Warmed over Maugham, with a touch of Goethe.

My grandmother sent me this novel ten years ago. I read it in day, and ten years later reread it in a day. It is a good visual novel that digresses into the small-time life of turn-of-the-century Scotland while creating a modestly suspenseful plot centered about the tribulations of an alienated youth compelled to live as an outsider amongst modestly eccentric personalities.

Yet the moral aspects are done better by Maugham (Of Human Bondage), while the visual images of windy crags and intense emotion are done better by numerous people, especially Goethe.

A fun, but second-rate novel.

Randomly picking this book from the shelf in the library, I knew nothing of the novel or author, and was hoping I had not picked a second-rate novel. Pleasanlty, I was surprised! The plot is realistic centering around a richly developed Catholic boy. Though book one was somewhat slow developing the plot and characters, books two and three were well worth the wait and made me anxious to continue reading. However, I was somewhat dissapointed with the anticlimax end, but you'll have to read it to see for yourself!

I started because I couldn't find the book I actually wanted to read, and to my surprise, found that it was an engrossing and well-written novel.

It reminded me, as it did the reviewer below, of Maugham's excellent "Of Human Bondage," but I thought it was actually better. It lacked the cynicism of Maugham's book, and instead of endless philosophizing, it simply provided the reader with good thought-provoking material and left him to draw his own conclusions, if he wished.

It was also consistently enjoyable, though some sections were rather depressing.

The characters were realistic and vital. Most of them were multi-dimensional, while a few of them were deliberately done in one dimension. As in real life, one was constantly changing one's opinions about the characters. It was unusually good in this respect.

The plot, finally, was engrossing and, again, realistic. I recommend the book, noting that in my opinion at least, it is far superior to the author's most famous work, "The Keys of the Kingdom."

-Stephen

This is not for the lighthearted reader, but it is a fairly thorough review of the subject, and the author seems to have done rigorous analysis before asserting anything that may not be true. In that sense, you can accept this book with confidence. One annoyance is that the amount of notes is considerable, and they are all at the end of the book instead of the bottom of pages. So you find yourself flipping to the notes to get background information that probably could and should have been included in the text to allow for more fluid reading. It reads a little more slowly than your typical nonfiction book.

'The History of the Mongol Conquests' is a respectable book ' solid scholarship, persuasive analysis, and interesting read. I actually have learned enormous amount not just about the Mongols, but also about the Chinese from this book. I have only couple critical remarks. The author seems confused about origins of the ethos, which become associated (at least in the Russian mind) forever with the Mongols. This question is simple - who are the Tatars, where they came from? Saunders writes on page 158 ''new race of 'Tartars' emerged out of a fusion of Mongols, Turks, Slavs, and Finns.' OK, I agree with that. But he goes further distinguishing 'Tatars' from 'Tartars', speaking about 'Tatars' as one Mongol-speaking tribe. Actually on the map on page 30 'Tatars' are placed in the Northern China. This doesn't make any sense for me. 'Tartars' and 'Tatars' are the same, except 'Tartars' is Western European and 'Tatars' is Russian name. And yet he confuses the things further by sometimes using the word 'Tatars' as interchangeable with 'Turks'.

Another passage I have a suspicious feeling about is on page 170. He goes -'Defeat of Christianity in the area where its prospects seemed favorable is perhaps attributable to'inferiority of the Russians to the Persians and Chinese in the scale of civilization'. I disagree with this approach. First of all, what is this 'scale'? I think while the Persians had to accept Islam - the religion of nomadic Arab tribes invading Persia in 7th century from the Arabian peninsular, Russia had avoided Shamanism - religion of the invading Mongols. Later Moscovy held up as a Christian state and avoided Islam ' a semi-official religion of the 'The Golden Horde'. To my view Russian civilization was not inferior, but purhaps less glamorous than Persian/Iranic. This turned out to be ultimately a blessing in disguise for the Russians. The Mongols didn't want to go deeper to these forests and swamps; they preferred much more the open steppe. And while Kiev was destroyed, this 'inferior' civilization did survived 265 years of Mongol domination. The Russian civilization was preserved in monasteries among those marshes and forests of the North, hidden away from the Mongols and other foreigners. Anyway, despite several slippery passages, I would recommend this one to anyone interested in the subject ' the book is well written and fascinating (it least it was for me).

