Average customer rating:
- Adi - A Legend in his own time
- "Mr. Mauna Kea" wants to hear from readers
- "Smile, smile, smile. It is your best weapon."
|
Mr. Mauna Kea
Adi W. Kohler
Manufacturer: McKenna Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Business
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Hotels & Inns
| Food & Lodging
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1932172165 |
Book Description
Adi Kohler, former General Manager of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Island of Hawaii, State of Hawaii, describes his life in the hotel business from Germany to Paris to Arizona, to the U.S. Virgin Island, Puerto Rico and finally to the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii. Lots of photos and the final chapter describes in detail how the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was built.
Customer Reviews:
Adi - A Legend in his own time.......2007-09-11
For those of us who have known this greatest of hotel leaders, Mr. Mauna Kea is pure delight. First of all, his life is told as a story...one of rags to riches and overcoming one adversity after another. Next, he did not tell it, his biographer did, and she captured the essence of a man who makes others feel good about themselves. Adi has more friends than the law allows.
Mahalo, Adi, for letting your unique story be told. Anyone who has stayed at your great resort will enjoy reliving their great times there. Anyone who knows you will finally understand what makes you so special a guy.
Aloha, Dick Buxton,
Author, Lessons in Leadership & Life, Secrets of Eleven Wise Men.
"Mr. Mauna Kea" wants to hear from readers.......2004-01-27
It was a pleasure to work with Adi Kohler on his lifestory and we are both grateful for the warm reception and strong support the book has received from reviewers such as Wanda Adams in the Honolulu Advertiser and John McDermott in Pacific Business News. We look forward to YOUR comments!
"Smile, smile, smile. It is your best weapon.".......2004-01-20
From his earliest beginnings in the hospitality industry, helping his father to run a family restaurant, to the culmination of his career, his twenty-seven-year stint managing Hawaii's Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, once named by Esquire magazine as the third-ranked hotel in the world, Adi Kohler dedicated his career to serving his guests and maintaining the highest standards in every area of the hotel business. Author Catherine Tarleton describes Kohler's childhood in the Sudetenland, the family's post-war emigration to Germany, his growing commitment to the hotel business, and his eventual employment at the Hotel Crillon in Paris and a series of Rockresorts--Jackson Lake Lodge in Wyoming, Caneel Bay in St. John's, Dorado Beach and Cerramar Beach in Puerto Rico, and eventually Mauna Kea Beach in Hawaii.
Warm and good-humored, Kohler was always a consummate professional, a man who believed from the outset of his career that he should never say no to a guest. He maintains his professionalism in this biography, talking about the hotel industry itself, especially the Rockresorts for which he worked, rather than the celebrities, Presidents, and foreign dignitaries who were regular guests at "his" hotels. There's no dirty linen aired here. Instead, the book emphasizes how Kohler and the other professionals hired by Laurance Rockefeller were able to help "LSR" achieve his vision. At Mauna Kea, that meant turning a pristine beach and the bare, lava rock plain surrounding it, into a landscaped gem of architecture named by Fortune magazine as "one of the Ten Best Buildings of 1966," its golf course regularly named among the nation's Top Hundred Courses, and its hotel service celebrated world-wide.
Always encouraged in his career by his wife Chacha, to whom he pays loving tribute here, Kohler clearly loved all aspects of his job, the hotel, and the Big Island. Detailed anecdotes abound, showing the level of care and the respect with which his guests were always treated. In 1988, Kohler was named "Resort Executive of the Year by the American Hotel & Motel Association for his dedication to excellence, an award which will not surprise the many guests who became his friends during the quarter century of his Mauna Kea career. Mary Whipple
Average customer rating:
|
Audley Harrison: Realising the Dream
Audley Harrison
Manufacturer: Carlton/Andre Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Memoirs
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
Boxing
| Individual Sports
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 023399999X |
Book Description
Audley Harrison captured the hearts of the nation when he became an Olympian at the Sydney Games in 2000, becoming Britain's first gold medallist in boxing since 1968. Six days after returning home, Harrison announced his intention to turn professional, and to do so on home ground. From amateur sportsman to professional heavyweight, Realising the Dream is the story of a true British champion, who presents a very real challenge to the world of international boxing.
