The Roots of Success: Why Children Follow in their Parents' Career Footsteps

Book Description

Parents exert a definite and strong influence on their children in terms of personality, but do they influence them in terms of economics and occupation as well? This study maintains that children's occupational choice is indeed related, in a systematic fashion, to the influence of their parents. The Roots of Success presents the first consistent theory of "occupational following" from an economic perspective.

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To Our Little Sisters With Love: The Young African-American Woman's Guide to Achieving Early Career Success
K. W. Jenkins , and Tracy L. Wise
Manufacturer: W J Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Vocational Guidance | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0966096800

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Extremely entertaining tongue-in-cheek anthology

hostile

Laugh all the way to your next appointment

Laugh, cry, schedule an emergency session

Dykes With Baggage

Manufacturer: Alyson Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1555835686

Amazon.com

Not likely to end up next to the April 1974 National Geographic in your psychologist's waiting room, this irreverent collection of cartoons, personal essays, and short stories about the torments of therapy goes down well with half a Paxil and a glass of orange juice. In Ivy Burrowes's "Therapeutic Insurrection," two women in group therapy break the rules and begin an affair with each other. Leslea Newman displays an obsessive streak in "What Do You Say to a Naked Therapist?" and in C.C. Carter's "On Becoming a Woman," a full-figured lesbian finally rejects her "food counselor" and embraces her own size 14 beauty. Although the book is not always as funny as its jacket copy suggests, there are a few gems, including editor Debra Riggin Waugh's brief sketch of a couples' counseling session with a new therapist, in which the main character, suffering from a bad cold, fails to hear the crucial first two words of the sentence, "Do you tell her what you like in bed?" and launches into a graphic description of their lovemaking. This is antidepressive reading; keep out of reach of therapists. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Some day you will look back on all this and laugh. If you never thought you would hear that phrase applied to the usually agonizing process of psychoanalysis, think again! Among the very skewed sessions in this hilarious collection you will find "Affirmations in Action" by Ellen Orleans, "Serial Therapy (or What to Do When Your Therapist Is Seeing Someone Else)" by G.L. Morrison, 'Case History of a Warrior Princess" by Julia Willis, "What Do You Say to a Naked Therapist?" by Leslea Newman, and cartoons by Kris Kovick. No matter if you are as well-balanced as a scale or should be in analysis for 18 hours a day, these stories will leave you in stitches!

Riggin Waugh is the author of Homo Neurotica and the editor of the Lambda Literary Award finalist Ex-Love Weird Shit.

Customer Reviews:

Extremely entertaining tongue-in-cheek anthology.......2006-09-24

I bought this for the laugh out loud funny story by Julia Willis `Case History of a Warrior Princess'.

The book has 69 short-short stories from a host of fabulous authors including Alison Bechdel, Leslea Newman, Anna Seale and many more.

This is a Keeper!

hostile.......2002-02-23

Well, as a queer client and therapist, I thought most of these pieces were unbelievably hostile. Very few were affectionate, and thus the collection didn't mirror the attitude of the majority of lesbians I've ever talked with, socially or professionally. A much more accurate (and funny) depiction of lesbian client/lesbian therapist issues, for example, can be found in any volume of any "Dykes to Watch Out For."

The overwhelming anger of this volume made me very sad. No, I wouldn't put this in my waiting room. Not because it pokes fun, but because it is not funny.

Laugh all the way to your next appointment.......2001-01-24

Ever wonder what you would do if you ran smack into your therapist in the dressing room at the 'Y'? Need advice on how to select a therapist? Or an object lesson on what happens when you choose badly?

This book is full of amusing and insightful stories about lesbians in therapy, and lesbian therapists doing therapy, and lesbians who should be doing therapy. Most of the stories are well-written and fluent.

This book is a great deal of fun, offers some real food for thought and is a good way to tide you over your therapist's four-week trip to Aruba.

Laugh, cry, schedule an emergency session.......2000-11-19

Finally a book that deals tongue-in-cheek with our Issues with a capital "I."

Meredith Cohen ("Ms. Behavior") once wrote about the pesky boundary situations that can occur between lesbians and their (oftentimes) lesbian therapists and this book provides ample evidence of this. From one woman (oops womyn? :) seeing her therapist naked at the gym, to a client who uses a therapist's home bathroom and has to have the therapist pass toilet paper through the cracked door..well, you get the picture.

