Henry Ford: Mass Production, Modernism and Design (Studies in Design and Material Culture)

Book Description

St. Andrews resident, David Joy, was presenting his one-man act on the life of Old Tom Morris with Prince Andrew in attendance. The performance chronicled the early days of golf and life in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As part of his act, Joy had meticulously assembled a scrapbook of Old Toms life. After the performance, Prince Andrew insisted he could not do without the scrapbook.

Customer Reviews:

Worthy Tribute to the Pioneers of Professional Golf.......2002-04-04

Old Tom Morris lived to the age of eighty-seven, witnessing, and being a major part of, the development of a sport which is now played all over the world (and once on the moon). It is therefore extraordinary that this seems to be the only book dedicated to his life; or even to this time in golf's history. Prior to this publication, the exceptional characters of the time - Old Tom Morris, Willie Park, Allan Robertson, Young Tom Morris - have merited only the occasional paragraph in golfing encyclopedia.

Compiled as an actor's stage prop - from sources including the golfer's actual book of cuttings - it has the feel of a genuine, beautifully bound scrapbook: its not-quite chronological order, happy-accident compilation seems the sort of thing someone would put together in their spare time. This adds enormously to the book's appeal - starkly setting out a man's life in cuttings and photographs, with no explanatory notes, proves very moving.

Though this fresh approach to biography allows the reader to interpret material free of the bias normally brought by the author, it also means it is free of any correction: the original authors of the clippings would, no doubt, have their own agenda, as would the person collecting the material. Another disadvantage of this format is that it lacks a social context: sporting event takes precedence, leaving the world around relatively unimportant (reading 'A Century of the Scottish People 1830-1950' T C Smout, would help the reader fill this gap). This book gives the initial impression that the golfing professional was a rich man of high status, which runs contrary to other sources which suggest that he was not welcome within clubhouses, and that much of his income was reliant on club and ball making; his wealthy backers being the main benificiaries of his golfing talent.

These points aside, the book contains a huge amount of information which will keep anyone interested in history and/or golf fascinated for years. I would suggest you find a comfortable chair, pour a generous glass of whisky (28 year old Springbank as a preference), open a page of this book at random and look back one hundred and fifty years at the pioneers who look exactly like their contemporaries in the wild west, except rifles are replaced by golf clubs.

Book Description

Ramon Novarro was Ben-Hur to moviegoers long before Charlton Heston. The 1926 film of Lew Wallace's epic novel made Novarro-known as "Ravishing Ramon"-one of Hollywood's most beloved silent film idols. His bright and varied career, spanning silents, talkies, the concert stage, theater, and television, came to a dark conclusion with his murder in 1968.

Ellenberger's comprehensive presentation of Novarro's life chronicles his days in Mexico during the Huerta Revolution, as well as his reign as one of Hollywood's leading romantic actors, working with stars like Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, and Helen Hayes. This biography covers Novarro's descent into alcoholism and despair over his homosexuality and his waning career, finally culminating in a grisly murder that has caused Novarro to be remembered more as a victim than as a star. The author has researched both the private and public aspects of Novarro's life to return him to his rightful place in film history. The text includes a complete filmography, and photographs from Novarro's life and work.

Customer Reviews:

depth was lacking.......1999-09-12

I was disapointed in reading this bio.It left so many things unanswered, in my opinion.Mr.Novarro deserved something more than a thumbnail sketch of his life.I felt that the author skimmed the reader through Mr.Novarros' life.I came away knowing mostly that he was Gay, and had a drinking problem.Not much of a legacy,not much of anything else.The author might read Marie Dresslers' recent bio, or William Haines' bio, or "Charles Chaplin, the man and his times" to understand how details add so much to the overall read, itself.

A very good read, but not a great read. I longed for more........1999-07-13

Being a Ramon Novarro fan, I was elated that a biography was finally written on this legendary film star. I give a tremendous amount of credit to the author. His extensive research has paid off. The filmography at the end especially stands out; very detailed. The only drawback that I saw with the book, is that the sentence structure was simplistic for the most part. It read more like a news report than a story. I did notice that the last few chapters, beginning with the Murder, were especially riveting. I couldn't put the book down. His writing style changed (not sure if his editor had anything to do with it)for the better. Once completed, I felt I wanted more. More of what? Personality content as well as understanding his family dynamics. What was it like having a famous brother? How was it living with Ramon for so many years? It missed a "personal touch." Which I am amazed at, because the author did interview several family members. All in all, it was a good read but not a great read but essential (compliation of the material in one book) for any Ramon Novarro fan.

