Book Description
In 1862 King Mongkut of Siam engaged Englishwoman Anna Leonowens to teach his children. Young, adventurous, but rather prone to moralize, Anna was often at loggerheads with the King. So in 1867 she left Siam, but wrote an engaging account of her adventure that inspired the great Hollywood movie `The King and I'. Now reissued in Oxford Paperbacks, it remains a fascinating picture of Siam over a century ago, and in particular of its larger-than-life monarch.
Customer Reviews:
Know What You Want........2007-09-18
Your decision to purchase this book depends mainly on what it is you seek. If you expect an interesting and easy-flowing narrative, such as portrayed in movies and musicals claiming to be based on the book, you will be sorely disappointed (as I was). If, however, you hope to find a long and intricately-detailed account of all things Siamese, -- her history, court protocols, geography, literature, art, culinary offerings, imports, exports, manner of travel, religion as it relates to Roman Catholicism, architecture, precious metals, customs, superstitions, foreign relations, clothing and hair styles, manner of war craft, flora and fauna, "etc.", -- sprinkled with minimal anecdotal vignettes of Mrs. Leonowens' experience in the many-faceted country and not at all mentioning cats, you, my friend, are in for a very special treat.
Anna's back..........2001-10-20
I recently listened to an unabridged version of this book on CD. There was surprisingly little time spent on actual personal happenings between Anna, the king and the court. She really does get into the history, culture, art, customs etc. of Siam in the 1860s. Three quarters of the book is taken up with this very kind of detailed and endless information. Nadia May, with incrediable skill and a voice that is as prim and English as Anna's, adds to the diminsion of this narrative. Her amazing ability at pronounciation helps capture a real sense of time and place. If one is looking for the glamous story from broadway or the movies--be ready for a disappointment. For a person fascinated by the culture and history of this country as well as interested in the English view, then, get your walking shoes on and have a nice listen to Anna's story.
Mostly fiction, euro-centric w/ very little truth or facts.......2001-09-11
I am thai, and I feel that it is my obligation to make a comment about this book. In all fairness, I think it is a 'fun' book to read, providing that the reader is aware that it is mostly fictionalized. Anna wrote a much distorted story of her time as an English tutor in the royal court of Siam, mostly glorifying herself without concerns for any real accuracy. When I was younger I was fascinated because this book was/is banned in Thailand, and so I wanted to find out more and did an extensive research. I learned that Anna's account is mostly ego-centric, euro-centric, and sensationalized. She created many fictional details of her own life to make herself sounding glamorous (for example, she said she was a daughter of a high-ranking British army officer and a genteel lady,when in fact she was a ... child of a petty soldier and an indian prostitute. Her husband was a drunk, etc.) If anyone would bother to do more research, he/she would also find that King Mongkut (Rama iV) was a wise, gentle, highly educated monach with a supreme, long-ranged vision to lay the foundation to modernize Thailand and prevent the country from being colonized by European Imperialism. He was a priest and a scholar,who rather chose/preferred to live within religious confinement for many many years before he had to finally ascend to the throne as an old man after his brother passed away. FYI, With fine, white hair, he was a very thin and fragile-looking man---not at all what all the musicals and movies have portrayed him to be. Because of him Thailand is the only country in Asia that has never been colonized. And King Monkut would have done it with or without Anna being around! Mongkut's son, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) indeed carried on his father's legacy. Wise, modern, and highly educated(a result of his father's effort), King Chulalongkorn abolished slavery, created the first public university/public elementary and secondary school system and railroad and telecommunication system, reorganized the government and army infrastructure, etc---that is why he became one of the most beloved king in the Thai history. But all of this could not have happened without King Mongkut's vision in the first place. Anna's portrayal of King Monkut as a temperamental, insensitive tyrant/barbarian/womanizer is therefore downright offensive and insulting to the thais, NOT because we can't stand any criticism of our royal family, but simply because we know that most of her account is not true! About the violence/punishments/the concubine 'harem' of the royal court, please remember that this was a very different time. Such practices were common in many cultures and countries and not just in Thailand.