Book Description
A Critical and Interpretive History Although new writing and research on British cinema have burgeoned over the past fifteen years, few books provide a coherent overview of this fascinating and elusive national cinema. Amy Sargeant's personal and entertaining history fills this gap. With its insightful decade-by-decade analysis, British Cinema brings the subject to life for a new generation of students and general readers alike.
Sargeant covers subjects as diverse as the art of intertitling, the narrative complexities of Shooting Star, and Brunel's burlesques. She examines the differing acting styles of Dietrich and Donat in the seminal Knight without Armour, discusses early promotional campaigns of the 1930s, and considers product endorsement by stars in the 1940s. She explains the effect of postwar government intervention in the 1950s. For Sargeant, the 1960s provide an overview of the tentative relationship between film and advertising and the rise of young turks such as Tony Richardson, Ken Loach, Donald Cammell, and Nicolas Roeg.
Book Description
Beyond the historical confines of Ringling Bros. and the über-kitsch of Cirque du Soleil, tightly knit alternative circus troupes like Yard Dogs Road Show, Flam Chen, Circus Contraption, and other over-the-top groups bring thrill-starved audiences sometimes disturbing, sometimes exhilarating riffs on the classic circus. From the sick shockfests of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow to the anarchic burlesque of the Bindlestiff Family Circus to the obscure but elegant puppetry of the Cloudseeding Circus of the Performative Object, Freaks and Fire celebrates the world of the underground circus. The voices of the performers themselves describe the grit and glamour of their art — from chaos-inducing performances to paying the rent. J. Dee Hill's provocative text and Phil Hollenbeck's lurid images explore the role of these self-styled freaks in society, along the way giving a snapshot of society itself, of the large audience these neo-vaudevillians seek to dazzle and challenge.
Customer Reviews:
Freaks and Fire: The Underground Reinvention of Circus.......2007-08-23
Gorgeous cover and the hand-designed letterpress titlepages are fantastic, but I thought there would be more color photography. There are several spreads on nice big color images but most photography in the book is black and white. Definitely an interesting read though, and looks great on a coffee table. I bought this for a friend who's a Burning Man enthusiast and he was pleased with it. Props to Phil, Jeff, and Casey!
view of "alternative" circuses.......2005-05-01
J. Dee Hill is a former bureau chief of Adweek writing about "radical" or "alternative" circus. This is not your familiar Ringling Brothers Circus, meant mainly to drawn families and entertain and awe children. This radical circus cannot even be compared to a typical, traditional circus. Think the most outrageous performance art you even saw--and then some. The side show has taken center stage. Although some of the costumes and performances resemble the Mardi Gras carnival festivities of Rio de Janiero. Zamora the Torture King, Brothers Grim Sideshows, and Bindlestiff Family Circus are the names of some of the troupes. Hill takes these and a few others one by one with accompanying photos by Hollenbeck to demonstrate the exotic make-up and dress and the startling acts. The book doesn't play up the sensationalistic, sometimes macabre, occasionally repulsive aspects of such circuses--this is evident enough without any emphasis by the author. The book has a sociological and cultural vein too, with performers telling their interesting stories of what drew them to this field of contemporary entertainment and how they got into it.
Insightful and intriguing.......2005-03-26
This book offers a lot--it is an insightful and intriguing look inside the world of alternative circus shows, and is both entertaining and riveting. The accompanying photographs really capture the essence of the performances, as well, and complement this thought-provoking tome quite nicely. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone.
Customer Reviews:
One of the Best (Revised) Clanbooks.......2003-05-01
This is the clanbook I enjoyed reading the most (even long after I knew that I should go to sleep).
Pluses
- The clan's history covers some parts of the world that are either glossed-over or overlooked entirely in other clanbooks. An...intriguing attempt is made at explaining the Brujah/Troile mess
- The book explains the three main pseudo-factions of Brujah (Iconoclasts, Idealists and Independents), and the Brujah antitribu and True Brujah get a mention (albeit a minor one). The typical Brujah social gatherings (various kinds of rants and raves) are explained and sound like chaotic, fun, potentially violent affairs. They're not all like that though, of course, as it's rather silly to try to categorize anything to do with Brujah. (Some "rants" catering to elders sound like they could very well be mistaken for high-society dinner parties without the food.)
