Wars, Women & Other Wonders

Book Description

Here is a book written without the slightest nod to political correctness. It assumes that the reader and writer are equals in every way: intelligence, experience and the ability to exert common sense. The author is not trying to sell anything or prove anything, it is presented as friends in earnest discussion with a few comic breaks thrown in. It is a collection of thoughts from a man who has done everything from work in a labor gang to founding a non-profit organization devoted to philosophy. Who worked as a janitor to get through college and became CEO of five corporations. Who抯 been rich and poor and believes that the sole primary purpose of human existence is learning.

Customer Reviews:

Wars, Women & Other Wonders.......2004-02-21

Challenging, interesting, fun and just good reading. Keep this one handy because you will read it over and over. Excellent bedtime or any short time reading because each short item will bring you something to think about.

Book Description

People need inspiration like never before-stories of legendary, faith- filled heroes who met amazing obstacles with courage, perseverance, and even joy. . .stories of godly men and women who changed the world. Barbour's retooled Heroes of the Faith series is back with additional titles-compelling, easy-to-read biographies of missionaries, evangelists, and others who made their mark for Christ beyond the walls of the church. Adults and adolescents alike will be inspired by the commitment, sacrifice, and wisdom of these great Christian leaders. Heroes of the Faith-the name says it all!

Customer Reviews:

Great retelling of Billy Sunday's life. For everyone from 8 to 88.......2006-06-17

This book was a biography of one of America's greatest evangelists. From his childhood growing up in Iowa to his becoming one of the best baseball players at the end of the 19th century & ultimately showing his love & passion for not only Christ but for every unsaved soul in America & beyond. He not only was a great preacher, he was a great American & showed it by helping & providing for troops & other gov't. establishments. This is definately a book that will keep your interest & attention from start to finish!!! Very inspirational; enjoy!!

Book Description

Thomas Quinn Curtiss has reunited George Jean Nathan with his cohort, H.L. Mencken together with the rest of their set: Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Edmund Wilson, Sean O'Casey, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Alfred Knopf, Jack London and Somerset Maugham. The magnificent abandon of their enterprise and the hard drinking Bohemian wisdom of their writing propelled them and fueled generations of readers with their wit and philosophy. This is a biography of an era of men whose stories could only be written by an eyewitness.

Customer Reviews:

Names dropped with a thud.......2007-05-01

The term `public intellectual' was not used early in the 20th century, and it is a poor phrase now, but it does describe the position of George Jean Nathan and Henry Mencken in the period from about 1908 to 1926, when they stopped collaborating.

They were two lucky young men, the last to be able to make a living as boulevardiers before radio and film ruined that profession; and because the early 20th century offered plenty to jeer at. They were good at it, but, as Thomas Quinn Curtiss makes painfully clear, they were not very discerning critics.

Their problem was they hardly knew when to stop jeering, although they did from time to time, for example Nathan's promotion of Eugene O'Neill. (In an amusing publisher's advertisement at the back of the book -- how very 1915ish -- O'Neill is credited with making Nathan, while Curtiss avers, but hardly demonstrates, that it was the other way round.)

Mencken is still read but Nathan, who was rather higher style, is known as a name from the '20s, like Djuna Barnes, but his 50 books are forgotten. Excerpts in 'The Smart Set' show why. He kept his boyish looks into his 40s, and his boyish and collegiate humor as well. Looking back, it seems odd that such a callow fellow could have gained the reputation of the suavest American. Though, it's true, the competition was thin.

Curtiss knew both men, though it is not clear how well, and with a lifetime of his own around the theater (as a critic at the International Herald Tribune), he was in a position to have written a well-informed, stylish memoir of two men who were all about style. He did not do so. Perhaps he began too late. `The Smart Set' was published in 1998, when Curtiss was about 83.

It is a confusing mishmash, held together neither by chronology nor theme. Much of it is a listing of names, most of which anybody living in the 21st century has never heard of. The book is replete with anecdotes, which will be of interest to those who are interested by literary and, especially, theatrical anecdotes; but there is little else to recommend them.

A memoir of Mencken and Nathan demands, at least, panache. `The Smart Set' is written with all the verve of an encyclopedia article, and wretchedly edited. Names are misspelled (along with much else), errors of fact are common (Provincetown is not in Rhode Island) and episodes are introduced then never concluded. A wretched production.