This book will definitely make you laugh, so buy one for the next time your therapist is on a vacation. Until prozac goes generic, it's the next best thing....

Book Description

One of the finest bands of the British New Wave, Squeeze shot to the top of the charts in the 1980s with a string of hits including "Cool for Cats," "Up the Junction," "Another Nail in My Heart," and "Tempted." In this definitive account, Glen Tilbrook and Chris Difford, the band's creative heart, discuss Squeeze's history, their distinctive sound, and the creative process behind their catchy melodies and provocative, emotional lyrics. The book also includes lyric sheets and a detailed discography.

Customer Reviews:

To be perhaps the one who..........2007-05-22

...will forever love you. Yes, I am a diehard Squeeze fan, thus my interest in the book, but I can recommend it to anyone who is interested in the craft of music; to anyone who is interested in what makes a musician tick, and perservere, despite the lack of overarching success. Squeeze definitely perservered, and at times prospered from their genius, but a series of misfortunes and misdirection, from within and without, kept them from achieving the success they truly deserved. After reading this book, my Squeeze discs, tapes, albums etc. have all hit the stereo once again, and to me they sound as wonderful as always, but again, the sight through lens of the diehard fan must be acknowledged. Of all the music I listened to in the 80s and early 90s, Squeeze was one of a small number of bands that I absolutely LOVED beyond all reason.

The insight provided by the duo, at the prompting of Drury, is nothing short of fascinating, though it is a bit disconcerting to hear favorite tunes dismissed as twaddle. However, their perspective, decades after the fact, is honest and interesting. The background provided about the band is more interesting still. I heartily recommend it to all fans of the band, and to anyone who enjoys music. And when you're done, hunt up your Squeeze back catalog and have a good listen. You'll never let those cassettes grow dusty again.

In Quintessence.......2006-07-02

I was quite surprised when I stumbled across this book on Amazon. Being that it is now 2006, eight years after Squeeze released their last proper album, I thought this was something I would never see. Being a self=proclaimed die hard Squeeze fan, I quickly snatched it up. First of all, it is a very easy read, you will not feel encumbered at any point to stick with it.
I loved the accounts of the early days of Squeeze, how they managed to come together and had a great time simply playing their music. Chris is quite forthcoming in the way that he describes the impact that alcohol had on his life and how it lead to a certain amount of alienation between Glenn and himself. Chris and Glenn admit the trouble that they had communicating with each other, which one might not expect since they had spent so much time together in their life. This book covers the highs from "Cool for Cats" to the lows of being ignored in the publicity department on their later albums.
I agree with others who have said it would have been nice to have some insight from other band members- Jools Holland, Paul Carrack, or Gilson Lavis- to get a fuller picture of the band.
This book is a welcome gift for those who have enjoyed Squeeze's wonderful music over the years. A nice portrait for those to reminisce over the music that has brought much joy to our hearts.

Squeeze - the clean and the dirty.......2006-04-17

This book is set up in an interesting way. First there is a concise introduction of the group's early days. Then each album is dissected, with Difford and Tilbrook sharing memories of each song, such as the writing behind them and recordings. There is an introduction of the album and in the end of each chapter a discussion of the album's ramifications, how it fared etc. At the end of the book the conclusion of Squeeze is navigated and finally some texts of most of their best songs are introduced.

This set-up actually works great. The reader gets all the main details without getting bogged down with lengthy discussions about trivial matters left best alone to the hard core fans. The memories of Difford and Tilbrook are interesting to read, I for one did not know half of all the troubles surrounding the group. Having been a huge fan when East Side Story was released, it is interesting noting how things went quickly downhill after that with Sweets From a Stranger. Tilbrook was obviously at fault, being bossy and stubborn. It was also sad for me to realize what a prick he really can be. When re-uniting Squeeze he sacked their long time bassist, John Bentley, being a somewhat perfectionist. By doing so, however, the face of Squeeze changed forever. It is interesting that Paul Carrack leaves the band almost immediately after East Side Story, realizing that the duo would never allow him to become a full term song writer nor singer within the group. Yet he made Tempted their biggest hit, ever, with his soulful singing. He later enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist, one can only wonder what Squeeze would have become had Difford and Tilbrook allowed him more space within the band.

