Fiction Literature Books

Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (before Purgatorio and Paradiso).

In this book, we follow Dante as he visits Hell, walking down its nine consecutive Circles accompanied by the poet Virgil, and meeting old acquaintances on the way.

This should not become a habit, but I intend to stop after the first volume and not finish the trilogy. First, I realize I'm simply not sensitive to poetry. Then, there are too many references to public or mythical figures of the Antiquity and 13th-century Florence, and I'm not sufficiently educated in History and Biblical Lore to enjoy this book.

Still, Sisson's modern English translation is good and reads easily. The notes at the end of the book are well-done and help understand what Dante is referring to, but I was too lazy to constantly check back and forth. I'm wondering if it would have been a better choice if they'd been placed in the margin.

A lovely, readable, blank verse translation. The notes are helpful, but not so overwhelming as to detract from the poetry of the text. I'd highly recommend to any reader.

Choosing which translation of Dante's Divine Comedy to read is a very subjective and personal question. Any translation involves balancing the meaning, feel, and artistry of the work, normally at the expense of at least one of these qualities. A major consideration is the topic of rhyme. The Divine Comedy has a complex rhyme scheme that suits itself well to the rhyme-rich language of Italian (where, unlike English, many words end in vowels). Translations that attempt to maintain any type of rhyme scheme often sound forced and usually compromise the meaning of the text.

At the other end of the spectrum are straight prose (spoken word) translations. Prose translations are great for communicating the story and it's nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. A third choice is a translation written in blank verse (iambic pentameter). This format allows freedom to communicate the work without rhyme, yet maintains a metrical structure. In addition, it's well suited for English (Shakespeare wrote much of his work in blank verse).

So, which version should you read? I have no vested interested in selling a particular author's work, my recommendations are just my personal opinion. My favorite version is by Mark Musa (written in blank verse). I also enjoy Anthony Esolen's translation (blank verse with some rhyme). They also both have good notes (a necessity). Ultimately, it's great to read a few and decide which version you like best, each has strengths and weaknesses.

This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.
Dante Alighieri's (1265-1321) "Devine Comedy" weaved together aspects of biblical and classical Greek literary traditions to produce one of the most important works of not only medieval literature, but also one of the great literary works of Western civilization. The full impact of this 14,000-line poem divided into 100 cantos and three books is not just literary. Dante's autobiographical poem Commedia, as he titled it, was his look into the individual psyche and human soul. He explored and reflected on such fundamental questions as political institutions and their problems, the nature of humankind's moral actions, and the possibility of spiritual transformation; these were all fundamental social and cultural concerns for people during the fourteenth-century. Dante wrote the Commedia not in Latin but in the Tuscan dialect of Italian so that it would reach a broader readership. The Commedia was a three-part journey undertaken by the pilgrim Dante to the realms of the Christian afterlife: Hell, (Inferno), Purgatory, (Purgatorio), and Paradise, (Paradisio).

The poem narrated in first person, began with Dante lost midlife. He was 35 years old in the year 1300 and in a dark wood. Being lost in the dark wood was certainly an allegorical device that Dante used to express the condition of his own life at the time he started writing the poem. Dante had been active in Florentine politics and a member of the White Guelph party who opposed the secular rule of Pope Boniface VIII over Florence. In 1302, The Black Guelphs who were allied with the Pope, were militarily victorious in gaining control of the city and Dante found himself an exile from his beloved city for the rest of his life. Thus, Dante started writing the Commedia in 1308 and used it to comment on his own tribulations of life, and to state his views on politics and religion, and heap scorn on his political enemies.

Dante's first leg of his journey out of the dark wood was through the nine concentric circles of Hell (Inferno), escorted by his favorite classical Roman poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid. Dante borrowed heavily from Virgil's Aeneid. Much of Dante's description of hell had similarities to Virgil's description in his sixth book of the Aeneid. Dante's three major divisions of sin in hell where unrepentant sinners dwelled, had their sources in Aristotle and Augustinian philosophy. They were self-indulgence, violence, and fraud. Fraud was considered the worst of moral failures because it undermined family, trust, and religion; in essence, it tore at the moral fabric of civilized society. These divisions were inversions of the classical virtues of moderation, courage, and wisdom. The fourth classical virtue, justice, is what Dante came to believe after his journey through hell that all its inhabitants received for their unrepentant sins. There were nine concentric circles of hell inside the earth; each smaller than the previous one. For Dante the geography of hell was a moral geography as well as a physical one, reflecting the nature of the sin. Canto IV describes the first circle of hell, Limbo, which is where Dante met the shades, as souls where called, of the virtuous un-baptized such as Homer, Ovid, Caesar, Aristotle, and Plato.

