has also inherited a menagerie of legendary magical creatures, The Black Swan of Tirlith, Cyrin the Boar, Gyld the Dragon, Ter the Falcon, Gules the Lyon and Moriah the Black Cat. She is content in her mountain fastness until one day a handsome young man brings her a infant and asks her to care for him. Thus despite herself she is drawn into the world of men with its rivalries, wars and troubles.
Patricia McKillip's 'The Forgotten Beasts of Eld' starts oddly, as Sybel has inherited all the animals already- one is expecting the story to give some background on how the animals came to be under her control, but no her father and grandfather 'called' the animals and they just came. The story itself concerns how despite her best intentions Sybel is drawn into the political machinations of rival factions within the kingdom. Both sides fear her power will be used by the other side, leading to a plot by a powerful wizard to enslave her by magical means. Sybel escapes and in the second half of the book she plots her revenge. But soon it becomes clear that her revenge will cost her the love of her husband and her adopted son, and ultimately her true self.
This is one of those books that would probably benefit by being twice as long, there is just so many ideas and threads that aren't developed to their full potential.

A little too slow for me.......2006-09-07

I didn't really enjoy this story as much as I usually enjoy fantasy, and it perhaps had something to do with the writing style, which was almost too mellow and introspective -- and quite slow. There just didn't seem to be enough actual activity going on. I was a little surprised to find this book in the children's and not teen section at my local library, given both the writing style and somewhat adult ideas. That isn't to say there is anything indecent or offensive, only concepts that I felt younger children would be less likely to be interested in or follow.

A Story from Far Off.......2006-06-29

One of the pleasures of young adult fantasy literature is that often the best of it will a subtle, insightful, and very much approachable exploration of life's themes and humanity through whimsical and alluring metaphor. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld does not quite accomplish this, but the rhythmic pace and language McKillip chooses is as much to blame for this as to credit for a final product that feels like a modern legend of yore. If one were to translate a minstrel's tale into common speech this could be what it would sound like. And there is a desirable, very pleasurable effect in that which allows a smooth read from cover to cover.

That smoothness sometimes becomes an enemy of the storytelling, however. When McKillip sculpts her tale to reveal some truly aching insight into human nature the effect is dulled around the edges by constant distance from the characters. With a character often referred to as "Ice Lady" as the protagonist whose journey it is to find her humanity, it makes sense that sometimes the empathy between her and reader may be vague. But when the reader seeks out the comfort of those supporting characters whose gradual accomplishment is to help her find it, they are as those of the legend McKillip's style echoes: far away.

From this far away place, that style does manage to bring to fancy the forgotten beasts of the title. The mythology of the story is modestly enchanting with a quiet individuality. The world McKillip creates is alive and a pretty place to be for 343 large print pages.

One final side note: I was a bit disturbed by how the heroine is constantly described as "beautiful": "slender," "thin," and always "forgetting to eat." I've never minded an attractive protagonist but, after the eighth mention of her starved allure, I lost my appetite.

An enchanting, if under-developed, book.......2006-06-13

In my memory this was a perfect book, and so I was a little afraid to read it again. I know a lot more about writing now than I did when I first read this so many years ago, and I'm a more discerning reader. Would the book withstand my higher standards? Or would it crumble and fall? The answer is, a bit of both.

I've found that McKillip's newer books ("Ombria in Shadow" and "Winter Rose," for example) have a very enchanting, fairy-tale feel to them. "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" projects a younger, less well-developed, yet similar feel, and it certainly swept me up in the events of the book. The pacing wasn't as well-timed (the book was a bit slow and meandering in places), but the book never lost me. The story is predictable in some places, yet refreshingly surprising in others.

The characters in this book were also less well-developed than those of later books. I came to care about and sympathize with them, but they were less well-defined. I'm not sure if this will make sense, but there was less of a sense of age about them--almost all of them seemed to occupy the same young space. Their dialogue was a little less riveting and more rambling. And finally, the tone was mildly melodramatic in places.

