History Books

Very interesting novel based on extensive research of the northwest region of Italy after Italy capitulated during WWII and the Germans then occupied Italy. The story describes the tremendous risks the Italian people took to hide both Italian Jews as well as Jews who had escaped from other Nazi-occupied countries.

Although I have read numerous Holocaust-related stories, I was unaware of these historical events. Mary Doria Russell is to be commended for taking a complex subject area and creating a tapestry of people to bring this story to life.
-- Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL

As I have indicated in my many reviews of books from this period, I am a fan of tales of the human courage that was displayed throughout Europe in WW2 by ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the face of incredible danger. In as expert a fashion as Alan Furst in The Polish Officer: A Novel and Douglas W Jacobson in Night of Flames: A Novel of World War II, Mary Doria Russell brings us up close and personal with compelling characters we care about. Expertly crafted are Doktor Schramm, the Nazi deserter trying to reconcile the sins he committed in the name of the Fatherland, Don Tomitz, the Italian catholic priest putting his life on the line to save Jews, and a host of others whose lives become intertwined in the earthy reality of war time in Porto Sant' Andrea. Bravo for a highly readable tale of human courage. You'll stay up at night to finish it.

I like books with happy endings. A Thread of Grace, by Mary Doria Russell, is not a book of happy endings - not at all. Yet, I will read it again next year.

I don't just like her book, I love it. In the midst of a story that covers the worst atrocity in human history, and littered with characters of questionable morality and worse deeds, Mary Doria Russell manages to find a thread of grace, and to convince me that it is genuine and enduring.

Russell visited the places she describes in her novel, and interviewed survivors of the war. Her original research lends an authentic, present quality to her prose - an immediacy that caught me up into the lives her characters.

There is no question that Russell not only makes history live again, she proves beyond any doubt that it's relevant to our times and our lives.

My only complaint about this book was that I frequently got some of the characters confused. This may have been more from my not reading the book on a daily basis, than the author's fault.

It is a fascinating look into a side of WWII that I had not considered and a group of people I had not thought of. The author really does a great job putting you into that time and place and with those people. The culture came alive for me.

The story was easy to read. I could easily follow the plot, and was surprised by where she took some of the characters (despite my having them confused). If you are interested in WWII history, I greatly recommend this book.

This book is set in rural Italy near the end of World War II. It follows the lives of Jewish refugees from several countries in Europe and the Christian Italians who risk their own safety to take them in. The author draws full, interesting characters of all ages. She is especially good with teenagers and young adults. There are some German soldiers, who are wooden by comparison.
This book has a very heavy-hearted topic, and includes violent scenes. However, it is a story of human courage and tenacity and doesn't end badly for all the characters.
Extremely well written and well worth the time. This is the best World War II novel; that I have read, ever.

Funny Amazon should offer us to buy this book together with Enchiridion by Epictetus (Long Translation) when these two are in fact one and the same book, different translators and different supplemental background info/comments. Of course I only realized that when both books arrived and I compared them :(. One star to Amazon for that :((( As for the book, the reason I put it on my wish list last year was the fact that in the course of last 3 years I had to release and let go of many things (and people), and I had struggled with the conflict between fighting for what I want and never giving up (cause nothing is completely lost until we give up on it) and knowing when to let go. I reverted to stoic thought for strength to live without regret and feeling of loss. And while it helped me resolve some of my inner conflicts, I must warn you that this book is not writing of a self-help guru, its an actual philosohical work. Which is OK for me, but might not serve the same purpose for everyone that it did for me. As for translation, I prefer this one to Long's because it is more in the spirit of English language, at the same time remaining non-colloquial. I also find additional information included by translator to be very enlightening and good guide into phylosophy of the age and further reading.

I have read about philophers and history and our founding fathers wonderfully created documents and the great historical and philosophic works behind their conclusions all my life. In all that time I have found almost all of them to be profound and inspiring. Yet unlike others who have reviewed this work I have found it wanting in it's basic interprative conclusions.

By that I mean in one paragraph there will be great insight and in the next the interpretation seems to loose coherency all together or has absolutely no rational application what-so-ever for living well.

Oh there are many profound ideals represented in this booklet and I agree that for his time and place in history Epictetus must have been one great piece of work to come to many of the conclusions put forth in these pages. Such as those on page 22 and 23 where:

1. He criticises the use of fortune tellers and warnes that one should see them for what they really are (just fault ridden human beings)and indicates that one does not need a fortune teller or soothsayer to know it is right to share the burden of a friend and to defend ones nation or,

2. that one should not allow the influence of others, when mingling, to cause one to slide into their bad habits, practices/lifestyles or unethical behavior and;

3. Sexual abstinence if you can achieve it is a good thing. Boy I bet the ACLU and the liberals elites in America must hate Eptictetus.