Average customer rating:

The Smart Set, Vol. LXIX, No. 4
eds. George Jean Nathan & H. L. Mencken
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QY50V4

The Smart Set. June, 1916. Vol. XLIX No. 2

Average customer rating:

The Smart Set. June, 1916. Vol. XLIX No. 2
eds. George Jean Nathan & H. L. Mencken
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QY50VE

Customer Reviews:

No color...baaaad........2007-04-05

I agree with the other reviewer in that the lack of color is a huge detriment to an otherwise pretty good book. I grew up in the 1960s and the family traveled to South Florida every year...I mostly remember the Sunshine State amd its attractions to be big and really colorful. Most of the photograghy in this book seems shrunk down and lacks detail. Countless times I found myself squinting and wishing the photos were bigger and in color. The book is informative and there are plenty of illustrations, but alas just "OK" because of all that darn B&W.

Why all the black and white?.......2004-04-10

This is an excellent resource of information on old roadside attractions but what a disappointment the visuals are. Half of the fun is seeing these places in color yet except for an 8 page section in the center all the rest of the book is small b/w photos of things you know had to be from color sources. It spoils an otherwise excellent resource.

Next Stuckeys 15,000 miles!.......2003-09-24

To those of us unfortunate enough not to have been alive during the period this book encapsulates, Hollis brings it to life with this thoroughly well researched tome regarding the roadside attractions that littered the South before the Disney Corp came to central Florida.

Pre Disney, pre interstate, pre most things, some of the attractions are cute, some look awful and other just downright bizarre. I wholeheartedly recommed this book for adult readers of any age.

Nostalgia without irony.......2003-03-14

Tim Hollis' book is an entertaining, informative, and evocative tour of the glory days of tourism in the South -- mostly before the arrival of the interstate highway system, but certainly, as the title suggests, before the opening of Walt Disney World in 1965 changed the nature of vacations. A veteran of many of the roads and roadside stops pictured here, Hollis has a real feel ... and a real affection ... for his topic. In these hip days, when so many writers feel the need to ridicule or treat with arched eyebrow anything less sophisticated and post-modern than *right now,* it's very pleasant to read a book about popular culture and "commercial archaeology" that's not encrusted in irony.

This book is also a celebration of Southern culture, especially that part of Southern culture that developed in order to separate visiting Yankees from their money. For, as Hollis notes, it was the arrival in the South of northern vacationers seeking warmer weather that prompted the birth and growth of the attractions listed here. It also promoted a number of important, and lasting, businesses. Among the companies born in the South to capitalize on the tourist trade, KFC (of course), Popeye's Chicken, Long John Silver, Red Lobster, Burger King, Hardee's, and Holiday Inn are just some of the more recognizable names.

From water parks to Wild West shows, Cypress Gardens to Stone Mountain, Dogpatch USA and the Grand Ole Opry to Stuckey's and countless attractions now nearly forgotten, this book is a great nostalgia ride through a largely vanished time. If you were fortunate enough to have seen that time, this book may bring back some happy memories. And if this is your first time through you may find yourself wondering what you're missing as you cruise in air-conditioned comfort on the soulless interstate.

Fun Read filled with Memories.......2003-01-30

Tim Hollis has done a great job of showcasing the unique, quirky, and sometimes down right bizarre, attractions of the South. I, too, am a Southerner and I miss the days when Gulf Shores was not more than a few cottages on the beach. I enjoyed reading about the places I remember and the ones I never knew. This writer has done a wonderful service by perserving the memories of a bygone era.

Dixie Before Disney: 100 Years of Roadside Fun.: An article from: Journal of Southern History

Average customer rating:

Dixie Before Disney: 100 Years of Roadside Fun.: An article from: Journal of Southern History
Robert E. Snyder
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008HO1GE
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on February 1, 2001. The length of the article is 777 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Dixie Before Disney: 100 Years of Roadside Fun.
Author: Robert E. Snyder
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2001
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 67 Issue: 1 Page: 222

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Dixie Before Disney 100 Years of Roadside Fun

Average customer rating:

Dixie Before Disney 100 Years of Roadside Fun
Hollis Tim
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UIMS2K

Book Description

Smart thinking--but not straight thinking. To crack these brain-testing puzzles you can't go for the obvious: instead, be a little "twisted" and look at the problem from a new perspective. Most are in the form of tricky little mysteries...and you won't rest till you've figured them out. The strange situations will test your assumptions, open your mind, and encourage creative questioning. Try this to see what they're like:

A foreign visitor to London wanted to ride up the escalator at the subway station, but did not do so. Why?