In the four circles for the sin of self-indulgence Dante met shades who where lustful, gluttons, hoarders and wrathful. In the second circle of Hell, lustful souls were blown around in a violent storm. In Canto V, one of the great dramatic moments of the poem, Dante had his first lengthy encounter with an unrepentant sinner Francesca da Rimini, who committed adultery with her brother-in-law. Like all the sinners in hell, Francesca laid the blame for her sin elsewhere. She claimed to be seduced into committing adultery after reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. At the end of the scene, Dante fainted out of pity for Francesca.

In Canto X, the sixth circle of hell reserved for heretics who are punished by being trapped in flaming tombs, Dante took the opportunity to use the circle to chastise political leaders for participating in political partisanship. A Florentine who was a leader in the rival Ghibbelline political party, Farinata degli Uberti, accosted Dante. Both men aggressively argued with each other, recreating in hell the bitterness of partisan politics in Florence. Farinata predicted Dante's exile. Dante used this Canto to show the dangerous tendencies of petty political partisanship that he harbored.

The seventh circle of hell was subdivided into three areas where sinners were punished for doing violence against themselves, their neighbors, or God. In Canto XIII Dante encountered Pier della Vigne in the wood of the suicides. The shades there were shrubs who had to speak through a broken branch. Pier spoke to Dante about how he had been an important advisor to Emperor Frederick II, and how he blamed his fall, and his suicide, on the envy of other court members. This Canto was especially important because Dante came to grips with his own "future" fall from political power and exile. Pier's behavior served as a strong example to Dante how not to act in exile. Whether he had been tempted to commit suicide is not clear; however, he certainly had been prone to the selfish and despairing attitude that Pier represented.

The last two circles of hell contained the sinners of fraud. In the eighth circle, there were ten ditches for the various types of fraud such as Simony, thievery, hypocrisy, etc. Canto XIX described the third ditch, which contained those guilty of Simony, the sin of church leaders perverting their spiritual office by buying and selling church offices. Simonists were buried upside down in a rock with their feet on fire. Pope Nicholas III mistakenly addressed Dante as Pope Boniface VIII who was the current Pope in 1300, and whose place in hell was thereby predicted. This is not surprising since Boniface was the person most responsible for Dante's exile. In an interesting literary twist, Nicholas "confessed" to Dante, as if he was a priest, his sin of greed and nepotism. He admitted that even after becoming Pope he cared more for his family's interests than the good of the whole Church. Dante responded to Nicholas' "confession" with a stinging condemnation of Simony drawn from the Book of Revelation. After this encounter, Dante came to understand that hell was a place of justice.

Canto XXXIV, the last one in the Inferno, depicted Satan with three heads. Each head was chewing the three worst sinners of humankind. The middle head was chewing on the head of Judas Iscariot, who was a disciple to Jesus and his betrayer. The other two heads were chewing Brutus and Cassius; the murderers of Julius Caesar, and the two men Dante faulted for the destruction of a unified Italy. Dante considered the two ultimate betrayals against God and against the empire as the worst betrayals perpetrated in the history of humankind.

Thus, Dante's intent in his Commedia was to teach fourteenth-century readers that if one wanted to ascend spiritually towards God then one needed to learn the nature of sin from the unrepentant. By doing this, one could learn to overcome the same tendencies found in themselves. He wanted people to realize what he had come to learn that political partisanship would only stand in the way of unifying Italy and keep it from regaining any of its former glory that it enjoyed during the time of the Roman Empire.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.

"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..." Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the most famous part of the legendary Divina Comedia. But the stuff going on here is anything but divine, as Dante explores the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno.

The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- and down into Hell.

But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and are trapped on a volcanic desert.

If nothing else makes you feel like being good, then "The Inferno" might change your mind. The author loads up his "Inferno" with every kind of disgusting, grotesque punishment that you can imagine -- and it's all wrapped up in an allegorical journey of humankind's redemption, not to mention dissing the politics of Italy and Florence.

Along with Virgil -- author of the "Aeneid" -- Dante peppered his Inferno with Greek myth and symbolism. Like the Greek underworld, different punishments await different sins; what's more, there are also appearances by harpies, centaurs, Cerberus and the god Pluto. But the sinners are mostly Dante's contemporaries, from corrupt popes to soldiers.

And Dante's skill as a writer can't be denied -- the grotesque punishments are enough to make your skin crawl ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen and wroth...'"), and the grand finale is Satan himself, with legendary traitors Brutus, Cassius and Judas sitting in his mouths. (Yes, I said MOUTHS, not "mouth")

More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even pre-hell, we have a lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. And the punishments themselves usually reflect the person's flaws, such as false prophets having their heads twisted around so they can only see what's behind them. Wicked sense of humor.

Dante's vivid writing and wildly imaginative "inferno" makes this the most fascinating, compelling volume of the Divine Comedy. Never fun, but always spellbinding and complicated.

I'll be perfectly honest: I've never been one to actually sit down and read a book unless it's been marked required reading. In fact, my only fantastic literary claim up to this point was conquering the Harry Potter series. Then, I picked up these volumes. I was absolutely enthralled.