At last a biography of a one time great silent star.......1999-06-24

It is truly a shame that it has taken so long for a biography on Ramon Novarro to be written. After more than 30 years after his death, this book not only sets the record straight about his gruesome death, but also enlightens the reader about his turbulent life. Unlike another reviewer, I feel that the author has told us about who Novarro was. We are not only told about his great career, but also about his loves, his fears,and his weaknesses. If you a lover of film history or have any interest at all in Novarro, read this book.

Finally, a biography on Ramon Novarro........1999-06-21

The author has written the definitive book on one of the greatest actors of the silent screen. This book is written with much sensitivity and consideration. The author has taken an exhaustive approach in combining both the personal life and career of Ramon Novarro. This book is totally engrossing, from beginning to end. The author describes in detail how Mr. Novarro fled his native country of Mexico during the Huerta revolution in 1915 to journey to Los Angeles, and of his meteoric rise to stardom in the American silent film. Much attention is focused on his great years in MGM, the greatest of all movie studios. Mr. Novarro was plagued with many personal problems and unfortunately his life had a tragic ending. Looking forward to reading more books by this wonderful author.

I now know the career, but who was the man........1999-06-19

Having recently read the biography of William Haines, another MGM silent superstar, I became very interested in the story of Ramon Novarro.This biography however reads like a school report. We are given names and dates, reviews and grosses of Novarro's films.But no insight to who the man was.The book is great as a reference guidebut not as a study of an actor, and certainly nota study of the man.

RAMON NOVARRO: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE SILENT FILM IDOL, 1899-1968; WITH A FILMOGRAPHY.

Average customer rating:

RAMON NOVARRO: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE SILENT FILM IDOL, 1899-1968; WITH A FILMOGRAPHY.
Allan R. Ellenberger
Manufacturer: McFarland & Co.,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7ATNI

Amazon.com

Columbia University professor Robert G. O'Meally--one of the most comprehensive essayists and cultural critics on the scene--has brought together diverse viewpoints on jazz's continuing influence over the culture of the United States. This superb collection takes its cue from the legendary Ralph Ellison's observation that American life is "jazz-based." As O'Meally writes, "The book is thus a teaching tool designed to open the way for a variety of new avenues in jazz studies as a growing interdisciplinary field of exploration."

Ann Douglas muses on the relationship between skyscrapers and the music of the swing era, while Alan P. Merriam and Fradley H. Garner trace the jumbled etymology of the very word jazz. Astute critic Albert Murray offers a brief but masterful and illuminating treatise, "Improvisation and the Creative Process," while James A. Snead explores the uses of riffs in "Repetition as a Figure of Black Culture." The book's scope is grand enough to include Stanley Crouch's affirmative "Blues to Be Constitutional," Amiri Baraka's scorching indictment "Jazz and the White Critic," and Michael Eric Dyson's take on basketball's jazz/dance-like Afro-American reinvention, "Be Like Mike: Michael Jordan and the Pedagogy of Desire." Interviews with saxophonist Benny Golson and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis round out an incredible work that reveals all of the multicolored hues and grooves that make the United States glow. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Book Description

Taking to heart Ralph Ellison's remark that much in American life is "jazz-shaped," The Jazz Cadence of American Culture offers a wide range of eloquent statements about the influence of this art form. Robert G. O'Meally has gathered a comprehensive collection of important essays, speeches, and interviews on the impact of jazz on other arts, on politics, and on the rhythm of everyday life. Focusing mainly on American artistic expression from 1920 to 1970, O'Meally confronts a long era of political and artistic turbulence and change in which American art forms influenced one another in unexpected ways.

Organized thematically, these provocative pieces include an essay considering poet and novelist James Weldon Johnson as a cultural critic, an interview with Wynton Marsalis, a speech on the heroic image in jazz, and a newspaper review of a recent melding of jazz music and dance, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. From Stanley Crouch to August Wilson to Jacqui Malone, the plurality of voices gathered here reflects the variety of expression within jazz.

