Iniquities of the Father

Book Description

O.J. Keiper was born on a farm near Palo, Iowa in Linn County on February 25, 1909.
The youngest of 14 children, he attended Concordia College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri with a diploma in Theology.

Customer Reviews:

INIQUITIES OF THE FATHER (ATTN! Amzaon misspelt title).......2000-09-29

INIQUITIES OF THE FATHER is a heartfelt captivating reflection of the hero Otto Kiefer dealing with the temptations, struggles and challenges presented by life in the Midwest throughout the 20th century. It shows the mistakes Otto made and lessons he learnt throughout his life from being a college graduate to being a happy grandfather. Mr. Keiper's writing style kept me the teenage reader so interested that I finished the short novel in two days.

Customer Reviews:

Touchdown Tommie.......1999-12-16

The biography I read for my second book of the semester was "Touchdown Tommie". The name Tommie referred to Tommis Frazier of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The author of this interesting biography was Bob Schaller. It portrayed Tommie growing up in Florida to him as a star at Nebraska. This book was published in 1998. "Touchdown Tommie" is probably not located in the Valley Library but can be found in your local book store. The beginning of this book started with Tommie Frazier's childhood. Then the story went on to the recruting that all the top colleges did to try and get Tommie to play for them. The most interesting parts are the stories of the tough times that Tommie went through at Nebraska and then later on in the CFL (Canadian Football League). This biography was similar to one that I read about Michael Jordan. In that book, it talked about his life and then his hard times. Michael's most difficult time was when he was not very good at basketball in high school. Tommie's greatest struggle was a little more serious. He had blood clots in his legs in college. Those clots seriously jeopardized his athletic career at Nebraska and the NFL(National Football League). This biography was written in a very straight-forward manner and was easy to understand. That was important for me. I thought that the author used good facts about Tommie's career at Nebraska and also the dynasty of Nebraska over the years. Also, the topic of the book, that was obviously football, was one of my interests. I think this book was a good model for writing because in each chapter it really explained the main point of the chapter clearly. It also got the point across without confusing the reader. It also was good because there were some metaphors that were easy to identify and essential for living your life. The metaphor I learned was when you face an obstacle you must work hard to overcome it. Another lesson I learned was to not get big-headed like many college players do. Tommie Frazier did not. Maybe that was part of the reason he had success in life and on the football field. Although I thought this book was outstanding, I could see some things that not all readers would like. For example, if people do not like the Nebraska Cornhuskers, they would be interested in reading this book. I think that even if you did not like the team, it was still good to read. You could learn some things about life regardless of who you were. On the same note, the football theme is throughout the book. If you dislike football, it could be difficult to read the book. However, in my opinion, I give this book an 8 out 10.

brief but very descriptive of his life at Lincoln.......1999-02-07

This book was very good. Bob Schaller does a very good job portraying Tommie.Bob tells of tommies recruiting decisions between the colleges that wanted to recruit him and his troubles with the media. My favorite part of the book was the last part when tommie gives his top 15 things that will make you a better person.

Average customer rating:
Persistance de la vision
John Varley , and Michel Deutsch
Manufacturer: Gallimard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2070415929

Average customer rating:
Persistance of Vision
John Varley
Manufacturer: Dial Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P1ANGA

Product Description

Book club edition; pages clean, white ans tight; spine bumoed at top and bottom with sslight wear at corner

Average customer rating:

Very well presented

The answer to my prayers

OMG! The absolute MUST HAVE gift! STRESS FREE holiday season!

The PERFECT Gift-Giving Guide

Need that Perfect Gift?