I picked up this book because I'm a big of the Dynasty Warriors series. In fact, I just recently discovered that the games themselves were based entirely off of this collection. From then on, I had a blast both playing through the games and reading the books, trying to pick out scenarios and information the game had changed (or in some instances, just completely left out). In the process, I learned something new about ancient Chinese culture and managed to have a fantastic time doing so.

I highly recommend this book. And as many others have said, do NOT buy the abridged version. Spend a little extra and get the four volume set. You'll get a lot more out of the reading.

Whether you've been there or not, "Three Kingdoms" will provide you deep insite into Chinese History and Culture. Encapsulated in a Swashbuckler worthy of Hollywood, it is a roadmap to over 2000 years of a culture the West generally knows so little about. Much as the tales of King Arthur, portray Romanized Britain during the disintegration of Rome, Knightly Brothers strive to preserve the Han Empire or carve kingdoms amidst battles, plots, counter plots, seduction, and betrayal. These are stories that, even in English translation, show us as much about Chinese thought, in the way place, time, and events are portrayed, as can be gleaned from actual dialog. Annotated, Three Kingdoms can read on many levels from light entertainment to historic cultural education.

It fits its hype of being one of the four Chinese classics. It takes you back in time and shows the culture, drama, and situation of China around 190 to 220 AD. You will find yourself reading the first chapter and not wanting to stop. The epic book does well by hooking the reader in.
However, there are many characters in which to remember. Luckily the characters themselves, can at many times, be distinguish from each other.

Very good book indeed!

This is a great CD full of Rampal's great masterpiece. Although the flute legend has passed away for over ten years, his legacy lives on. His interpretation of these pieces are splendid and one can truly appreciate his work. I would recommend this to anyone who loves the flute, especially those who want a different interpretation in music from someone other than James Galway.

I bought the book with some background of the subject(s) so I had a good idea of what it would be like. It is written differently than most American writers' style, which may be weird to somebody that does not realize how authentic the subject and writing actually is. The book is very detailed and for anyone that loves Chinese history of the 150-200 AD period, this book will give you a good description of it.

The characterization and background of the main parties is very in-depth and you get a great idea of the temperaments for all the main characters.

What keeps me from giving this a 5 star rating is that some words are missed due to translation errors, as well as some poor attempts at dramatizing certain moments. Other than those few awkward moments, I am really enjoying the books. I love the story, characters and overall cultural depictions.

Yes, many young people have been required to read Flatland against their wills. Yes, many people have missed the real point of the book. This book stretched the mind and imagination in ways that are fun and challenging. The author might not have been entirely serious in writing the book, but nonetheless provided serious food for thought.

I believe Flatland is an excellent (and quick) reading experience for minds in the formative stage, a stage I recommend maintaining throughout life. The book's theological implications were the most important to me. I had always wondered where heaven might be, how God can see inside us, and what the spirit is made of. I do not know if extrapolating the Flatland concepts into a fourth (or fifth) physical dimension reflects ultimate reality, but it provides a sufficiently possible and plausible explanation to remove rationalist objections.

The 3-D sphere that intersects the plane of reality provided the "Aha" moment. The sphere embodied perfection and could mysteriously appear and disappear. Explaining the view from above the plane to a flat square is as difficult as explaining the spiritual realm to a person unable to envision beyond the world seen with the eye. A greater-dimensional being floating above the plane can see inside the geometric shapes, reach inside their skins without intersecting their boundaries, think far more complex thoughts, and take them out of their limited reality to a better place they could not have imagined. If a Flatland person had no thickness, he would have no volume by our reckoning, and therefore no real existence. If there is a spiritual dimension and a person has no thickness in that direction at all, then he may not really exist either.

We have learned to adjust to modern concepts of reality that are no longer Euclidean and Newtonian. Perhaps we need a view of creation that is not limited by unfounded presumptions of limited dimensionality. After you ponder the concepts of Flatland and extrapolate them to your life, I wonder what new thought may form.

This book is often recommend by theoretical physicists and mathematicians (most often mathematicians involved in hyperdimensional topology) to their students.

It was written by a Shakespeare scholar in Britain more than 100 years ago. The reason it is recommended by theoretical physicists, etc., is it provides the reader with a framework for understanding and trying to visualize dimensions above or beyond our ordinary four-dimensional world (length, width, heighth, space-time).

It deals with a two dimensional world with two dimensional beings and what happens when a third dimensional being interacts with a two dimensional world and what the two dimensional beings would see. It also does this in terms of a one dimensional being and one dimensional world interacting with a two dimensional world and two dimensional beings (or structures).

This book written with apparently some intent on commenting on Victorian England and its values (with what appeared to me to have some misogynistic comments within it), was otherwise an enjoyable book and really does provide a good analysis on multi-dimensional view points and visualizing or imagining hyper-dimensions.