Could you guess the reason is that he saw a sign saying "Dogs must be carried"--and he didn't have a dog! At first, it you may think you don't have all the information needed to arrive at the answers--but persist and you'll solve them all. Don't worry: in case you need some help, there's a clues page!

Book Description

Content management, blogs, and online forums are among the most significant online trends today, and Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress are three of the most popular open source applications facilitating these trends.

Drupal is a full content management system that allows you to create any type of website you desire, from an e-commerce to a community-based site. phpBB enables you to set up a bulletin board or forum. And WordPress is the software of choice for the exploding blog community. All three technologies are based on PHP and MySQL.

Building Online Communities with Drupal, phpBB, and Wordpress is authored by a team of experts. Robert T. Douglass recently created the Drupal-powered blog site NowPublic.com. Mike Little is a founder and contributing developer of the WordPress project. And Jared W. Smith has been a longtime support team member of phpBBHacks.com and has been building sites with phpBB since the first beta releases.

Customer Reviews:

Theres Advanced, Basic and This book - Way To Simple!.......2007-03-31

This is basically an outline for beginners ONLY. If you expect to be able to move on past simple installation and configuration, save your money! The software Drupal, phpBB and wordpress are all excellent programs. This book is an introduction to each and has nothing to do with building online communities. Way to simple. SORRY!!!

Great book for beginners.......2007-02-24

I have no problem saying I am a wanna be computer person. This book helped me so much and it was written for people like me who don't know a whole lot. I originally thought Drupal would fit my needs until I read the WordPress portion and then decided WordPress would work better for me. If you are looking for a no nonsense but not too over the top book, I highly recommend this one.

Useful comparison, cursory treatment of each topic.......2007-02-15

This book was useful for comparing and contrasting Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress. Before reading this book, one might have reasonably wanted to use Drupal where phpBB would have been a better and simpler choice, or tried to use phpBB when something with the power of Drupal was required. Having all three technologies in one place was useful in doing the compare/contrast required to make the decision.

However, the treatment of each technology is cursory. Having used the book to decide that I needed to use Drupal for my site, I did not find the book sufficiently detailed for me to do that successfully. The description of the Book module, which the author correctly describes as one of the most useful in Drupal, warranted only three pages. There's not much as far as best practices or warnings about what not to do, so it's hard to use the book as the sole source of information about building your site.

It's useful for its ability to help choose between apparently similar technologies, and it outlines the capabilities of each in a way that may make it easier to use a more detailed book on one of these three topics. However, you will need at least one more book.

Very basic.......2006-08-25

Good for a beginning administrator but that is about. I almost bought this book for the Drupal stuff. But it was just way to basic. I was looking for more information on the internals and how things worked not a how-to for the novice.

Excellent resource for the beginning developer.......2006-08-09

I bought this book mainly for the Drupal section but the entire book is done quite well. The Drupal section is excellent and really walks you through everything from installation to modules to maintenance. The Themes section could have been a little more in-depth.

This book is perfect for anyone that is interested in any of the three topics that have very little experience with them. This book could certainly serve as a reference for doing small things within each app. Very good read!

Book Description

This highly sought manual - until now available only to this elite cadre of specially trained SEALs - contains the complete program by which SEAL snipers train, equip and operate. Included are precise instructions and exclusive, clear photos for target sighting, aiming, trigger control, aircraft takedown, range estimation, helo insertion, ship boarding, stalking, marksmanship and more.

Customer Reviews:

From the fist step to the last in sniping.......2000-07-20

From the fist step to the last in sniping, no words just read it.

Amazon.com

During World War II, hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported from the Balkan states to labor and extermination camps in Germany and Poland. Bulgaria, with a Jewish population of only 50,000, sided with Hitler's government early on, its king having become convinced that only with German aid could he successfully press his territorial claims to land lost to Greece and Romania. Yet, in the face of constant German demands, Bulgaria's government refused to deport the nation's Jewish citizens. Instead, as the Bulgarian-born Israeli politician Michael Bar-Zohar writes in this fine contribution to Holocaust studies, "the Bulgarian Jews became the only Jewish community in the Nazi sphere of influence whose number increased during World War II." Bar-Zohar attributes the Bulgarian government's successful resistance to a general absence of anti- Semitism among the populace: most Bulgarian Jews were of the working class and had long since been culturally assimilated; even many of the ardent fascists in the government opposed their being murdered. To be sure, Bar-Zohar writes, the Jews of Bulgaria were persecuted--yet thanks to the efforts of leaders like the parliamentarian Dimiter Peshev and the cleric Metropolitan Stefan, they were spared the terrible fate of so many other Jews in the region. Bar-Zohar's book recounts an almost unknown episode of World War II history through a well-told, fast-paced narrative. --Gregory McNamee