Yet despite all this, the book caught me up again almost as strongly as it did 15 or so years ago. The nascent feeling of enchantment tugged at my heart and made it easy to forgive the book's flaws. It is clear that Patricia McKillip has improved her skills greatly since the first publication date of this book (copyright 1974, if you're curious!), yet it is also clear that she began with a formidable talent. "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" may not be her best work, but it is well worth reading for anyone who already enjoys her books. Yes, it has flaws. But it still weaves a spell around my heart.

Fantasy Fiction Fans Unite!.......2006-02-10

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is the strangest fantasy fiction romance I've yet to read. It isn't the typical dungeons and dragons scene, it's not packed with raw action and archetypal wizardry -- so why should any respectable fantasy fiction fan bother with the book? Because it's an awesome piece of political, war mungering work.

I have to admit, the beginning of this book is a little boring. First, it tells about the geneology of a family of wizards who have the power to call and enslave powerful monsters to their will and who happen to live on a mountain. The first few chapters read very much like the Bible: blah blah son of blah blah and so on.

We don't get to the good part until we come to Sybel, a lone witch-lady who is the descendant of all the aforementioned wizards and who lives on the mountain alone with her animals. Her life is changed forever when a man dressed in armor rattles her gate and demands that she cares for the baby in his arms. The witch-lady and the warrior enter into a very amusing argument until at last the young witch complies and is left to raise the child alone.

If you love fantasy fiction, you'll love this book when you get into the thick of it. One of my favorite characters is Ter Falcon, a bird with a constant thirst for blood. He's always begging Sybel (who has complete control over him) to let him kill someone and I find it quite amusing:

"And Drede."

"No."

"And Drede."

"No."

One of my other favorite scenes is the part where Sybel has been captured by a powerful wizard who (under the orders of the dreaded King Drede) has her imprisoned in his tower and is preparing to rob her of her conscious mind. In other words: he's been ordered to make her into a veggetable. Yet once Sybel and the wizard have been left alone, the wizard reveals his secret desire to run away with her as his companion and maybe even as his own veggetable. When Sybel refuses, the wizard is preparing to rape her when suddenly she whispers a word of power (the word is the name of a powerful beast) and her attacker is literally crushed flat.

And lastly, here are some more of my favorite lines:

"So. You married me for my animals. I always knew it." (Sybel)

"I married you because you never laughed at me. Except when I asked you to marry me." (Coren/Warrior with baby)

And after all this enthusiatic rambling on my account, if you still won't check this book out, I don't know what else to say! But it really is an amusing book and still holds a place on my shelf of favorites.

Average customer rating:

fantasy classic

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
PATRICIA A. MCKILLIP
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0380425238

Customer Reviews:

fantasy classic.......2007-01-10

In college I took a class on fantasy - happily followed by a class on Tolkein when the professor accepted the request of the class. When I read The Forgotten Beasts of Eld I knew it would be the book for my term paper. We were to analyze a book for the basic elements of fantasy - the crone, the matron, the maid, the fisher king, etc. As I recall we were expected to find those elements that an author had included but there was no expectation to find a single book that encompassed most or all of the elements. I did not think I would ever finish the term paper because each time I read the book I found more of the elements. I wish I still had the final paper, but the professor kept it with my permission for future classes. I do still reread the book. With The Chronicles of Narnia and P.S. Your Cat is Dead I generally have copies on hand that I give away because it is one of those books that I just need to share. Oh yeah, besides having all the elements of fantasy it is a great read. As much as I have enjoyed the Riddlemaster and the Wolf and many more of her books, it is still the one to me that should not be forgotten.