But I constantly got the feeling that the author was stuggling to give us these insights or tried just too hard to be clinical in his analysis and that he was being too Stoic (ha...ha...isn't that an interesting thought) in telling us what Epictetus really thought or was trying to impart.

I almost got the impression in considering what Epictetus had said (if one can trust, not the writings of the man himself, but what someone else thought he said or meant) and not what White's conept or interpretation of his meaning was or is...that although this Stoics philosopher was tyring to be like some Vulcan Mystic from Star Trek that he was really more like Spoc, who had underlying conflicting more human feelings.

I believe all good philosohers do struggle with this issue and ask themselves "Is what I believe, true" from time to time.

The great ones do not just dismiss this question as political party die hards and hacks do today...but actually grapple with this question and adjust when their phiolsophies trun out to be wanting, wrong, unethical, immoral and just down right false.

Yes one can glean the beginnings of great thought here when considering the time and place of his teachings, but I would not at all consider Epictetus the greatest of all philsophers whether Stoic or other wise.

He is just one of many hundreds that should be considered for that title during ones lifelong study of our rise from barbaric nomads to civilized mankind. Of course one can, if one studies modern man's fall from grace in the 20th and 21 centuries, from a neutral point of view, actually consider that we are less civlized now than we were in Epictetus' time.

Of course that is a discussion for another time. A good booklet, if read critically, as all should be, to add to any self-made philosophers collection and also for the aspiring student.

The "Handbook" is an essential read for the student of philosophy and is quintessential for those who desire a quick glance at stoic philosophy. White's masterful introduction provides the reader with the necessary context she needs in order to digest and enjoy this treat from antiquity. His translation is pleasing to the contemporary ear and true to the text.

Possibly the most famous Stoic Philosopher is Marcus Aurelius, whose "Meditations" was written, not to be read as a philosophic treatise, but rather as a personal journal, complete with seemingly random entries and no apparent structure. Moreover, it is clear from his "Meditations" that Marcus Aurelius was greatly influenced by the teachings of Epictetus. In fact, according to Aulus Gellius, Herodes Atticus (who was Marcus Aurelius' teacher at the time) told Marcus Aurelius that Epictetus was the greatest of all the Stoic philosophers, which is quite convenient for us since most of the writings of earilier Stoics (such as Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes and Chrysippus) have been lost, probably in the burning of the Library of Alexandria.

Epictetus, like Socrates, apparently never wrote anything himself; however, his students took very good notes. One student by the name of Flavius Arrian may be responsible for the composition of eight volumes, titled "The Discourses of Epictetus," of which four volumes still survive. Arrian served under Emperor Hadrian who initially choose Atticus to be Marcus Aurelius' teacher. Arrian also wrote another text, titled "The Encheiridion of Epictetus" (or "Handbook" or "Manual"), which also survives and appears to be an abstract of his "Discourses". Throughout the second century, Epictetus was regarded as the greatest of the Stoic philosophers, and became even more popular than Plato. Stoicism nevertheless lost favor in the middle ages and was not revived until 1584 when Justus Lipsius published his "De Constantia".

I would highly recommend the writings of Epictetus to anyone interested in Stoic Philosophy, or anyone at all for that matter. Epictetus should make for an excellent introduction to Stoic Philosophy, and the "Encheiridion" is an excellent introduction to Epictetus. I prefer this particular translation of "The Encheiridion of Epictetus", by Nicholas P. White, over the other translations that I have read. Oldfather's translation (Loeb Classical Library) is also very good.

This book is not very thick and when I took my history class I learned that the professor chose this book because the class was going to be based on allot of lecture and note taking. If you take a history class and they require this book, hope for the best that you get an easy teacher but really be prepared for allot of lecture and note taking.

It was shipped out fast because I needed it for my history class. It is not my subject at all, but I liked it. I have it for sale to sent out PRIORITY MAIL!! At no extra charge look it up and buy!!

This was a good experience the price was right the delivery was timely a great overall experience was had.

Craig Wright not only provides us with a nicely packaged history of music, composers, and culture, but also gives us a peak into the personal lives within the societies of these periods. Each chapter contains excellent listening exercises to be used with works on the included CD and there are excellent illustrations and photographs that "bring you back" to each age of music. I recommend it as a general reference source for accomplished musicians, and as a nice guide for all classical music fans.

When I signed up to take Music Appreciation I was a bit nervous. Though I have grown up around music and musicians, I have never enjoyed "music class." I was pleasantly surprised by the conversational and topical way this book was written. It is interesting and informative regardless of your level of music understanding or proficiency. I thoroughly enjoyed both the listening exercises and the composer biographies.

I took Craig Wright's class at Yale, from which he wrote the text. The listening exercises are great--not too difficult, more just to guide listening--and it really can help guide a musical novice to proficiency.

Wright's book is a great introduction to the Western tradition, and a fair introduction to the world's music as a whole.