Fabulous Gifts: Hollywood's Gift Guru Reveals the Secret to Giving the Perfect Present
Lash Fary
Manufacturer: NAL Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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The Language of Gifts: The Essential Guide to Meaningful Gift Giving

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A Gift for Giving: Making the Most of the Present

Bountiful Baskets: Creating Perfect Gifts for Any Occasion

ASIN: 0451216571

Book Description

A truly great gift brings joy to the recipient and the giver. In this unique, illustrated guide from Hollywood gift guru Lash Fary, readers will find:

- A quiz to help find ideal presents for family, friends, business associates, and others
- Inexpensive, Moderate, and Expensive "best choices" for a wide range of situations and occasions
- Tips and suggestions for group gifts
- Creative tricks of the trade for wrapping, cards, and memorable presentation
- Organizing secrets to avoid last-minute shopping (and lifesaving ideas for when it can't be avoided)
Celebrities and corporate clients rely on Lash Fary to find the gifts that are tasteful, thoughtful, and truly special. Here he shares his insider knowledge on everything from re-gifting to tying the perfect bow.

Customer Reviews:

Very well presented.......2005-11-16

I have always assumed I put a lot of thought into the gifts I give, but after reading Mr. Fary's book I realize I can do much better, in an easier manner. His personality quiz, to determine what type you are giving to, is so concise that I have yet to find a friend that does not fit neatly into one of his categories. And the suggestions that he makes for each category - at varios price levels (this is so helpful!) - are really creative and fun and so perfect that I find myself wishing that folks who buy gifts for me would all have this book as a guide first! As a fun bonus his own personality shines through in his writing, so I found myself laughing out loud at his witty remarks and Hollywood-insider humor. I hope to see more style guides from Mr. Fary in the near future.

The answer to my prayers.......2005-10-20

As the owner of a lifestyle and entertainment public relations firm, finding gifts for my unique clientele can be challenging. Fabulous Gifts makes my job a lot easier and I was surprised to discover how creative the gift-giving process can be.

This is the perfect book written by a trusted and noteworthy expert in the field.

Fabulous Gifts is also ideal for that family member that never seems to give you the "right" present.

OMG! The absolute MUST HAVE gift! STRESS FREE holiday season!.......2005-10-05

Lash Fary has made the impossible possible! This book is the answer to all gift-giving needs. The book itself is full of helpful tips and suggestions to make anyone look like a "Hollywood Gift Guru" but also makes an ideal gift in and of itself. Lash Fary is BRILLIANT and the book is FANTASTIC! I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this book. I'll keep one for myself and give it to friends and family as well. Now I can look forward to the holidays and celebrations throughout the year instead of being completely stressed about what to give to whom. Thank you Lash!

The PERFECT Gift-Giving Guide.......2005-10-05

If you've ever found yourself breaking into a sweat about what to get that special someone who literally has everything, your troubles are over.

This genius guide to giving the perfect gift covers all of the dilemas you've ever faced; and has creative (and cost effective) solutions to them all.

It's an easy read, and a great reference to keep on hand during the holidays. And, the ultimate bonus? This book makes a perfect gift as well!

I'm thrilled with my purchase and recommend it to everyone.

Need that Perfect Gift?.......2005-10-05

Lash Fary is absolutely the man to help you with your age old dilemma; what do you give to the person that has everything? His tips are the best of the best, so much so that I just purchased an extra copy for Q's desk. (Q seems to think everything I could ever want MUST have some form of electronics in it)

CMDR Bond

Average customer rating:

What is the point?

Chess Openings almost the easy way

Bacially MCO cut down - no ideas or explanations behind the moves

No explanations

Fails

Chess Openings the Easy Way (Chess)
Nick Defirmian
Manufacturer: Random House Puzzles & Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Chess Openings: Traps And Zaps (Fireside Chess Library)

Ideas Behind the Chess Openings: Algebraic Edition (Chess)

Understanding Chess Move by Move

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ASIN: 0812934989
Release Date: 2003-06-10

Book Description

Modern Chess Openings, known as MCO, is the best selling and most comprehensive one-volume reference on chess openings. Nick de Firmian, the International Grandmaster who "taught" the supercomputer Deep Blue, reveals how the opening moves of a chess game set its pace and tone and can even determine who wins or loses. In Chess Openings the Easy Way, a special edition of MCO for beginning and intermediate players, de Firmian selects the most important chess openings and the latest innovations of the game.