If you are interested in advanced theoretical physics, hyperdimensional geometry or topology or mathematics, this is a very interesting book and may be useful. If you are just interested in a good unique science fiction story, I would highly recommend this. This is not an (explicit) math or science book - so you won't find any explicit mathematics (i.e., no math is required).

Excellent.

Keep in mind that this book was written over a hundred years ago, and consider the incredible ground it covers with this little tale: geometry (obviously), physics, government, politics, the clash between the sexes, class structures, manners, human nature, psychology, philosophy and even neuroscience (consciousness)! At first reading, it's deceptively simple, but explain it out loud to someone else and you'll find yourself noticing new things. If something doesn't seem to make sense, ask yourself "why?" This story is an allegory, a metaphor for so many things that fall into disjunct categories. There's a reason for the weird; the "bump" is there to make you take notice. Read it, think about it, give it some time and you'll be on your way to understanding the incredible range of this tiny work.

My appreciation of mathematics came late in life, but it finally came. I have neither the aptitude nor the training to be a professional mathematician, but I like to spend a fair amount of time reading books on mathematics. A handful that I recommend are: Darrell Huff's _How to Lie With Statistics_ (1954); David Salsburg's _The Lady Tasting Tea_ (2001); Simon Singh's _The Code Book_ (1999); Robert Osserman's _Poetry of the Universe_ (1995); Reuben Hersh's _What is Mathematics, Really?_ (1997); Bryan Bunch's _The Kingdom of Infinite Number_ (2000); James Gleick's _Chaos: Making a New Science_ (1987); and Douglas R. Hofstater's _Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_ (1979). The last is fairly stiff reading. But it is beautifully written; and if you read only a fraction of it, your perception of the world is likely to change.

All of which brings us to a Victorian gentleman who gave some attention to the nature of and the limits of our perceptions of the world. Edwin A. Abbott (1836--1926) was a Shakespearean scholar who also took honors in mathematics and theology. In 1884, he published a mathematical fantasy called _Flatland_. It is set largely in a two-dimensional world, populated by sentient lines and shapes. Most denizens appear as lines to one another, though the relative faintness of lines gives a clue to the nature of different shapes. There is a class system built on the relative complexity of shapes: women (Straight Lines), workers and laborers (Isosceles Triangles), the middle class (Equilateral Triangles), professional men and gentlemen (Squares and Pentagons), and the nobility (Hexagons and Many-sided Figures). There is some movement from class to class, but "a woman is always a woman". The houses are also two-dimensional, mostly pentagonal in shape. There is a kind of gravitational pull to the south so that the base of various shapes turn toward the south and their apex angles toward the north. The narrator, "A. Square," has accepted his world at face value. But one day, he encounters a shape that _seems_ to be circular but who _says_ that it is a sphere... And nothing is ever quite the same.

_Flatland_ quickly became a classic. Several sequels and companion stories to the novel were written over the years by other hands, but one of the best is that of Dionys Burger, a Dutch physicist. It was originally published in 1957 as _Bolland_ and was translated as _Sphereland_ in 1965. Burger's novel relates how the natives of Flatland discover that their land is really curved. They then discover the Einsteinian properties that it contains. Burger relates how triangles can become greater than 180 degrees, how mongrel dogs can become pedegreed through three-dimensional trickery, how a brave Line explorer defied the courts to reveal new truths about the nature of space, and what geometric fairy tales can reveal about the nature of the world.

I hear the dry thunder of voices of the Mathematically Challenged rolling across the Waste Land: "We could _never_ understand!" And I say unto you: "Oh, yes you can." You don't need advanced training in math to grasp the concepts-- and they are presented in a painless, charming, and entertaining manner. So read these books and be refreshed by the rain.

Burger's book modernizes _Flatland's_ portrayal of women (Straight Lines). Here is Abbot's treatment in his novel:

Nor must it be for a moment supposed that our Women are destitute of affection. But unfortunately the passion of the moment predominates, in the Frail Sex, over every other consideration. This is, of course, a necessity arising from their unfortunate conformation. For as they have no pretensions to an angle, being inferior in this respect to the very lowest of the Isosceles, they are consequently wholly devoid of brainpower, and have neither reflection, judgement nor forethought, and hardly any memory. (15)

In a foreward to the novel, Isaac Asimov asserts that Abbott "may have participated in these now-antiquated social views" (ix). Perhaps. But I think that Asimov misses an ironic bite in this passage. I suspect that Abbott was less blinded by the prejudices of his day than his narrator, A. Square. In Burger's book, women still are the bottom social class. But they are better educated, more responsible, and less hysterically emotional. The social classes in Burger's novel (which takes place some time after the action in _Flatland_) have become a bit more fluid.