I know that there are cheaper alternatives out there, especially "The Vintage Guide to Classical Music," which I also recommend. But in this case, the CDs are worth the extra money. They correspond with the listening exercises in the book, and before long you really can tell an oboe from a french horn, a cello from a, well, a tuba, and so on. You learn to recognize and pay attention to meter, key, etc.... You really get on your way to understanding classical music, from which genuine appreciation can grow.

He also gives a fairly solid introducion to music as a whole, not only the classical Western "art music" tradition, but jazz, blues, rock, world music, and so on.

I can say that, to my knowledge, no other book out there does that.

I don't think any introduction is needed before this book; it can be the first you ever read on music even if you have no background whatsoever. The book to follow up this is, IMO, Fred Plotkin's "Classical Music 101" and Copland's classic, "What to Listen For in Music."

I learned a lot from this book and his course, which I failed when I was in college--evidently, attendance was mandatory after all! And I thought the teaching assistant having a crush on me would help.... Shame on me!

This is probably the best corporate bio of Enron you'll find, at least for now. Very readable, the pages turn quick and it never gets boring. Some of the technical accounting details were beyond me, but it wasn't difficult to understand the bottom line: These schemes were illicitly lining a few pockets with massive amounts of cash.

The amount of work that went into this account is mind boggling. I can't imagine the hours of conducting interviews and poring through complex legal and accounting documents to understand what happened over Enron's 15-20 years of existence.

However, as with most journalistic novels like this, you need to be careful to not be influenced by the slant of the prose. I wouldn't say that this account is neutral enough to be good for a "historical" perspective. It was written to sell first, inform second. There are countless statements throughout that could be construed as overly opinionated and even unfair to some of the players.

This is the story of Enron for the layman, not for an MBA student performing a case study on the company. If you're an interested layman like me, do yourself a favor and read it!

An interesting story of how a corporate belief in hiring intelligent people, or at least people who boast they are intelligent, leads to hubris and eventual ruin.

When everything finally collapses, no one is responsible and no one did anything wrong. A telling tail of how smart people can convince themselves of things better than they can convince the world.

What might Enron have done differently? The authors feel that Enron's use of "mark to market" accounting (booking the entire profits long term deal up front, based on a model of the future; the company is then supposed to adjust their revenues as time passes and the model is tested) was largely responsible for losses that Enron then hid.

The length, at 400 pages, is imposing but goes by quickly. However, the authors took the unusual step of listing all the players with their role, which really helps with getting all the names straight.

Very well researched account of the rise and downfall of Enron. It chronicles the start and the ultimate demise of this company, which never really had a great business model - (sorry Jeff Skilling). It is amazing that so many "smart" people did not understand basic business skills and the simple difference between economic and accounting gains. Jeff Skilling, a former McKinsey partner, should have stayed with the consulting firm where theory is safely differentiated from real world. Skillings' first mistake was not understanding his own limitations first and foremost. He breaks out a bottle of champagne to celebrate SEC's acceptance of a change in Enron's accounting system. Accounting does not create value - it does not appear that many Enron executives (especially Skillings who should have known better) understood this.

McLean and Elkind do a nice job presenting some of the schemes and scams that Enron executives used to make themselves look good to investors, analysts, bankers and the general public. There are some scams that I had a hard time following, but the reader will grasp the general idea behind them. In light of recent accounting scandals, this is an important book to read for any investors and the public in general. Unfortunately the book ends around summer of 2002 and we do not find out what happens to some of the key characters. My interest was sparked enough that I researched some of the more recent findings after reading the book. Despite its difficulty to read at times I highly recommend it.

When one reads 'The Smartest Guys In The Room' there is one question that keeps recurring. How did no-one at Enron foresee the company's grizzly demise. The folly of mark to market accounting was reason enoough to expect certain problems, but the endless treadmill that Enron placed itself on concerning the stock price made those problems an inevitability.

Although Elkind and Mclean portray the story well, they really don't have to do much with the material to make a fantastic story of the blistering story with which Enron rose and the calamitous pace at which it fell. The Enron tale is one of brash arrogance in almost every possible facet of a business, allied to a stubborn refusal to accept the economic reality even when it is staring you in the face. The real shame about the whole mess is that these were bright guys and this was potentially a great company. All they had to do was have a little common sense and regular business accumen and they could have been on to a real winner here.

I would ultimately say to everyone that has an interest in business or the financial markets, however slight, that this book is a thumping good read and is worth some money ouot of anyone's pocket.

I still wonder if the title is supposed to be a play on the homonym "Smartest guise in the room."

The authors step meticulously through the company's existence from the promising and fruitful beginnings of its energy operations to it's ultimate demise as America's largest bankruptcy with $10s of billions of debt.