Customer Reviews:

What is the point?.......2007-04-27

Ok, so this "expert" in openings lays out in nice neat columns a bunch of variations of a bunch of openings. BUT HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXPLAIN ONE SINGLE MOVE!!! How does this help a beginner or intermediate player? He doesn't explain that, either.

Chess Openings almost the easy way.......2007-03-22

I liked this book. I like it a lot better than Reuben Fine's Ideas Behind The Chess Openings. This book is MCO-light. That's exactly what it is. Many players don't really need the complete MCO. This book was less than half the price and has all of the openings that I think I need at this stage in my game. The book is organized in a meaningful way into King Pawn, Semi-Open, Queen Pawn, Flank, and Indian openings. The introduction to each set of openings provides a basic explanation of the ideas. Yes, this book would be even more useful if there was MORE explanation of the theory behind the various openings and WHY white or black has a better game, or WHERE white (black) should go in the ensuing Middle Game. That would make this book even more useful. But as far as having something that provides an entry point into the study of many popular openings, this book is satisfactory. In a way, I like it better than many of the Starting Out books. Those books also lack much in the way of explanation that would be useful to the intermediate-beginner and focus on only one opening; de Firmian's book actually gives you more at a much better price. The only other thing that would make this book better for the intermediate beginner would be if there was a clear, complete explanation of how to read the tables. I eventually figured it out, but it was very frustrating at first and I almost didn't buy the book in the first place because I couldn't figure out how to read the tables while thumbing through a copy at the bookstore. Bottom line: A good book for the player who is willing to STUDY the game of chess, the intermediate player who maybe knows an openig or two but is now ready to branch out. You start with this book, and then once you've exhausted its potential you can graduate to a more in-depth book about a particular opening. This is a good place to start, the book is relatively inexpensive, and it has most of the major openings.

Bacially MCO cut down - no ideas or explanations behind the moves.......2006-08-31

This is a one volume opening reference book containing no explanations of the ideas behind the moves. It is the same thing as "Modern Chess Openings" except the a lot of the moves have been cut out. You would be better off getting "Modern Chess Openings" if what you want is a one volume reference book. If you are looking at getting a book that explains the ideas behind the openings and the moves look at "Understanding the Chess Openings" and a book on chess traps where you will learn tactics in the opening such as "Winning Chess Traps for Juniors". A beginner or advanced beginner should not get a reference book and should not just be memorizing opening variations. They should be learning the ideas behind the openings.

No explanations.......2003-11-19

You'd think a a page with the heading "How to Use this book," would at least tell you how to use the tables. But nooo...
And since the book is comprised of nothing but tables..., well, it's just to ludicrous to comprehend.

Fails.......2003-10-14

This book is little more than a marketing ploy. It's presented as a sort of Modern Chess Openings (MCO) for beginners. However, aside from a brief (and inferior) treatment of general opening principles, this book basically reprints the same tables from MCO for the most popular openings. Therefore if you're a beginner who finds MCO a little over your head, you won't find this book any easier. Unbelievably, there isn't even any explanation of how to read and use the tables. Since more advanced players will want the full version of MCO, and since it is too difficult for beginners (who shouldn't be wasting time memorizing opening variations anyway), this book is really completely useless.

Chess: The Easy Way: A Complete Step-By-Step Illustrated Guide for the Beginner Including the Basic Principles of Opening, Middle, and End Game Strategy

Average customer rating:

Chess: The Easy Way: A Complete Step-By-Step Illustrated Guide for the Beginner Including the Basic Principles of Opening, Middle, and End Game Strategy
Reuben Fine
Manufacturer: Cornerstone Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PRTDLA

Book Description

Let your imagination run wild in the world of Unreal Technology. Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design knows no boundaries as it shows you how to build custom mods, maps and levels with the Unreal engine. Its tutorial format will give you immediate results through the tips and demos provided from the industry's top level designers. Learn to create your own characters, weapons and gaming environments, as well as how to go beyond the Unreal environment and export custom elements from 3D modeling applications. A CD that contains the Unreal Engine, graphics, examples and code is also included, giving you everything you need to create custom levels in Unreal or build your own games and virtual environments. Mastering Unreal Technology will help put you on the cutting-edge of gaming technology.