I hesitate to recommend a book because it is good for other people. That sort of praise is the kiss of death as far as most readers are concerned. But sometimes you just can't avoid mentioning that characteristic. These two fantasies are good for you. But they are also great fun. There is not a stuffy bone in either one of these beasts.

In Flatland, we are reminded that it is hard to convince people of something, when they have no terms of reference with which to make sense of what we're saying. It is a great reminder to us that, when we are talking to people from other religions or belief systems, it will be very hard for them to understand us. We have to really bend over backwards to translate our message into something that they can latch onto and understand. Fine. But here is the problem: Today, people are using this film to convey a very different message. They try to leave the impression that anyone who disagrees with their agenda (political, environmental, gender, whatever) is (1) wrong, (2) too poorly armed to ever understand them, and (3) therefore not worth trying to reason with. The result of this line of "thought" is that they will simply have to impose their wisdom on the Others. This leads to having government health care, whether you want it or not; using politically correct language, whether your want to or not; for your own good! So, the only problem with the Flatland story is that it fails to remind us that most people who go against the crowd are simply wrong. Sure, everyone laughed at Einstein and he turned out to be right. But everyone also laughed at millions of clowns who were simply nuts. The idea that anyone who is different is therefore right, is wrong. The idea that there is no point in reasoning with your adversaries, is also wrong. Please read or watch this story and enjoy it, but when your boss says, "I want us all to see this film so that we have a common language ..." RUN!

I expected a book that would move me emotionally as well as intellectually, like Abby's Desert Solitude. That's not what this book is all about. It is well written, yes, but it only shoots for the intellect, not the heart, or at least it did for me. It is still an important read.

A classic. As we rush into brave new environmental worlds where angels fear to tread, and as our kids grow up plugged in rather than playing in the dirt, this should be required reading in all schools (and required for the parents, too). Besides presenting a compelling and important argument, it's also a very good book.

The book was in great condition, at a great price! I got it within just a few days. I would def. buy from this person again.

The earlier reviewer is wrong.The Ballantine edition is not censored.I have a Ballantine edition and there are at least three uses of the word "evolution" and the name Darwin is used at least twice.So don't let the paranoid pronouncements of an evolution worshiper stop you from enjoying this great book.All who love the outdoors and the natural world should read this classic work.

I re-read Leopold's Sand County Almanac every couple of years or so. It's not just a beautifully poetic celebration of the land. Its defense of a new sense of moral responsibility to the environment, spelled out in the book's "The Land Ethic," is a bracing tonic against the modern temptation to take the biosphere for granted. In these days of global warming, fossil fuel depletion, and escalating degradation of the land, water, and atmosphere, Leopold's 60-year-old plea for a new environmental ethic is both prophetic and urgently immediate.

In "The Land Ethic," Leopold argues for a new understanding of the moral community. Earlier ethical models focused on interpersonal and social relationships between humans. But given the interconnectedness of all members of the biosphere, we need to extend the moral community to include earth, sky, water, and all species--the biota. At least since the dawn of the modern age, human have tended to prize the biota only in terms of what we could get out of it. It had a purely economic, utilitarian value. But this way of thinking has resulted in environmental (not to mention economic and political) crisis.

What we must do now, argues Leopold, is to recognize our "vital" relationship to the biota, acknowledging that the well-being of our species is intimately connected to the well-being of the whole. This calls for a new standard of valuation that runs counter to the older, economic model. "Quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem," writes Leopold. "Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient." And if we do that, he concludes, we'll adopt the following ethical principle: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise" (p. 262). And part of what this means is that humans should strive to leave relatively light footprints on the earth, because the lighter our impact, the more likely the biota can successfully readjust to maintain integrity, stability, and beauty.

Good, important advice.

I learned so much with this book, it's so interesting. It offers a great selection of authors and writings, well-organized, easy to use and to understand. The delivery and the condition of the book were excellent. I'm very please with this buy.

A great book if you love literature. If I were stuck on a deserted island, and could only take one book, I would instinctively choose Poe or Whitman. In reality, I would probably choose this book since it covers so much in such a small package. Well, this book and a pen. I wont be able to yell at the authors if I can't write in the margins. :)

they made me buy it! but it was a lot cheaper at amazon than at the bookstore. the book was in good shape but it wasnt that great of a book. =D

I have taught English 102 this semester (Fall 06) using this text and find it both professor and student friendly. I love the organization, the division of genres, critical thinking approaches, etc. The interspersing of photographs, art, and the culturally diverse offerings in terms of literary examples make for an experience that is memorable all around.

It is a book that fosters independent thinking, out-of-the-box thinking. It encourages writing about literature in such a way that students don't feel this to be an impossible task. In short, it empowers students, both those who have an idea to go onward to upper division work in literature and/or writing and those students who thought that compostion classes were a "necessary evil."

It is a book that begs to be opened and used. My students tell me this is one they will not sell back at the end of the semester, but will keep in their personal libraries. THAT is saying something.