- Reading the relatively-informed opinions of a studious Brujah (mistaken for a Toreador by one prince) who discusses the other clans is very amusing (I find some of his statements about the Assamites and the Baali questionable, however)
- The character templates are relatively good (Confederate, Harpy-to-Be and Anarch Ringleader, who seems to have been inspired by the character Tyler in Fight Club)
- Quite a few notable Brujah are detailed (or at least elaborated on) in the back
Minuses
- Besides a few typos and word omnissions here and there, not much other than some of the art being a bit drab
On a side note, I was surprised to see that Christof Romuald (in the Vampire: the Masquerade - Redemption computer game) is mentioned among other prolific Brujah.
The Evolution of the Revolution Continues.......2000-07-19
Back in the days when VtM's atmosphere was first described (and trademarked) as "gothic-punk", the job of upholding the "punk" part fell largely to the anarchic and rebellious Brujah. Quickly, however, there came to be more to the Brujah than mohawks and frenzied head-banging. The clan turned out to have a noble heritage of humanitarianism, philosophy and even a lost utopia. The original CLANBOOK: BRUJAH did a lot to develop this more diverse clan concept as did VAMPIRE: DARK AGES.
This is further developed here. In this new edition of CLANBOOK: BRUJAH, the clan's history has been expanded including recent developments in the Anarch Free States. An insider's view is provided from the perspective of an independent-minded, articulate Brujah ancilla who both states and defies the stereotypes about his clan. (You've got to like a guy who dismisses the Tremere with "Whatever, Gandalf.")
In general, just as the new CLANBOOK: NOSFERATU seemed to make that clan more monsterous, this book seems to portary the Brujah as more humane and rational. The emphasis now seems to be on presenting the clan as the unsung backbone of vampiric society- individualistic, skeptical of rules and authority, often volatile but willing to do the heavy lifting that the more refined and aristocratic clans won't and gifted with an adaptability that enables them to survive when others don't. There is still room left, however, for the more rebellious Brujah we've come to love. The Iconclast/Idealist/Individualist camps presented in the original book are maintained here but made less rigid.
Indeed, despite more conventional graphic design and artwork, this new edition is an improvement over the old one. There are new merits and flaws, new discipline variations (and some old ones), an expanded section on notable Brujah (bigger than in NOSFERATU) and even a sample Brujah coterie. MIND'S EYE THEATRE stats are given for much material. There are all new character templates as well- no more dated pop-music figures and no more white supremacist. (If players want to play one of those, they'll have to think of it themselves.)
An adequate update.......2000-06-29
While this newest clanbook makes a good attempt at explaining how this clan can attempt to hold power in the world of darkness, ultimately it fails at really making a case on how a clan so lacking in planners or diplomats can hold its own against more unified, well liked clans. Yes, individually, they may be more physically powerful then other clans. But the "V:tM" game has already established how little this matters on the grand scale of things. More illustration of Brujah 'long term' thinking should have been presented. Sadly, this clan is still portrayed as the shortest term thinkers of all the clans, and therefore the least formidable. Despite this, an entertaining read and an adequate update.
So much better than the previous Clan Book.......2000-05-31
Welp, If you are looking for reasons to get the book even though you have the old clanbook there are only a couple. First the back of the book has more distinct characters (with stats and all) for you to use in stories. Second, the antitribute are given some examples in the sample concepts of characters. Third the old powers in the old clanbook are modified and made better, plus a couple added more. There is a lot more literature and background for people to read. And I even think it's done better than the revised Nosferatu Clanbook.
Amazing!.......2000-05-08
It started with the revised Nosferatu clanbook and continues with Brujah. New information for the clan that expands our perception of these rebels. This book is a must. I cannot wait for the rest of the revised clanbooks!