The most enlightening aspects of the Enron saga are the personalities and personal journeys of each of the key players behind Enron's existence. I think it's fair to say, in general, that most successful people in business are either 1) Brilliant, 2)Incredibly charismatic, or 3)Fortunate benefactors of nepotism. The founder (Ken Lay) wasn't very business smart, but had a good idea and was amazingly charismatic and quickly roped in his crack team.

The reader very quickly sees what happens when incredibly intelligent people are put together towards a common goal in an atmosphere of amoral adherence to the "letter of the law". The operation was legitimately making money hand over fist the first year or so...but quickly after that, all "profits" were merely the magic of clever accounting.

This is a story of brilliance turned to hubris and invincibility but yet no accountability. I think the theme of the epilogue "Is anybody to blame?" sums up well the personalities of the key players involved. Everyone felt as though they had done nothing wrong. It's almost impossible to pinpoint when any laws had actually been broken...the regime was one continual exploitation of loopholes and gray areas.

The tale is truly terrifying in a very real sense. It's amazing to think that one of the worst businesses in American history was heralded as stable and as a "good buy" by many Wall Street analysts even up until the day before it imploded and ruined thousands of people's lives as well as the bottom line in some of the world's largest banks. It's amazing that brilliant accountants and relentlessly charismatic leaders can do more to bolster the stock of a company than actual legitimate earnings.

I finished this book, considering I hate reading and haven't read a book since high school, that should mean something. I'm not a fan of people shoving their opinions down my throat, but I picked this book up out of curiosity. And I had a feeling the author and I would agree on more things than disagree.

I really do place most of the blame of this countries problems, fear, irrational paranoia, and emphasis that we are all alone and need to depend on the government for protection on the media- the news programs specifically. They chose what to report on, they chose what slant to bring to the story, they leave out details, and hardly ever report on the honesty, humanity, and morality of man.

This book just confirmed what I already believed. Although it was refreshing to know that I'm not the only one that finds the media destructive. He touches on good points. Even things I wasn't scared of, but the American public may be concerned about. Some of his statements, seem to be unfounded and he could have backed them up more with facts. He can sometimes assume facts because of his personal beliefs. But overall the book was good. I don't feel the need to read it more than once though.

This book is great for the social and cultural notions of the last 20th and early 21st century. It speaks to an important and growing discourse of critiquing the media.

Some things haven't changed in the last ten years since this book was written. I do believe that the media has gotten worse over the years since this book was written. After reading this book, I am about ready to boycott the newspaper/TV medias but ... they still do provide a service to the public, so I can't just write them completely off yet. But this book has made that idea a temptation.

I orginally gave this book a four star but upon further reflection, I had to give it a three-star rating. I do believe it was well-written, researched as thoroughly as possible, but there's a taint of bias in his studies, or at least in the first half of the book. He mentioned his anti-guns bias repeatedly and after the third time of reading about it, I want to say, ok, I get your point. That bias left a shadow over the entire first half of the book that it made me weary of his points before I even finished the book. The bias would have been better if it was left alone after the first time he mentioned it.

Other than that, he validated his points with examples after examples throughout the entire book. The reader doesn't necessarily have to agree with his reasonings, but he does make good points about how the media ignores the facts and runs away with the scare tactics. After reading "Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over For Bush" and this book, I am even more inclined to think less of the media. There is a point that someone who works in the media said that rings true even back to my newsroom days: "News is what happens to your editors." (page 201)

But that doesn't excuse reporters and editors from creating scare tactics or sensational news to frighten people. Yes, sensational news sell copies, and it does seem that the media has forgotten their responsibility to the people as a whole, which is to provide unbiased reporting of facts and news to the public. I know that it is almost impossible to keep your own opinions out of it (which is why they have columnists), but to constantly provide news that frighten Americans without checking all the facts of the story, is in my opinion, just wrong.

This book is a must-read for aspiring journalists or for anyone who wants to be in the know. It is detailed and insightful. It will disgust the reader in spots and provide more information in other spots. It is not an entertaining book but one that will provide thoughtful musings on the state of the media these days. Some things just haven't changed in the last 10 years.

7/9/08

The vast majority of fears in The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things are irrational. People who are deathly afraid of plain crashes are probably a bit paranoid, considering their rarity. People who are very afraid of black men are probably racist, considering how much more common it is for black men to be victims than perps. The biggest new insight I received from Glassner's work was on Gulf War Syndrome. Glassner, a Sociology Professor at USC, convincingly demonstrates that improbability that GWS is the result of exposure to chemical weapons or any other destructive war technology. I will not delve into the specific reasons for GWS, but it is a common thread for a certain percentage of veterans in all modern wars.

Chapters on teen motherhood, AIDS, violent youth and homicidal mothers manage to be dull, despite public fascination (my own included) with such topics, covered ad nauseum in the media. The best part of the book is the cover, which is well done with the inventive title prominently featured. What should have been an excellent concept turns into a rehashing of known contradictions to common stereotypes. There must be dozens of people who could do this better, including the authors of Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.