I think that the appeal of this book would be enhanced by a slightly lower price, but that is the only serious drawback.

This is by all means a decent anthology of literature for an introductory course, and a fairly respectable stab at a guide to good university writing.

The selections are for the most part diverse, encompassing Native-American, African-American, Canadian, and English writers. Short fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction and, to a more limited degree, film get a fairly decent treatment here, too, encompassing chronological (classical to contemporary) and thematic terrain, making this a worthwhile text for students who simply want a brief introduction to all aspects of English.

Still, it is a bit unwieldly, and too often feels less like a solid anthology, and more like an 'English-for-beginners' type deal. You get what you pay for, I guess.

This is truly a wonderful collection of classic children stories if you want to have great variety but have space or money issues. As another reviewer stated, it's ideal for travel or to explore new children stories and decide which ones to buy in a separate and full edition.

However it's a pity that because of a space issue, they have decided to leave out some pictures. Also, I have seen other anthologies (e.g. Your favorite Seuss: A baker's dozen by the one and only Dr. Seuss) that have managed to join in one page spread several pictures of a storybook in a more coherent way... Here, in some of the stories they have done it nicely, in others (e.g. Good Night Moon) they have just pasted into a page spread several pages of the book in very small detail. It's a pity that they couldn't make the book a bit bigger and longer to include the pictures in greater detail, or that they didn't edit two separate volumes so that they could fit the stories better.

As a plus, the stories are color-coded and cover a great variety of age-ranges, so it's still a great travel book if you have children of very different ages.

All this said, this is still a great way of getting to know a big selection of children's classics. In my case, I don't live in an English-speaking country, so I have to deliver children books for my kid via air-mail and it would be impossible to get these many books in their individual editions, so I'm very grateful to the Editor for making this excellent collection of children stories readily available for everyone.

This book is an uncanny collection of most of our favorite children's stories that we have collected over the years plus many more we had not yet discovered. It's a great collection. The only downside of the collection is that the stories are displayed with several of the original "pages" per page which is distracting to young readers. They see the pictures from many pages at once while the parent tries to read the through the words left to right.

I received this book as a gift when my boys were 17 months old and 1 month old. The are now 2 and 3, and we still read from this book just about every day. The Table of Contents suggests age groups for each story, but I have found that my kids are pretty much up for any of them, even at a young age. This time I purchased it as a gift for someone else, and if Amazon continues to offer amazing prices on it ($27 instead of $40 at major bookstore) then I will buy it for everyone I know that has a child. It's one that your kids will never tire of (just keep it out of reach to keep in good condition, as they will want to flip through the picures on their own...).

What is more comforting to a child than being curled up in bed and having Mummy or Daddy reading a good story -- big story books are pages full of magic!

When my children were young we read from this almost every night. It contains many of the favorite stories that I grew up with as a kid. It is a must for any parent's library.

"Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint" is helping me understand the importance of viewpoint, of focusing on what the main characters are feeling and experiencing within a story's moment of action. As one working on becoming a writer, this book is essential in understanding the importance of point of view in your characters. It's certainly as important as how you paint the setting to readers.

This book is a good resource for looking at how characters, the emotions they portray and in what viewpoint (first person, third person omniscient, third person limited, etc) to use, and it certainly complements the other books quite nicely. I have read all of the "WGF" books save for the one on revision and see them all as a great investment.

For this particular book, Nancy Kress does do a good job of exploring each element in detail. Like the other books, it is largely an overview of each concept, and, like the other books, she does hit on some similar aspects that the other books cover more extensively (how could she not? All aspects work together to create a work of fiction.)

My main problem with the book is that when she gets to the section where she delves deeply into first person, at one point at least she goes into a small rabbit trail about why some readers don't like and will never read first person. Apparently they're willing to read books but not willing to suspend their disbelief that the character narrating the work was an active participant. It makes absolutely no sense to me but I am not going to judge these people. My problem with this is that she goes a little bit longer talking about this than what the situation merits, spending at least a page or two on the subject, yet she says NOTHING of authors who write their books in the present tense, even though this style is easily as equally jarring and disengaging as first person, actually more so in my opinion. Why she ignores the pitfalls of writing in present tense yet shows the pitfalls of first person, second person, third person, first person plural, third person plural, multiple first person, multiple third person, hybrid, (and there's more but you get the point,) is beyond me.

All in all a good book and I would recommend it.

Just as the title of the book says, "Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint," every book has them, and many of them. This book explains exactly how to create various characters, the different emotions that they may convey throughout your story, and the different viewpoints that may be utilized to make your writing more effective. This is a "must have" for anyone thinking of writing fiction, as are all of the books in this series. These books are worth every cent. I read all of them before I even started writing, and am glad I did, because now everything makes a lot more sense. Instead of being in a boat without a paddle, now at least I have a paddle.