How could I have lived for so long without the knowledge that's in this book? It's essential for understanding our (and "their") history. I had no idea of the permanent impact the Mongol infiltration of western Asia & eastern Europe had on the development of societies not only there but in Europe (and probably China, but most of the book is spent in Asia). They were only in control for about 100 years, but they weren't just mean tourists or hit-and-run snipers. And I had no idea that Turks (who, as a people, did a dry run of the Mongol invasion 5 or 600 years earlier) were originally from north of the Gobi desert. I had no idea of the degree of commercial and intellectual communication between China and the west that far back. And if you want to understand the rise of Islam, you must read this book. If you want to understand the nature of Russia, you must read this book. There's so much more. The book seems well researched, and the author seems to let us know when he's hypothesizing. This is a book to buy & keep.

This book was an interesting and captivating read! It begins with a fictional interview of teacher whose career spans a hundred years. The interview was informative and creative. It provided insights into experiences from the early 1900s through the late 1900s. Problems in the teaching profession as well rewards were portrayed. Many of the problems and rewards are still prevalent today. Throughout the book, perspectives from a variety of teachers and their experiences help to share the American educational experience in the 20th century. Some perspectives included are rural teachers, city teachers, female teachers, male teachers, teachers of color, and teacher activists, etc.
A number of issues were addressed, such as stereotypes, male dominated bureaucratic school systems, unequal pay, training and certification, community and parent expectations, teaching in urban areas, and developments in reforms are just a few to mention. The teachers interviewed and portrayed offered a wealth of reflection, experience, insight and hope for the future. As a classroom teacher, I was able to make connections with the history of American education with my current practice. I would recommend this book to all educators!

I've chosen to review this book because I found it to be the most useful and easy to read books in my graduate studies. I enjoyed the way the book gave a well-rounded history of the evolution of teachers throughout the past century.

The book shows the fine line teachers walk, even today, to show administrators, fellow teachers, students and parents they have the proper level of competency and compassion for the job. One key idea I took away from the book was that as a teacher you need to find the right level of personality to show students you can be stern but compassionate so they respect you but also be willing to work hard for you.

I really think you will enjoy the first chapter - a mock interview with a teacher who discusses teaching and seeing the massive changes over the past 100 years - it's a great way to get a quick history lesson. The book also gives you a glimpse of the power teachers have to affect lives in the classroom as well as with the way the future of education will transpire.

This book shows how the business model of thinking spilled over and started to shape the way we look at education in the early 20th century. Teachers were looked upon more as machinery within the company assembly line to manufacture students that could successfully function in society.

Being new to education it was interesting reading about the evolution of teachers in America and seeing how cyclical education is and that some of the same issues that confronted teachers 100 years ago are still being dealt with today - like male controlled administrations and school boards, the lack of resources, classroom size and lack of diversity.

I would definitely recommend this book to those just starting out (like myself) or those who are thinking about going into education to get an excellent primer.

Editors of this book explore the teaching profession through recounting oral and written history from both educators and non-educators, and through reflections about the contemporary teaching experience. In discussing the past, present, and future roles, views, and professional presence of teachers in America, stereotypes and metaphors are illuminated.
While this text presents a variety of perspectives, it does not do so without a focused judgment, as the authors of the included articles, "take strong positions on the nature of teaching in classrooms and teachers' roles in their communities and in the greater society."
A very readable compilation, this text is interesting as well as informative. As a new teacher, I found it helpful as a professional resource and as a means of support to read confessions and expressions of real teachers (retired, working, and beginning) who struggle and grapple with similar issues, concerns and wonderings as I do.
I would recommend this book to teachers at all levels of their careers, parents who are curious about the educational system, and anyone who feels loving support for, a desire to initiate change in, or a confusion or frustration about the public schools of America. Joseph and Burnaford have provided readers with a comprehensive and intriguing glimpse into one aspect of education, providing insight into the good, the bad, and the ugly of the schoolteacher profession.

An excellent book that I would recommend to anyone interested in learning about the Episcopal faith. Concise but not a text book--simply a good, solid book.

This book is an easy read - one to two hours max. Huge print! However basic info on Episcopalian doctrine/ belief. Just as the title suggests.

I used this book in addition to the Confirmation classes I took at our Cathedral. It gave me the opportunity to study more in-depth the history and doctrines of the denomination I was becoming a part of. The book is clear, and laid out well for reference purposes. Recommended for anyone seeking to learn more about the Episcopal Church.