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia A McKillip
Manufacturer: Berkley #06595
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KKCGIE

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

Manufacturer: Morrow/Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000H0V8BS

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia A. McKillip
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LC2H5S

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia A. McKillip
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RGDOCS

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia A. McKillip
Manufacturer: New York: Berkley Books, 1984
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O3Q0KC

Average customer rating:

Forgotten Beasts of Eld Portfolio

Manufacturer: Schanes & Schanes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PJ8P30

Product Description

This art portfolio. includes 6 black & white plates of Alicia Austins art for Patricia McKillips novel The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. The copyright is 1981, Schanes & Schanes. The cover measures approx 11.5x 15 and is heavy textured cardstock. The plates are on heavy white cardstock and measure approx 11.25 x 15.

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts Of Eld
Patricia A. McKillip
Manufacturer: Orbit
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KKCFR6

Average customer rating:

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Patricia McKillip
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HKU8KU

Book Description

HIV and the New Viruses presents cutting-edge reviews of persistent human virus infections as a coherent collection for the first time. These cover recently discovered viruses such as HHV-6, HHV-8 and HCV, as well as the latest research on HIV.
This comprehensive and updated reference includes an in-depth study of the major issues in the epidemiology, pathogenicity, molecular virology, host responses and management of conditions associated with those viruses. Information on new pharmaceuticals and vaccine developments is also included.
Edited by the leading experts in the field, HIV and the New Viruses will be essential reading for postgraduates, clinicians and researchers in virology, immunology, cancer, molecular biology and the pharmaceutical industry.

Key Features
* Presents cutting-edge reviews of persistent human virus infections as a coherent collection for the first time
* Includes an in-depth study of the major issues in the epidemiology, pathogenicity, molecular virology, host responses, and management of conditions associated with those viruses

Immunology of Infection, Second Edition (Methods in Microbiology (Volume 32)) (Methods in Microbiology)

Average customer rating:

Immunology of Infection, Second Edition (Methods in Microbiology (Volume 32)) (Methods in Microbiology)

Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Immunology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Microbiology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Medicine | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Science | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0125215320

Book Description

Immunology of Infection, 2nd Edition, edited by two leading experts in the field, presents the most appropriate up-to-date experimental approaches in the detail required for modern microbiological research. Focusing on the methods most useful for the Microbiologist interested in analysing host-pathogen relationships, this volume will be essential reading for all researchers working in microbiology, immunology, virology, mycology and parasitology.

This new edition of Immunology of Infection provides ready-to-use "recipes", and the latest emerging techniques as well as novel approaches to the tried and tested, established methods included in the successful first edition.

Methods in Microbiologyis the most prestigious series devoted to techniques and methodology in the field. Established for over 30 years, Methods in Microbiology will continue to provide you with tried and tested, cutting edge protocols to directly benefit your research.

Key Features:

* Includes techniques for genome-wide expression profiling of both the pathogen and host and of the host response to infection
* Cytometric analysis of cytokine secretion by immune cells
* Describes tetramer technology for the quantitative analysis of antigen specific T cell responses
* analysis of host cells and pathogens involved in the host-microbe interplay
* Covers techniques useful for the analysis of human and murine systems
* Includes techniques for the prediction and determination of MHC ligands and T cell epitopes
* Covers the fundamentals and practice of DNA vaccines
* Describes methods for the isolation and propagation of human dendritic cells

Book Description

This volume is a new follow-up volume that complements Dynamic Light Scattering (1993) by the same author. The volume is directed to the recent development in the light scattering technique and to describing a wide spectrum of its applications. Both the theoretical development and utilization are traced by authors who are expert in their fields. Development in static light scattering as applied to simple liquids, polymer solutions, and multi-component polymer mixtures are dealt with. The scattering theory of colloidal dispersions is described and scattering from rod-like polyelectolytes is reviewed. There are chapters on concentrated polymer systems, aggregation phenomena, polymer-polymer interactions, polyelectrolytes in solution. Emphasis is given to more complex systems, for example, ternary polymer systems, complex micellar systems, and block copolymers in the ordered and disordered states. Low-angle light scattering is reviewed, as well as simultaneous static and dynamic light scattering. The determination of particle size distributions and combined chromatographic light scattering techniques are also treated.