This guide was an easy read since the subject was broken into easy pieces for digestion. I was especially pleased with the literary examples of many classic and contemporary authors, which made obvious the understanding of principles explained in each chapter. This book substantially lifted my confidence in fiction writing technique.

Orson Scott Card's book Characters & Viewpoint is better, as that book actually shows how to go about creating likable characters, and which characters fit with which stories. This book has some good tips on how to bring emotion into your scenes, but other than that's it's a little too thin. Start with Card first.

The underground man is the best-developed character I have come across. A reader can take what they want from this book. Everyone's reaction will vary. I'm sure there are people who won't enjoy it but I can not imagine anyone not finding it thought-provoking

Brilliant...

One of my favorite Dostoevsky books!

It's a short tale that explores the neurotic mind.

From the first line...
"I AM A SICK MAN...I am a wicked man."

This work is a painfully honest fictional exploration into the human heart.


MikeG

Those who read this book should know that it was intended as a parody, a satirical and scathing attack on the prevailing trends in popular philosophy and literature in Russia (Saint Petersburg literary society) in the day (1860's), in which a hasty utilitarianism and egalitarianism were prominent... This book includes several indirect references to, and parodies of some of Dostoevsky's literary rivals and their often empty and poorly thought-out ideological systems and "Utopias"... to really understand these (often quite subtle) undercurrents, I humbly suggest that those REALLY interested check out Joseph Frank's biography of Dostoevsky, which includes a great deal of discussion of all of his works (vol. 3 Chap. 21 is completely devoted to a detailed examination of "Notes from Underground"...), and, importantly, gives a solid historical context in which to fit them... also, if you have the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation (or intend to get it), read the introduction. It's a good introduction and helps to explain a lot of this. When read with a little understanding of this context, though quite short, this is really a very rich (and funny) book...

Basically, don't take everything the "Underground Man" says literally. many of his absurd expressions are deliberate perversions of popular maxims and attitudes of the time, taking the fashionable new philosophies of "science" to their final conclusions... This book is a defense of Free Will and real Humanity...

In this book, Dostoyevsky presents a character that is self-possessed, vain, subject to bouts of depressive arrogance, yet seems to be looking for some good to do. He recognizes many of his faults, yet is convinced that they are merely character traits. He lives in poverty, yet has a servant that he treats in a petty and poor way, even though the servant is clearly his moral superior.
The character voluntarily associates with vain and simple men, simply for the opportunity to feel intellectually superior. When slighted, he pouts uncontrollably, talking about a duel with one where he openly states he will fire into the air and give the man the opportunity to kill him.
Continuing his fit of self-centered pique, he visits a young prostitute and treats her as a person. He learns that she was sold into prostitution and has a medical student boyfriend He talks to her and adopts the attitude of someone who will rescue her, giving her his address. However, when she arrives at his residence, he is cruel, telling her that he was only ridiculing her when he was apparently giving her the offer of aid. After he does this, he collapses in tears on the sofa and she holds and comforts him.
I read, "Crime and Punishment" several years ago, so I recognized many of the character traits so prominent in that novel. "Notes From the Underground" was written before his greatest novels yet you see that same very alienated person who has simultaneously adopted the air of complete superiority inextricably bound with feelings of hopelessness and self-loathing. It is a difficult story to read.

Dostoyevsky led a troubled life and struggled with the questions of suffering and the meaning of life. The opening line of Notes From Underground sums it up, "I am a sick man..." Underground is difficult reading, especially for such a short book. It is all over the place with many different streams of consciousness. It appears to be very autobiographical and this is what was the most value to me. If you are a fan of Dostoyevsky, this is essential reading, because it will give you insight into the man and help you understand his more popular works better. The short story "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," also significantly contributes to an understanding of the man.

On a side note, the included short stories "White Nights" and selections from "The House of the Dead," were interesting stories that can stand on their own.

In short, this is recommended for fans of Dostoyevsky, but the average reader might want to avoid.

I ordered this book for my sister who was struggling with an online college English course. She could not understand Shakespeare and was really having a hard time. I found this book on Amazon and had it sent to her. She not only understands Shakespeare now, she actually enjoys it! The original writing is on one side of the page, and the plain English version is right beside it. Wonderful!! I have no doubt my sister will now make an A in her class as well as become a fan of Shakespeare!

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I find Shakespeare difficult. I need help. The Cambridge School Shakespeare editions, with the classroom activities and assignments on each facing page, give me the focus and direction I need to finally truly enjoy the text.

I thought I didn't like Shakespeare until I took a class on several of the plays. It turns out that I love Shakespeare when I'm doing close reading or studying it carefully but for whatever reason I find it extremely difficult to do on my own. The Cambridge School editions allow me to replicate the classroom experience on my own, providing enough background and questions for critical thought that I keep a close focus on the text. Previous times I've attempted to read 'Hamlet' I was struggling just to figure out what was going on; reading this edition I was analyzing the characters and considering different acting and directing choices. It's amazing.

