In the course of researching a book I hope to publish ("Stalling the Revolution: The Men's Movement in the Ambivalent 1990s") I read a staggering number of "men's books" like "Iron John," "Fire in the Belly," "The Myth of Male Power," "Fatherless America," "Manhood in America," etc.

This one stands above the rest on the strength of its pleas for solutions and action. So many books on the subject of embattled manhood or vanishing fatherhood simply delineate the problem through dozens of well-researched, heavily foot-noted chapters then turn--in the last few pages--to some improbable, uninspired "solution."

Pittman's flaws include returning to the same ideas with a kind of circular redundancy, but at least they're good ideas. He pleas almost desperately, tearfully for men to father boys whatever it takes, whatever the obstacles. The reality that the father-son relationship so central to our dominant (Christian) religion has atrophied in our homes is rightly seen by Pittman as the great tragedy of our times. A heterosexual married man, this intelligent psychotherapist throws our homophobia in our face and curses its damage. He even comes to verge of endorsing pederasty.

Rather than pack his book with psychobabble, Pittman has filled "Man Enough" with real-life anecdotes from his own life as well as those of his clients and friends. He also includes commentary on popular films with regard to men's issues. The oedipal conflict between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker is mentioned for instance--along with the poisonous "masculopathy" of the Godfather series.

Pittman may be unsparing about mens' faults, but he offers us hope. The best compliment I can pay this book is that, throughout it, you feel the author's warmth, wisdom, horse sense, honesty, and love.

This book talks about how we make ourselves feel like men, both in a healthy way and in a dysfunctional way. It talks about how we can change how we parent so that the way our sons make themselves feel like men is not as disfunctional as their father's ways.

I didn't like some of what I read, but after reflection, I found much of what was said applied to me. Truth hurts sometimes, but it's good to hear.

I would give it to every father I cared about.

I first read this book almost six years ago now, and it impacted me profoundly. Dr. Pittman tackles the essential loneliness of what life can be like for a male and offers a means of escape from this foolish dance of solitaire.

He advises men to expose their vulnerabilities to the other guys, relinquish the score-keeping that serves as a barrier to happiness. This does not mean opting out of the games-- life without them would be pretty dull; "what would we do, shop all day?"-- but delight in playing our best and cooperating with members of the team. Then, and only then, are we ready for a full cooperation with the other sex and can begin the process of raising boys ourselves.

Dr. Pittman grinds no ideological ax and, like the best of therapists, invites us to learn; he never lectures. His voice- wise, funny, responsible, and modern in the best sense of the word- is one both men and women would be smart to heed.

There is no doubt that George Gilder is bright nor is there any argument that he writes and speaks persuasively. The problem with this book is the fact that almost everything Mr. Gilder has predicted has failed to arrive in anywhere near the magnitude or time that he so boldly predicted. As someone who worked with him once said, "He's often wrong and never in doubt". This book will go down with the "New, New Thing" as interesting reading, but faulty prognostication. Better to pick up a few copies of Red Herring, Fortune...

To the pure George Gilder fan I'm sure this is a 5 star. My slight downgrade is because I come the investor's side of what George Gilder has to say. While this book is only 2 years old, it's value as an investment book has been decreased by time. I would have liked a little more on Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Scott McNealey, Steve Jobs and all the characters who are the cutting-edge of the high-tech business. Since George Gilder did not write this book or even add a comment to the Introduction, he can't be blamed in any way. The editor's choice of material is spread a little longer and thinner than I'd like. Maybe 4 1/2 stars is a better all-around rating, but for the investor only a 4 I'm sorry to say. Things just happen too fast.

George Gilder is well known today for his examination of emerging technologies. His is an interesting journey from writing about values, men and women, government policy, etc. to sharing his understanding of emerging technologies. This book is not a straight line from Mr. Gilder's early career to the present, but it serves as a great introduction to a tireless mind. In the end, you will understand how a man with a diverse background ends up writing about creating wealth through giving.