Fact or fiction? We will never know for sure. Worth reading.......2001-09-04
Anna Leonowens is a controversial figure even now. Her name may not even have really been Leonowen (but the more common Welsh Owens), her husband not dead from heatstroke in a tiger hunt, but from drink, and not a British army officer at all. Nevertheless, her account of her time in Siam as the royal governess is ever popular and fascinating reading.
Anna wrote several books, The Romance of the Harem being another. Both this and the Romance were novelized by Margaret Landon into the more familiar Anna and the King of Siam.
Part of the controversy stems from the fact that any criticism of Thai royalty is not tolerated in that country. The king is held in a religious esteem and is the heart and soul of the country. So Anna's casual remarks on the king's temper and habits are practically heresy to the Thai, hence, she and her writing are targets for criticism. And what's worse, her pupil Chulalongkorn or Rama V, is Thailand's MOST revered king--kind of a Thai saint. His portrait is found in nearly all Thai homes and businesses.
Having that as a background, it's still fun to read Anna's account of her time in Thailand. Though many people feel that Anna distorted or hid the truth about herself in many ways, the book gives a fascinating look into a magical land. Anna's writing is typically Victorian; the prose is a bit ornate and not as direct as the writing of Landon.
Fact or fiction?.......2000-04-23
While this book was extremely helpful in my research on Anna Leonowens I believe the reader does not get a true picture of her life because there are many gaps in the story. She fails to go into depth on the matter of her popularity with slaves when she often paid for their freedom. I recommend this book for people trying to get a sense of the history of Siam and some stories of her life, however, it may be that she never taught the king's children at all and never met the king. I would recommend Anna and the King of Siam for extensive research.
Average customer rating:
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The English governess at the Siamese court; being recollections of six years in the royal palace at Bangkok, by Anna Harriette Leonowens. With illustrations ... presented to the author by the King of Siam.
Michigan Historical Reprint Series
Manufacturer: Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library
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Anna and the King of Siam
ASIN: 1425538312
Release Date: 2005-12-20 |
Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program.
Average customer rating:
- A Thumbnail Sketch of a Season on Tour
- Poorly written.
- The Boys of Summer Play Golf
- Could have been so much better.....
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Tour '72
Michael D'Antonio
Manufacturer: Hyperion
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0786867167 |
Book Description
The year 1972 was an incredible one for golf. The games traditional stateliness gave way to a fiercer and more exciting dynamic as Trevino, Palmer, Nicklaus, and Player dominated the course. Their intense competitiveness and unbelievable prowess paved the way for the likes of Tiger and Sergio, and shaped the game we know today. Armed with a reporters perspective and a passionate golfers love of the game, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael DAntonio offers a behind-the-scenes portrait of this extraordinary time. He details the most exciting British Open ever played; the best single shot ever made at the PGA Championship; and the division between the older champions and new prodigies. He reveals Lee Trevinos near nervous breakdown and explores Jack Nicklauss evolution from arrogant youth to best golfer of his generation. At no other time would so many great players compete together at the height of their powers. Michael DAntonio captures this pivotal year in all its glory in a book every golf fan will treasure.
Customer Reviews:
A Thumbnail Sketch of a Season on Tour.......2004-07-23
I won't flame the book quite as severely as others have, however, I can only mildly recommend it for several reasons. While the book is a nice, cursory overview of the four majors in 1972, it does not, due to its brevity, fully engage the reader ala "A Duel In The Sun" at any one location. Indeed, the PGA is basically an afterthought (covering about 20 pages at the end) due, presumably, to Nicklaus' failure to win at Muirfield.
There is a compelling story here, it is just not fully developed. Yes, there is poignancy to the rapid decline of Palmer; Yes, there is a strong central character in Nicklaus; Yes, Trevino leaps off the page as a charismatic, if troubled, star; Yes, Player is shown as a multi-dimensional man wrestling with the sins of his nation, but with a less than 300 page narrative, the book feels more like an appetizer than a main course.