I got to thinking about people who pay to have their dogs on doggy Prozac...Or whatever it's called...They must have a FEAR that their dog is mentally ill I guess..Anyways...This is a really good book..I would put it in the "media watchdog" category...It's even better post 9/11....Tons of examples of fears..How they are created...By which so called "experts"...The real facts are then presented...Hey look..It's young black males that DIE the most...Not the ones you should FEAR about getting killed BY....You will never watch Dateline NBC the same again after reading this book....Isolated incidents made out to be sweeping epidemics.....I think the culture of fear is here to stay...read this book and learn how it works.

I had expected a fictionalized narrative following the daughter of the famous astronomer. What I got was a detailed biography of Galileo himself. However, I still continued reading to the end.
With more warmth and humanity than your average historical account, Sobel's story weaves the life and family of its subject in among the facts of his life. Such things as his recurring illnesses and his struggles with the church authorities are brought to life and made more interesting.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the life of Galileo, or anyone who is interested in the day-to-day activities of Italy in the 17th Century.

GALILEO'S DAUGHTER
By
Dava Sobel
(Penguin Books 2000)
Sour Marie Celeste was the illegitimate daughter of Galileo Galelei - the eldest of his three, and only, children At the age of 13 her father had her admitted to the convent of San Mateo in Arcetri, where she would remain until her death at the age of 34 in 1634. Once admitted, or shortly thereafter, she started writing letters to her father - the most loving, beautiful, intelligent letters I have ever read. There aren't too many of them, but they have been preserved and form the excuse (if that is the right word) for this book - which is a part history of the life of Galileo, part comment on his times and a setting to publish the letters chronologically along with and in tune with events in his life.
Every school child knows something about Galileo - whether it was his "invention" of the telescope (he didn't invent it; he improved it immeasurably) or his "discovery" of the fact that it was the earth which revolved around the sun rather than vice versa - and this too was wrong, He didn't "discover" this. The sun-centered universe (heliocentered) had been discovered and described by Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) in 1543, 21 years before Galileo was born in 1564. Using Copernican theory Tycho Brahe (1545-61) had fixed the positions of may stars both as to distance and location and Johannes Kepler (1591-1630) had established the planetary motion of the planets - or most of them. So it wasn't what he invented or what he "discovered" that eventually got him into trouble with the Catholic Church, it was the fact that he was by far the most gifted and the most prominent man to have advocated - or thought to advocate - the heresy of a heliocentered universe.
He had been a star from the start, one of the most gifted mathematicians of his age or any other, one of the few who, instead of taking things as they are said to be, tried to find out how they really are. And thus was one of the first true scientists, a man who dropped balls of different weights from the tower of Pisa, who rolled balls of different weight and different sizes down inclines of different pitches, who measured the tides, floating bodies - always studying motion and/or the laws of motion - and almost all of modern physics is the study of motion whether it's string theory - action at a distance - or general relativity or the measurement of the effect of a collision of protons in the CORE tunnel in Switzerland this summer.
He was always an academician, teaching mathematics at the University of Pisa or Padua or being the resident mathematician and experimenter for one of the Medici's. And on retainer to the same. He was always ill. He never married. His work was his spouse. However, he recognized his three children by his liaison with the beautiful Marina Gamba of Venice. Domestic life was not for him. To the end he worked and thought, living as a guest or retainer in many ducal palaces in Tuscany and Rome. He lived as an untitled man at the highest level of worldly or ecclesiastical aristocracy. He made enemies - many of them - but he persevered and died in a kind of house arrest at the age of 72, still working and under banishment for daring to support the idea that the earth moved about the sun which the Catholic Church, relying on Aristotelian and Pythagorean thought and on the literal word of Holy Scripter believed as holy writ that it was the sun which revolved about the earth.
I have just spoken of his many enemies and of the ducal residences in which he often made his abode: and the book is full of this detail - too full in my opinion. It would have been better if much of this had either been omitted or if Ms. Sobel had taken the time to tell us something about the governance of his time, I would have been much better informed had I known something of the Medici's or the Doges of Venice or the politics of the Popes who were involved in his life. And I would like to have known more about how people lived in his time.
Similarly I would have liked to know more about convent life. There is enough in the book to indicate that it was perfectly dreadful -cruel, inhuman by our standards. Hared work, cold water, bad food, no rest, small quarters, iron discipline and no sleep. The Hanoi Hilton in San Matteo. Why would anybody lived this way? And why did Galileo put his daughters "away" at age 13. He robbed them of a life! (The excuse given by Sobel is that he learned he had known enemies in court because of his success and wanted to protect them; but this doesn't wash with me. All he had to do was to acknowledge them and, as his heirs, they would have properly evaded his enemy's attempts to take his property. I think he put them away because he was selfish. He didn't want three illegitimate children to be staining his record as he surged his way upward, buoyed by talent and reputation.)
As Galileo stepped through his professional life he wrote to Sour Marie Celeste, but his letters did not survive. Her replies and her spontaneous letters to him did survive, however, and manly of them are quoted here. Would that all children would love their father so much. Would that any one of us would have a child as intelligent, as articulate as she. Would that she were here today - or those like her - to call our attention to enduring love as contrasted to the conditions in which we live.
There are a couple of other comments I want to get down here on paper before I quit. First - about Galileo's "Trial". It is covered accurately and well in the book. In brief Galileo had published in Dialogues the essence of Copernican thought spoken through the mouth of a neutral that was just saying what it was. Then there were two characters, one of which was Galileo under a false name, who discussed it. Thus he never on paper espoused the Copernican heresy. He just said what it was. He thought he had a deal with Cardinal Bellarmino (later Saint Bellarmine) that as long as he didn't teach or espouse it he was not in conflict with Church teaching. However, 15 years later he fell out of favor with Pope Urban VIII. His enemies in the Vatican called on the Inquisition to question him and it was as the result of this that he was sentenced to house arrests.
The trial is well covered in the book, but I wish Sobel had told us more about the Inquisition, how long it lasted, what it did, what procedures were followed, how it was independent (if it was) of the Vatican. What was the Index? What happened to people who wrote things that made their way to the Index of banned books? What kind of books? How many?
I also wish she had told us more about the thirty Years War because it is frequently mentioned and apparently played a direct role in the attitude of the Catholic Church at the time.
Woven through out this history of Galileo's life and the beautiful love expressed by his daughter (who was every bit as bright as he was) is the conflict between science and religion. Sobel never addresses it. But it's pretty clear to me. Religious belief cannot overrule, change or ignore true scientific discovery. And the greatest conflicts in this area have been the Galileo incident with respect to the heliocentered universe and Darwinism. God made the world and He made the rules of nature and God doesn't bend, break or ignore His rules because they are contrary to the ideas of His people