When L. Frank Baum set out to write and produce a second Oz musical for the stage, he discovered he had signed away the theatrical rights to his early Oz stories and characters. Apparently unwilling to create new material, Baum drafted a play that he called Tik - Tok Of Oz, which was simply a retelling of his third Oz novel, 1907's Ozma Of Oz, with some character names changed and minor plot elements rearranged. Since he owed publishers Reilly & Britton a new Oz book, Baum then rewrote his new play into a novel, and 1914's redundant Tik - Tok Of Oz was born.

With such a circuitous pedigree, it's no wonder that Tik - Tok Of Oz is a generally unimpressive entry into the Oz chronicle. Baum was occasionally careless with his prestigious fairyland, and nothing suggests that here more than the fact that wind - up mechanical man Tik - Tok, though his name lights up the book's title, is only a secondary character in the narrative and often appears to be absent from much of the story, even when present in theory. In fact, the Tin Woodman or Jack Pumpkinhead could have replaced the clockwork man without altering the essential plot in the least. But the uncomplicated Tik - Tok was particularly useful in a lazily composed narrative, since, as a preprogrammed machine of limited potential in need of continuous winding, Baum could silence him at any time by simply having him run down, no dramatic action or mental fatigue required. Despite several warm and imaginatively written chapters, such as 'The Lovely Lady Of Light,' the book plods on without building in strength or imagination until its final section, when it suddenly awakens to life.

Dorothy Gale doppelganger Betsy Bobbin, accompanied by sidekick Hank the Mule, reaches the shores of fairyland when a ship on which she is inexplicably a passenger explodes at sea. Baum's ho - hum attitude towards his material is immediately evident when introducing Betsy, who does indeed do some "bobbing" up and down on the waves and billows: "Suddenly the sea was lighted up by a vivid glare. The ship, now in the far distance, caught fire, blew up and sank beneath the waves." No mention is made of the fate of the other passengers or of Betsy's guardians. Meanwhile, in the tiny northern Winkie kingdom of Oogaboo, irritable queen Ann Soforth ('And so forth') has decided to conquer all of Oz through the use of her army, which consists of four Colonels, four Captains, four Generals, four Majors and one soldier. The third plot thread finds the Shaggy Man tramping across Oz in search of his missing brother, who he believes has been captured by the Nome King. Ozma, concerned about the Shaggy Man's progress, sends Tik - Tok to assist him, though he promptly gets thrown down a well.

Potentially interesting new character Princess Ozga, a beautiful vegetable woman grown from a rose bush, remains underdeveloped and underutilized, while the apparently always - on - standby Polychrome strays from the rainbow yet again, and acts, here as elsewhere, as a convenient deus ex machina whenever Baum writes himself into a tight corner. To his credit, Baum allows Polychrome a little more common sense and perception than she reveals in other titles. Arch Oz villain Ruggedo, whose original name was Roquat before he drank from the 'Waters of Oblivion,' is alternately called the Metal Monarch or the Nome (Gnome) King, while on the other side of the planet readers are introduced to the "Famous Fellowship of Fairies," which is overseen by the Jinjin, who is also known as the Private Citizen and as Tititi - Hoochoo, a name which must have delighted grade school boys and irked educators for decades. Readers never learn the true name of Shaggy Man's brother, but, when he is not referred to as such, is simply called the Ugly One due to a punishing enchantment Ruggedo has cast upon him. Like the Little Wizard and Dorothy and Captain Bill and Trot, the Shaggy Man and Betsy eventually form a partnership: elderly man - little girl relationships lacking blood ties are common in the Oz chronicle.

A good indicator of a weak Baum title is an absence of imaginative description, as readers will find here. Baum's Nome Kingdom might have been wondrously described, as E. T. A. Hoffman detailed his own underground fairyland in 'The Mines of Falun.' Hoffman's underground caves, mines, and tunnels emit a claustrophobia readers can feel, a strange otherworldly magic that is both threatening and powerfully seductive. Once Baum establishes that his characters are underground, except for a brief scene in a metal forest, readers are left to visualize the rocky, gem - rich nome world as best they can, or rely wholly on John R. Neill's humorous illustrations.