The first half of this is a pretty good read, as the author provides some decent context about the development of baseball around the turn of the last century.

The second half has a tendency to degenerate into repetitive and awfully superficial chronicle, and doesn't bring the 20's and 30's to life in the same way as the earlier sections--even though there were colorful characters galore available.

(I noticed the same flatness in large sections of Alexander's history of baseball, Our Game. There too he often retreats to mere narrative, and away from insight.)

If you've read the 50 or so better baseball books available, or if you enjoy hearing oft-told tales told once more, this is a pleasant enough way to kill two or three afternoons.

This is the first book I have read from the many that Charles Alexander has written about turn of the century baseball players and I have to say that Mr. Alexander is a voracious researcher as he has facts and events of McGraw's life down to every little detail. For this, he is to be commended as he has certainly put to paper, atleast to this point, the definitive book on John McGraw.
However, this is not a short or an entertaining read by any stretch of the imagination as Alexander's book is decidedly bland in its detailed accounts of seasons past. After detailing McGraw's many outbursts on and off the field, Alexander chronicles McGraw's gambling misdeeds and even possible corruption (to the degree of the 1919 Black Sox). But Alexander does not write with a lot of imagination. His work reads exactly like you might expect a chronological account might: vanilla.
Although I enjoyed reading this book and appreciated all of the facts and research Alexander did on McGraw, I cannot say that this is one of the better baseball books I have read. Still, it remains the only book of any substance on McGraw, so if you want to learn about one of the most important men in the history of baseball, this is your book.

John McGraw dominated the landscape of baseball from 1890 until 1933. He came to demolish the enemy in score and spirit- and often succeded. He was the Master of an age where sportsmanship was considered a negative. From his days as a star and ringleader of the dirty & scrappy (NL)Baltimore Orioles until his death soon after managing the first NL all-star team, McGraw played key roles in nearly every major event in baseball's most formative years.

In 1901 he helped formed the American League, then tried to kill the AL in 1902. Why no World Series in 1904? McGraw. Inventor of the Hit-and-run? McGraw. Originator of collarless uniforms? McGraw. First to use Relief specialist in the bullpen? McGraw. First in 3 World Series in a row? McGraw. 4 in a row? McGraw. Only his pupil Casey Stengel has matched McGraw for total pennants. His career placed him in a pennant race NEARLY EVERY YEAR in 5 DECADES! (As Manager 10-1st, 10-2nd, 4-3ed place finishes in 32 years.)

Alexander presents the events of McGraw's life in chronological order- enabling the reader to use 'John McGraw' as a reference book for what happened in baseball in any given year due to the detail provided by Alexander. Charles C. Alexander writes history books about baseball; not mere collections of tales and legends set to prose. His facts are throughly researched and documented. However, even well written history books sometimes become tedious in detail. This book is no exception. Personally, I prefer an overkill of facts to haphazard story telling. Not quite as well written as the masterful 'Ty Cobb' and compelling 'Rogers Hornsby' by Alexander, but still the cream of baseball biographies.

In response to Brian Holt's assertion that Oneness believers cannot answer how Christ could have a different will from the Father if Jesus IS the Father (which He is, by the way), I submit this: Jesus had two natures--Flesh and God. It was the flesh of Jesus that didn't want to be nailed to a tree (would you?). It was the flesh that needed the support of the Divine (like we all do). Jehovah wrapped Himself in flesh so He could experience the life that His children live and so He could be the one-time, end-all be-all sacrifice for our sins. I can be reached at johnrwhite@angelfire.com.

"Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true, I am he who bears witness of myself, and the father who SENT ME bears witness of myself" (John 8:17-18).

Clearly, than this verse teaches a distinct person from the son! (Of course the oneness wouold argue that that the other witness, was Jesus divine nature, but of course this is impossible, you could not go into a court of Jewish law and say that your spirit and body are two witnesses) so here we have an air proff text for the distinct nature of teh Son and the Father, and oneness interpretation would make non sense out of its historical context "YOU NEED TWO MEN"!