I've got a secret. This book is not really about Galileo's daughter, Virginia. It is about Galileo and his life and times as seen through letters from his daughter to him (the letters from him to his daughter were destroyed). As a book about Virginia, it is largely uninteresting and unenlightening. As a book about Galileo, it is terrific. Dava Sobel captures the essence of Galileo's work and his fight with the religious authorities. My emotions as I read the book were: enlightenment in that it shows Galileo to be a far better person than I had given him credit for; sadness because of how he was mistreated; amazement for the honor he showed in all his dealings; and frustration at how much science was held back by religious authorities. And it puts into perspective how little my own daughter actually demands from me. I strongly recommend this book and I look forward to reading other of Sobel's works, including Longitude.

This book must be read if not for the depth of the actual telling, then for the elegant writing itself. The intertwining of primary source material and the author's own pen is done beautifully. The story's theme of the supposed clash between faith and reason/ science is as relevant today as it was in Galileo's time. Food for thought.

My real issue with this book is that Sobel's writing leaves me cold. I had avoided reading this for a long time because I had not really enjoyed Longitude. But countless critical raves and the response from friends caused me to decide to give Galileo's Daughter a try.

The subject matter is interesting enough. The book is very little about Galileo's daughter and is more a book about the man himself. That is not really a bad thing, since there is sadly not very much to know about Suor Maria Celeste. The episodes Sobel chooses to highlight are interesting, and I believe she succeeds in making Galileo human to the readers.

I would be hard pressed to say what exactly it is that I do not like about Sobel as a writer. It is not something that I can easily articulate. I think that it has something to do with the fact that her prose feels like an overextended magazine article. Both in Longitude and in this book, I felt as though the material were too thin for the weight that she was trying to hang on the pages. I am not sure that this is true, and suspect it may have something to do with the structure. In any case, with both books I had the experience that I was quite impatient with the prose even as I was interested in the material.

If you are interested in scientific history and in the mood for some reasonably light reading, then my review should not discourage you from picking up Galileo's Daughter. Myself, I am probably going to avoid Sobel in the future.

Bao Ninh's book is a difficult read, due in part to the translation, I suspect. Other reviewers have also made this observation. The book offers a rare look at the war from the view of an NVA soldier. Ninh writes in a highly unusual style -- difficult to understand without a good deal of thought. Duong Tu Huong, another well-known Vietnamese writer of Ninh's generation, is more accessible for Western readers in my judgment. The veteran who narrates this book is a tortured soul, maybe not entirely sane. Unlike most Vietnamese, he is cut off from a living community. What he has are his memories and the ghosts of his friends. He is memorable, disturbing, but not easy to know.