Average customer rating:
|
Clanbook Brujah
White Wolf
Manufacturer: White Wolf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VHFPGG |
Amazon.com
Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? Why do financially sensible people jump lemming-like into harebrained speculative frenzies -- only to jump broker-like out of windows when their fantasies dissolve? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the '80s, and overvalued high-tech stocks of the '90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but the excerpts of these two classics--first published in 1841 and 1688, respectively--show that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds. These are extraordinarily illuminating and, unfortunately, entertaining tales of chicanery, greed, and naivete.
Essential reading for any student of human nature or the transmission of ideas.
In fact, cases such as Tulipomania in 1624--when tulip bulbs traded at a higher price than gold--suggest the existence of what I would dub "Mackay's Law of Mass Action": when it comes to the effect of social behavior on the intelligence of individuals, 1+1 is often considerably less than 1, and sometimes less than 0.
Book Description
"The market never ceases to befuddle and beguile. These two venerable works are fixtures on the short lists for most valuable books on the securities markets, and investors continue to cherish them." -From the Introduction by Martin S. Fridson Managing Director, Merrill Lynch & Co. Author of Investment Illusions
Exploring the sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusión de Confusiones take us from Tulipmania in 1634-when tulips actually traded at a higher price than gold-to the South Sea "bubble" of 1720, and beyond. Securities analyst and author Martin Fridson guides you on a quirky, entertaining, and intriguing journey back through time.
Chosen by the Financial Times as Two of the Ten Best Books Ever Written on Investment
Critical Praise . . .
"This is the most important book ever written about crowd psychology and, by extension, about financial markets. A serious student of the markets and even anyone interested in the extremes of human behavior should read this book!" -Ron Insana, CNBC
"In combining 'Extraordinary' with 'Confusion,' the result is not extraordinary confusion. Instead, with clarity, the book sears into modern investor minds the dangers of following the crowd." -Greg Heberlein, The Seattle Times
"You will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde English and as ponderable as Buddha's navel) that, despite what the media says, nothing really important has changed in the financial markets in centuries." -Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes
Customer Reviews:
17th and 18th Century Speculative Bubbles Look Oddly Familiar. .......2007-07-11
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" and "Confusion de Confusiones" are both works that address speculation frenzy in early financial markets but which have continued to enjoy a surprising popularity among investors centuries after they were written. Perhaps that is because a certain romanticism and distance comes with age, while at the same time these stories of speculative bubbles tell us that nothing really changes in the markets no matter how sophisticated we get. A foreword by Peter Bernstein sets the stage for the 17th century proliferation of financial instruments and pursuit of wealth. Martin S. Fridson's Introduction comments on the enduring popularity of these works, their differing perspectives on market forces, and their debunkers.
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" was authored by Scotsman Charles MacKay in 1841. It was a favorite book of Bernard Baruch, who wrote the foreword to the 1932 edition, a much longer work than what we see here. Only chapters relating to financial markets have been included in this Wiley Investment Classics edition. MacKay recounts three speculation frenzies and their aftermaths: The 1717 Mississippi Company of John Law and France's misadventures with paper money under the regent Duc d'Orleans, the 1711 South Sea Company bubble, and, more briefly, the "tulipmania" that overtook Holland in the 1630s. MacKay concentrates on the human behavior that drove these bubbles rather than on financial minutiae. If you're interested in learning more about John Law, father of modern finance, Millionaire by Janet Gleeson is a very readable biography.
"Confusion de Confusiones" author Joseph de la Vega wrote about what he knew personally: the stock market in late-17th century Amsterdam. The 1957 introduction by Hermann Kellenbenz includes a bio of de la Vega and helpful explanations of the types of transactions to which the work refers. The main text is a series of Dialogues between a Shareholder, a Philosopher, and a Merchant, in which the Shareholder explains the stock market, which he describes as "this enigmatic business which is at once the finest and most deceitful in Europe", the "quintessence of academic learning and a paragon of fraudulence." De la Vega uses stock of the Dutch East India Company as an example and lays the blame for price instability on syndicates of bears and bulls who conspire to move prices. I can't say that either of these works is useful -we have plenty of bubbles in our own time, after all- but they are engaging curiosities.