I know the author of the book: The "Godhead", How Many ? - I feel it would be in the best interest for others to be informed of a misconception which both reviewers have indicated in their reponses. Generally, most Oneness believers would acknowledge that the Son IS NOT the Father, but rather, the Father took up residence in the fleshly body of the Son. It does not appear that Mr. White has read his book, since his review makes no statement to that effect. For Mr. Holt's information, kindly be advised that the author did in fact write all three Godhead positions. And the book clearly indicates that each of the three positions mediated their position against the other two. I'm sure that the author would be more than happy to clear up any area of misunderstanding you would have relative to any part of the book. He would no doubt be unable to persuade you against what you may believe -- but he could at least attempt to help you understand what he hoped to convey. You mentioned one only "for instance". If you have other areas you feel are not adequately covered, I feel sure he would be pleased to hear from you. His e-mail address is given for that purpose. God Bless.

A fascinating story and worthy tribute to Joseph Bazalgette, an underappreciated Victorina-era engineer responsible not only for designing and overseeing the construction of London's huge sanitary sewer system, but also the construction of Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Embankments, forever changing the face and character of central London. We take so much of our modern cities for granted, not realizing that entire rivers are flowing under the streets, blissfully unaware of the level of vision and committment required to create an infrastructure that provides health and convenience.

The writing style is breezy and lucid, although the author has a distracting habit of repetition. Certain factoids, such as "the embankments reclaimed 52 acres of land" are repeated over and over again, and several favorite quotes are repeated at least 3 times.

I won't ever look at a modern city the same way.

While the title implies the book's focus will be London's "Great Stink" of 1858, it is in fact a short biography of the eminent Victorian civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. Less remembered than his fellow engineers Isambard Brunel or Robert Stephenson, Bazalgette was the Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works for some 30 years.

During his tenure, he oversaw the construction of the great intercepting sewers of London which effectively removed the recurring threat of cholera from the city even before that disease's transmission mechanism was fully understood. In addition, the great Embankments along the Thames were designed and built by Bazalgette which make the modern waterfront as we know it today. He also built three bridges still standing across the Thames and designed many of the modern thoroughfares of London.

This book focuses on the long political battles waged in Parliament, the press, and within the City itself to solve the massive problem of human waste disposal in the world's largest western metropolis of the day. Although ostensibly about a civil engineer, there is not much engineering in the book - making it highly accessible to the layperson. Copious contemporary illustrations out of "Punch" and the "Illustrated London News" along with lengthy quotations from "The Times" make the Victorians' view of this smelly problem come to life. It's fortunate that this is not a scratch-and-sniff book.

The main chapters include those devoted to the invention of the water closet (a sewage nightmare), cholera and sanitation, and the building of the embankments. Throughout the book, small sidebars give potted biographies of key players and interested parties of the day such as Dickens, W.H. Smith, Gladstone, Dr. John Snow, and others. These are great little tidbits on the people featured in the main narrative and they are liberally sprinkled with caricatures from "Spy".

The book does touch on Bazalgette's early endorsement and use of Portland cement as a technical innovation as well as the quality assurance testing techniques that he enforced during his projects. So engineer, take heart! There are interesting bits for you as well.

If dark places under the heart of the metropolis is your area of interest, see also "London Under London" by Richard Trench & Ellis Hillman for sewers, the Tube, and more subterranean passages. And if you simply must have olfactory re-enforcement to imagine the past, try "Victorian Vapours" by Mary J. Dobson.

Halliday's book tells the story of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works (London's first metropolitan government) from 1856 to 1889.

His greatest achievement was building for London a sanitation system of unprecedented scale and complexity. Throughout history, the main cause of death has been the contamination of drinking water by sewage. In particular, cholera spread when the faeces of sufferers contaminated drinking water: cholera epidemics in London killed 6,536 people in 1831-32, 14,137 in 1848-49, and 10,738 in 1853-54.

In the long hot summer of 1858, the stench from rotting sewage in the Thames drove MPs from Westminster. The 'Great Stink' forced them, belatedly, to act. Bazalgette was charged with building a system to prevent sewage getting into Londoners' drinking water, which he did. The 1866 cholera epidemic killed 5,596 people in the East End, the sole part of London that had not yet been protected by Bazalgette's intercepting system. After the system was completed, cholera would never again kill Londoners. Bazalgette had turned the Thames from the filthiest to the cleanest metropolitan river in the world and added some twenty years to Londoners' lives.