It would have been great fleshing the book a little by getting some other band members' opinions. Also, after having read some of Difford's texts, many of which are a work of genius, one craves to have more within the book.

This is, on the whole, however a great read which I recommend for all Squeeze fans. Would give it 4 and a half stars if I could, but lean more towards 5 stars.

Fascinating, but.......2006-01-19

Drury could have provided a bit more context and perspective, rather than just tossing whiffle balls at Glenn and Chris. Still, it's better than nothing and serves as a powerful reminder of just how great Squeeze was.

Squeeze: Accessible without being ordinary.......2005-09-25

Loved learning more about one of the most criminally underrated bands to come out of the UK. This book is not just for Squeeze fans but for fans of intelligent pop music and for those who are interested in the craft of songwriting. The interviews with Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford were fascinating, honest and revealing. This book will inspire you to revisit your Squeeze records and hopefully motivate new fans to check out their work. Glenn's documentary "Glenn Tilbrook: One For The Road" is coming out soon and Glenn and Chris have some fab solo CD's available as well. When will Squeeze be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Snowman's Squeaky Song (Christmas Squeeze-and-squeak)

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Snowman's Squeaky Song (Christmas Squeeze-and-squeak)
Muff Singer , Sarah Turtle Singer , and Ros Schanzer
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

Board Books | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Snowman's Squeaky Song (Fun Works Squeeze Me Book)

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Snowman's Squeaky Song (Fun Works Squeeze Me Book)
Fun Works , Mouse Works , and Funworks
Manufacturer: Mouse Works
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

Board Books | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1570823391

Squeeze for the keys (Rhyme time with the Rymons)

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Squeeze for the keys (Rhyme time with the Rymons)
Susan Rose Simms
Manufacturer: Thinking Well
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Squeeze Me Music: Storyboard Song Book Featuring the Rainbow Gang

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Squeeze Me Music: Storyboard Song Book Featuring the Rainbow Gang
none listed
Manufacturer: Rising Star Toys
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K24D92

Product Description

Book that goes with "Squeeze Me Music Soft Piano"

Robert James Waller 5 Pack (Bridges of Madison County, Border Music, Old Songs in a New Cafe, Puerto Villarta Squeeze, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend)

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Robert James Waller 5 Pack (Bridges of Madison County, Border Music, Old Songs in a New Cafe, Puerto Villarta Squeeze, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend)
Robert James Waller
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

Five books for the price of one. One hardcover copy each of: Bridges of Madison County, Border Music, Puerto Villarta Squeeze, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend and Old Songs in a New Cafe.

Book Description

The absence of drama in most considerations of the "post-modern condition," Stephen Watt argues, demands a renewed exploration of drama's relationships with late capitalist economy, post-Marxian politics, and commodity culture. But Postmodern/Drama asks a provocative question: Does an entity such as postmodern drama in fact exist?

Scrutinizing the critical tendency to label texts or writers as "postmodern," and delineating what it might mean to "read" drama more "postmodernly," Watt demonstrates that playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Cherrié Moraga, Harold Pinter, David Rabe, Karen Finley, and others should not be labeled "postmodernist," but rather recognized as producers of texts that might be termed "post-modern."

Watt demonstrates that reading contemporary drama in such a fashion means reading culture more broadly, and he charts the kinds of exploratory movements such reading demands. Rigorously interdisciplinary, Postmodern/Drama carefully articulates the margins among genres and media. The book also considers novels by Beckett, Italo Calvino, and Don DeLillo; films by George Huang and Robert Altman; and commentary on postmodernity by Jean Baudrillard and Fredric Jameson. In the end, the postmodernity of contemporary drama is shown as less a question of genre or media than of a certain mode of subjectivity shared and contested by playwrights, producers, and audiences.

"A very readable and well constructed book. Watt's approach is exploratory and this is particularly impressive. His thesis is all the more convincing for his willingness to consider both sides of any given critical argument or approach." --Lois Oppenheim, Montclair State University

Stephen Watt is Professor of English, Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author of Joyce, O'Casey, and the Irish Popular Theater, and coeditor of Marketing Modernisms (with Kevin J. H. Detmar), American Drama: Colonial to Contemporary (with Gary L. Richardson), and When They Weren't Doing Shakespeare (with Judith L. Fisher).