Google at $400.00? Maybe more chapters yet to be written?.......2006-01-19
Keep this book within handy reach for any time that you're getting a bit too smart for your britches. How otherwise intelligent and rational folk get themselves into these troubles is truly fascinating and instructive. The writing here is, of course, rather archaic to modern sensibilities (originally published in 1841) but the stories are interesting and very readable. It's tempting to read the tales as history but when I see Goggle trading at over $400.00 I scratch my head and wonder. And when I hear the president cutting taxes, increasing spending, and still assuring me that my Social Security payments are secure, well, I think there might be a few chapters still waiting to be writing in the book. A good read.
Timeless!.......2005-04-01
This was the warning shot ahead of the internet bubble. Hearing about the Dutch tulip bubble in 1995 (when I first read the book) we should have been well prepared to duck when Amazon, Ebay and their fallen comrades shot to the moon. If only we had listened...
The book clearly articulates why "The more things change, the more they stay the same" and helps us understand when to buck the herd. Perhaps a bit long, it is well written and worth the space on your nightstand.
Overated.......2004-10-08
Based on the previous 5-star rave reviews written here, I decided to give this book a try, especially since it's two books for the price of one. But when I opened up the book, I discovered that you don't even get Mackay's complete book; you get just the chapters relevant to finance/investing. Because I was reading the book primarily for insight into trading/investing I thought I would make do. However there was very little of that to be found, and when it was found, it was typically written in verbose, archaic English, sandwiched between many pages of irrelevant historical minutea such as how exactly transactions were conducted in the 1700's. There are a couple good gems, but nothing which has not been repeated in more modern books in much simpler language. E.g. The Money Game by Adam Smith or Market Wizards, or Mindtraps by Barach or any of Tony Oz's books. There are sooo many good trading books out there to read that reading this was a complete waste of time.
Oh, Yeah!.......2001-12-02
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds has been a favorite of mine for years, so while I'm happy to see it popularized, there's so much I miss! This is the first book of Urban Legends. There's so much to the book, and so much is so funny, and the financial stuff is the driest part of the book.
That said, I understand Fridson has a theme, and by using these two old works, one Victorian, and one Louis XIV, he shows that nothing much changes: people will do very stupid things if that's what everyone else is doing. More to the point, people will do very risky things with their money, if everyone else is doing so. Examples abound in these two great books, and Fridson doesn't miss a chance to make a point, and usually gets a good laugh in as well.
Tulipomania (when the price of tulip bulbs in Holland inflated beyond the ridiculous) is especially revealing, and though Fridson is using it to make a point about price inflation, I couldn't help thinking also about the marketing technique by which the public is convinced it needs something, then that something is doled out like Oreos to a diabetic. I'm thinking specifically of diamonds, but there are lots of examples.
Fridson pulls this altogether, and as big a fan as I am of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, the original work he has created by mating a part of it with the other work, and with his own explanatory text is a great book.
I am not an investor, and generally find economics petrifyingly boring, but this book was a fun romp. Even if you have no interest in finance, read this book just to have a good laugh at our species.
Book Description
Drafted into the Soviet Army in April, 1984 and sent at the age of nineteen to serve in Afghanistan as a minesweeper, Vladislav Tamarov turned in secret to the pen and the camera to chronicle his 621 days of war. Photographs depicting the haunted faces of both soldiers and civilians, the country's rugged yet beautiful mountain terrain, and the banality of daily life between missions are interspersed with Tamarov's unsentimental but passionate prose, in which he reveals his growing disorientation and takes to task his government for a campaign that has been widely dubbed "the Soviet Vietnam".
Customer Reviews:
Afghanistan.......2006-02-11
An excellent book! Lots of powerful pictures. Purchased the book from Amazon while serving in Afghanistan. Lots of flash backs/forwards in the story line, which I could have done without. But all together it's a well written, interesting book, which depicts a Soviet Solders tour of duty in Afghanistan.
a must for anyone interested in Afghan military history.......2005-10-09
As a paratrooper currently serving my second tour in Afghanistan (and third in the desert overall), I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Soviet conflict of the 1980s. The photographs provide insight into Afghanistan's terrain and climate, and I used this book to illustrate several points to my subordinates as we were preparing for this deployment. The author's writing is heartfelt.