But this was not Bazalgette's only success. He constructed the Victoria, Albert and Chelsea Embankments, where he introduced the use of Portland cement. He laid out Shaftesbury Avenue, Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross Road, the Embankment Gardens, Battersea Park and Clapham Common. He built the bridges at Hammersmith, Putney and Battersea. He introduced the Woolwich Free Ferry and designed the Blackwall Tunnel.

In 1889, the London County Council replaced the Board: Bazalgette's successes had proven the value of local government for great cities. Roy Porter wrote that Bazalgette stands with Wren and Nash 'as one of London's noblest builders'. John Doxat wrote, "this superb and farsighted engineer probably did more good, and saved more lives, than any single Victorian public official."

I beleive this to be the closest text to that of the original books of scriptures as originally writen by the Prophets. During the time between the original writings of the prophets and apostles, none of which are left, the bible was copied many times by uninspired men. Some of which, accidently or purposefly (for evil reasons), changed the inspired words of God to that which is not inspired. This version of the Bible contains inspired corrections to that of the scriptures, to bring it back in harmony with what it originally was. Sadly, Joseph Smith Jr. was matryed in cold blood before the entire translation was finished. He did restore many plain and simply truths that were lost. I belive him to be a prohet of God, a prophet who was a tool in restoring, NOT REFORMING, the true Church of Jesus Christ, the one he formed in the New Testament, to the earth. Anyone who likes this translation of the bible should read, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. This book is an ancient book of scripture dealing with this american continent. It was translated by the gift and inspiration of God, This I Know! It starts in Jerusalem around 600 BC. There God command a prophet named Lehi to take his family and flee from Jerusalem becuase it was going to be taken over. They came over to this continent on a ship. They had prohpets here and they wrote what was happening. Then, around 421 AD, the people became wicked and one of the last prophets, Moroni, barried these scriptures. You can know weather it is true or not by reading it and comparing it with the Bible then asking God in faith if it is true(James 1:5-6). This book doesn't contradict the bible, but is in full harmony with it. Some might say it is adding to the Bible and then quote the last chapter of Revealation. That is taking about the book of Revealation only. The bible was compliated much later than it was written. This book is true scripture!

Of the Bibles I have seen and read, this includes NIV, NRSV, KJV, KJV1611, NKJV, etc etc etc, The Inspired Version of the Old Testament contains some truths which are not in any of the others. It resembles a New King James, meaining that it does not contain the Apocrypha, but it includes a lot of more meaningful text, particularly regarding the importance of the agency of man.

This is truly a beautiful and remarkable version of the Old Testament. There is no question in my mind that Joseph Smith was one of the great scriptorians of the last 2 millenia. To truly understand the beauty of this book one must painstakingly research bible history and then carefully study the inhancements made by Joseph Smith in this version of the bible. When this is acomplished the simple conclusion comes to the mind that either this man was a genious or he was as he claimed, inspired. An example of an inhancement that he made is Gen. 6:6 which mentions that "it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it greived him at his heart." The Inspired Version reads that "it greived the Lord that man would not repent." Another example is when the Lord through Moses was persuading Pharaoh to let Israel leave Egypt. Exodus 4:21 of the King James version says "And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go." The Inspired Version reads "When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: and I will prosper thee; but Pharoah will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go." Both of these examples help to roll back the clouds of misunderstanding and show that the characteristics of God are consistent with those taught in the New Testament. God cannot repent for he is perfect and he does not harden peoples hearts but fills them with light and knowledge.

This book is not for beginers. The author gets into things that are not important. Who cares what wine goes with cheesecake, cashews or chocalate. That's by choice. I gave the book away to the waste management company.

As an absolute beginner, I like this book. It's straightforward, easy to understand. It's not pretentious as some other wine books. The most part I like about this book is that the every pronunciation of the wines and grapes are spelled out. It's very useful for someone like who doesn't know French or Italian. I wish it were on tape as well.

I have the 2000 version, just ordered the 2002 version. An excellent reference book for quick checks and general info. Contains more info than most, if not all wine books I have read/purchased. Just plain handy!

I think this book is quite a acceptable guide for HTML beginner. However, I've found quite a number of typing and grammar mistakes. It seems that the book was written in a hurry. Not so well orgranized and presented.

If you want to learn to design your own web pages in a very short amount of time, this is the book for you. No sophisticated computer talk -- just plain, usable, practical information.

This book provides the easiest way to teach yourself HTML. I highly recommend this book.