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Leviathan: Ships of the Line (Renegade Legion boxed set) (Boxed Game)
FASA
Manufacturer: FASA Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1555600859

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The battleship,: Being the story of the greatest naval weapon from the first ship-of-the-line to present-day leviathans,
Walter Wood
Manufacturer: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000872BRK

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Not a good teaching tool

not for maya beginners

Had potential but lost it quickly

Something lost in the translation?

Discover the Game with Alias: An In-Depth Look at Game Art Creation in Maya and Alias MotionBuilder
Alias Learning Tools
Manufacturer: Sybex
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Games & Strategy Guides | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books | Internet Games | Strategy Guides | Video Games
Web Graphics | Web Design | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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The Game Artist's Guide to Maya

The Game Animator's Guide to Maya

Learning Maya 7: The Special Effects Handbook

3D Game Textures: Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop

Maya Techniques: Hyper-Real Creature Creation (Maya Techniques)

ASIN: 1897177100

Book Description

Learn the Alias-endorsed workflow for creating a game in Maya with. this full-color, official book. Discover the Game with Alias is the only book available that also teaches animation techniques in Alias MotionBuilder. Accompanying the book, are two DVDs. The first features instructor movies, scene files, and PLEs of Maya and Alias MotionBuilder. The second includes Maya Techniques in Polygon, Texturing, Lighting, and Shading. Be sure to get your copy of this invaluable resource today.

Customer Reviews:

Not a good teaching tool.......2007-05-14

I bought this book primarily to see if I could use it in teaching character animation using a pipeline of Maya and MotionBuilder.

No way.

The first part delves into making scenery for a hypothetical game with a hypothetical lead character. Fine. However, a lot of the polygon scenery could be readily replaced by matte painting, thereby drastically cutting down on poly count. The female character modeling session is typical of other character modeling chapters from other books by Sybex and Maya Press. The game modeler will not find anything new or insightful here.

However, there is one glaring omission in the book that totally negated any thought of using this book in a classroom. After the character is finished, it's time to animate it in MotionBuilder. But is there anywhere in the chapters preceding MB any mention of building the character's skeletal system? On top of this, from my previous work with MotionBuilder, MB is rather fussy on naming conventions for bones and joints. Not only is a "chapter" missing on how to properly bone the character, but at least one lesson on proper naming conventions is in order. Neither exist.

not for maya beginners.......2006-02-25

the only downfall of this book is that it doesn't give you a step by step directions to create the character. you have great images to follow. so you have to figure out how to get from one image to the next. it's a helpful book to use if you want to know how to model figures. i would not recommend this book if you just started on the maya program. some of the contents in the book can be confusing for beginners.

Had potential but lost it quickly.......2006-02-17

Recently I purchased this book because I thought it would give me "In depth" insight into game art creation in Maya and other software, but to my dismay it's more of an "overview" of the process from taking a model for concept to completion. The information was very sparse especially with the texturing section, the exception was the actual modeling of the main character (with no concept art I might add). All of the "information" was glossed over by letting the reader guess at how the author accomplished a particular series of steps. For instance creating the ground for the sets went like this

- Shape the basic terrain of the map with various Maya modeling tools. Start with a primitive polygon and go from there-

Seriously this is basically what was written in a nutshell. The diagrams from step 1-3 were vastly different in areas and requires alot of guesswork on the part of the reader.

The only redeeming quality of this book is the character tutorial and the bonus material on the DVD. The instructor led tutorials were ok but could've been done to more effect.

I'm an experienced 3D artist so I can fill in the wide gaps in the tutorials well enough, but for someone looking to learn the art of creating artwork for games, look elsewhere for ie, the first Sybex book on the matter "The Game Artists Guide to Maya".

Not to leave on a somber note, the book does have some descent info sprinkled throughout, but it's no where near as good as it should've been.

Something lost in the translation?.......2006-02-11

This book could have been great. Maybe it tries to cover too much ground. Maybe the translation from Japanese leaves something to be desired. It's filled with amazing illustrations and great detail you won't find in any book, but it's mostly trapped in the images. The text is often confusing or banal: "Create the appearance of sand on the texture bordering the ground." Oh really? How? Isn't that why I bought this book?

If you're past the beginner stage or want to get a thorough overview of the game art creation process, by all means buy this book. Even beginners will get something out of it. But you won't get as much out of this book as you would have hoped.