The Real Thing .......2004-08-26
This is the most amazing book I have read all year! It's not just a story, in his own words, from a young Russian soldier in that terrible place, but it is a photo book full of the most beautiful but tragic black and white photos. You see the haunted faces of Vladimir Tamarov (the author and photographer) and his brother soldiers, many of which did not make it back. And as you read his haunted words, how he came back and could not ever be the same, how his friends who died there visit him in his dreams. They were eighteen and nineteen but they look sixteen. The title "Soviet Vietnam" is quite haunting. I believe if I met the author now I would be reminded of our own boys who were damaged by Vietnam. They also were just draftees (conscripts) in a place where they did not want to be. As for our soldiers who are now in Afghanistan, it's true they are fighting the same vicious enemy as Vladimir did! But, don't our men look ever so much better fed, and organized, and equipped, and trained, then those poor Soviet conscripts? I reccommend this book so highly, I would personally buy a copy for all my friends.
A memoir you will NEVER forget!.......2003-11-14
Here is a riveting memoir by Vladislav Tamarov. In 1984 men were drafted into the Soviet Army at the age of eighteen. There was no choice. Unless you were in college or disabled, you served. Many men broke their legs to avoid serving. Others, the more wealthy, bribed their way out. Vlad was in college two years when the law changed and he was off to boot camp. Training the men needed, they never received. Training the men did NOT need, they got. (For example, lots of time was spent learning to parachute, even though it was a well known fact that no one used parachutes in Afghanistan.)
Vlad was born January 12, 1965. His "Date of Military Service Application" was April 26, 1984. This memoir really began when an officer walked up to Vlad at a distribution center and asked, "Do you want to serve in the commandos, the Blue Berets?" Vlad kept a tiny calendar where he crossed off his six hundred and twenty-one days, one-at-a-time. Vlad kept detailed records of each mission he participated in. He had his own little code, shown in this memoir. Two hundred and seventeen of those days were spent on combat missions. In addition to Vlad's coded diary, he secretly took many photographs. This book has dozens of the pictures littered throughout, and makes a powerful impact on those who read it.
***** Vlad, a minesweeper, portrays the horrors of war in vivid details. The reader can almost hear the explosions nearby and smell the fear of being shot at. Once you have read THIS book, you will never forget it! *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch.
ANOTHER STUPID BUT PAINFUL CONFLICT..............2003-11-14
A truly moving personal account about the War in Afghanistan by Vladimir Tamarov, born in 1965 in Leningrad, who served twenty months in that conflict. The many faces of evil in war, the coming of age from boy to man, the senseless killing of human beings, are topics that powerfully emerge from Tamarov's "diary of war". The book contains truly interesting photographs which tell a tale of haunted faces, fear, beautiful landscapes, the quiet moments of relaxation before doom and mayhem, camaraderie, that visually transport you to that nonsensical conflict.
The pictures captions come from the author's war diary. They reach, at times, powerful lyrical levels when dwelling about the central issues of the "personal experience of participation" in war. But at the end, the revelations about the stupidly conceived privileges of the brass, the manipulation of the gun ho adrenaline of the young soldiers, the doubts about the sense and rightness of the fight , the telling dreams about the horror of the annihilation of the innocents, all fade away.
Only the ultimate reflection of the fighting soldier, in all the wars that have been fought, remains, with detailed form. You are there only to survive and protect the guy next to you in the foxhole, the only one who really cares about you when the bullets are flying around. The most difficult and daunting times in the life of a young man, who has fought as a soldier and survived to tell the tale, are here, poignantly, but at the same time with sad detachment, recalled in a manner that will make you think profoundly about the banality of war. Kudos to the author for this inspired personal diary, about his experience in Afghanistan. A review by your friend Luciano Lupini.