I will say that in comparison to "The Majors", John Feinstein's book about the 4 majors in 1998, this author made a better choice. Feinstein threw a dart at the wall, essentially hoping that year's majors would offer compelling story lines (they basically did not. O'Meara's two wins .. feh. Vijah at Sahalee ..yawn), whereas this book is written retrospectively with the full knowledge that GREAT story lines existed.
Anyway, it's a shame the factual errors pointed out in other reviews were made (hopefully cleaned up for the paperback version), but otherwise, this is a good, quick read.
Poorly written........2003-12-27
There are many problems with this book.
1. Factual errors. Some have been pointed out by previous reviewers. Here are a couple more:
- the difference between par and bogey was described as a "margin of two shots".
- A player at the Masters was described as birdieing 14, 15, and then makings a putt for "his third birdie in a row on seventeen". Apparently he skipped 16.
That's only a couple of mistakes, but add them to others I noticed plus others noticed by the previous reviewer, and this is a sloppy book.
2. Redundancy. Twice we're told that Lee Elder expected an invitation to the Masters after winning the Nigerian Open. Twice we're given an account of Arnie blowing a 7-shot lead to Billy Casper at the '66 Open. I kept feeling that I'd lost my place in the book and accidentally started over on earlier pages. But it was just the author repeating himself for no apparent reason.
3. Failed attempts to put the story into some sort of larger social context. The reader is treated (or subjected) to an endless stream of data -- much of it trivial -- about the societal events, politics, popular culture, economics, and non-golf sporting events of the era. The problem is that very little of it had anything to do with Nicklaus' pursuit of the Grand Slam, Palmer's waning career, Trevino's exploits, etc. The problem seems to be that the author couldn't get a book-length story out of the golf alone, so he padded (and padded, and padded) with extraneous stuff that is irrelevant to the story he's trying to tell.
4. White liberal guilt. This is of course a virtual epidemic among sportswriters and other media types today. They pat themselves on the back, showing how unbiased they are by pointing out how biased other people are. So we find that Bobby Jones was racist, the Masters is racist, Gary Player was racist, Jack Nicklaus -- well, not sure about him but he was a privileged country club kid and that's pretty much the same as being racist. Again, little of this is relevant to the '72 season of Nicklaus, Trevino, et al, but by writing about it at length the author is able to show what a good, non-racist guy he is (and also pad the book some more to meet his word quota).
5. Unoriginality. Something occurred to me in reading this: I believe the author might have been able to write it without ever leaving his office. Most of the information in it can be "Googled". Most of the rest is author's musings or conclusions. It's hard to find evidence of much real research or subject interviewing. In other words, it may be somewhat more sophisticated than a student paper that just regurgitates facts found in encyclopedias and magazine articles -- but not by much.
Overall -- the book doesn't do justice to the players or the events of that great golf season.
The Boys of Summer Play Golf.......2002-08-27
What Roger Kahn did for the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers of the mid-1950s, Michael D'Antonio does for the heros and anti-heros of the 1972 PGA tour, a year as important in golf history as the days of Jackie Robinson were to the Dodgers.
Today, with the game, or at least media attention on the game, dominated by a single player, it's hard to imagine that there was a Tour of '72, dominated by Nicklaus, Palmer, Player and Trevino - all competing in a single season.
A writer who can find the excitement in any subject, from the sex life of mosquitos to the intricacies of a good backswing, D'Antonio's own passion for golf comes shinning through in the Tour '72 just as it did in his earlier Tin Cup Dreams.
Anyone who cares about the game of golf and the game's legendary players will want to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon with Tour '72 - and will re-read this gem again and again.