Customer Reviews:

A Very Helpful Book.......2007-09-21

I am a Game Art Development student, and this book has been indespensible in aiding in my understanding of the Unreal Editor. Without this book, I'm sure that it would've taken me waaaaayyy longer to get things done than the limited time that I had. Even though the book is more expensive than the game itself, it is a must have for any aspiring modder or game creator.

Haven't Used it just yet..........2007-08-04

I just bought this book, and although It seems like it's going to be great, my major problem is finding either Maya PLE 5.0's registration number, or Maya 7.0 PLE and its registration number.
the Autodesk site only has Maya PLE 8.5 to download and there are only plug-ins for Unreal for Maya 5.0 PLE and Maya 7.0 PLE (note: there is no version for the regular Maya)
So it kind of leaves you stuck with nothing to use. There is also nothing on the net about it either.

If you want to know how to make a MOD or GAME... Get This..........2007-05-12

Wow, it Big, It heavy and yes my Friends it is a red Brick, But it well worth ever cent and every page. Packed full of Useful Information and Helpful Tutorials it writen with the Lamen in mind. and take you into the Skills needed to make almost a full game. The one thing it lacks is the swcripting language section. But this is forgivable as it would make the book way bigger and much more complex to read if you a new guy trying to make a few little Deathmatch levels.

Very good book.......2007-04-10

This book is very complete and very easy to follow. Get the videos from 3dbuzz and the planetunreal tutorials and you'll be making great levels in no time.
Also great is the coverage static meshes and character production in maya and export to unrealed.

Top Notch Book!.......2007-03-09

Anyone who wants to learn how to use the Unreal Engine should buy this bible, yes it is a bible, because without this book you would be lost, the second cd to the Unreal game which is all videos really isn't enough, this book will cover everything about the Unreal!

Definitely a good buy!

Customer Reviews:

terrific compendium of stories from history.......2001-05-21

This is a great book that taught me a lot (and I know a fair amount) about gay, lesbian, bi, and transgendered [GLBT] history. It explores a wide range of stories that the average reader would NOT be familiar with and these span different cultures , times, and even ethnic groups(including Native American and Chinese, although African stories are less well documented than African-American ones and others. I think anyone who is serious about learning more about the entire range of the GLBT experience will come away a great deal more informed from reading this special book. It is deftly set up so that questions after each passage evoke questions and thought, yet it doesn't come across as very academic. It is clear that the editor has done a careful job of helping the reader sift through many facets of the GLBT experience. I look forward to more books of this type and have recommended this volume to others frequently.

A must-have book for dealing with G&L issues........1998-09-20

I use this book as a text book in my college course for teachers called "Gay and Lesbian Issues in the Classroom." It is a real eye-opener for what is usually a mostly straight group of teachers. The chapter on Eleanor Roosevelt alone is worth the price!

Lesbian/Gay History for everyday people.......1998-08-24

I commend Jennings for his selections. I found every single one of them interesting. Even though I had read several of the selections in other books, Mr. Jennings' comments prefacing each selection shed new light on them and made them fresh reading.

Also commendable is the way he covers the issue of natural sexuality vs. social constructionism. Yes, the issue is as dry as it sounds, but Mr. Jennings does an admirable job of giving the salient point of each side and then moving on.

A list of questions and activities follows each chapter. I found these very intelligent and thought-provoking and value-added.

Book Description

Eric Hobsbawm has been widely acclaimed as one of the greatest living historians. Called "a lyrical, pungent, and provocative memoir" by Publishers Weekly, Interesting Times offers a personal tour through what Hobsbawm terms "the most extraordinary and terrible century in human history." The book takes us from his birth in Alexandria, Egypt, and early schooling in Weimar Berlin to his student days as a Cambridge Red and Apostle at King's College. Hobsbawm took E.M. Forster to hear Lenny Bruce, demonstrated with Bertrand Russell against nuclear arms, translated for Che Guevara in Havana, and inaugurated the modern history of banditry. With Interesting Times, we see the making of one of the Left's most important intellectuals, and the history of the twentieth century through the unforgiving eye of one of its most intensely engaged participants.