In an apparent mistake on Baum's part, sorceress Glinda the Good's castle on the far boundary of the southern kingdom of the Quadlings is said to "stand far north of the Emerald City where Ozma holds her court," despite the two comprehensive maps which open and close the book and demonstrate that the castle rightly stands in the red southern kingdom of the Quadlings where it should.

Oz newcomers beware: Tik - Tok Of Oz reads much like the uninspired retread it is; like the clockwork man himself, the book is sorely in need of additional winding under its left arm. Baum should have saved the few good ideas he introduced here for his next entirely new manuscript. This is one of the few Baum - authored books in the Oz series which readers may decide to put aside before finishing.

Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Books of Wonder edition)

Tik-Tok of Oz is a delightful book with an interesting story of how it came to be. A small Editor's Note by Peter Glassman on page 10 of this book tells the story. There had been two successful stage plays based on the first two Oz books and Baum wanted to write a play based on the third, Ozma of Oz. However, he found out he couldn't use many of the characters because he had already sold the stage rights to them. He took the plot of the third book and changed Dorothy and Ozma into two new characters Betsy Bobbin and Queen Ann Soforth. Then he used the popular Shaggy Man who was introduced in The Road to Oz and changed many of the incidents in the story to create a new script for the stage that he called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. The play was a success so he then rewrote it into this novel.

If you have read Ozma of Oz, you will indeed see the similarities. Once again an army of one soldier and many officers is led by a girl leader in an attack against the Nome King. This time it is Queen Ann Soforth from the smallest and poorest kingdom in Oz. She is young and tired of her tiny kingdom and wants to seek adventure. When her sister jokingly suggests that Ann raise an army and conquer Oz, Ann likes the idea. She convinces all but one of the eighteen men of her kingdom to join her army and they set out. However, the sorceress Glinda, learns of her plans and magically transports Ann and her army across the Deadly Desert and out of Oz entirely.

Meanwhile Betsy Bobbin, like Dorothy in Ozma of Oz, is lost at sea in a storm with her companion Hank the Mule. They are cast up on shore of the Rose Kingdom where they meet up with the Rose Princess, the Shaggy Man and Polychrome, the Rainbow's daughter. This group goes on a quest with the Shaggy Man who is seeking his lost brother, a prisoner of the Nome King. They meet up with Queen Ann's army and Tik-Tok. This large group decides to go in search of the Nome King together.

Their quest leads them to the fairy kingdom of the great Jinjin, Tititi-Hoochoo where they meet a young dragon named Quox. Their encounter with the Nome King is terribly amusing and their search for the Shaggy Man's brother has a remarkable outcome.

What starts out as a reworking of another story takes on a life of its own to become an entertaining and amusing story. The John R. Neill illustrations are wonderful and there are 12 full-page color plates. The end papers present the first published map of the land of Oz.

Tik-Tok of Oz is one of the best books in the Wizard of Oz series! It introduces many characters, such as Betsy Bobbin, Hank the Mule, and Queen Ann of Oogaboo. (I won't name then all.) Shaggy Man is in search of his brother who is imprisoned by the evil Nome King. The most exciting part of the book is when they visit the Nome King. The things that happen are really funny and very interesting. And, at the end, you'll get to see Ozma, Dorothy, and the Wizard.

You should buy this book!

