Princess Victoria Meltia (History/20th Century History)

Customer Reviews:

its pretty good! =).......2000-05-03

i think the book was great.it talked about his childhood ,and all the rest of his life.i think that matt christopher should be the author of the year!i think the best book is on the court with michael jordan though. and if you you like basketball it will be the best book you ever read.if you like baseball then you would like at the plate with mo vaughn and at the plate with greg maddux. and finnally if you like football you would like the joe montania book rettin by matt christopher. thats why i like matt christopher so much...............

its pretty good! =).......2000-05-03

Greg Maddux: On the Mound with... (Matt Christopher Sports Biographies)

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Greg Maddux: On the Mound with... (Matt Christopher Sports Biographies)
Matt Christopher The #1 Sports Writer for Kids
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OU2748

Matt Christopher's Sports Biographies Four-Book Set (On the Field with Derek Jeter / On the Mound with Greg Maddux / On the Mound with Randy Johnson / On the Field with Alex Rodriguez)

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Matt Christopher's Sports Biographies Four-Book Set (On the Field with Derek Jeter / On the Mound with Greg Maddux / On the Mound with Randy Johnson / On the Field with Alex Rodriguez)
Matt Christopher
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

What makes today's Hollywood films so successful? Is it the sheer scale of special effects that gives films like Jurassic Park or The Matrix their mass audience appeal? Geoff King looks at the underexplored dynamic relationship between narrative and spectacle in contemporary Hollywood cinema. He uses the myth of the American frontier against a range of Hollywood films, drawing examples from the digital-effects-based and virtual-reality spectacles, space fictions, action films, war epics and disaster films that now dominate cinema. AUTHORBIO: GEOFF KING is Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at Brunel University.

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Playmate Book 50 Years
Hugh Hefner
Manufacturer: Taschen UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 900000957X

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The Playmate Book, 50 Years
Gretchen(editor) EDGREN
Manufacturer: Taschen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPJH6E

Customer Reviews:

Great book for lovers of embroidery.......2000-05-18

Melinda Coss's "Country Woolwork" is a perfect book for those who enjoy embroidery. Each project has a detailed materials list, color photograph,illustration,and directions. Projects are divided into 4 general color categories: Beautiful Brights, Perfect Pastels, Classic Checks, and Sugar and Spice. Some of the projects in the book: blankets, pin cushion, Christmas stocking, baby items,pillows,and many more eye catching designs. A wonderful book to page through for ideas or to simply admire some beautiful needlework. I believe the level of the book would appeal to both the beginner as well as expert needleperson.

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Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

A human approach to managing people!

The book aptly fulfills its full title

To Lead Is To Serve: How to Attract Volunteers & Keep Them
Shar McBee
Manufacturer: SMB Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Volunteer Work | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Commodities | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Volunteers Wanted

What We Learned (the Hard Way) about Supervising Volunteers: An Action Guide for Making Your Job Easier (Collective Wisdom Series)

Joy of Leadership: The Only Secret to Your Success as a New Leader (Joy of Leadership Series)

ASIN: 0963856022

Book Description

To Lead Is to Serve is about a quick and easy way to transform a group of volunteers into a thriving organization.

Customer Reviews:

Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers.......2003-06-24

I remember very well the first time I read "To Lead is To Serve." I was on my way to a meeting that Shar McBee was going to keynote. I wanted to introduce myself to her philosophy of volunteerism prior to the meeting. Since then, I've re-read the book several times, and each time I get more and more out of it. The writing is fresh but timeless, new and invigorating. It's book that's so good you can tune everything else out when you're reading it. "To Lead is To Serve" is also a quick, easy read - you can read it in just a couple of hours.

The principles that Ms. McBee espouses in "To Lead is To Serve" can absolutely turn an organization - any organization, be it for-profit or a non-profit, around. Unlike many who write about non-profits, the author skillfully differentiates between management and leadership. The heart of the book is the recruitment and retention of volunteers. Membership-based organzations will find great benefit in using Ms. McBee's ideas to not only recruit members, but to also retain those members. Drawing upon her extensive background as both an employee of and volunteer for non-profits, the author sparks different, exciting and creative ideas for serving others. Truly, to lead is to serve. This book tells how; a real bonus is that many of the ideas can be implemented immediatly and individually. Whatever your position in a for-profit or a non-profit, I enthusiastically recommend that you read this book and then apply its life-changing and organization-changing principles and ideas.