Light Scattering: Principles and development (Monographs on the Physics and Chemistry of Materials)

Average customer rating:

Light Scattering: Principles and development (Monographs on the Physics and Chemistry of Materials)
Wyn Brown
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLBCA2

Amazon.com

It's been said that before physics students can fly with Feynman they need to walk with Halliday and Resnick. Those of us who are still toddling along, however, need Larry Gonick. Gonick's characteristically quirky drawings are teamed with physicist Art Huffman's prose to produce lessons like this: picture Sir Isaac Newton driving a Mack truck labeled "Big Inertia." Ike is talking into a CB radio, saying: "Breaker one nine: force overcomes inertia and produces acceleration. Do you read?" As the jacket copy says, "If you think a negative charge is something that shows up on your credit-card bill--if you imagine that Ohm's law dictates how long to meditate--if you believe that Newtonian mechanics will fix your car," here's the book for you. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Book Description

If you think a negative charge is something that shows up on your credit card bill -- if you imagine that Ohm's Law dictates how long to meditate -- if you believe that Newtonian mechanics will fix your car -- you need The Cartoon Guide to Physics to set you straight.

You don't have to be a scientist to grasp these and many other complex ideas, because The Cartoon Guide to Physics explains them all: velocity, acceleration, explosions, electricity and magnetism, circuits -- even a taste of relativity theory -- and much more, in simple, clear, and, yes, funny illustrations. Physics will never be the same!

Customer Reviews:

Great book for anyone struggling with general physics concepts.......2007-06-06

This book was one of our text books in my introductory physics course in college. If you are struggling with general physics, this book is for you. It breaks everything down into easy to understand explanations and the illustrations are very helpful in visualizing the concepts presented. I've been referring back to it for years now. It has also helped me in studying for the MCAT, to review physics concepts that I had forgotten.

Definitely not a text-book. Definitely funny!.......2007-01-05

Some books make you laugh out loud, and this is one of them.

If you are 'into' physics then you'll probably find it funnier, but I've seen it bring a smile to the face of everyone who flips through it.

I teach an aerodynamics class, and particularly found the book useful in jogging my students' memories regarding their physics fundamentals. However, I'd be really hard pressed to call this text anything more than a fun refresher text. So don't expect exam grade learning from this one.

If it were only as humourous as the Cartoon History series. But then, is it possible to make equations as funny as human behaviour?

Finally!.......2006-11-04

I was a lousy science major in high school. Looking back, I have no idea why I chose the subject I did anyway. The point is, I never understood half the stuff we were going through. Now, 10 years later, I've forgotten the few things I did understand.

Thanks to the magic of Larry Gonick I get now get it! At first glance it still looks hard. They really dive right in with formulas and stuff, but after a little while it feels natural. I just wish my teacher back then had put this book in my hands. Or maybe I just gave Gonick the chance I never gave my teacher. Either way, this was an enjoyable read!

Great Introduction Or Refresher.......2006-07-05

"The Cartoon Guide to Physics", first published in 1990, is one of a series of Cartoon Guides which Larry Gonick has co-authored with scientists in the field of choice; in this case it is with Art Huffman who is in the physics department at UCLA. Outside of Larry Gonick's excellent "Cartoon History of the Universe" series, this is the best of his books that I have read.

There are two sections in the book: `Mechanics', and `Electricity and Magnetism'. The first section deals with motion, forces, Newton's Laws, Energy, and associated topics. The second section deals with electricity and electrical fields, and magnets and magnetic fields. It also touches on relativity and quantum electrodynamics. They do not cover topics such as String Theory or Chaos Theory, which have become increasingly more publicized since this book was published.

This book works well as an introduction to the topic, or as a refresher. There is not enough substance for this to serve as a text book, nor do they provide a bibliography to assist the reader in finding more in depth books on any of the topics. However, Gonick does a wonderful job of blending the history of the field with the topics that are covered, and he does so in a way which does not overwhelm the reader.