Bruni and Burkett have written a decent, balanced book on the explosive subject of priests' and nuns' sexual abuse of children. What strikes the reader is that even though this book was written 9 years ago, little has changed in terms of the level of abuse and the ignorance, intransigence, insensitivity and immoral choices of Church officials in dealing with the burgeoning scandal. There is a preface and afterword to the 2002 edition that offer some new information and developments but one wishes for more updated information. Some of the accounts in the main body of the book are truly horrific: priests abusing 3 year olds, a child in traction in a hospital bed,violent rapes,etc.; a priest orchestrating a group of boys in a sick and blasphemous nude rendition of the stations of the Cross and Crucifixion, priests forcing prepubescent girls to defecate on them, etc. The authors do give us some psychological insights into priestly abusers, their stunted emotional growth and lack of sexual maturity and the lack of psychological insight of bishops who forgave the abusers and allowed them to continue their patterns of abuse. There is also a brief historical perspective tracing child abuse back to Roman and Medieval times. The expulsion of the Muslims from Spain was followed by a celebration in which Church authorities passed around liquor and small children to be used for sex. We are also told about the devastatingly adverse affects on the lives of more current victims. Bruni and Burkett also write compassionately about another group of victims, innocent priests who have had to bear the insults of bigots. Many priests have also suffered a loss of confidence about their calling and often feel there is an unspoken presumption of their guilt on the part of parishioners who are less friendly, less trusting. This is a good book, well worth reading, but one hopes for a more thoroughly updated account with a deeper probing of all aspects of the problem.

The word "gospel" means "good news" and there is little good news in this book about pedophile priests and the massive coverup by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. It is a "must read" for all of those who, like me, were completely unaware of decades of sexual abuse of children by pedophile priests.

When I saw the movie in the 1980s about Father Gilbert Gauthe, a predatory priest in Louisiana whose story is told in this book, I thought it was an isolated incident by an evil priest. I knew nothing more about this appalling corruption in the Catholic Church until 2002 when terrible stories of thousands of abused children started being publicized in courageous newspapers, magazines, and books.

I classify this book as courageous also and commend the authors for all the dedicated research and unbiased reporting. The book was originally published in 1993, so the shock waves of scandal that erupted in the year 2002 are not contained therein except in the Introduction and Afterword.

The chapters of the book are divided into stories about the main players--the abusive priests, the victims and their parents, the uncaring hierarchy who wanted only to protect their priests and the image of the Catholic Church and cared nothing about the victims, and the unspoken covenant between the hierarchy and the court system, the mental health workers, the social workers, and the media, which kept these dark, ugly events shrouded in secrecy for decades.

The book details a possible path to redemption for the church, which I feel will be a road not taken by the hierarchy. They revere their power and control more than their desire to protect helpless children from evil priests.

The book ends by describing the group called VOCAL (Victims of Clergy Abuse Linkup), now renamed The Linkup. The victims, getting no help from the Catholic Church, started suing the abusers and the dioceses. The revolt has begun.

After reading this book, I understand more about why abusive priests prey on helpless children and why the church protects the priests by transferring them from parish to parish, thereby putting other innocent children in harm's way. I feel absolutely no empathy for the priests or bishops/cardinals.

When reading one horror story after another, I found myself thinking that abusive priests at least have an excuse. They are either sick or evil. However, there is no excuse for the hard-hearted bishops/cardinals who threatened the victims and concerned parents and lied with impunity.

I like to think that the bishops/cardinals were good men at one time. After all, they were priests themselves so that means they had a pastoral calling to shepherd their flock. This book made me question what happened on their climb to the top of the corporate ladder? The book describes them as clones of each other--pompous, arrogant, self-righteous liars. Their love for their own image and that of the medieval institutional church has eclipsed their love for the people in the church (including children) as the Body of Christ.

I asked myself, "Are there any good men left in the church?" This book gives me hope as it describes three heroic good men: Reverend Thomas Doyle, Dr. Richard McBrien, and Dr. Richard Sipe. They tried to be messengers of truth and warning, but the bishops, cardinals, and Rome did not care, did not listen, and did not act. They were complicit in their silence.

This book made me question whether or not I wanted to stay in a church that has proven to be so corrupt and uncaring. I had my own epiphany: "Yes. Stay in the church to which I have called you. The Spirit is moving through the church and great changes will be wrought. If you and other good people leave the church, the evildoers will have won." Peace came to my heart. I will stay with the Catholic Church that I love and watch as the Spirit cleanses the church from the contamination of evil that has invaded it.

I agree with the Detroit reader that it is important to remember that this book is 10 years old. With that said, I do not think that this book is irrelevant because of its age. Bruni and Burkett do an excellent job of documenting how this mess started and the culture and atmosphere that caused it. Great Book!