Customer Reviews:

highly derivative, revisionist on Bulgarian pogroms.......2005-04-03

I really wonder about the expertise of the author and the rave reviews of this volume. first of all it is extremely derivativ of Groueff's work. but it leaves one important episode and glosses over another. Firstly Bulgaria's Jewish population was the victim of one of the worst pogroms in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. Most Bulgarian Jews had fled to Greece and Turkey by the the 1920's. The Bulgarians considered us a foreign element, and Bulgria was convulsed by an exremely, and certainly for the Balkans, a uniquely, nasty anti-Semitism.

Jews from all over the countryside fled. Yes, a portion of the Jewish community in Sofia remained. They in turn survived the Holocaust in slighly higher numbers than the rest of Europe.

One of the reasons might have been that the Bulgrain military was gladly (and that is not subjective but from documents in much more serious studies) roudnign up the Jewish populations in neighboring territories they were hoping to claim during WWII.

My family was forced to flee Bulgaria to Salonica in Greece in 1914. The Greeks there had bias's but were never as anti-Semeitic as the Bulgarians. Thirty years later it was Bulgarian trooops who rounded up most of my family when they occupied northern Greece and sent them to the death camps.

This volume is a very strange revisionism, which out of a very narrow snpashot in time (1944), at a very narrow geographic place (Sofia only) attempts to draw a wider conclusion that simply isn't true.

Beyond Hitler's Grasp.......2004-01-18

Serious errors in documentation and unnecessary repetition mar this otherwise interesting work. Bar-Zohar cited Groueff's Crown of Thorns repeatedly, yet even more often copies large sections from Groueff's work verbatim and without acknowledgement. This is extremely disturbing in a supposedly professional historical study. The only area in which Bar-Zohar seems to go out on his own is the period following King Boris' death, an area outside the scope of Groueff's study. For that time period the work is useful; otherwise, read Crown of Thorns instead, or at least, read it first.

How decent people behave.......2003-11-13

This story, nearly invisible in the Western World, is one that deserves to be told. The outline is basic. In 1943, after prolonging the acceptance of a partially coerced alliance with Nazi Germany, Bulgaria found itself ordered to deport its Jewish population to Poland. After recently being essentially handed new territories in what later became Yugoslavia (the main reason Bulgaria accepted the alliance), Bulgaria did `turn over' the Jews living in the new territory. But the somewhat nervous and timid King Boris III managed at the last minute to cancel the order for deportation of the Jewish population within Bulgaria itself. Twice. And at the end of the war, none of Bulgaria's Jews had been sent away, a saving of over fifty thousand lives that would otherwise have met the same fate as millions of others. What happened?

This is the central question of Beyond Hitler's Grasp, Michael Bar-Zohar's tribute to a Bulgarian society that stood up virtually as a whole and said "No way" to Hitler's demands.

The book attempts to answer the questions of what Bulgaria did right, and how, and why. And also what it did wrong. For even though all of Bulgaria's Jews survived the deportation attempt, Bulgarian troops did contribute strongly to the deportation of twelve thousand Macedonian Jews in land that made up `Greater Bulgaria'. I use the term in quotes, just as I use the term `turn over' above in quotes because the most fundamental part of the answer is simple. Germany conquered those territories, and it considered them to be its own. Giving them to Bulgaria was at least in part an act. No one doubted who was really in command there. But the problem remains. Bulgarian troops did help out there. This question is addressed many times in the book, including a few chapters devoted to it.

The reader can decide for himself if Bulgaria sufficiently resisted Germany's demands up to that point. Clearly it was in a no-win situation, which two powerful countries facing each other, and their own small country caught in the middle. For what it is worth, besides deporting none of its Jews, Bulgarian troops, which the exception of a small air raid, played no role in any military confrontation with Allied forces.