The book's opening section sketches the overall place of jazz in America. Alan P. Merriam and Fradley H. Garner unpack the word jazz and its register, Albert Murray considers improvisation in music and life, Amiri Baraka argues that white critics misunderstand jazz, and Stanley Crouch cogently dissects the intersections of jazz and mainstream American democratic institutions. After this, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach, exploring jazz and the visual arts, dance, sports, history, memory, and literature. Ann Douglas writes on jazz's influence on the design and construction of skyscrapers in the 1920s and '30s, Zora Neale Hurston considers the significance of African-American dance, Michael Eric Dyson looks at the jazz of Michael Jordan's basketball game, and Hazel Carby takes on the sexual politics of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith's blues.

The Jazz Cadence offers a wealth of insight and information for scholars, students, jazz aficionados, and any reader wishing to know more about this music form that has put its stamp on American culture more profoundly than any other in the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

intelligent and invigorating.......2000-05-23

The collection of essays gathered in this volume are exceptional--smart, insightful, and inspiring. Together they explore jazz as a cultural phenomenon, not only a musical genre. They are organized intelligently in a manner which makes the book both educational and very enjoyable.

The Jazz Cadence of American Culture.(Review): An article from: Notes

Average customer rating:

The Jazz Cadence of American Culture.(Review): An article from: Notes
Burton W. Peretti
Manufacturer: Music Library Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Online Books | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1656 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: The Jazz Cadence of American Culture.(Review)
Author: Burton W. Peretti
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 56 Issue: 3 Page: 671

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

The Jazz Cadence of American Culture
Robert G. Oandapos;Meally
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPD03A

Average customer rating:

The Jazz Cadence of American Culture
Robert G. O'Meally
Manufacturer: Columbia Univ. Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K4U7WW

Average customer rating:

The Jazz Cadence of American Culture
Robert G. (Edt)/ O'Meally, Rob O'Meally
Manufacturer: Columbia Univ Pr 01/1//1999
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N5TG1G

Average customer rating:

Lots of Concepts Included

I love it!

Chess Choice Challenge 2
Chris Ward
Manufacturer: Batsford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

It's Your Move Improvers

It's Your Move: Tough Puzzles (Everyman Chess)

Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 1

Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games (Chess)

Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master

ASIN: 0713487054

Book Description

A new, completely revised edition of the classic chess quiz book. Grandmaster Chris Ward presents another selection of fascinating and entertaining puzzles. The fun and instructive multiple-choice format will get players' brains working in high gear. Identifying typical trains of thought, Ward explains the incorrect and correct analysis to help improve anyone's play.

ONE CROWN

Customer Reviews:

Lots of Concepts Included.......2003-10-14

I am definitely in the under 1800 crowd, by hundreds of points. So a lot of this was over my head. But it was always enjoyable and (of course) challenging. Best of all, the concepts of each solution were explained, including the cases where the conventional rule of thumb did NOT apply, and why. Since I wasn't even aware of some of these "rules", it was very instructive.

I love it!.......2000-02-16

Chris Ward is becoming one of my favorite chess authors....he is challenging, but remains humble and down to earth. Here, he lays out a series of chess puzzles, in a multiple choice format. His wording is trickier than the puzzles themselves, and makes you pay close attention. This is the type of book that tests your knowledge, and so what I am doing is this: I am taking all the tests, and recording the results. (pencil only). In 6 months, I will pick up the book again, and hopefully, will have seen an increase in chess strength. If not....well, I won't entertain that thought. My only complaint about Ward is that I cannot find enough books authored by him. Chris, if you read this: GET BUSY! I would love to see him annotate great games, with his comments directed towards the under 1800 folks! How about it?

Book Description

Stimulate your Office course with this Second Edition of New Perspectives on Microsoft Office 2003?First Course. This book is bursting with updates and enhancements to provide students with an enriched Office learning experience.

Customer Reviews:

Greaat book.......2007-01-27

This book was new, wrapped, and clean. The book arrived on time and in great condition. I will order again from this person(company).
Ms. Jackson

basic review of computer applications.......2005-10-01

This is a great book, very user friendly for the novice computer user.

Excellent Book. Highly Recommended!.......2005-05-12

I just finished using this book in a self-paced, college course. It's an excellent one.I never had any trouble following the step-by-step instuctions and I rarely had to ask my instructor for any help. The only drawback is if you want to go back and do any of the exercises over again months later as a review, you can't, because you need the data files from the course. I guess I could have saved all of them but that would have taken about 30 floppy disks which is the only option I had. The Access database alone is huge.