I give this book three stars because you enjoy it when you read it but it is not a book that deserves five stars.I recomend this book to somebody because sometimes you get board reading the same book there are four stories in this book and they are interesting because they have many details about the characters and when things happen that have to do something with them you wont think it is wierd.

This book is about Harry and his classmates. They had a Show and Tell fun day, and one out of six students brought a container of ants into school. Harry dropped his container and there was an invasion of ants. A while later the teacher came in and screamed, "Ahhhhh!" Harry comes to the rescue. Read to find out how Harry solves the problem. This book reminds me of when I went camping and we had a snake attack.

This book is very cute!!

L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz is a necessary books for fans of Oz. Katharine M. Rogers provides a clear, balanced examination of the details of his life and includes analysis, and relates it to his life, of his writings, both Oz and other. The most important aspect of this book are the sections describing his other (often) successful series for children, such as Aunt Jane's Niece, which are little known today. The weakness of the book is the fact that outside of his writing, Baum's life is not particularly exciting. It seems very pleasant and homey and I could not be happier for him, but it does not always make for thrilling reading. Still, Baum fans will be delighted to have his entire story told so compentently with the added bonus of the author's informative analysis.

Katherine Rogers, like myself and thousands of others, is a fan of L. Frank Baum and his books about Oz. She is also a scholar and has written a truly detailed and well-documented biography of this interesting and influential man. It is a valuable addition to the body of literature, both fiction and nonfiction, about Oz.

For those who have never read an Oz book, this is still an important book. L. Frank Baum was an intriguingly different man for his times and reading about his life gives wonderful insight into America of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His feminism and respect for children and animals become some of the endearing features of his fiction and what make his Oz series classics of American literature.

He married Maud Gage, the daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the leading women suffragists. So the information that Katherine Rogers provides on his relationship to his mother-in-law and his home life with Maud is invaluable to students of the women's movement. Gage's own 1893 book, WOMAN, CHURCH AND STATE, has just been brought back into print by Humanity Books in their Classics In Women's Studies series. Her belief that christianity and the Western state are the very basis of the oppression of women, which is detailed in this work, was radical at the time. Her own spirituality found a home in Theosophy which became the religious practice of Baum and was influential in his writings.

Baum took his family to the Dakota territory where three of Maud's siblings had settled. The book's account of their life on the northern prairie will be of interest to those who study the history of 19th century Dakota. As first a merchant and then a newspaperman, Baum's views on life in the Dakotas are well represented. It is in this section where we first encounter Baum's racism. He wrote an editorial where he called the native Americans "a pack of whining curs" who should be totally exterminated [p.259]. Rogers doesn't develop this aspect of his personality very deeply saying that for Baum these were "thoughtless lapses, in which Baum unthinkingly went along with contemporary attitudes [p.272]." Her treatment of his racism is confined to the Notes at the end of the book.

For those who are avid readers of Baum's fiction, the book is a wealth of information. Each of his novels are analyzed and related to the events in his life. When possible drafts are compared with completed works to gain insight into Baum's creative process. His relationships with his illustrators W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill are described. The close relationship he had with Denslow is contrasted by the distance he maintained with John R. Neill. His dispute with Denslow, who illustrated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, over the ownership of the characters may have contributed to his reluctance to know Neill better. Baum and Neill only met once. He relating to Neill mostly through the publisher, which accounts for some of the mistakes that exist between Baum's descriptions and Neill's pictures.

The book contains 35 pages of Notes, many of them long and detailed additions to the text. A six page listing of Baum's published works will be a joy to collectors. The 13-page index makes it easy to find any details quickly in the text. This is a wonderful work with a positive perspective on Baum, his writings, and the time in which he lived.

When I was little, Oz lust made a thief of me. My grandfather ordered a dozen books in the series at a time, doling them out to me on birthdays or when I had tonsillitis. I found out in which cabinet he hid them and temptation took control of me. Although I was caught practically in the act, I went unpunished. Who can spank a child for wanting to read?