Book Description

The Nart sagas are to the Caucasus what Greek mythology is to Western civilization. This book presents, for the first time in the West, a wide selection of these fascinating myths preserved among four related peoples whose ancient cultures today survive by a thread. In ninety-two straightforward tales populated by extraordinary characters and exploits, by giants who humble haughty Narts, by horses and sorceresses, Nart Sagas from the Caucasus brings these cultures to life in a powerful epos.

In these colorful tales, women, not least the beautiful temptress Satanaya, the mother of all Narts, are not only fertility figures but also pillars of authority and wisdom. In one variation on a recurring theme, a shepherd, overcome with passion on observing Satanaya bathing alone, shoots a "bolt of lust" that strikes a rock--a rock that gives birth to the Achilles-like Sawseruquo, or Sosruquo. With steely skin but tender knees, Sawseruquo is a man the Narts come to love and hate.

Despite a tragic history, the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs have retained the Nart sagas as a living tradition. The memory of their elaborate warrior culture, so richly expressed by these tales, helped them resist Tsarist imperialism in the nineteenth century, Stalinist suppression in the twentieth, and has bolstered their ongoing cultural journey into the post-Soviet future.

Because these peoples were at the crossroads of Eurasia for millennia, their myths exhibit striking parallels with the lore of ancient India, classical Greece, and pagan Scandinavia. The Nart sagas may also have formed a crucial component of the Arthurian cycle. Notes after each tale reveal these parallels; an appendix offers extensive linguistic commentary. With this book, no longer will the analysis of ancient Eurasian myth be possible without a close look at the Nart sagas. And no longer will the lover of myth be satisfied without the pleasure of having read them.

Excerpts from the Nart sagas

"The Narts were a tribe of heroes. They were huge, tall people, and their horses were also exuberant Alyps or Durduls. They were wealthy, and they also had a state. That is how the Narts lived their lives. . . ."

"The Narts were courageous, energetic, bold, and good-hearted. Thus they lived until God sent down a small swallow. . . ."

"The Narts were very cruel to one another. They were envious of one another. They disputed among themselves over who was the most courageous. But most of all they hated Sosruquo. . . . A rock gave birth to him. He is the son of a rock, illegally born a mere shepherd's son. . . ."

Customer Reviews:

