This is the story of a literary mystery that a professor stumbled across, when editing a collection of the letters of Mary Shelley (author of FRANKENSTEIN, widow of the poet, and daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin). Who were David Lyndsay and Walter Sholto Douglas? Who was Isabella Robinson Douglas? Why the mysterious references to Lord M? The author spent time researching the private family papers of the family of a notable Scottish family, the birth and marriage records of Isabella Robinson Douglas's daughter, the wife of a very prominent Victorian man. And she found - not only a mystery that crosses gender and class lines, but also a mystery that points out how much the information we take for granted from such worthy primary sources as birth and marriage certificates, or entries in the august Dictionary of National Biography, can be false or falsified deliberately. At one level, this book should appeal to academic sleuths with a love of history and a particular fondness for the period 1815-1850 (roughly, crossing the late Regency and early Victorian period); at another level, this should appeal to any serious reader of historical fiction who is interested in women's lives, and who wonders how far the truth may or may not deviate from the fictional variants.

A suggestion: truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, although it is hard for some (mostly male) critics to swallow. Private scandals and peccadilloes (usually of a sexual nature) have been covered over for decades, even centuries. Today, an academic researching on a different subject or an amateur genealogist trying to find out more about his or her ancestor/ancestress may stumble across the long-hidden truth. This book MARY DIANA DODS is not just about an ambitious woman who is fairly ruthless in attempting to better her social standing (and that of her daughter) but the fate of many illegitimate children in the 19th century as well as young widows and unmarried daughters who were dependent on the males in their family for recognition as well as financial support. And now the spoilers follow -

A short summary with spoilers follows (do not read further if you want to solve the mystery along with the author)

Mary Shelley meets a couple Mr and Mrs Walter Sholto Douglas abroad, or does she? It turns out that Walter Sholto Douglas is a woman, and one with an astonishing if unacknowledged paternal pedigree. And his "wife" Isabella Robinson is apparently not his lesbian lover, but a young woman of moderately good family who has fallen into disgrace (a pre-marital pregnancy). To avoid shame and to legitimize her child, she and "Walter Sholto Douglas" (whose name gives a clue to her paternal ancestry) pretend to be man and wife; that is, Douglas, or rather Mary Diana Dods, becomes a man, aided by Shelley and her friends. And then, Isabella Robinson is involved with other men (hardly a surprise), and Douglas/Dods disappears. Isabella recreates herself as the mother-in-law of a Privy Councillor who is fully aware of his wife's shady family circumstances (born illegitimate, born into a marriage that never existed, to a father who was actually a woman). Their deceptions are revealed only when an American academic, puzzling over Mary Shelley's correspondents more than a century later, finds out that firstly two of the missing correspondents are the same, and secondly, that they are a woman. One of her male identities was that of Walter Sholto Douglas. The book should be read and savoured not for this and other revelations (as to how Dods/Douglas and Robinson pulled off their initial deception, or how Isabella Robinson maneuvered her daughter into a suitable marriage), but for the process by which such discoveries are made - hard work, an eye for detail, a memory for names and dates, and a good dose of serendipidity.

The only reason I don't rate this higher is that I wished that firstly, there had been an appendix listing the documentary trail followed by Betty Bennett, and that secondly, there had been a listing of the names and characters (with a summary of their future lives) in the story in a second appendix. Although Bennett discusses the lives of aristocratic bastards in several chapters, and in one chapter in particular where she compares the fate of the widowed Georgiana Carter (nee Dods) and her unmarriageable sister Mary Diana Dods, it would also have been helpful to put this in greater context. For example, how did their father's treatment of them compare with that of other aristocratic fathers? How did their lives compare with that of unmarried or widowed young women, penniless and dependent totally on men? The emphasis in this book was on the process of discovery, and thus these other parts to the story were somewhat neglected in my opinion.

This is still a book that I recommend highly. Rating: 4.5

I think that MAurice Moore Betty should be commemorated for such a great book. It has every recipe that you can find and it has a school to go with it. If you love to cook than get this book. Kids love it too