There were a total of 40 Oz books on my shelf (only the first third --- THE WIZARD OF OZ (1900) and 13 others --- by L. Frank Baum) and an Emerald City built of green glass and construction paper in our basement. Oz was a world intensely real to me; the boundary between its wonders and ordinary existence was noticeably porous. If Dorothy could be blown by a tornado into fairyland, why (to paraphrase the song) couldn't I?

Katharine M. Rogers understands my passion. In L. FRANK BAUM: CREATOR OF OZ, Rogers, an early Oz aficionado herself, combines a scholar's detachment with a child's delight. She is also a revisionist critic, bemoaning the Oz books' exclusion from the haughty scholarly canon of "good" kids' literature. In this book, the first full-length adult treatment of Baum's life (although there is a lengthy biographical essay in the centennial edition of Michael Patrick Hearn's THE ANNOTATED WIZARD OF OZ), Rogers undertakes to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the origins of Baum's imaginative universe and establish his works as genuine classics.

Baum didn't immediately become a full-time writer. For years he was the very model of a self-reliant, entrepreneurial American. He was involved in a number of different businesses, including poultry breeding, china selling and newspaper editing. While none of his enterprises ever really took off, his spirit of adventure, his independence and egalitarianism, his healthy skepticism and persistent optimism are all reflected in the characters he created and the land they inhabit. The novelist and critic Alison Lurie once called Oz "an idealized version of America in 1900, happily isolated from the rest of the world, underpopulated and largely rural, with an expanding magic technology and what appears to be unlimited natural resources." Rogers develops this idea further, offering some splendid insights into Baum's pastoral vision, individualistic values and ambivalent relationship to science and technology (which, in his books, are closely identified with magic) --- marvelous in their power, but dangerous if misused.

Baum was also very American in his industry and ambition. However, in marked contrast to our sequel-crazed age, he did not originally think of THE WIZARD as the first in a series. For some time he continued to invent new fairylands; when none of them really caught on, he finally resigned himself to a yearly Oz book (a pattern that would continue until his death in 1919). He also wrote adult novels, plays and non-fantasy series for children under pseudonyms like Edith Van Dyne and Laura Bancroft.

The female pen names are not as incongruous as they might seem. Rogers, whose field is women's studies, is particularly enlightening about Baum's feminism: his wife, Maud, was the daughter of a major figure in the fight for women's right to vote. She, not Frank, was the disciplinarian and financial manager in the family, an arrangement that seems to have suited them both. Oz itself verges on the matriarchal --- girls are the heroes of ten of the fourteen books and they are brave, strong, honest, practical and unpretentious. There are no frogs being transformed into princes here. In the LAND OF OZ, second in the series, Baum turns the gender tables on traditional fairytale magic when the boy protagonist, Tip, turns out to be the lost princess, Ozma.

Because Rogers' biography is a pioneering effort, it can't afford to skimp on any detail of Baum's life --- so there are, inevitably, tedious moments. There is also a great deal of dutiful synopsizing of each volume this very prolific author published, not all of them of equal value or importance. Still, on the whole, Rogers does a fine job of combining biography with an intelligent and balanced literary/social assessment of Baum's work. She doesn't pretend that his writing style is "poetic or beautiful or especially distinctive" (and she rightly criticizes his annoying penchant for dialect), but she is persuasive in her advocacy of his talents: "Baum's greatest gifts were the two most important ones for a writer of fantasy: he could create a wonderful world and he could make it believable." Underpinning this credibility was a vast respect for his audience. "Father never 'wrote down' to children," Baum's son Harry said. "They were his friends and companions and he always treated them as such."

L. FRANK BAUM: CREATOR OF OZ is likely to be sought out principally by those who already love Baum's work. People who know Oz only through the 1939 Judy Garland film will be less enchanted, for Rogers doesn't like the movie very much. Above all, she disparages the idea (entirely absent in the Baum original) that Dorothy's trip to Oz was nothing but a dream. For true believers like Rogers and me, this is nothing short of sacrilege.