A human approach to managing people!.......1999-06-25

The concept has always been with us. Shar McBee articulates these ancient, well-proven philosophies in human relationships. I highly recommend this book to anyone in management.

The book aptly fulfills its full title.......1998-08-09

"To Lead Is To Serve: How To Attract Volunteers & Keep Them," is well written, moving logically from one point to the next as it lays out a number of practical keys to leadership in a volunteer organization and to attracting and keeping volunteers. Its counsel applies, however, to leadership in other than volunteer organizations and to leadership in general. A good book on leadership from an author who began a complete novice but now has and writes from extensive successful experience in leading volunteer organizations of various types. The principles listed can be put to practical use immediately.

Book Description

The intimacy between Nin and Miller, first disclosed in Henry and June, is documented further in this impassioned exchange of letters between the two controversial writers. Edited and with an Introduction by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index.

Customer Reviews:

Henry Miller.......2003-05-08

Big fan of these two, but more of a Henry Miller fan personally. The letters bring Henry Miller out of his fiction/novels and bring him into the realm where Nin was in writing her Diaries. Good for that reason, two lovers but volatile ones. Testing sexual boundaries is a touchy thing, after all.

Delirium and Denial.......2003-02-26

When two writers fall in love, they write and write and write. Their writing being the best expression of their inner natures. Here Anais and Henry write two-hundred-and fifty letters back and forth in a passionate literary romance. The friendship is passionate from the start and Anais is poised for an intellectual and physical adventure. These letters are heady intellectual exchanges as both writers realize themselves in words.

Most of the letters do seem to focus on their literary loves of the moment. D.H. Lawrence is discussed in detail because of Anais' essays and "Unprofessional Study of D.H. Lawrence," in the 1930s. Henry suggests that they thrash things out by letter and asks her to keep his letters. I'm almost certain she would never have thought to destroy them. Not in this life!

In these letters, Henry divulges his most intimate thoughts about Anais. He writes her about everything he does as if to make a literary life with her. This place they both share is ecstasy to them both. Words connect the borders of their world.

Both writers desperately hang onto their real lives while all the while wanting desperately to be together in some fantasy situation. Henry dreams of just living simply, but we know Anais needs luxury almost as much as love. She does however sacrifice a lot for Henry in many ways. The fact is, she supports him financially for years.

Perhaps she feels she owes him her life. At the start of this relationship, Anais was at the point of wanting to kill herself over her imaginary lover, John. A man who rejected her before even accepting her in many ways. It does seem that she needs a reason to live. Someone to care for as she doesn't have her own children. Perhaps in a way, Henry becomes her child although she is 28 and he is 40 when they meet. She does not seem satisfied in her marriage.

I am not sure why Hugh's love is not enough. Everything she writes about Hugh is so complimentary. Maybe it is because Hugh is not completely dedicated to writing. Henry is drunk with desire to write and to experience life to the fullest. In Anais, he finds a soul mate.

Henry is serious, silly and seductive. I was imagining Anais laughing-out-loud at some of his adorable recollections. He may have been open and frank, but his love for her was a completely beautiful expression. She makes him so happy because he can talk to her about anything. There is no need to hide feelings. They talk about the most intense emotional situations.

Anais' friendship and sympathy is everything to Henry. What I noticed was how she tells Henry all her deepest desires just like she tells her diary. Until a certain point when she seems to draw back sharply. I assume some letters where lost. This is where reading her journals will become more interesting. I have only read a few and now I am interested in reading the rest. I must know her thoughts between "some" of the letters from Henry. Otherwise, the picture will never be complete.

It is enjoyable to see how the letters start formally and then at times just go off into the most intoxicating thoughts. What amazes the mind is their intense focus on the evaluation of their own writing. Here you see how each book came to be and realize the force of the influence of small comments, advice, notes.

I'm convinced that any woman would sell her soul to receive letters with such passion. Yet, it seems Anais wanted more. We can't quite figure out what she wanted, but she wanted perhaps a carbon copy of herself? She is much better suited to living with Hugo and so she lives out her romantic dreams with Henry until writing and publishing take hold of them both and swirl them into the inevitability of their destiny.

Anais brings beauty to Henry's existence, which is often far below her standard of living. Could he have provided for her in a way that satisfied her? Was her giving him financial help beautiful because he accepted it in such a way that in return he gave her love? At the end of the book the tables turn and Henry is able to pay Anais back for all her love and attention. In this way, the book becomes beautiful despite the human frailty of both writers.