If you want to understand what it was like to fight the war from the other side, The Sorrow of War is a must read. The author, Bao Ninh, a North Vietnamese regular, fought for ten years, not 365 days. This book puts a face on those nameless NVA soldiers who died in what the Vietnamese call "The American War." Bao Ninh is the Tim O'Brien of Vietnam and the two novels - The Sorrow of War and The Things They Carried - are all you need to understand the life of the grunt and the effects of war on the soldiers of both sides.

This text does indeed read like a journal. The closing of the book suggests that it is indeed a journalish/novel discovered. I'm left to wonder if the book was written like this on purpose, or if ineed there was a 'discovered memoir.'

That said, it jumps around alot, but encompases the main character's throughout, and therefore shows the lifetime effect of the war.

My father was a front line linguist in the army, and never talks about it. I have a little understanding as to why.

While this text 'humanizes' the North Vietnamese, by all means, as some comments suggest, they were not the helpless victim. Forget not the shameful acts of so-called academia in the poor and hate treatment to our own soldiers upon returning from Nam. Grr!

Not a great literary text, but definately a good journal to give insight into war.

In his novel in a novel Bao Ninh gives us a rare insight into the war scene of those who beat the Americans and their allies in Vietnam. His sometimes brutally violent and emotional picture shows that war everywhere is a `Jungle of Screaming Souls', causing psychological ruin and familial and social destruction. For the rest of their lives, it will leave deep inextinguishable scars in those who were lucky to survive

The horror scenes resemble pictures of Hieronymus Bosch: `only his skeleton was complete, like that of a frog thrown into a mud patch. Crows had pecked away Car's face; his mouth was full of mud and rotting leaves.'
It is a world of hunger, malaria, ulcers, hallucinations and nightmares (`groups of headless black American soldiers carrying lanterns aloft'); not only of heroic battles, but also of desertions and political indoctrination (`the anti-intellectual atmosphere of the state ideologies').
The losses are tremendous: `the short story of my life. First my brothers, then my mother, then my husband, then my son.'
After the war, integration in the civil society is difficult: `impoverishes demobilized soldiers, playing cards, smoking pot and other weeds, most of them unemployed.' Family lives and loves from before the war are completely shattered.

For Bao Ninh, `the divine war had paid him for all his suffering and losses with more suffering and losses at home.'
He rote this book, `to rid myself of these devils, to put my tormented soul finally to rest instead of letting it float in a pool of shame and sorrow.'

This `Path of no Glory' should not be missed.

Bao Ninh's only novel is a memorable one. "The Sorrow of War" was originally published in Vietnam in 1991 under the title "The Destiny of Love". Indeed, the book is both a war novel and a love story. The story's protagonist is Kien, a war veteran who served 10 years in the North Vietnamese army. He suffered through a tumultuous separation from his childhood sweetheart early in the war, only to be reunited with her later in life (but earlier in the book).

Many reviewers have pointed out that "The Sorrow of War" is chaotic in its story-telling, that the narration rambles, and the timeline whipsaws the reader from the distant past to the present. All true points. Although the book is a slender 224 pages, the herky-jerky style makes for an unsettling read. But Ninh's approach is highly effective. He conveys the emotional and physical anguish of Kien and those around him poignantly, mimicking in his style the angst of his characters.

Word has it that Bao Ninh has written a second novel, but isn't satisfied enough to publish it. That could well be. The literary success of "The Sorrow of War" won't be easy for him to match, or for any other writer taking on the subject of 20th-century conflict.

Got this one for my husband. He loved it! Couldn't put it down.

Bought this as a gift - skimmed through it before wrapping. Not as witty as I thought it might be. If you want day-by-day accounts of Reagan's administration, this is the book for you.

If you don't like being spoonfed only what your professors and the media want you to hear, you should read books like this. Reagan made a comment or two about each day before bed and this book puts you right into his shoes. You'll get a sense of what it's like to be the President, how human the making of history really is when it happens and the strong, determined mindset of one of the 20th century's greatest leaders.

Wonderful.

What a fantastic book; written by President Reagan at the time history was being made. They say hindsight is 20 20 but it's astonishing how spot on he was with his comments, made without the benefit of looking back.
It's very enlightening to see what his thoughts were as history was being made and even the mundane or trivial things take on greater meaning when judged by the context of the present day.
Reagan kept pretty good notes and they're all here. In addition, there are quite a few color photos to put faces to the various people he talks about.
If you are interested in presidential history and in his motives i highly recommend this book!

I gave this book to my aunt who is 89 years young. She reports back to me that she loved it. She read it in 3 days.