Customer Reviews:

Great autobiography of Hobsbawm.......2007-02-27

This book is a very good autobiography. Let first me state that I don't share a lot of Hobsbawm's politics (he was a member of Britain's Communist party for more than half a century). Yet I have always found him a very engaging writer. Maybe because of his age - he was born in 1917 - he is immune to the neomarxist, postmodern cant that have afflicted much of leftist writers since the 1960s. His writing style is instead simple and to the point. He tells the story of his life - the story of his parents, his accidental birth in Egypt, growing up in Vienna as a jew, the sudden death of his father and mother in a short time during his teenage years, his life as a young man in Berlin in the early 30s, his coming to England, his years in Cambridge, joining England's Communist Party, his rejection of Zionism, his life (wasted, according to him) during World War II, a visit to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, his position after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, his later visits to Latin America - in a candid, simple and matter of fact, way. A very engaging book even if you disagree with his politics.

An Interesting Life.......2004-10-31

Hobsbawm's book is called Interesting Times rather than An Interesting Life, but that is just Hobsbawm being modest. After a lifetime of analyzing history from the perspective of a leftist, but generally even-handed, professor, he takes an opportunity to get a few things off his chest.

He tackles the question of why he stayed a communist for so long, even after the Stalin years forced so many believers to reevaluate their views. He discusses America frankly, past (loves New York, hates the suburbs near Stanford University) and present (the reaction to September 11). He reminisces about wars, academia, and jazz.

About the only question he doesn't address is when and why he changed the spelling of his last name. Unimportant perhaps, but curious. A readable, entertaining, and thoughtful memoir of an interesting man in a troubled century.

A donnish interpreter for the working class.......2004-09-13

After a slow 150 pages in which Hobsbaum tells of his birth in 1917 in Alexandria to a Jewish father, son of an émigré cabinet-maker, and a Viennese jeweller's daughter followed by his youth in Austria and then Weimar Berlin and his stint at Cambridge, his story gains energy, if intermittently. Certainly Hobsbaum has led, after a rather tenuous period of living hand-to-mouth via the courtesy of relations and friends, a life more comfortable than that gained by many, communist or capitalist. His adherence to the Communist Party for so much of his life, from his profession in 1932 in Germany to his joining in 1936 and his allegiance throughout Stalinism and after the Hungarian revolt of 1956 motivates his four-hundred page apologia. Balancing his ideological commitment to a concomitant refusal to accept dogma results in a curious tension. How can a securely employed, well-travelled, multi-lingual, and nimbly minded individual stay loyal to a cause that rallied the poor and the intellectual while committing so many murders in its name?

Hobsbaum argues well his reasoning. Surprisingly, little of his book recapitulates his scholarly mission, the fame of which derives first from his popularising of the earlier century's "primitive rebels," those who resisted capitalisation and globalisation and their own redundancy. Far too many pages provide lists of luncheons, flights, and friends. Hobsbaum warns the reader that little of his private life will emerge here, and his sons gain only a couple of sentences here and there, for example; their half-brother, apparently the result of an affair in-between his two marriages, is mentioned in half-a-sentence. Instead, as the blurb and the cover images trumpet, Hitler, Che, and the Soviet Man of Steel gain attention, and even more the milieu in which he and his internationalists roamed in between seminars and scholarship-again, little of the classroom to be found here. Hobsbaum actually gives little insight into the Great Men, but much on his mates.

Idiosyncratically, the book's form skips about. Most of it tracks his own career, while latter chapters sum up his thoughts and chats in France, Italy, Spain, the Third World, and the U.S. One chapter, fascinating to me for its oblique mirroring of recent Ireland, takes on the land of his holiday home in Wales near the eccentric Clough Williams-Ellis, builder of among other wonders, the seaside resort of Portmeirion, later the site of the 1960s television series The Prisoner. In this chapter, the author carefully analyses the resurgence of Welsh separatism in that decade, to the point that it drove him to a safer and more anglicised portion of the principality in which to vacation. Hobsbaum dismisses "ethnolinguistic nationalism" and has little time for the 1960s legacy of individualism that led to the promotion of non-conformity at the expense of the social ideal for which earlier revolutionaries had struggled.