What I thought many would object to probably does not need mentioning, but you can see various attitudes of racism here and there. There is also the question of Anais Nin's common sense in regards to her father and her views on parents are hardly acceptable. I force myself to overlook various aspects because the overall content is in many ways rather incredible.

What you have in this book, is a man "in love" pouring out his very soul and a woman slowly but surely becoming estranged from him. There seems to be no way these two writers can be together and yet through the years, Anais and Henry support and encourage one another through their letters.

They also seem to occasionally have a inclination towards mentally torturing one another. As one runs about the world in one direction, the other follows. At one point Anais feels that what he is asking her to accept is beyond what a human being should have to endure. She pulls away.

Could the life they dreamed of really have brought them happiness? Was it not the constant struggle that spurned them on to write. That is my conclusion. That writers need to struggle. To feel and to die and be reborn. This is fully evident in "A Literate Passion."

When reading the letters between Henry and Anais, I am a butterfly on the wall of their world and my wings beat happily as I watch their most intimate thoughts flow by me in words.

Read after "Henry & June."

~TheRebeccaReview.com

Yes! Ah, ah, yes!.......2003-01-08

Forget Nin's works of fiction, the journals, letters, and life are truly worth experiencing over and over again for their honesty, passion, and viewing the internal turned external for our benefit. Everyone knows of Miller's and Nin's relationhip, through "Henryand June" if anything, but it is through this work that we see them less as romantic figures and more as humans capable of the idiocy, devotion, and prolongation of things we should all end and just don't for whatever reason. This is a great buy if you are a lover a letters. Reading "Fire" is a must, however.

Spying In The House of Love.......2001-11-24

Like many others, I have been fascinated with and frustrated by Anais Nin for many years, since reading the first volume of her expurgated diary in 1977.

This volume of letters enables the reader who has already read other versions of the Nin-Miller story to form additional conclusions about what might actually have happened. Because the letters were sent into the possession of others, they were less subject to the constant revision and reinvention that bedevils all attempts to determine objective facts about the mercurial Nin.

If you are not already an amateur historian of literary trends of the 1930's, fear not. The letters are worth reading as an introduction to Anais Nin and Henry Miller as well, for they depict a real-life romance conducted by two who absolutely relished the game and were highly articulate in dramatically different ways.

The Language of Sexual Liberation.......2000-10-12

Whatever you may think of her writing, Anaïs Nin was definitely a femme fatale. Henry Miller was, he claimed, the "happiest man alive." Together, Nin and Miller created a literary language for sexual fulfillment; she in a diary whose original form still remains unpublished, he in novels banned in both the United States and England until court cases in the early 1960s permitted their publication and turned Miller into something Nin had already achieved: the status of a cult hero.

Nin and Miller met in Paris in 1931. Miller, an aspiring novelist, wanted to meet the banker's pretty wife who had sung the praises of D.H. Lawrence and whose books had been deemed "pornography" outside of France. Neither Nin nor Miller, at that point, had published much. Their mutual interest, as they freely admit, was in sex and in each other and, consequently, they began a long affair.

It was during this affair that both Nin and Miller produced their finest writing--the writings that would eventually become Nin's two diaries and her novel, House of Incest, as well as Miller's Tropic of Cancer and Black Spring. Each believed in, and nurtured, the others genius and Miller wrote that Nin's diary would take its place "beside the revelations of St. Augustine, Petronius, Abelard, Proust and others."

Miller, only forty-one, but already somewhat down-and-out, fascinated the twenty-nine year old Nin, whose vague yearnings filled the many pages of the diary she had been keeping since the age of ten. "He's a man who makes life drunk. He is like me," she mused. Nin and Miller, however, were not alike. One of their most essential differences was a difference typical between men and women--Nin censored herself, while the world censored Miller.

Published in 1963, Nin's diary caused a literary sensation. It was begun as a letter to her father, a man who abandoned the family when Nin was only ten, and it remained intensely private. Revised into frequent distortions, the diary was a record of a compulsion to conceal as much as of a quest for feminine fulfillment. A mixture of fact, fantasy and calculated lies, Nin's editor asserts that the diary nevertheless presents a "psychological" truth. Kate Millett hailed Nin as "the mother of us all" and the women's movement immediately embraced her writings. Author Erica Jong said that no woman had told "the story of women's sexuality" more honestly than had Nin.