Could have been so much better............2002-08-08
I started reading this book with anticipation but it quickly became obvious it was a shallow (and over-priced!) effort with many mistakes that detracted from the story. Who did the proofreading anyway? Gene Littler did NOT win the US Open in 1960, Arnie did (p 136). Muirfield is 20 miles east of Edinburgh, NOT 20 miles west (p 187). Doug Sanders lost the British Open playoff to Jack in 1970 NOT 1971 (p 202), etc. Also, attempting to follow a golfer's progress through their rounds is very difficult as the narrative does not always equate to relation to over/under par. One of 4 main combatants, Arnold Palmer, is not even mentioned in the British Open summary until AFTER the tournament has ended (ie Palmer finished 8 strokes back). Gary Player is ignored quite a lot throughout the book also (I had to doublecheck to make sure he did play in the 1972 British Open) This book was obviously rushed to print - the writing style and accuracy level, or lack thereof, provide sufficient evidence of a lack of organization and lack of attention to detail. Overall, a very disappointing effort that had so much more potential.
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Hitchcock: Suspense, Humour and Tone (Distributed for the British Film Institute)
Susan Smith
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0851707793 |
Book Description
Why are the films of Alfred Hitchcock so complex and engaging? Susan Smith's treatment of the works of the most subtle of all filmmakers analyzes the key elements of suspense, humor and tone across the whole of the director's career. Arguing that all three are central to our viewing experience, the book demonstrates how Hitchcock's masterly integration of these elements is the key to his success as a filmmaker.
Examining in detail such films as North by Northwest, The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt and Notorious amongst many others, the book discusses the idea of the director as sabateur and the importance of "the avoidance of cliché" in Hitchcock's narrative.
Book Description
Written for the beginning or intermediate computer user over the age of 50, this large-print guide introduces seniors to the World Wide Web, leads users through the basics of searching and finding information on the Internet, and describes the fundamentals of e-mail management. The world of electronic communication and connecting with other Internet users is described. Details on customizing a web browser, downloading free software suitable for use with Windows XP, and protecting against viruses are included.
Customer Reviews:
"really helpful".......2007-09-07
Says my mother in law, who has tried classes and a few other books. This was her favorite.
Internet and E-mail for Seniors.......2007-07-05
This is a good and simple book, easy to read and understand for seniors or any beginners for that manner. I'd recommend any of Addo Stuur books on computers. They really help me.
internet and email for seniors.......2007-05-12
Excellent text with screenshots easy to follow.
Not a deep coverage, but certainly gets seniors going.
We use it as a recommended text for our seniors courses.
This is a great book for beginners! .......2005-06-09
Although I have been surfing the Internet for a while, I found lots of practical hints and tips, such as learning how to do better Internet searches with this handy book.
Book Description
Spanning three centuries, this collection traces the historical evolution of legends, folktales, and traditions of four major native American groups from their earliest encounters with European settlers to the present. The book is based on some 240 folklore texts gathered from early colonial writings, newspapers, magazines, diaries, local histories, anthropology and folklore publications, a variety of unpublished manuscript sources, and field research with living Indians.
Book Description
Empire and imperialism have returned with a vengeance--not as a set of ideas and practices to be exhumed by the historians, but as paradigms for twenty-first-century living. Harry Harootunian turns his unrelenting gaze to signs of the new imperialism in the world--from the United States’ occupation of Iraq to other supposed terrorist enclaves around the globe.
The arguments being made today for imperialism’s historical and contemporary value echo earlier rationales for modernization theory and its conception of “development” during the heyday of the Cold War. Harootunian decisively cuts through the layers to reveal that under the new clothes, it’s the same empire.
Amazon.com
Charles Petzold's latest book, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, crosses over into general-interest nonfiction from his usual programming genre. It's a carefully written, carefully researched gem that will appeal to anyone who wants to understand computer technology at its essence. Readers learn about number systems (decimal, octal, binary, and all that) through Petzold's patient (and frequently entertaining) prose and then discover the logical systems that are used to process them. There's loads of historical information too. From Louis Braille's development of his eponymous raised-dot code to Intel Corporation's release of its early microprocessors, Petzold presents stories of people trying to communicate with (and by means of) mechanical and electrical devices. It's a fascinating progression of technologies, and Petzold presents a clear statement of how they fit together.