This is a truly scary book. One of the cover credits titled "praise for the author on RevivingIslam.com" reads as follows: "May Allah rip out his spine from his back and split his brains in two, and then put them both back, and then do it over and over again. Amen." The biography on the back cover tells a little about the author, Robert Spencer, and when it gets to the part where it usually tells you about his family it reads "He (Spencer) lives in a Secure, Undisclosed Location." This book has truly pissed off a bunch of Muslims. The reason? Spencer tells it like it is and lays bare their unadulterated desire for world domination and the subjugation or elimination of all unbelievers. Unless you faithfully practice the Islam faith, you are an infidel and according to Mohamed as written in the Qur'an you have three choices: (1) Convert, (2) Subjugate yourself to Islamic rule by paying a tax to the Muslims and withstanding their demaning treatment of you (called dhimmi) or (3) you must be killed. These instructions are repeated over and over again in the Qur'an and in other writing by and about Muhammad. Spencer easily demonstrates that this is not extremist Islam but mainstream Islam. In most Islamic countries nearly one half of all the population, or more, believe in these precepts. And yes, Spencer cites the studies and polls that this information is gleaned from. Throughout the book there are separate panels where the words of Jesus are contrasted with those of Muhammad. The contrast between the man of peace and the warrior who slaughtered his own townspeople when they refused to accept him as a prophet is shocking. Spencer also gives the politically incorrect version of why the crusades happend (they were a delayed reaction to centuries of cruel Muslim wars that killed and enslaved much of the Near East, Asia, and eastern Europe) and what they actually accomplished. They held off the advancing Islamic invaders just long enough for them to finally pull back as a result of their own internal politics. The problem is that they are advancing again. They are infiltrating European and Asian and North American countries with the intention of eventually imposing their religion and religious law (Sharia Law) on everyone they allow to live. Spencer does not claim that this is the goal of all Muslims, but he does show that an alarming number of them support these precepts and the terrorist groups that promote them. Many Muslims are not even aware of the violence preached by the Qur'an (Koran) since they are not familar with the book. Others ignore it or embrace it. This book speaks up and tells us that we have been warned and that it is time for the tolerant and democratic governments of this world to protect themselves. Read this book and any of the numerous references it cites in asides as "A Book You're Not Supposed to Read" and you will have your eyes opened.

P.I.G. "Guides"?

I agree, they are guides....
....to smearing yourself with the product of the toilet of Hate Speech and calling yourself wise.


Just biased, right wing trash to help simpletons justify their bigotry. I don't mind it being on the internet, we can order the "Tubgirl" video and other stuff of the same value to literature. What I don't like is how they are stocked in RL book stores. They tend to not carry anything I really like, too much I have to order from the net. BUT, these books, more right wing trash, "Christian" literature and other toilet paper are on the shelves. And you know what..? Even though I'm in a so-called "Red" state, the "Right Wing" literature tends to gather dust on the bookstore shelves. They don't sell it, but keep it on the shelves. Their target audience gets all their "Bigotry Re-enforcement" from talk radio and US$20 is 1/8th their truck's weekly gas bill or a lot of cheap beer.

Let this trash stay here, but it's time to tell the bookstores, by letter, by e-mail, by talks to the manager that we'll vote with our WALLETS if they don't take them out. Oh, and yes, I did read through them till I was about ready to puke.

Let me add my voice in support of all of the others who have given this book 5 stars. The message of this book is very much non-PC and one we would rather not hear but for those of us who espouse Western values such as democracy and equality of rights for every human being this book is a necessary read. The strength of the book is its documentation. All of the books assertions about Islam are well supported with references to the Koran and other Islamic sources. It should be required reading for every American, especially our elected leaders and members of the press. There is a lot of information packed in this book and I could only take in a chapter or two at a time in order to assimilate the main concepts. Some may find the section on the Crusades slow going. My advice is to persevere. It is well worth it. Many will not like the message but rather than attack Mr. Spencer, please point out where exactly he has gotten it wrong. It doesnt appear that he has. He has made a compelling case.

This book is a great first step in understanding the forces that seek to destroy the US and subvert western ideals. I look forward to reading other books by Mr. Spencer and authors such as Andrew Bostom, Wallid Pharis, Bat Ye'or, and Ibn Warriq to name a few. Mr. Spencer is a true patriot in writing this book. His website Jihadwatch.org is one of several that is an excellent site for rational analysis of the current threat to the west.

This is pure propaganda and misinformation to create hate. Robert Spencer is openly Islamophobic racist and don't know basic facts about Islam and Muslims. The reason why this book was written was to make money.

After spending four tours in Iraq and just getting home from the last one, I can say that what is said in this book is correct.

There is no more the rising threat, but the threat that has already risen and is here in the US.

I suggest you, the reader, understand that Islam is more a tribal/political system than it is a religion. It's about control and who can gain it. I know there will be critics saying we have done the same. But the US has evolved and surrounds itself with life - or rebirth. Islam is engulfed in death and chaos.

Buy this book and read it to your children - educate them - Islam is worst than communism could ever dream of being. I also suggest the book, Because They Hate, Islamic Invasion, and Hostage to the Devil to see - or at least read - what US military personnel are experiencing in defending your rights here in the US.