Hobsbaum pinpoints the crucial difference between himself and later radicals. He is one of the last living intellectuals inspired to hoist the Red flag by the events in the year of his birth. A teenager when he cast his lot with the German communists just before Hitler's consolidation of power, Hobsbaum defends his faith in Marx. While later converts recanted once the allure of the anti-fascist crusade dimmed, Hobsbaum emphasises that he remained a believer after Khrushchev's decision to undermine the monolithic power of the CPSU in 1956-the second time that "ten days shook the world." "To put it in the simplest terms," he summarises, "the October Revolution created a world communist movement, the Twentieth Congress destroyed it." (201) Because Hobsbaum and his CP allies had been lied to, "something that had to affect the very nature of a communist's belief," the concealment of the truth about Stalin led to the instability of an presumed solid façade of political and cultural endurance, and foreshadowed the fall of the Wall.

Which perhaps was a Potemkin village, but one where, Hobsbaum claims, protection against the harsh blows of capitalism and unrestrained greed did enable Soviets and those under their subjection to pursue a laudable goal of communist equality and worldwide fraternity. Hobsbaum cautiously tiptoes around the conflict of the dream with the reality.

He acknowledges that communists like himself and their western parties never had to govern from a position of actual power, and therefore mitigates the decisions made by those who did rule in the name of the working class. No creed since Islam in the seventh century, he reminds us, spread so rapidly and so far across our planet.

Speaking of this takeover, Hobsbaum elides complications. He compares the removal of communist ministers in western governments circa 1947 with their inclusion in non-communist administrations "in the countries under communist rule." (180) He laments the establishment of the Orwellian-monikered Cominform before continuing: `The Eastern regimes, deliberately not set up as communist, but as pluriparty "new" or "peoples' democracies" with mixed economies, were now assimilated to the "dictatorship of the proleteriat", i.e. the standard Communist Party dictatorships.' The author seems to skip over how a country can be "under communist rule" with a mixed economy and a pluriparty regime for long, before being standardised as a CP one-party dictatorship, given the logic of communist consolidation of power within a single party model. And, from my admittedly non-specialist understanding of those nations soon to be mortared into the façade of the Eastern bloc, such a pluriparty system was never seriously intended to survive, given the 1943 Tehran conference and the Cold War's surrender to the USSR of those Central and Eastern European nations as a buffer zone to defend Stalin's empire.

Hobsbaum confused me with a statement about one of those buffer nations with which I have some familiarity, Hungary. Discussing an intellectual who claimed to be a victim of Soviet repression post-1956 who in fact was a Party organiser after the revolt, the author states: `Unfortunately in the course of those years, under the benevolent eye of the Kadar government, the sympathizers with the 1956 movement, that is to say the bulk of the communist intellectuals and the academics, quietly re-established their positions.' (145)

Those less informed about Hungary at this time might misconstrue this passage, intended to contrast the fake refugee from the revolt with his comrades who remained, as praising the regime of Kadar, who pretended to side with the rebels only to turncoat to the Soviet invaders as they returned to crush the revolt, and to imply that the majority of those who were sympathisers with the rebellion suffered no harm under the Kadar regime. Although a communist revolt, the Hungarians sought neutrality apart from the Warsaw Pact and a mixed economy. These aims, Hobsbaum agrees, could not have been tolerated under Soviet domination, but he diminishes the struggle of those who sought a more human face for socialism by too often defending the Russian bear's slashes across the face of those who defied its imperial might, feigned as a blow for people's equality.

Throughout his book, Hobsbaum distances himself from Judaism and Zionism, in the name of a greater identity with the oppressed everywhere. Yet his early identification with the position of the outsider, the alien, and the non-conformist (witness too his long championship in scholarship and avocation of an appreciation for jazz) could only have been gained by his Judaic stance, secular as it was, and his similar oppositional decision to embrace communism at fourteen. I find his lack of sympathy for Israel predictable therefore, but still would like to know what alternatives could have existed for his relatives who did not survive the camps, or those who did survive in a hostile Europe.