Customer Reviews:
Great Picture Book for the Casually Interested.......2006-05-14
I slowly worked my way through this book over that last year and learned quite a lot from it. From the contents of Neolithic villiages to the slow evolution on Cuniform script from it's origional pictograms. I was fascinated by the Assyrian's system of empire. A system that kept things in tact so well that the subsequent empires of the Babylonians, Medes, Persions, and Greeks were able to conquer vast swaths of the world in releativly short time spans.
I kind of a technically minded person so it's easy for me to forget that this is a "Cultural Atlas". The book is filled with full-color pictures of ancient art ranging from every-day pottery to artifacts from the greatest temples and palaces of their times.
I'm a born-again Christian and one reason I got this book to try to get a glimpse of what cultures influenced the ancient Hebrews of the Old Testament and to see what evidence actually exists of the Hebrew monarchy besides the bible and temple ruins (Answer - not a lot). Roaf does give the Hebrews an honorable mention and often mentions how archaeologists use passages from the Old Testament as a cross-refernce to literature and records from neighboring cultures.
I gave the book 5 stars but it does have it's flaws. Many of the figures have a baffling lack of legend and captions to allow a better understanding of what, when, and where one is looking at. Sometimes one has to look real hard at the map figures to understand exactly what part of Mesopotamia one is looking at as there is no indication of scale or landmarks.
The figures were only a minor nuisance. Get this book for the great array of photographs and easy read.
INCORRECT CRITICISM.......2006-02-16
I was re-reading the above book and saw the comments of 'Susanna', who faulted the book because of a lack of information associated with the pictures shown. He/she is entirely wrong -- and in addition no one else commented in this (supposed) fault.
Each photo I saw (all) not only gave a good description, but, contrary to many similar type books, indicates from where each item was/is to be found. This is a definite 'plus'.
This is an incorrect and inaccurate criticism.
Lots of pictures, lots of information.......2005-10-16
This is an incredibly informative read with hundreds of beautiful photographs throughout. Its very factual and seems current with its research. Roaf does not waste time on speculation - he simply states the facts as they have been uncovered and leaves it up to the reader to infer meaning and implication. I read this as a text for a college course and found it loaded with info (overwhelming at times). But it having a professor explain the hows and whys was crucial.
Disorganized and hard to follow.......2004-12-10
I found this book really wordy and confusing. The images are not numbered and do not have full refrenced captions, which makes finding infomation on a particualar image very difficult. Also, the chapters are in chronological order, yet several images and some information is not in the chapter of the correct time period. This would be fine if those images from a time period other than what the chapter covers were being compared to images from the time period, but they are not ever that i noticed.
Good overview of the "Cradle of Civilization".......2004-07-14
This atlas covers the historical development of the ancient Near East (with an emphasis on ancient Mesopotamia) from Paleolithic times to the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great. Michael Roaf does an excellent job of illustrating the book with color photos of artifacts, stone inscriptions, and maps that reinforce the discussion in the text. At appropriate points in the book, special features are included that focus on specific archaelogical sites around the Middle East as well as on significant cultural and scientific developments that occurred.
The main part of the book is 223 pages long, of which approximately half is devoted to photos, maps, and features. However, this is not simply a picture book; the atlas also includes a historical narrative that I found to be quite engaging and accessible for a general reader like myself. Additionally, besides being a good introduction to ancient Mesopotamia, this atlas provides a wealth of archaelogical data that may serve as a good reference for those who are undergoing more advanced reading. Examples of such data include the layout of existing ruins, geographical distributions of archaelogical finds, and a gazetteer that provides the coordinates of ancient sites in the Middle East.
On the negative side, I found that the index often provided faulty page references to subjects and a few typos can be found throughout the text. Nevetheless, these blemishes do not take away from the book's main goal of providing an illustrated introduction to ancient Mesopotamia for the general reader.
I understand that Checkmark Books (who published this atlas in 1990) has recently published a new book entitled "The Historical Atlas of Ancient Mesopotamia" by Norman Hunt. I have not seen this more recent book nor have I read any reviews about it, but potential buyers may wish to inquire about it before purchasing the 1990 atlas.