So to the central question. Why did so many elements of Bulgarian society rise up against the deportation? Why did some of those responsible for keeping the plans secret not do so, instead informing Jewish leaders? Why did influential men petition the government and king for a change of mind? Why did most of the minority parties and a good part of the ruling majority of parliament petition for a change? Why did groups as disparate as a few pro German right wingers and the communist party oppose the deportation? Why did people march on the streets against it? After these questions, it almost seems pointless to ask why the king finally got the backbone to change his policy and make it stick, when he proved so malleable on other issues. What is clear is that he did, then, finally tell the German high command that there would be no deportation, even if he didn't stand up and say "forget about it", rather than constantly making excuses, offering delays, and explaining the troubles a deportation would face.

These questions are, of course, better answered in the personal stories told within the text. The basic answer is that Bulgarians stood up for their Jews because they never considered them to be alien, or different, or strange, or any of the other even worse accusations other societies were willing to believe. They believed back in the forties the way too many people fail to do today, that Judaism was just a different religion, and not at all worth getting worked up over. It probably also helped that the Jewish population in Bulgaria spoke Bulgarian and did not live in separate communities. In short, and admittedly over-simplifying, Bulgaria had already solved its religious problems.

The author does not hide his admiration for Bulgarian society, which his own family is descended from before they moved to Israel. He is, I think, justifiably puzzled at why so little of this story is known outside Bulgaria. Considering that Bulgaria was tucked away behind the Iron Curtain for forty years, it shouldn't be so surprising that the West did not find out much during the intervening decades. Also considering that the Communist party inflated its own role and eliminated others, casting doubt on the whole event, perhaps this absence is not so surprising. But considering that we now all know stories like Oskar Schindler's, and that other countries like Denmark have had their stories told, it's time to give Bulgaria the honor due to it for simple humanity during its darkest hour.

A Fascinating Account Of A Dark Moment In History.......2002-06-26

Beyond Hitler's Grasp is a fine account of Bulgaria's position during the Holocaust. Michael Bar Zohar gives a good summary of the events that led to Bulgaria's controversial alliance with Hitler's Germany. However, there were certainly enough humanitarians in Bulgaria to spare the Jews of the fate that their bretheren in other countries suffered.

What is certainly captivating is King Boris' role in trying to appease all sides. He want Bulgaria to recapture the land it lost to Turkey therefore leading to the temporary alliance with Germany. However, there were still some common relations with the Russians that kept Bulgaria from fully participating in Word War II on a military basis.

King Boris never had any problem with the Jews. The King had many Jewish associates. Furthermore, many of the Jews blended into Bulgarian society without calling attention to themselves except when being persecuted by Belev and his cronies. Even though Boris was described as weak willed, somehow his non-confrontational atitude held Hitler at bay to save the lives of 50,000 Jews. Its too bad he did not extend himself for the Jews of Thrace and Macedonia.

Nonetheless, its a shame and a travesty that more of an attempt to thwart Hitler's reign of terror did not occur. Countries like Poland and France could have learned something from Bulgaria's unique relationship with its mainland Jews.

This is an easy to read but detailed account of this critical period of World History. I would highly recommend this Bulgarian perspective as a comprehensive overview of the events of the Holocaust.

The Truth.......2002-02-04

A wonderfull book, which for a first time describes the saving of the 50000 Bulgarian jews. This fact has been known in Bulgaria, but nowhere else (except in Israel, where there is a monument built to King Boris). Sometimes I think it is initially hidden by the Western press, which is used to making business out of Holocaust stories, but has always neglected Bulgaria. It is true that the Bulgarian police arrested 7000 Macedonian jews, but the fact is that not a single of the 50000 Bulgarian jews died in the concentration camps (a few, however, were killed in the gorilla war against the Germans).
Bulgaria, which has a population of less than eight million people has been living for hundreds of years in peace with its Jews, almost a million Turks(which were killing us during the 500 years of the Ottoman Empire), half a million gypsies, armenians and many others. After all that the United States and Western Europe today are trying to imply that the rights of the minorities are suppressed. Weren't you suppressing the human rights of the 6000000 jews when you put them on the trains to Poland and Germany, dear Europeans? Shame on you.
Meanwhile, big stories are made about Schindler for the 2000 jews he saved. Mr. Spielberg, read about Bulgaria!

Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: 67 Digestible Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life
Average customer rating:

Fascinating Chemistry

Excellent all-round entertaining read.

Absolutely wonderful!!!

Fun and illuminating for the chemist and non-chemist alike

At Last: Chemistry for Humans!

Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: 67 Digestible Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life
Joe Schwarcz
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805074074

Book Description

Have you ever wondered about the science behind Alice's strange adventures in Wonderland, Casanova's experiments with "Spanish Fly," and zombies in Haiti? In Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs, chemist and columnist Dr. Joe Schwarcz offers 67 entertaining essays exploring these and other delightful nooks and crannies of chemistry. Investigate the nefarious chemistry of the KGB, the colors of urine, and the mysteries of baldness. Learn how shampoos really work, and discover which cleaning agents must never be combined. Get rid of that skunk smell in a jiffy, and get a whiff of what's behind the act of passing gas. Read about the ups and downs of underwear, the invention of gunpowder, Van Gogh's brain, John Dillinger's chemical exploits, and Dinshah Ghadiali's bizarre attempts to cure disease with colored lights. Finally, discover the amazing links between radar, hula hoops, and playful pigs! Written by popular media personality Dr. Joe Schwarcz, this 1999 Canadian best-seller is proof positive that a little intellectual dip into the vast ocean of chemistry can not only be useful but pleasurable as well.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Chemistry.......2005-10-14

I really enjoyed this book. Though slow at times, it was livened up with witty anectdotes and mature bathroom humor. The book describes the chemistry of everything from why your urine is yellow to how voodoo zombies actually occur. You will find out more than you wanted to know about everyday chemistry, and it might change your views on some things. The story of the namesake of the book describes the use of high density plastics to make radars work in airplanes, to build hula hoops, and high density plastic balls for pigs.

Excellent all-round entertaining read........2004-08-01

Surprisingly, a book about science that is unbiased, very informative and an easy and enjoyable read! I would most definitely recommend this book to anybody with an interest in not just science and chemistry but also to those who wonder how modern society got to where it is. You'll find information about everyday items found around the house and in the workplace that is insightful, interesting and applicable to everybody. Not to mention the added bonus of being able to surprise your acquaintances with fascinating small talk! A surefire pleasing read for anyone.

Absolutely wonderful!!!.......2003-08-06

This is perfect for anyone interested in how various products were developed, health aspects of chemistry, or the history of various chemical discoveries. As a high school science teacher I am always looking for anecdotes regarding various science topics. This is perfect!! Lots of fun!
Thanks Joe.

Fun and illuminating for the chemist and non-chemist alike.......2002-11-18

Dr. Schwarcz is well-known throughout Canada (and especially, the University of McGill in Montreal) as being the consummate chemistry lecturer. His courses are filled with anecdotes, demonstrations, and humour. He has translated his infectious interest in chemistry to the written word, and the result is a fascinating book that you will enjoy reading, and likely refer to again and again when someone asks, "I wonder why....?" As the title promises, the book is a series of short anecdotes about a variety of chemical subjects. For example, the titular "radar, hula hoops, and playful pigs" gives the connection between these three items (airborne radar, hula hoops, and pig playtoys are all made from the same polymer). The majority of the essays revolve around health, probably reflecting both the author's training (as a carbohydrate chemist) and society's bias.

Schwarcz has two underlying, scientific themes. Science in general, and chemistry in particular, is neither good nor evil - it's the context/use of chemistry that gives a moral distinction. Likewise, chemical effects are generally driven by amount - arsenic is not poisonous in low enough concentrations, while water is deadly under certain conditions (if inhaled, for example). The second point is to make the reader a skeptical consumer. He gives numerous examples of good science vs. bad science - a product trotting out "testimonials" is not evidence that it will work in all cases (or even in the majority of cases!). That's not to say the book gets bogged down in details. His writing style is sharp, witty, and concise. The book can be picked up and read from any point, and you'll still learn something interesting.

I am a chemist, and can assure the chemists considering this book that the science is accurate. It's not the standard sugar-coated fare that appears on television. Likewise, a non-scientist will be able to easily understand the material because Schwarcz never resorts to lingo without first explaining it (for "proof" I point to my mother, who was an English major in university and who enjoyed the parts of the book she's read). Therefore, this book can be recommended to the widest audience, and all will find it informative and enjoyable.

At Last: Chemistry for Humans!.......2001-10-14

I love this book! I can't wait to read the sequel! Dr. Schwarcz has a way of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, and making you actually care about chemistry. His secret is that instead of lecturing about chemistry for chemistry's sake, he uses chemistry to make sense of the nagging little questions of everyday life (Why is shampoo so foamy? Why does skunk smell come back the day after you wash it off your dog?). He also brings to light the people behind chemical discoveries, and has a knack for showing how their personal quirks led them to discoveries that changed the world. If you like chemistry, you will like this book. If you HATE chemistry (like I do) you will love this book!

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