Despite the praise, if we read between the lines, while still observing Nin's frenetic whirl from bed to bed, we come to realize that she was really never satisfied. Her insatiable appetite aside, Nin was, at heart, a prudish libertine. Her childhood molestation by her father, whom she, herself, seduced as an adult a year after meeting Henry Miller, seems to have contributed greatly to her private inhibitions. Although she flitted from bed to bed she sadly confessed, "I am hellishly lonely." Instead of sex, Nin longed for "what I give Henry: this constant attentiveness."

In the "Black Lace Laboratory," as Miller's apartment was dubbed, Nin and Miller conducted literary and erotic experiments, prompting Nin to write him a thinly disguised warning to herself, "Beware just a little of your hypersexuality!" Toward the end of his life, unable to write about women except as prostitutes, Miller claimed not to know what the sexual revolution was about, saying that he had always loved and honored women. Nin agreed, saying that Miller was a romantic, rather than a rake. At eighty, Miller confessed that far too many people engaged in sex without love.

Basking in the warmth of Nin's caresses, her skilled editing of his work, and the material possessions she lavished upon him, Miller wrote prolifically and with a rare genius. Eventually, his romance with Nin faded (or warmed) into friendship, but the legacy of their literary teamwork remained: In 1974, Nin was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The Los Angeles Times names her Woman of the Year in 1976, the same year Henry Miller received France's Legion d'honneur. The 1990 movie, Henry and June is a chronicle of Miller's affair with Nin, which later became a triangle involving Miller's wife, June.

Nin and Miller have become cultural icons. Nin is the focus of women's study courses as well as being included in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Miller and his work need no comment. Although both Nin and Miller were pioneers of free speech and sexual freedom, and both helped to forge a new literature and a new culture, the ultimate emptiness of their lives, with its attendant lack of depth and meaning point to the futility of their attempt to wrest security and happiness from sexuality alone.

Book Description

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 192 countries and a group of select territories are used by policy makers, the media, international corporations, and civic activists and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. Published in cooperation with Freedom House, Inc.

Amazon.com

It's no longer news that animals are being driven to extinction at an astonishing rate, with some scientists now estimating that 1,000 species disappear each year. What is news is that the species are increasingly familiar to us: lions, grizzly bears, gorillas, whales, black terns--and elephants. In the 19th century, writes Douglas Chadwick in this superb journalistic study, Africa boasted more than 10 million of the giant pachyderms; there are fewer than half a million today, a situation mirrored in Asia. The slaughter is largely the result of the illegal ivory trade, conducted through such nations as Japan and Singapore, which ignore international conventions to keep the barbarous supply rolling. Sanctions on those nations are needed, says Chadwick--but so is much more. This sobering book offers an encyclopedic look at the life history of the African and Asian elephants, which, unless something is done now, may not be long for the world.

Customer Reviews:

An amazing read and a sobering view of the fate of nature..........2001-03-03

While Douglas H. Chadwick's extraordinary book is titled "The Fate of the Elephant" and does an incredible job of presenting the decidedly bleak future of this magnificent animal in the face of an incredible human-induced onslaught, it does more than just examine that issue. At its heart, this book is about the fate of the "natural world"; that is, the world as it was/is before it has been shaped by human contact. The explosion in the human population is increasingly reducing and destroying the habitat of not just elephants, but other animal species in general, and Chadwick recognizes this. Chadwick's book is thoroughly researched, decidedly well-written, and a joy to read. As stated by another reviewer, as clear as it is that Chadwick's sympathies lie with the elephant itself, he shows remarkable restraint in not condemning those who make the future of the elephant so bleak. As such, the book makes the reader realize that while it is quite easy to sit in our comfortable homes and condemn those who are forcing these elephants into fewer and fewer numbers, there are real problems and concerns on the other side of the coin as well. Without stealing any of the author's thunder, I would just say that this is easily one of the best books I have ever read, and while my sympathies are definitely on the side of the elephants, this book was a sobering and tremendously informative look at the full scope of the problem that elephants and animal species in general face. Furthermore, the best thing this book did, in my opinion, was force me to really think about humankind, its relationship to the other species on the planet, how certain dominant views of that relationship have led us to the where we are today, and what might need to be done in order to prevent large scale extinctions in this upcoming century (which is where I personally fear we might be headed).