In any event, I think that "The Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East" would be a valuable addition to the library of anyone who is interested in ancient history. I know that this book will be in my collection for a long time to come.
Average customer rating:
|
Ancient Mesopotamia (Cultural Atlas for Young People)
Erica C. D. Hunter
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Teens
| Subjects
| Books
| Audiobooks
| Authors, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Health, Mind & Body
| History & Historical Fiction
| Horror
| Literature & Fiction
| Manga
| Mysteries
| Reference
| Religion & Spirituality
| School & Sports
| Science & Technology
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Series
| Social Issues
Customs, Traditions, Anthropology
| Social Science
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Atlases
| Reference & Nonfiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Ancient
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Atlases
| Atlases & Maps
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0816068240 |
Book Description
THE HUMAN BRAIN is a single-authored, core introductory neuroscience text that describes the structure and function of the brain and nervous system. The text covers the neuroanatomy that medical and other healthcare students need, with expanded coverage of neurophysiology and inclusion of clinical content providing real-life application of neuroanatomy and neurophysiologic concepts to clinical neurologic disorders. Its readability and enhanced full-color illustrations make it a favorite among both students and faculty.
Customer Reviews:
Concise and perfect for Med Students.......2007-09-06
I'm doing neuroscience research before applying to medical school. The suite of Nolte's "The Human Brain" books are part of a course i'm currently taking here that's Med School level Basic human neuroanatomy. The study guide is a perfect complement to the textbook and photographs books.
Amazing ook.......2007-07-27
This is an amazing book, It's easy to read, good graphics, It's everything you need for completely understand of the human brain anatomy.
Anatomy oriented.......2006-11-10
It is a very good book. It is concise in its explanations and the details are enough for someone who needs an anatomical view of the brain as opposed to a cellular or molecular approach. The pictures are fantastic. I use them for clarification all the time.
Very readable.......2005-05-13
I found this book to be quite readable for a textbook. The chapter on vasculature of the brain was invaluable when it came to providing a background for a professor's unreadable and textually-sparse lecture notes. It isn't as dense as Moore and Dailey's Clinically Oriented Anatomy is with details or specifics of anatomy, but it's still reasonably complete while remaining readable. (Of course, I'm just comparing style, not content, as Moore and Dailey don't really cover the brain in any detail in that text, so are basically useless for neuroanatomy.) I don't usually read textbooks when lecture notes are available, but this text was an exception. With the neurology block coming at the end of my first year of medical school, I needed a change in study methods to keep my brain from exploding and found that this worked. The electron micrographs in it are great, as well. At least with the histology photos, I kept getting distracted from the text to look at the pictures and read the captions -- it's always nice when you get distracted from studying by your studies.
Great Intro.......2004-01-01
This is an awesome textbook if you are interested in studying the human brain. It is a good introductory book.
Books:
- Myself and Strangers: A Memoir of Apprenticeship
- On the Brink: The Life and Leadership of Norman Brinker
- Power, Privilege and the Post: The Katharine Graham Story
- Profiles of Power and Success: Fourteen Geniuses Who Broke the Rules
- Provolone in the Casket: Memoirs of a Mortician
- Radicals & Visionaries: Entrepreneurs Who Revolutionized the 20th Century
- Riding the Bull:: My Year in the Madness at Merrill Lynch
- Right Worthy Grand Mission: Maggie Lena Walker and the Quest for Black Economic Empowerment
- Roughnecks, Drillers, and Tool Pushers: Thirty-Three Years in the Oil Fields (Personal Narratives of West Series)
- Roy D. Chapin: The Man Behind the Hudson Motor Car Company (Great Lakes Books)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside
- A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
- Zora Neale Hurston : Novels and Stories : Jonah's Gourd Vine / Their Eyes Were Watching God / Moses,
- Who Am I, God
- What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World: Your Guide to Today's Hot Spots, Hot Sh
- Adaptive Information: Improving Business Through Semantic Interoperability, Grid Computing, and Ente
- A Feast for Crows
- The End of the House of Lancaster
- Visions and Vanities: John Andrew Rice of Black Mountain College
- How to Know the Seed Plants