--- Reviewed by Kathy Weissman

I'm studying out of this book for my intermediate micro course. Simply put, the text is good (but unremarkable) for what it is: a no-nonsense bridge between the usual undergraduate principles course and graduate course in microeconomic theory. However, I can't help but feel that Frank skims off too much math in the name of accessibility. This won't help the reader looking to go further in the subject, i.e., grad or b-school. This would be okay if the appendices packed the math, but this isn't the case: the appendices are on-line at the publisher's web site, which pretty much means if you want to follow the math, you need to be near a computer. A somewhat "mathier" text, that I highly recommend, is the latest edition of Varian's Intermediate Microeconomics.

A must for who is genuinely interested in UNDERSTANDING and ENJOY the basis of neo-classical theory. Better than any other other book!

It's rare to find a text as enjoyable to read as Frank's in any subject, let alone microeconomics. The reader looking for the standard calculus-based, mathematical approach to micro should look elsewhere (Jehle and Reny is a great place to start). That's simply not the point of this text--the point is to provide the insight behind the models, as well as to promote critical thinking about the shortcomings of the traditional assumptions economists make. This text, combined with Jehle and Reny if one desires rigor as well, provides FAR more than any other single or multiple text combination available.

Part of Nisei Daughter's charm is the way Sone is able to weave entertaining anecdotes throughout her tale, a story which is essentially about what being Japanese American in the time around wartime America meant to her. Specifically, her position as a Nisei daughter -- child of first generation Japanese Americans -- is the focus of this tale.

The disappointing thing about this book is how obviously self-censored the book is. Sone very briefly reveals deeply felt rage and resentment at intervals during the book, only to shake them off and quickly change to a more light-hearted topic. Granted, there is an ironic tone to many of her comments and situations, and again granted, she is writing for a post-war audience that probably would not be receptive to outspoken criticism of the Internment, but still Sone seems to sugar coat the experience just a bit too much for my tastes. By the end, with the patriotic speeches that make it sound like the Internment was as much the fault of the Japanese Americans as it was the government, I was getting a little tired of Sone's carefree and apologetic tone, especially after the highly charged preface. In the book, Sone all but thanks the government for interning her and her family and giving them this character-building experience.

If you are truly interested in the internment and the impact it had on the Japanese Americans, try a book like Joy Kogawa's "Obasan." It's written about the Japanese Canadian experience, which was even more extreme than the Japanese American one. Kogawa also experienced internment first hand, but "Obasan" is written far enough after the fact that Kogawa is able to give the story more perspective and is able to put a more honest face on what really happened.

Nisei Daughter is not a bad book by any means ... but it did not live up to my expectations either. Sone's self-conscious editing makes the story seem much more like a novel than the autobiography that it supposedly is. I kept wishing she would drop the mask she was wearing and let the reader see what she was really thinking!

Very nice memoir about being a first-generation Japanese American ("Nisei"). My biggest criticism is that the flow is not quite right. I attribute that to the fact that the author is not a writer by trade. The very extensive details that pepper the story detract to the overall flow of it, but nonetheless, this book is very interesting. Monica Sone explores the dichotomy that many "hybrid" people experience: the contradictions of culture, the generational gap made even deeper because of the cultural differences. In her case, these differences were quite extreme: from the demurred and modest Japanese ways to the boisterous, assertive American. She describes many examples of where these differences were patent, and does a very god job in the process. Another excellent area of the book is her analysis of the conflicting emotions she experienced. Here she is, feeling very American, and sent to a concentration camp, labeled as "the enemy". She and her fellow camp-mates experience a collective rage, but it is during these years and after her release that she finally comes to terms with her at times contradictory cultural heritage. The end has very patriotic overtones which I thought were quite sappy, given her circumstances. I wish she could have gone further into describing her family life after camp, and the reassimilation of Japanese into American society post WWII.

This is the story told by a daughter of Japanese immigrants growing up in pre-World War II Seattle. She was in college when Pearl Harbor struck.