Great look at lots of aspects of the elephant crisis!.......1999-04-10

In a mere 475 pages, Douglas Chadwick's The Fate of the Elephant manages to thoroughly cover a range of subjects almost as large as the elephants that serve as its focus. Originally assigned by National Geographic as a piece on "elephants of the world," each chapter in the book opens in a new setting, from the elephant enclosure at an American zoo, to the parts of Africa and Asia where elephants can still be found in the wild. From the workshop of Japanese ivory artisans to a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference in Switzerland, he also journeys to elephantless areas where their presence is still felt.

Knowing a little about man's history with elephants, I assumed-even daresay expected-that at least some parts of the book would be dedicated to the kind of finger-pointing induction of guilt that has come to be seen as a means to inspire action on the part of the general public. Refreshingly, there is none of that to be found here, yet the final emotions that the reader comes away with are no less strong. Chadwick does not trivialize the fact that, for him, writing The Fate of the Elephant was as much a personal exploration of a subject of lifetime interest as a travel adventure undertaken for the sake of National Geographic. His frankly portrayed moments of sheer joy and of utter frustration become highs and lows for the reader as well.

Along these same lines, Chadwick skillfully avoids simplifying those engaged in the struggle over what should be done with elephants into "good guy" and "bad guy" camps. Though having just seen the body of a faceless and bloody young bull elephant lying in the bush, he does not celebrate when reports of killed poachers come across his radio. Likening poaching to the illegal drug trade, he knows that the crises of a burgeoning population have pushed many of those living on the margins into these high-risk jobs, while those orchestrating it all sit out of the way in relative safety. The ever-growing human population also drives habitat degradation, the other main threat to African wildlife. It comes as a shot of realism when Chadwick points out that these days, even Africans have to go to parks and zoos to see African wildlife.

Describing the World War I bolt-action guns with which many park rangers must ridiculously face off against AK-47-toting poachers, Chadwick highlights one of the great challenges to wildlife conservation: economics. Not only does poaching rob resources from local economies, but even legal industries such as tourism pay few monetary returns at the local level. He advocates the need to make conservation economically viable to local people, not just something imposed by the government of the moment.

Chadwick integrates scientific concepts in a subtle way that guarantees that even those simply looking for a good "animal tale" will come away as more knowledgeable armchair naturalists. Judging from the brevity of his bibliography relative to the amount of material packed into the book, this integrated approach may be the same way that Chadwick picked up much of his technical knowledge of elephants-not by purely poring over scientific texts as much as by living alongside some of the best in the field, in the field.

The only missing element in Chadwick's work seems to be information about the time period in which he was in each place. While perhaps intended as a testament to the timeless quality of life spent in elephants' presence, it seemed most peculiar in a book whose message was a sense of urgency, that time was of the utmost importance.

This book was the absolute best book I have have ever read!!.......1998-11-15

It has a lot of good information on poaching in North Africa and a lot of other places in the world that elephants were poached at. It really makes you see the world like an elephant as though you were an elephant. it brings out your greatest fantasies about elephants that you would never dream of. This book was just really great.

Absolutely fantastic.......1998-10-18

Incredibly detailed reporting and an easy, conversational writing style make this one of the most rewarding books I have ever read. The author writes of travelling the world, observing human and elephant interactions in dozens of different countries; part travelogue, part eco-primer, and wholly absorbing. And Chadwick makes a convincing case for keeping the African elephant on the endangered species list. This book is perhaps even more important now than when it was published _ only recently CITES (the UN group that makes the endangered species list) decided to allow some southern African countries to sell ivory again. I'd love to see the author's thoughts on these new developments. Anyone concerned with conservation or animal welfare should read this book. Personally, I found Chadwick's work so interesting and educational that after reading it I booked a trip to Africa to see these great beasts _ before the opportunity is gone forever

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The Fate of the Elephant
Douglas H. Chadwick
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 014023103X

Average customer rating:

Fate of the Elephant
Douglas H Chadwick
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SFCAC8

Indiana Jones and The Mask of the Elephant (Find Your Fate #17)

Average customer rating:

Apart from the artwork, a great addition to the series

Indiana Jones and The Mask of the Elephant (Find Your Fate #17)
Megan Stine , and H. William Stine
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Adventure & Thrillers | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0345338839
Release Date: 1987-01-12

Customer Reviews:

Apart from the artwork, a great addition to the series.......2002-11-25

The Indiana Jones Find Your Fate series was one of the greatest things I remember from the 1980's. So much so that I have spent the last couple of years completing the set.

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