His detachment from issues like these when they effect the individual may be attributed to his rather distanced position as that outsider, whether in Wales, in London, in Berlin, or in Alexandria (although his lectureships at the New School in New York City, at Stanford and the Getty Center, or his frequent global trips in search of like-minded companions sounded quite enjoyable to me). He claims that after his forties, whatever happened of note in his life was inside his head, and these transatlantic odysseys merely widened his intellectual horizons. Or maybe not, as he remained loyal to the Cause throughout the Cold War, despite New Labour, and now in spite of Bush. His chapters on the rest of the world outside the dons' room and the overseas seminar open up many intriguing insights, but I never felt that Hobsbaum was quite on the same level as us proles.

A sample, taken from a discussion of the Party's `cultural group' protesting in 1956: `The Indo-Scandinavian intellectual Palme Dutt, one of those implausibly tall upper-class figures one occasionally meets among Bengalis, belonged through his mother to an eminent Swedish kindred-Olaf Palme, the socialist premier assassinated in 1986, was another member.' (208-9) This, like his analogy of labeled decanters in "the combination room" at Cambridge to keep dons from confusing their port and their sherry, speak of a privileged world in which Hobsbaum has earned his eminence, and one where, his communism to the contrary, he continues to thrive. It is natural for any of us to write from the position we know, so I don't mean to criticise the laurels which Hobsbaum has earned, but I do wish to point out that, as he confesses, `somewhere inside of me there is a small ghost who whispers: "One should not be at ease in a world such as ours." As the man said when I read him in my youth: "The point is to change it."' (313). However, he interprets the world marvelously--if evasively.
[Review edited from an on-line essay for the Belfast-based journal The Blanket.]

a sad tale.......2004-08-09

Much as I admire Hobsbawm's histories of Europe and "invention of tradition", I felt, when reading this account of a long life, as if the author is evading his own personality, his own roots, seeking refuge in apostolic and childish occupations without having a real sense of humour, and setting to write his own history and diaries without a keen talent to face and practice life and times as it realy faced him in a sensitive, humam attitude: The Holocaust, of which he hardly makes a note, and with it Jewish collective fate, both in Nazi Germany and in his beloved Soviet Russia. Moreover(on page 295 in the Abacus paperback edition), he makes a rather stupid, or perhaps malicious comparison between Stalinist Russia, Vichi France and the State of Israel. He does mention the great Israeli Historian, Prof. Jacob Talmon, as the only person giving him a helping hand in hard times, but has other than that only bad language and simple, narrow thoughts about the only place on earth which has opened welcoming doors to ANY Jew escaping Nazi Europe, not only to a lucky, selected few which had landed elsewhere.
Similar opinions are widespread in Europe today (and in academic circles in Israel too). I for one welcome any debate on Israeli policies. But In Hobsbawm's book there isn't any. Only harsh, cold, unjust remarks, which stand in harsh dissonance to his kind description of almost anything and anyone associated with left-wing English Sports or British Jazz. Pity how Brecht's poem which he likes so much ("An die Nachgeborenen")could apply to this "unfriendly" autobiography of a great historian and scholar.

Interesting but humourless.......2004-03-26

Eric Hobsbawn has led a fascinating life and has added enormously to the understanding of the last two centuries withhis brilliant historical mind.

I enjoyed reading his autobiography, but I found it to be almost humourless and astonishingly free of anecdote. He comes across as an earnest devotee of communism. His wrestling with the failure of communism - both morally and materially - is one of the most engaging features of the book. But I wanted to know the person and person does not seem to appear at all. In truth, it is an extended essay on his life and times, but very little else.