I think the best parts of this memoir deal with the description of Japanese culture and the conflict between the Americanism of the Nisei and their Issei parents most of whom heavily maintained Japanese customs. Perhaps the funniest part of the latter in the book takes place during the wedding reception held for her brother Henry and his bride in their camp in Idaho during the war.

I'd have to say that the best written, the most vivid part of the books is the family trip to visit relatives in Japan where her little brother Kenji fatally contracted dysentery. I'm guessing that this trip must have taken place around 1929.

The author gets released from camp mid-way through the war to go live with some former missionaries in Chicago who are very nice. She works for a dentist who is, however, a real pain in the butt and she eventually quits.

She then gets the opportunity to go attend Wendell college in Indiana where she lives with a nice old widow and she says that this college was full of alot of diverse foreign students. She made many close friends. During her post-camp period, her faith in American democracy was largely restored because she met so many nice white Americans who weren't racist louts. The book ends on a sort of patriotic note which I can't follow completely. In Chicago she was often mistaken for Chinese and people told her how much they respected the Chinese people, America's ally and she was sometimes mistaken for various Chinese celebrities.

It's obvious, that the author, who at the time of this 1979 edition, was still a clinical psychologist, knows how to write. She is a very gifted descriptive writer, though sometimes she lays it on too heavy. She tells her life story with a great deal of sentimentality; at times I think she pours it on a little too sweetly. But heck it's her story and she crafts it very well.

This book is supposed to do for math what Sophie's World did for philosophy. But even though I enjoy math more than I do philosophy, Sophie's World was more charming and interesting. The biggest mystery in this murder mystery is how the math history blends in with the story. The simple formula of having children characters who feel awe and wonder at their math tutor's rather dry and unenlightening lectures doesn't work. If you already enjoy math, this book will add nothing to your enjoyment or understanding, and if you don't like math, this book will make it worse. I gave it two stars because at least someone tried to write a good story with math in it.

Anyone who enjoyed Jostein Gaarder's novel Sophie's World and who has any interest at all in mathematics will likely enjoy this novel. Guedj's book is a history of mathematics disguised inside a murder mystery. It covers a lot of ground and is a lot of fun.

The basics of the story are this: Mr. Ruche, a octogenarian former Parisian bookseller, inherits a library of mathematics books from an old friend living in the Amazon who has died a mysterious death. At the same time Max, a deaf child living with his family in Mr. Ruche's house, rescues a parrot from a Parisian market. Mr. Ruche becomes convinced he can solve the mystery of murder and bird by using his new library to trace the history of mathematics from Euclid through Fermat and Goldbach. I leave it to the reader to discover exactly what is accomplished by this tour of great mathematics.

One thing the reader will certainly discover is some insight into the development of mathematics. As a math teacher I am constantly looking for books that might interest my students in the subject. This book fits the bill. It is somewhat slight and a bit narrow in its coverage of math's history but it does hit on a number of the big discoveries and issues. As a novel, well...the fiction is really secondary to the math. Still, it's a good read.

What a book! The story is fascinating, the characters are unusual and it is very well written! Every single page I went through was a delight .
The book creates a comfort and nice atmosphere for those who hate maths. It is an adventure that makes you keep your attention to the very end. I strongly recommend this book for all Maths lovers, students, and those who have difficulties with the subject since it might open their minds to a new and enchanting world!

This book was terrible! Choose your own adventure books are hard to keep up with where the choces are. It's better to read a book with a set plot. Also, it has hardly anything on everyday life on the ship. It's okay if you like Choose your own adventures, though

This book is great,I am a Titanic lover and also I wanted to know what it was like on the Titanic and it gave a chance to what happen on the titanic.So your not a titanic lover like me,Its ok if you don't have to read this book,but I think its.So give this book a try.

This book was good enough to grab my attention, especially because there weren't choices at every page, like some books which I don't like. This book was also exciting enough so that I was tempted to read on and on. I am also liking the fact that there is a VHS tape, and I can't wait to get that!

So if you're looking for a good Choose Your Own Adventure story, you've come to the right one.