Book Description

This is the first serious study of Tamerlane, the great nomad conqueror who rose to power in 1370 on the ruins of the Mongol Empire and led his armies on campaigns of unprecedented scope, ranging from Moscow to Delhi. As the last nomad ruler to unite the steppe regions of Eurasia, Tamerlane marks the transition from the era of nomad conquest and rule to the modern ascendency of the settled world.

Customer Reviews:

A list, not a book.......2005-10-20

This seems like an overgrown doctoral thesis rather than an attempt to describe the life of one of the greatest military rulers the earth has ever seen. As said above, the legendary sacking of Delhi and the Battle of Ankora hardly merit mentioning.

This book is not worth reading unless you want to kow who tended the sheep of Tamerlane's housekeepers cousin.

An important contribution to understanding tribal politics.......2005-03-27

Temur was born in Transoxania near Samarqand, probably in the 1320s or 1330s. He descended from the Barlas tribe of Chinggis Khan's confederation, which through the adoption of Islam had come in close contact with settled populations and learned to participate in their culture. Although the chronicles written by the Persians during (or soon after) Temur's lifetime suggest that he was a conventional Muslim, a careful reading has revealed that more than a hundred years after the death of Chinggis Khan and the conversion of the Chaghatay Mongol tribes in Transoxania to Islam, Temur and his warriors still continued to observe many of the old pagan practices.

Indeed, what was true for their culture and religious practices was also true for their politics. Beatrice Forbes Manz's book The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane is not a biography. She is not interested in the colourful or (as she suggests) fictitious youth of Temur as a sheep-stealer and provides a rather brief account of his rise to power as a warlord in Khorasan and Transoxania in the late fourteenth century. Nor is she interested in the military history and details of Temur's conquests; the conquest of Delhi (1398) and the Battle of Ankara (1402) are described in a line each. Legends of Temur's ruthlessness and persecution of victims (including the pyramids of bloody skulls outside smoking cities) are also not to be found in this work. Instead Manz focuses on analyzing how Temur manipulated the nomadic and political traditions of the Chaghatay in order to take control and power over them, and how he later undermined those traditions and effectively destroyed the independent power of the tribes.

The conquests of Temur were quite different from those of Chinggis Khan and predecessors (even though Temur ceaselessly invoked Chinggis as his model). This is partly because the world that Temur conquered was not an alien one, but a known entity, almost all of which had been previously conquered by Mongols. And although by the fourteenth century the power of the Chinggisid dynasty had declined and the Mongol empire had fallen apart, the steppe nomads still retained much of their power and prestige. In fact, the tribal confederation within which Temur rose to power and the world he conquered were the products of the Mongol empire. As aforementioned, these nomads preserved the Mongolian heritage of their ancestors in a new guise suitable to the rule of settled people with whom they were now intimately involved. They were able to constitute themselves as a separate ruling level over the subject population by manipulating both steppe and Islamic traditions and institutions. Manz suggests that it is only from Temur's time that the Turkic people and the traditions of the steppe became truly indigenous to the Middle East.

Despite Temur's ambition to approximate and imitate the methods of conquests and career of Chinggis Khan, his own achievements were less substantial. Manz attributes the downfall of Temur's dynasty to his extremely jealous and untrusting nature. When Temur assigned his sons and grandsons to take care of provinces, he took care to limit their powers and to keep them securely under his eye. This was to some extent necessary to prevent the formation of rival powers within such a loosely structured army and administration. Unfortunately however, Temur carried this policy so far that he damaged the efficiency of his administration and more importantly, made it difficult to his descendants to maintain control over their own territories after his death. Within a few days of Temur's passing away in February 1405, his sons, grandsons, and closest followers had begun a struggle for power that occupied the next fifteen years, leaving behind it a dynasty both economically and politically weak.

Beatrice Manz's work is intelligently written and well researched. The book is divided into eight chapters and three appendices. Extensive notes, a bibliography of sources and literature, and an index help guide the reader through the complexities and intricacies of Temur's rule. She organizes the book, first by outlining the historical, political, and cultural milieu of the Mongol period, developments since Chinggis Khan and his second son to the middle of the fourteenth century before then focusing on the rise and fall of Temur. Supplementing the main text, the appendices provide information on Temur's sources of manpower, his family, and his administration. Manz also has a tendency to place great emphasis on the importance of Temur's personal following, referring to it several times though the text. Also, besides traditional sources on Temur such as the two Zafarnama and several others, Manz has not taken advantage of other possible areas of research for sources such as coinage, inscriptions, or archaeology. This can be forgiven however, since perhaps they do not contribute greatly to her arguments.