Average customer rating:
INTERESTING TIMES: A TWENTIETH-CENTURY LIFE
Eric Hobsbawm
Manufacturer: The New Press New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IWT6IC

Average customer rating:
Eric Hobsbawm, Interesting Times: A Twentieth-Century Life.(Book Review): An article from: Labour/Le Travail
Jeremy Mouat
Manufacturer: Canadian Committee on Labour History
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B0008IQZ8A
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1345 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: Eric Hobsbawm, Interesting Times: A Twentieth-Century Life.(Book Review)
Author: Jeremy Mouat
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Issue: 52 Page: 314(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

Breathtaking nature walk

a special find

This book is a special treasure

a beautiful book of nature watercolours

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady: A Facsimile Reproduction of a Naturalist's Diary for the Year 1906
Edith Holden
Manufacturer: Michael Joseph
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
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Customer Reviews:

Breathtaking nature walk.......2004-12-02

The Country Diary is a book arranged month by month of the writer/artist's nature walks and discoveries. Each month begins with a history of the month, related folk lore, and poetry. There is also wonderful art work that allows you to journey with Ms. Holden on her adventures. Her monthly entries details the world around her and draws you back to the pages of her journal over and over again. I first checked out this book from the library to get my children to begin their own nature journals as part of our homeschooling science class, but I found myself more captivated than even they could ever be. I have checked out her book so many times, that I finally bought my own copy. She has motivated me to sketch in my own journal and to look with new eyes at the natural world around me. In times where one is forced to stay in, you can still journey outside with Ms. Holden's book. Awesome!

a special find.......2003-03-13

found this book at an estate sale for 25 cents....truly a beautiful find.

This book is a special treasure.......2000-12-07

After a doctor's appointment in Houston I dropped by a small privately owned bookstore I thought looked interesting. As the owner and I spoke she said she could tell I would love this book because of my love of gardening,birds and nature--but that obtaining it would be very difficult. I asked them to put me on a search list and a few months later it arrived. The author's drawings and observations as she watches nature are captivating. Edith started this journal in 1906 and it was never shown to anyone until it was discovered on a shelf in an old country home and then published. There is a sweetness and innocence in the writing that's hard to describe. The pages are like a rather like a thick piece of manilla paper and if I had an extra copy of this book I would frame page after page. I purchased it sight unseen and consider it one of my great treasures.

a beautiful book of nature watercolours.......2000-12-03

This book was a bestseller when it was originally published in the 1970's, and there was a good reason for it. Edith Holden, the artist of this work was a very accomplished watercolorist. This book is filled with her views of the fruits, beauty and wonder of nature. It shows the flowers, birds and insects of the natural world as they appear over a year accompanied by appropriate poems and quotations.

The watercolours are simply breathtaking. The closest thing to this book that I have seen is illuminated manuscripts, but the effect here is quite different.

The publishers have been very wise with publication. You get a page-by-page facimilie in full colour, reproducing the original manuscript. They have not cluttered the book up by reproducing pages and putting their own text next to it.

If you run across a copy of this pick it up and let it take you away to another world.

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.......2000-02-09

Magnificent! Beutiful! A piece of art

The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady - A Facsimile Reproduction Of A Naturalist's Diary For The Year 1906

Average customer rating:

The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady - A Facsimile Reproduction Of A Naturalist's Diary For The Year 1906
Edith Holden
Manufacturer: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K02XGY

Average customer rating:

THE COUNTRY DIARY OF AN EDWARDIAN LADY. A facsimile reproduction of a naturalist's diary for the year 1906. Edith Holden recorded in words and paintings the flora and fauna of the British countryside through the changing seasons of the year.

Average customer rating:

THE COUNTRY DIARY OF AN EDWARDIAN LADY. A facsimile reproduction of a naturalist's diary for the year 1906. Edith Holden recorded in words and paintings the flora and fauna of the British countryside through the changing seasons of the year.
Edith): (Holden
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W2TV2E

Book Description

The international contributors to this book address some of the fundamental issues--economic, political, legal and social--facing business in the context of environmentalism. Rather than offering simple solutions to complex problems, this book raises issues for corporate managers and for business educators. The importance of heightening the awareness of managers concerning environmental issues is a paramount aim of the book.

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