Didactic and entertaining!!.......2005-09-18

This is essentially a comic book, yet it is able to communicate the fundamental laws of physics taught in an introductory high school physics course and some taught in college such as relativity. Overall, the book is enjoyable and humorous. However, the constraints of actually teaching the material through the drawings do impose on the humor sometimes. The book is accurate, as far as I can tell, and allows one to gain some understanding on how things work, from how the tides come about, to the motion of a gyroscope, to the Theory of Relativity. One disclaimer that I must add, that should be obvious, is that unless you are sufficient in mathematics (genius) you will not know all the consequences that come out from these laws other than the ones provided to you. I would have to recommend this for people over 12 years old, those who want to learn a little physics in a fun and entertaining way.

Average customer rating:

The Cartoon Guide To Physics
Larry Gonick/Art Huffman
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KAF8Y8

Average customer rating:

Cartoon Guide to Physics
Larry; Huffman, Art Gonick
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF1QKY

The Cartoon Guide to Environment / The Cartoon Guide to Genetics / The Cartoon Guide to Physics

Average customer rating:

The Cartoon Guide to Environment / The Cartoon Guide to Genetics / The Cartoon Guide to Physics
Larry Gonick
Manufacturer: Collins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000ST77CW

Product Description

Genetics Having trouble deciphering your genetic code? Do dominant genes make you feel recessive? Let reigning nonfiction cartoonist Larry Gonick and microbiologist Mark Wheelis ease your way through Mendelian genetics, molecular biology, and the basics of genetic engineering. Gonick's drawings range from a moderately detailed look at ribosomes in action to loony pictures of dancing scientists, talking peas, and opinionated fruit flies. Physics It's been said that before physics students can fly with Feynman they need to walk with Halliday and Resnick. Those of us who are still toddling along, however, need Larry Gonick. Gonick's characteristically quirky drawings are teamed with physicist Art Huffman's prose to produce lessons like this: picture Sir Isaac Newton driving a Mack truck labeled "Big Inertia." Ike is talking into a CB radio, saying: "Breaker one nine: force overcomes inertia and produces acceleration. Do you read?" As the jacket copy says, "If you think a negative charge is something that shows up on your credit-card bill--if you imagine that Ohm's law dictates how long to meditate--if you believe that Newtonian mechanics will fix your car," here's the book for you. Environment Do you think that the Ozone Hole is a grunge rock club? Or that the Food Web is an online restaurant guide? Or that the Green Revolution happened in Greenland? Then you need The Cartoon Guide to the Environment to put you on the road to environmental literacy. The Cartoon Guide to the Environment covers the main topics of environmental science: chemical cycles, life communities, food webs, agriculture, human population growth, sources of energy and raw materials, waste disposal and recycling, cities, pollution, deforestation, ozone depletion, and global warming -- and puts them in the context of ecology, with discussions of population dynamics, thermodynamics, and the behavior of complex systems.

Average customer rating:

The Cartoon Guide to Physics
Larry, and Huffman, Art Gonick
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF55II

Average customer rating:

The Cartoon guide to Physics
Larry and Art Huffman Gonick
Manufacturer: Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEXXOW

Cartoon Guide to Physics CD-ROM for Windows and Mac

Average customer rating:

Cartoon Guide to Physics CD-ROM for Windows and Mac
HarperCollins Interactive
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

Physics | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0062790137

Book Description

In 1951, Jacques Barzun, W. H. Auden, and Lionel Trilling joined together to form the editorial board of the Readers' Subscription Book Club. Thus began a venture unique in the annals of American culture. Never before or since have three such eminent intellectuals collaborated to bring books to the attention of the general public.

Now, a half century later, A Company of Readers tells the story of this extraordinary partnership and presents for the first time a selection of essays from the publications of the Readers' Subscription Book Club and its successor, the Mid-Century Book Society.

As they composed their comments to club members, these distinguished editors freely shared with each other their notes and drafts. The result is criticism of the highest order: smart, humane, learned -- in short, stuff that makes for damn good reading. And because these pieces were written for the general public by men who knew that books still mattered, perhaps no other collection of essays gives so natural and vivid a picture of the cultural landscape at midcentury.