The "Asiatic" Narts.......2004-09-07

In the story of Jason and the Argonauts, the crew of the Argo journey to the Black Sea in their quest for the Golden Fleece. While cruising past the northeast shore, they catch a glimpse of the Caucasus mountains, where Prometheus lies chained to a crag, while an eagle gnaws on his liver. Then they proceed onward to Colchis, a city located on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, just around the "corner" from the Caucasus mountains.
This geographic region is precisely the land of the Narts, whose myths and folktales John Colarusso has gathered together in this splendid collection. And in fact, the reader is delighted to discover, the Narts do indeed have a series of stories centering around a Prometheus figure named Nasran, whom they envision chained to the Caucasus for defying God. This is just one of the many overlaps between the myths of the Narts and those of peoples as remote from their region as the Norse at the Western end and the Vedic Indians at the Eastern. The character of Wotan, for instance, will turn up as "Wardana," a man who rides the fastest horse in the world (cf. "Sleipnir") and whose brother is named after the word for "raven," like Wotan's two ravens Hugin and Munin. Or Vishnu's avatar as the boar "Varaha," who comes into the world in order to rescue the goddess Earth from her kidnapping by a giant serpent demon is paralleled by the story of "Warzameg," who sets off to rescue the damsel Psatina, who has been kidnapped into the Underworld by a Lizard Man. Almost every story in this collection reveals such surprising echoes of the myths of surrounding Indo-European peoples.
But one of the most surprising things about the collection is the attitude that it reveals of the Narts toward their women. For all these surrounding Indo-European peoples, as any scholar of myth well knows, were patriarchal warriors who conquered, and discredited, the goddess-worshipping traditions of most of the societies that they came into contact with. As a result, the stories of the Greeks, the Norse, the Persians and yes, even the goddess-worshipping Hindus are filled with misogyny (this is true even of such non-Indo European, but Nordic, peoples as the Finns, for The Kalevala is nothing if not a story of a war against the witch-goddess Louhi, mistress of North Farm). It is appropriate, in this regard, to mention the role of Medea in the Jason story, for she is the daughter of the king of Colchis, and helps Jason out of nearly every scrape he gets into. In return, he simply betrothes himself to the daughter of the King of Corinth, telling her she should be grateful that he brought her to live in such a civilized country as Greece.
But as one soon realizes, after reading a handful of stories in The Nart Sagas, no Nart warrior would ever have been allowed to get away with treating his wife in such a brutal manner, for the Narts, almost alone amongst the Indo-Europeans (the other possible exception being the Celts) treated the Goddess with respect and near-equality. Sexual promiscuity amongst Nart women was tolerated, and male warriors were expected to put up with their indiscretions. And again and again, we come across stories in which the deeds of heroes like Warzameg are attributed to their having the favor of the goddess on their side. Whenever the male hero discredits, insults or otherwises abuses his wife, she withdraws her power, and disaster results, as in the story of the goddess Adif and her husband Psapeta, in which, after a quarrel, he loses his ability to drive his horses over a very narrow bridge made of linen, and falls to his death. Such warrior heroes as Shebatinuquo are suited up for battle and armed by their mothers (in this case, the goddess Setenaya) and we find references to the existence of Amazon women "who would ride forth with their menfolk to meet the enemy in battle."
The fact that women fare so well in this Indo-European society marks this particular ethnic group culturally as Asiatic, despite their being located just above the Black Sea, for as Bachofen pointed out in his Mutterrecht, the presence of matrilineal societies, and / or societies in which women fare as well as, or better, than men, indicates a survival into Western civilization of what is essentially an Asiatic ideal, namely, that the society is ruled by a god / king whose power is bestowed upon him by a goddess, as in the myth of Tanaquil. (Hercules, in his temporary service to the queen Omphale, is a vestigial survival of this practice in Greek culture, as is, most likely, the motif of the hero accomplishing his difficult tasks only with the help of a goddess (i.e. Jason and Medea; Theseus and Ariadne). In the Western myths, however, the goddess is rejected and left behind, as Aeneas leaves Dido to burn herself up on her funeral pyre in order to found what will later become kingless Rome. (Kingless, that is, because of the patriarchal rejection of an Asiatic goddess-powered institution: think of Osiris sitting on the throne of the body of Isis).
Colarusso has done a fine job in editing these stories together, and his rare attempts (rare, that is, among academic specialists) to point out comparative overlaps with the mythologies of other peoples is admirable, if not always successful. Some of his comparisons make better sense than others, but his attitude is the important thing here. Thanks, Professor Colarusso, for a job well done.

Ian Myles Slater on The Amazing Narts, Now in English!.......2003-06-12

If you like mythology, but have never heard of the Narts, don't worry that you've overlooked something obvious; most translations of the stories about them have so far been into Russian, French, and German. On the other hand, you may have encountered references to them in studies of, for example, the Balder myth. Now a very full selection of the range of stories and characters is available, although not in the forms usually cited. Colarusso has excluded from this volume the Ossetian versions of the Nart stories, which have had a more prominent place in scholarly discussions of the mythologies and legends of the Indo-European peoples, providing instead a first real look for readers of English at the equally interesting versions from neighboring peoples.

For me, the volume was also a fascinating introduction to many of the cultures of the Caucasus Mountains and the coastlands of the Black Sea. Unexpectedly, but not too surprisingly in retrospect, the often rather ambiguous protagonist of one version may show up as the villain in a variant of the story told elsewhere!

The description and quotations provided in the posting here at Amazon are a fair representative of the stories of the heroes and (probably) faded gods who populate these ancient oral traditions. Although the total picture is both unusual and varied, the reader may find the stories hauntingly familiar, suggesting here a bit of Asgard, and there a little of Olympus, at another point the Finn Cycle, and elsewhere a touch of Robin Hood or the Border Ballads.

Some of the resemblances are probably coincidental, others suggests ancient contacts between civilizations, and the spreading and staying power of good stories. If Colarusso and others, notably Georges Dumezil, are correct, some reflect a common origin, before the dispersal of Indo-European speakers across Europe and Asia. (This view assumes that the Ossetian versions, in an Iranian language, are in direct descent, and the tellings in the non-Indo-European Caucasus languages are ultimately borrowings. A common origin for Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Northwest-Caucasian [Proto-Pontic] has been proposed, but is very problematic. And would be so ancient as to have little explanatory value, I would think, for the Nart stories!)