These are minor flaws, in an otherwise excellent work on the rise and rule of Temur. Manz's work may very well serve as an important contribution to our understanding today of tribal politics. Ultimately with this work, Manz has unveiled the pattern behind the seemingly random approach of the last great conqueror of the steppe empire.

Painful Reading.......2004-08-22

It is clear thet Munz did her research, it is her writing style that i found painful.

There is almost nothing in the book on Timurs actual battles and campiaigns. Just a couple of sentances. Instead the book becomes a never ending list of Turcoman Mongolian names and tribes. It becomes very tedious.

Concentrating on Timurs realtionship with the many internal Turcoman Mongolian tribes, it becomes extremely frustrating, as you begin to long for some intersting story or narrative of a great battle or exploit. Anything of any interest is skipped over in lines!

One point that i felt was not adressed in Manz's obsession with Turco/Mongolian internal tribal politics was the factor of how differing percentages of Turco or Mogloinan heritage within the tribes affected tribal relationships.

Summing up..... a great deal of deatiled information on Timur is included in this book, but not all the exciting information you want to know about!!

Rise and Rule of Tamerlane.......2000-01-27

An excellent scholarly study of the society from which Timur sprang and the empire he created.

The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. (book reviews): An article from: The Journal of the American Oriental Society

Average customer rating:

The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. (book reviews): An article from: The Journal of the American Oriental Society
Rudi Paul Lindner
Manufacturer: American Oriental Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00092URT8
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Journal of the American Oriental Society, published by American Oriental Society on July 1, 1993. The length of the article is 892 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: The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. (book reviews)
Author: Rudi Paul Lindner
Publication: The Journal of the American Oriental Society (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 1993
Publisher: American Oriental Society
Volume: v113 Issue: n3 Page: p507(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

Coffee Table Dream Book

Explorers: The Most Exciting Voyages of Discovery -- From the African Expeditions to the Lunar Landing
Andrea De Porti
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Adventurers & Explorers | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Expeditions & Discoveries | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Explorer's Eye: First-Hand Accounts of Adventure and Exploration

Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration

Mapping the World: An Illustrated History of Cartography

Explorers Who Got Lost

Cowboy: The Illustrated History

ASIN: 1554071011

Book Description

A superbly illustrated reference of great explorers and their expeditions since 1845.

One the most exciting periods of exploration coincided with the invention of photography. As a result, the most important expeditions over the last 160 years were captured and preserved by incredibly dramatic photographs.

Explorers is a stunning history of such expeditions, presented chronologically since 1845. It features rare archival photographs, maps, prints, and drawings, reproduced on stunning gatefolds that fold out to up to 40 inches across and up to 22 inches high.

Text includes a short biography of each explorer, the extraordinary stories of their expeditions, and passages from their personal journals. The explorers featured include, among many others, a total of 22:

Richard Frances Burton and John Hanning Speke: sources of the Nile
Henry Stanley: looking for Livingstone
Isabella Bird Bishop: China
Ernest Shackleton: Antarctica
Roald Amundsen: the Northwest Passage and the South Pole
Gertrude Bell: Iraq
Maria Reiche: Nazca, Peru
Thor Heyerdahl: Kon-Tiki raft across the Pacific
Edmund Hillary: atop Mount Everest
Neil Armstrong: first steps on the Moon.

Explorers is the fascinating and uniquely illustrated history of the explorers and how their expeditions influenced the world we live in today.

Customer Reviews:

Coffee Table Dream Book.......2006-09-02

This is a top quality book - informative, well researched, and studded with historical photography and maps. Each explorer gets a page - about half of them with a large fold-out section.

I have bought 8 to give as gifts. Extraordinary value for money.