The real value of Code is in its explanation of technologies that have been obscured for years behind fancy user interfaces and programming environments, which, in the name of rapid application development, insulate the programmer from the machine. In a section on machine language, Petzold dissects the instruction sets of the genre-defining Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800 processors. He walks the reader through the process of performing various operations with each chip, explaining which opcodes poke which values into which registers along the way. Petzold knows that the hidden language of computers exhibits real beauty. In Code, he helps readers appreciate it. --David Wall
Topics covered: Mechanical and electrical representations of words and numbers, number systems, logic gates, performing mathematical operations with logic gates, microprocessors, machine code, memory and programming languages.
Product Description
What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do with computers? In CODE, they show us the ingenious ways we manipulate language and invent new means of communicating with each other. And through CODE, we see how this ingenuit
Customer Reviews:
Must-read for geeks.......2007-09-20
This book is required reading for all computer geeks or anyone who wants to know how computers really work.
A Great Book, a Hidden Gem.......2007-08-31
Usually, I don't write reviews, even for the books that I buy. But despite not having bought this book(I took it from my college library), I am writing this review because this book is just superb and that is what I want to inform others. This is just the kind of book I was desperately looking for. All it beautifully teaches is that how computers work in a very fundamental way and the interaction between hardware and software. You will get example to build your own calculator(virtual one) and so on(I haven't finished reading it yet).
So, if you want to be a Great programmer or Computer engineer, you just shouldn't miss this book. Buy it or get it from a Library, but read it.
A Labor of Love.......2007-01-01
Want to know how computers work -- like, really? Petzold's book explains it all, tracing the evolution of computer circuitry from the telegraph to the machines we know today, in intricate detail. Heavy on electrical engineering (which was great for me, with my relative ignorance of it), and a fun, if somewhat thick, read -- Mr. Wizard for computer nerds, you might say.
I've heard the words "labor of love" used to describe this book. The description fits perfectly. Highly recommended.
Only a genius could write such!!!!.......2006-08-25
For years i have been searching for information on how computers really work under the hood. Many text just skimp over the whole process and leave you unfullfilled, but this book, will not let you down. It starts off from the basic or foundation, like the light bulb situation,bits and bytes and develops furthur into stuff like logic- AND and Or Gates and so forth, right down to programming languages and how the translation is made. after reading this book you will look at computers in a different way.
A book with many purposes.......2006-07-27
I hold a bachelors degree in computer science, but it has been 11 years since I have studied it seriously. This book has rekindled my interests, and I am now considering returning to school to get my masters degree. Charles Petzold is a very gifted author. He made several topics in his book much clearer than any professor or lecturer ever did. I recommend that anyone with an ounce of curiosity about the inner workings of computers read this book from cover to cover. Its destined to be a home library must-have.
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Preserve parks mission.(Editorials)(Bush administration proposes changes)(Editorial) : An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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ASIN: B000EPFLNW
Release Date: 2006-02-23 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on February 18, 2006. The length of the article is 566 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: Preserve parks mission.(Editorials)(Bush administration proposes changes)(Editorial)
Publication:
The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: February 18, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: A12
Article Type: Editorial
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967: Volume Two: Political Turmoil
- The Last Nine Months: Putting on My Last Diaper in Family Child Care
- The Legacy of Joseph A. Schumpeter (Intellectual Legacies in Modern Economic)
- The Legacy of Leon Walras (Intellectual Legacies in Modern Economic)
- The Lion of Wall Street: The Two Lives of Jack Dreyfus
- The Man Who Saw the Future: William Paterson's Vision of Free Trade
- The Memoirs of Samuel Insull: An Autobiography
- The Self-Made Man Success & Stress-American Style
- There Are No Mistakes, Only Lessons: A Modern Caribbean Success Story
- Thorstein Veblen: Victorian Firebrand
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The Romance of the Harem (Victorian Literature and Culture Series)
The King and I (50th Anniversary Edition)
Anna and the King
The English Governess and the Siamese Court: The True Story Behind 'The King and I'