As a college student who had to write a paper on Hamlet,Again,I of course had to get away from any classic ideas about the play. Being a student with a talent for writing I would never be able to "get away with," these common theories, as professor's expect much more. This book really helped me to create a rather ambitious and interesting thesis; one which went against the criticisms in the book, and was refreshingly new.

I like the individual criticisms in this book as they really force you to look harder for textual evidence. One of the BEST things about the book was that it included the whole play as well. That was so useful because I didn't have to juggle two books -one of them being the complete works of Shakespeare which weighs about 20lbs. I was able to take this book everywhere and work on it whenever I had spare time.

However, I would not sugesst this book for an individual who does not have a very strong background in Hamlet. You need to know the play Extremely well in order for this book to benefit you. If you do not know Hamlet inside and out, then this book will only cause confusion and you should probably stay away from it, as the theories may be difficult to comprehend.

Shakespeare Made Easy is a great tool for anyone interested in Shakespeare. It provides the inquisitive Shakespeare amateur with means of understanding passages they do not decipher in the original text. However, it is important to note, this is not the right book for a high school classroom. It allows students to "read one of Shakespeare's plays" without actually reading a word of what Shakespeare himself wrote. Half of what makes Shakespeare so captivating is his style and wordplay. Deprived of those two elements Shakespeare's plays are only stories with good plot. Ultimately, students who don't take the challenge of reading the original text before reading the translation will be less interested in Shakespeare after because they will not have experienced the witticism in his literature. In essence this version of Shakespeare provides a cheep way out for unmotivated students that ultimately rewards neither their teachers nor themselves.

With this generation's youth it is difficult to find many students interested in Shakespeare. Shakespeare Made Easy is the key. The general stories that William Shakespeare put down on paper are truly remarkable and quite fun to read. However, these days there is hardly any interest in deeply analyzing pages and pages of Shakespearian English, especially with his longest play, Hamlet.
With the original text on one page and a modern translation on the opposing page this version of Hamlet can be an insightful read as well as a pleasure read. By having the option of both translations the reader will be fully immersed in the story, rather than the text, and come out on the other end singing the praises of Shakespeare and Hamlet. This is a breakthrough version of Hamlet and should be the premier choice of teachers and students alike. Nothing, except perhaps the movie, will excite the adolescent world to Shakespeare more than this version of Hamlet.

This book deals with life in shades of gray, and my feelings about this book are also in shades of gray. Carson McCullers tackles issues that were prominent in the 1930's, including socialism, poverty, and racism. The writing is excellent, but I found this book dreary. Pretty much, it is about disappointment in life. If a positive message was tucked in, I couldn't glean it. It was hard to read - I would put it down and avoid picking it back up. The author did a good job of drawing her characters in an interesting way, and at a book club we had a lively and riveting discussion on the meaning of the deaf-mute character. I have thought about this book a lot since finishing it - a characteristic that I usually consider the mark of a great book. Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend it to just any casual reader.

Maybe I'm just not a fan of the Southern Gothic genre to which this novel belongs, but man oh man, did I not "get" this book. I found it horribly tortuous and plodding in its pace, and felt that it all ultimately amounted to nothing special or remarkable at all. I had to force myself to finish it, and was always loathe to pick it up. I never felt invested in the characters or engaged in any of their stories, and the whole thing just left me feeling hollow inside. At times I would find particular storylines intriguing, but because of the way in which the story is told, all too soon I'd be tracking someone else's tale, and just as it got interesting, you'd have to switch gears and follow someone else's journey. Lather, rinse, repeat. None of the stories wind up being very meaty and left me incredibly hungry.

Not sure why this book is a classic or why it has received so much praise. Yes, people in very different walks of life and situations can be lonely, and loneliness can even bring people together and provide a common comfort. It's not that the message there is trite, it's just that the delivery was really not spectacular or moving at all. I couldn't help drawing parallels to "To Kill a Mocking Bird" the entire time I was reading this, and while I don't love that book either, I think you'd probably be better served reading it than this.

This book was on many high school reading lists and I decided to re-read it 40 years after my first time. It's still a great read, evocative of an interesting period, like stepping backwards in time. The message on the other hand is timeless, reminding those who think we live in a difficult period that all times are challenging. Readers sensitive to racial stereotyping would do well to remember that, when this book was written inclusion of African-Americans in a novel, much less one who is a doctor, was very unusual. Well worth the time.

never received it, or response to e mail- or a call from amazon. bad all the way around.

This is a great story for people of all ages. As a teenager, I felt at one with the antagonist of the story. As an adult I see her transition more clearly than before. It is also a reminder of the power of the emotions of adolescence and those first real learning experiences, something I hope I will never forget.