Edward Gibbon left only six incomplete manuscripts detailing his life and efforts at the time of his death. The editor, B. Radice, surpassing all previous efforts has edited them into a concise, remarkably fluid narrative. She has wisely included the various self-criticisms that his first editor, John Holroyd, left out of the first 1796 edition of the Memoirs and they reveal Gibbon to be not merely a formidable intellect and perspicacious observer of both English and Swiss society but also witty, a bit vain, self-indulgent, and more approachable than his reputation would suggest. Occasionnaly the odd sentence or fragment is repeated to ill effect and the fragmentary nature of this work provides its own frustrations: Gibbon will start discussing an intriguing subject such as the writing of the Decline and Fall and then suddenly shift to another subject. And even though Gibbon avoids the embarassing candor which crops up in Rousseau, one could argue that even in its unfinished form, there's a bit too much polish on the surface- Gibbon obviously sees his life as something of a finished product and the self-reflection of the earlier part becomes a bit too self-congratulatory later on. Moroever, the editors have provided two sets of footnotes for the seventh and eighth chapters - theirs and Gibbon's, which makes for a lot of back and forth reading. Still, Gibbon's account of the difficulties in finding time to read, to research, and to cultivate his intellect in the face of outside engagements, as well as his lucid observations on his family life, his friendships and his decision not to marry make for compelling reading. Rarely has such a figure provided so thorough an account of his life in so little space. For anyone who wants a clearly written and forthright account of why Gibbon came to be the man he was would surely profit from a persual of this engaging little work.

"After 50" attracted my eyes. My memory began deteriorating at the age of 40. "Memory is the ability to register, combine, and store information from each of your senses." Senses are your own memory tools. The more senses you use, the more information you will store in your memory bank. I had never really practiced it until I read this book which reminded me in an organized way. I am going to bring this book to the next reference librarians' meeting. Most of my colleagues are getting closer to 50 or over. We need improving our memories.

I'm surprised that this book has 0 customer reviews, so here's a review:

I see the aim of this book as to provide a structure for a therapist to combine various models of therapy into a workable therapy, rather than to either use a single model or to combine models in haphazard ways. That being the goal, it does a good job at achieving this by providing 6 core metaframeworks such as "Sequences", "Developmental", and the individual's own internal thought system, "Internal Family Systems".
This book works with factors from the individual to the society level, which is good because people are both individuals, family, and societal (a part of and influenced by society). Systems thinking is well-integrated into the book, as well as defined.
This metaframeworks book integrates four building blocks to help a therapist integrate models specific to their clients. The four building blocks are:
The systemic view, a set of presuppositions, the metaframeworks themselves, and the blueprint for therapy.

This book lacks much detail in how to do specific therapies, but that makes sense because it isn't a book of frameworks, but *metaframeworks*. It can integrate, to some degree, any model a person wishes to apply to it. If you're looking for a way to effectively combine family therapy models, look no further (are there even any books like this to look further at, anyway?). If you're looking for a new model to try, you might not find what you're looking for here, though the Internal Family Systems (IFS) section does go over some basics of the IFS model.
I found out a couple years ago that the three-year therapy masters program at Central Connecticut State University uses this book as the core of their program, having their students use the concepts of this book to combine various models in order to do therapy with a diverse range of clients with various reasons for coming to therapy.

This healthy Mexican cookbook does not sacrifice taste for when getting rid of fat. I particularly liked the Green chile and pork stew which was hearty and spicy. It also contains some excellent seafood recipes.

I found this book to be a forthright and over due documentation of the devasting fires that swept the great lakes state. I commend the author for her compassionate style in documenting a time in Michigan History that touched nearly every family in this great lake state. Hard to put down.

The Midnight Mystery is one of my favorite books I have ever read. There has been strange things going on around Rosie's house ever since her father has moved away for a new job. One night Rosie was looking outside when she saw a dark figure outside in her back yard. She has also been hearing about mysterious things going on around her neighborhood. Like doors slamming in supposedly emty houses. All of this strange stuff going on is making Rosie uneasy. She also keeps on finding her wardrobe open and a mess. Alsost everytime her and her mother go somewhere. She is going to be in a piano recital and she still has to learn how to play The Dance Of The Dinosaurs. She also has another problem she only has nine fingers and dreads that she will not be able to play the piece since she has so little time to practice. She thinks that everything would be so different if her father was still around to help. She keeps on asking to herself "Why can't things be simple and easy like they use to be?" If you want a scare this is deffinately a book you'll want to read

An odd but fascinating book that shows the week-by-week positions of the singles that made Billboard's Hot 100 chart in the form of line graphs. Aside from the fact that you'll need a magnifying glass to read these charts, this is a nifty reference source for chart buffs and music historians. Superceded in large part by the Joel Whitburn books of Billboard chart reprints.

For anyone (like me) who knows very little about cooking has even less time do it, and does not like fast food or hamburger helper, this is a great book. It combines a practical variety of meals which taste much better than frozen dinners and don't take a lot of time to prepare. The ingredient lists are short and most importantly, you don't need a dictionary to decipher the various items on them. It is a very down-to-earth cook book and I have found it much more useful than the giant cooking encyclopedias and other recipe books I've bought in the past. So take a look at it and enjoy!