In this aptly named book Buckley amply demonstrates the dangers of fame, as he has become so pompously self indulgent that he imagines his every thought is gospel to be doted on by his faithful devotees. No doubt his disciples will agree, but the rest of us are just bored. Buckley made his name as a witty and vicious eloquent exponent of conservative political thinking, but there is nothing political here. Truth to be told, there is nothing remotely interesting here, much less profound. Stripped of his politics, Buckley is revealed as a Howard Stern-like shameless self-promoter. Buckley is great writer, no doubt, but even his fine prose cannot make this drivel readable. Meandering and pointless, this book is truly only interesting to those who wish to study the delusions of those that society labels as 'important'. Of course it's easy to be conservative when everything is handed to you on a silver platter. With such a background, it is no great achievement to be considered 'important'. There are thousands of articulate intellectuals who could have done what Buckley did if they had had his wealthy parents. It's especially important to note, that for all his self-aggrandizement, his wealthy background made his success as a publisher a given. If he failed, some wealthy relative would simply bail him out. It is no surprise that an over educated spoiled son of privilege should become the spokesman for the arrogant nobles obligees set. Stick to 'Up from Liberalism'.

This book is a collection of stories and poems written by famous poets, writers and philosphers and other famous people. They write about their observations about their relationship with dogs and how dogs relate to humans. No quotes in this book, just stories and poems throughout the book.

Chapters includes
Character & Variety
A Great Friendship
Endlessly Useful
Dog Control
Rural Pursuits
Coarse pastimes
Dogs as Pets
Love Me, Love My Dog
Curs & Mongrels
Extra Senses
Breeding

In Competition
A Dog's Worth
The Proper Remedy
A Too Short Life

Some of the many famous people in this book who wrote their story or poem about dogs include:
Plato
Mark Twain
Homer
Charles Dickens
Washington Irving

Frank Polite, Flamingo (Pangborn, 1990)

From the "just because it's on a press doesn't make it better than self-published stuff" files comes Flamingo, a collection of poetry and short prose pieces from Frank Polite. When Frank is good, he is very, very good; when Frank is bad...

This is without doubt a personal preference, but I have always had a problem with pieces where the author steps into an already-established scene. Polite does this repeatedly (most egregiously, he writes himself into Casablanca), and the pieces where he does it drive me up the wall. That said, among the rest of the book, there will once in a while be a gem. Those gems are too few and far between to make this a recommended book. It's certainly not worth the outrageous price the only copy presently on Amazon is commanding. **

While there is no doubt that Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are spectacular, and I am a big fan, this book does them no justice at all. It is scrappily put together and contains some of the worst photography I have ever seen. A real let down. While it does not cost much, your money will be wasted if you buy this book.

Easy reading book which I would recommend for those who want a sort of "executive summary" of the story behind Wright and his works. Having said this, I found the depth and detail lacking for those who have read extensively about this architect whose noteriety is growing with time. Not for collectors unless you (like myself) want the book to help fill a spectrum of the vast number of publications which continue to come into popular view.

I believe this to be one of the countless books haphazardly thrown together following Frank Sinatra's death. There are numerous factual errors that show the author did not take the time to thoroughly research her subject. However, the text is not the main focus of this book. It relies heavily on pictures and for that reason I gave it 2 stars. There are some very nice pictures if you're looking for that, but if you want a more substantial biography then I suggest looking elsewhere.

Given the appealing illustrations and natural-sounding text, some readers will enjoy this book and counsel my five-year-old and me to "lighten up". But even HE found the humor here too predictable. I was turned off by the anti-intellectual, wisecrackin' tone which didn't allow readers to be interested in anything or anyone for their own sake, but had to relate in an utterly false way to a contemporary suburban American scene. Thus, wouldn't it be great if Christopher Columbus could come back so he could find Mom's car keys? Er.... not really. History with imagination or modern-day relevance is one thing, "history" with no substance, just gags, imparts a sorry message to children.

Frank is one very unusual chick. He longs to swim with the ducks in the pond, but he just isn't made for it! What to do? Jemima Tabb, the farmer's daughter, notices the little chick's plight and with the help of her uncle and mother design Frank his very own swimming suit. But as he gets older, he realizes he just wants to be a chicken, not some duckish freak...Okay, but the story was lacking strongly in the plot and character department. And there didn't seem to be much of a point to the story, either. Stick with Dick's other works - Babe, When Pigs Fly and Martin's Mice are favorites of mine. :)

The constant berating of people who's voices aren't 50's style radio "pukers" as "being totally devoid of emotion" or "unable to express emotional content" belays an inherent lack of understanding of the blues and how the music expresses emotion. This book smacks of a pampered academic trying to compare workin' folks' music to slick city jazz enjoyed by the priveleged upper class. I bought this book used for $8.00 and refuse to sell it or give it away. I have hidden it at the back of my closet in the hopes that it will NEVER see the light of day. I give it 2 stars for the accuracy of the listing of the players on the discs and the slightly more accurate reviews of the instrumental playing.

I've been trying to slug through Half Hours With the Best Thinkers. It basically consists of excerpts from works by Confucius, Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, etc. This was a mistake: while I've read some of the works included here, and was just hoping to discover some others that appealed to me, jumping in the middle isn't conducive to that like I had hoped it would be. The "mental whiplash" between one reading to another is just too great for me. I need time to find the rhythm of the writing, to really be able to follow the flow of the writer's thoughts. And each excerpt really isn't half an hour long (except for some of the more convoluted writings, like Aquinas's). Somebody else might enjoy it, but not me.