Book Description

This book will inspire you to question what you've heard from the scientific experts about how the universe works and what role we play in it. For centuries, science has believed that matter is king, and the job of scientist is to measure interactions of matter, not consciousness. Based on revolutionary new developments in physics and neuroscience, including his own groundbreaking research, Dr. Farwell challenges this view. Using impeccable scientific techniques, he has proven in the laboratory that consciousness plays a commanding role in the universe. Dr. Larry Farwell (Bio) Dr. Larry Farwell is a Harvard educated former Harvard faculty member who is currently chief scientist of the Human Brain Research Laboratory. As a neuroscientist, he has conducted and published pioneering research on the interaction of consciousness and matter at the quantum-mechanical level. The well-known physicist Dr. George Farwell (his father) collaborated in this research. Dr. Larry Farwell invented a direct brain-to-computer communication system using electrical brain activity. He discovered the technique of Brain Fingerprinting to identify criminals and clear innocent suspects by measuring brain-wave responses to relevant words or pictures presented on a computer screen. CBS Evening News, ABC World News, CNN Headline News, the Discovery Channel, the New York Times, the Washington Post, US News and World Report, and television, radio, newspapers, and magazines throughout the world have featured Dr. Farwell and his discoveries. Dr. Farwell's personal philosophy is that anything is possible. He sees his scientific research as a process of discovering the unlimited possibilities available for human life. He believes that the goal of life is the full development and complete integration of mind, heart, body, and spirit. In addition to his BA, MA, and PhD in neuroscience, he is a qualified Transcendental Meditation teacher and has a black belt in kung fu.

Customer Reviews:

Science meets metaphysics.......2006-08-23

Liked this book alot even though it wasn't completely without flaws. The front section and back sections of the book were very good with some weakness in the middle part. My main problems with the middle were it gets bogged down somewhat in scientific history and repeats scientific experiments such as the quantum slit wave/particle test which have been rehashed to death in numerous other books of this type (although a first timer might get more out of it). The book does a great job of making the metaphysics-science connnection while discussing the Theory of relativity and Quantum physics. Better than most I've read that have made the same effort. For those looking for a book that blows your mind in cementing the metaphysics-science connection, I recommend it

The Metaphysical Guide for Analytical Skeptics.......2005-08-18

This is like the Idiot's Guide to the Universal Law of Attraction, only you're NOT an idiot if you read it and certainly don't need to be a genius to understand it.

The book jumps straight to the chase and covers experiments that lend insight into the powerful connection between the mind and matter. If you've watched the movie, "What the Bleep?" then consider this the book to go with it. If you've read Joe Vitale's "Attractor Factor" or Wayne Dyer's "Power of Intention" then you'll appreciate this book more than you can imagine.

If you read those titles and felt skeptical, this is the book that may push you from the fence. I purchased it at the suggestion of two friends who said the same thing ... "Most books TALK about how mindset can affect our reality, this book PROVES it."

I'm not sure it proves it beyond a doubt, but only beyond whatever doubts YOU allow.

If I have anything negative to say, it's only due to a personal bias. The author seems to overstep himself a bit in the end, painting a universal scheme and elevating himself to the status of mystical guru when we were so comfortable enjoying the journey with him as the analytical scientist. He has a strong affinity to Transcendental Meditation that clearly shows, and I believe this brings too much bias into the conclusion (my own bias is against this as the perfect, ultimate solution as it is claimed to be in the book).

Overall, very strong and powerful reading right up to the last chapters ... then, it makes a sharp turn into ideas that simply don't seem to flow with the rest of the text.

It was intriguing enough that I read it cover to cover when it arrived, and will return to it often when I begin doubting my own power to manifest my life.

Book Description

In the 1970s the relationship between literature and the environment began to emerge as a topic of serious and widespread interest among writers and scholars. Their ideas, debates, and texts subsequently converged and consolidated into the Weld now known as ecocriticism.

This anthology looks past these recent developments to the earliest ecocritical inclinations in the writings of authors dating back more than a century. Written between 1864 and 1964, these selections by thirty-four writers represent scholars who wrote about the "green" aspects of literature as well as nature writers who rejected on the act of writing itself.

In his introduction, David Mazel argues that these early "ecocritics" played a crucial role in both the development of environmentalism and the academic study of American literature and culture. Filled with provocative, still-timely ideas, A Century of Early Ecocriticism demonstrates that our concern with the natural world has long informed our approach to literature.

Average customer rating:
A Century of Early Ecocriticism.(Book Review): An article from: The Mississippi Quarterly
Michael P. Branch
Manufacturer: Mississippi State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00082MMH4
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Mississippi Quarterly, published by Mississippi State University on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 934 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: A Century of Early Ecocriticism.(Book Review)
Author: Michael P. Branch
Publication: The Mississippi Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Mississippi State University
Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Page: 678(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books