Together, Auden, Barzun, and Trilling would plunge into a pile of books and pick out what they liked, what they thought would instruct and delight. What they chose may surprise you. Here is Auden on J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, Barzun on Virginia Woolf's Writer's Diary, and Trilling on Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Each book, whether weighty or light, summoned from the editors a spirited appraisal, in language that welcomed any kind of reader.

The Mid-Century club disbanded in 1963, but its legacy lives on in these pages. A Company of Readers is essential to admirers of this illustrious trio, and it offers a window on an America in which books took center stage.

Customer Reviews:

The Culture of "Inclusiveness".......2002-03-13

While I was growing up in Chicago, one of my greatest pleasures was listening to classical music while reading the latest selection from the Readers' Subscription Club to which I belonged. That was almost 50 years ago (!) and yet how vividly I recall pouring over brief but brilliant essays in the latest edition of The Griffin (the monthly bulletin) to select titles to order and then, several weeks later, reading those selected as soon as they arrived. (By the way, I found Bach's "Goldberg Variations" to be an ideal companion to my reading, regardless of subject matter.) In this volume, with a Foreword by Jacques Barzun, followed by an Introduction by editor Arthur Krystal, we have a rich and varied selection of the uncollected writings of W.H. Auden, Jacques Barzun, and Lionel Trilling who, from 1951 until 1963, served as editors of the Readers' Subscription Club which later became the Mid-Century Book Society. As I began to read this book, I recognized only a few of the 45 essays which Krystal has organized as follows:

Biography and Belles Lettres (e.g. Barzun's "The Artist as Scapegoat")

History and Social Thought (Auden's "Apologies to the Iroquois")

Novels and Novelists (e.g. Trilling's "A Triumph of the Comic View")

Music, Theater, and Fine Arts (e.g. Barzun's "Why Talk About Art?")

Poetry (.e.g. Auden's "T.S. Eliot So Far")

A Round-robin (i.e. all three editors collaborated on "The New Auden Shakespeare" and "Jameschoice for January."

Krystal then provides an "Editor's Note," followed by two appendices: Complete List of Essays and Reviews from The Griffin and The Mid-Century, and, Essays from The Griffin and The Mid-Century Published Elsewhere.

After reading all of the selections in this volume, I now realize and appreciate what I did not (and probably could not) so many years ago: the three erudite and eloquent authors of the selections never "wrote down" to their readers while providing an intellectual, aesthetic, and (at times) social context for each of the authors and works discussed.

In the Foreword, Barzun explains that "As critics we had one trait in common: none of us applied a theory or system. Apart from this unifying mode, our tendencies and backgrounds differed widely, surely a desirable diversity for the purposes of the club." He goes on to point out that they were guided by "the principle of what Trilling was the first to call 'cultural criticism,' that is, criticism inspired by whatever is relevant to the work. Its genesis, form, and meaning have roots in the culture where it appears, and it is also unique through its author's own uniqueness. To us, none of this was new. We were cultural critics with no need of a doctrine, for the essence of culture is inclusiveness." In the Introduction, Krystal then provides a brief explanation of how and why the Club was founded, what happened throughout its eleven years and six months of existence, and what he views as its unique contributions. Auden, Barzun, and Trilling "were like those classical musicians who, upon leaving work at the symphony, head downtown to play jazz all night in a smoky club." No small part of the "pleasure they derived from playing together...lay in the knowledge that they were performing for a literate audience who had come expressly to hear them." This simile is apt.

Who will most enjoy reading this book? Certainly those who were once a member of either Club and have so many pleasant memories of their own associated with the monthly interaction with the three editors as well as with the subjects they discussed. But countless others, "non-members" if you will, who will also be intellectually stimulated while thoroughly enjoying the pleasure of the three editors' company. Jacques Barzun was right: "The essence of culture is inclusiveness."

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books