Unfortunately, Colarusso's frequent, and usually useful, comparisons to more widely known mythologies, notably those of Greece and Scandinavia, show heavy dependence on secondary sources, by which I mean reference works, not translations. Partly as a result, there are a number of trivial, but annoying, avoidable errors. Some examples: the son of Anchises and Aphrodite was Aeneas, not Adonis to go back to Robert Graves' "Greek Mythology," where Anchises and Adonis are in sequence as lovers of the goddess, and her offspring are postponed to a later chapter); Odin's raven-messengers, "Thought" and "Memory" (Huginn and Muninn) are confused with his brothers, Vili ("Will") and Ve ("Holiness" or "Shrine"). (I at first thought Colarusso might be citing a theory that they *should* be identified, which would be interesting; but apparently not.)

Those unfamiliar with any of the mythologies he cites (and I am not well acquainted with a number of them) should therefore treat his references with a little caution. Fortunately, the errors which I spotted did not make a great difference to his arguments and conclusions.

I would also view with reserve some of his suggested replacements for accepted etymologies, such as that for the Norse god Odin. (The usual etymology *is* a little odd-looking, but the required form has a Germanic parallel he doesn't mention; a long story.)

Despite these problems with non-Caucasus material, the book as a whole is richly rewarding for those with an interest in a "new" mythology.

$The Circassian Slave, or, the Sultan\'s favorite : a story of Constantinople and the Caucasus$
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The Circassian Slave, or, the Sultan\'s favorite : a story of Constantinople and the Caucasus
Maturin Murray Ballou
Manufacturer: Hard Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1406927082
Release Date: 2006-11-03

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A Year among the Circassians: Volume 2
J. A. Longworth
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1402173423
Release Date: 2001-04-10

Book Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1840 edition by Henry Colburn, London.

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A Year among the Circassians: Volume 1

A Year among the Circassians: Volume 1
J. A. Longworth
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1402173431
Release Date: 2001-04-10

Product Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1840 edition by Henry Colburn, London.

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A Year among the Circassians: Volume 1.......2007-02-13

I haven't started Volume 2 yet, but I plan to soon. Perhaps Yeltsin should have read this book.

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Adygskaia iazykovaia kartina mira
Z. Kh Bizheva
Manufacturer: "Elbrus"
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 5768014632

The Chronicles and Annalistic Sources of the Early Mamluk Circassian Period (Islamic History and Civilization)

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The Chronicles and Annalistic Sources of the Early Mamluk Circassian Period (Islamic History and Civilization)
Sami, G. Massoud
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004156267

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The Circassian Boy
Michail Lermontoff
Manufacturer: James R. Osgood and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000T7XFUQ

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Love Poems to Circus Freaks

Circassian Girl
Michelle Mitchell-Foust
Manufacturer: Elixir Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Love Poems to Circus Freaks.......2001-11-09

Ms Mitchell-Foust has given us a truely unique collection of poems with this book. Wonders and freaks and people at odds with their surroundings being of particular interest to me - I find it truely wonderful that a poet as gifted and varied as Michelle has tackled this subject matter. Often sympathetic but never sachirine these poems give us a rich and varied perspective on performers and oddities of all types. The book itself is beautiful - the cover art and quotations adding texture to this already full plate.

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The Circassian Slave
Maturin Murray Ballou
Manufacturer: Dodo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1406505404

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The Circassian Slave
Maturin Murray
Manufacturer: IndyPublish.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1404345655

Book Description

It was on a fair summer's afternoon, that the Sultan, strolling in the flower gardens of the palace, either by design or accident, came upon a spot where Komel was half reclining upon one of the soft lounges that were strewn here and there under tiny latticed pagodas, to shelter the occupant from the sun. While yet a considerable way off, the Turk paused to admire his slave as she reclined there in easy and unaffected gracefulness, apparently lost in a day dream. She was very beautiful there all by herself, save the half-witted boy, who seemed to be asleep now, away out on the projecting limb of a cypress tree that nearly overhung the spot, and where he had coiled himself up, and managed to sustain his position upon the limb by some unaccountable means of his own.

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Recycling of Polyurethanes, the first volume in the Advances in Plastics Recycling series, is focused on the physical and chemical recycling of polyurethanes, with attention given to energy conversion. A compilation of the present ongoing studies on recycling of urethane and, in general, isocyanate-based polymers, the focus is on thermosetting urethane polymers.

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