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Book reviews for "Anthony,_Inid_E." sorted by average review score:

As We Remember Her : Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends
Published in Paperback by Harperperennial Library (29 April, 2003)
Author: Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Amazon base price: $13.97
List price: $19.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Not faultless, but very interesting and revealing biography
I am interested in anything Jackie O, so when I saw this book, I thought it sounded interesting. It definitely doesn't fall short! There are lots of quotes, from many people who knew Jackie, and they reveal a lot of things about her--or, at least, not so much famous things about her--that you wouldn't find in a "traditionally" written biography. I like that the author shows Jackie's many contraditions, and subtleness of her personality. It is not an in depth, objective biography--the author even says in the introduction that is written in "affection" because it is more of a tribute book to her. However, the author included many essays and things written by Jackie that are not normally published in other biographies, and so it definitely makes up for the lack of critical analysis of her decisions, the way she led her life, etc. I especially liked that the author included parts of her Prix de Paris Vogue essays, which are never published in other biographies on her. I would have given this book a five star rating, but I am somewhat prickly to the fact, that the quotes constantly have to tell me how very smart and very enlightened Jackie O was. A couple of quotes about her intelligence are one thing, but on practically every page we are told how Jackie was an expert on this subject, how she knew so much about this or that, and how much more enlightened she was than the rest of Americans. Enough all ready!!!! I am in awe of Jackie's intelligence, but one can only take so much. (Although these were her friends and family talking so of course they are going to paint her in a worshipful way, even it if means demeaning average Americans.) But aside from that, it is an excellent book, and many great photographs and insights are revealed. I especially liked that the author made more of an attempt to highlight her editing career. (Even devoting a whole chapter to it!!!) And her last year is covered more comprehensively. I would recommend that any Jackie fan read this, as there is so much to it that would help one to understand Jackie's taste, her environments and different things she did thoughout her life.

A WONDERFUL TRIBUTE!!!!
This book will take you on a ride through Jackie Kennedy Onassis's extrodinary life. A perfect book to read on a quiet afternoon alone. A handsome addition to anyone's library. FOR QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!

Amazing...
This book has captured the essence of Jackie's life, not only during her JFK years, but in her post-political life as well. It portrays her as an adventurous, spirited woman vaulted to an American icon by her adoring public. Spectacularly written, I was highly impressed.


The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screw (The Penguin English Library)
Published in Paperback by Penguin USA (Paper) (June, 1986)
Authors: Henry James and Anthony Curtis
Amazon base price: $5.95
Average review score:

The Art of Fiction
Well these are my two favorite works by Henry James. In both James displays his very neatly honed talents for creating fine fictional universes and architecturally perfect stories where all seems to be just right but of course it isn't. James is writing in the still young American tradition of letters but he has cleared away much of the romanticism that was so evident in Hawthorne and Melville. The romanticism still exists but it is not in the writers brain, it exists in the characters alone. James was the first to really write at a remove from his characters. He tells each tale with no authorial comment to sway your opinion of his characters one way or another, he lets the reader make his own observations and draw his own conclusions based on the characters behaviour and thoughts. That authorial distance allows him to simply relate the story, not explain it, and James stories are each as intricate as the psychologies that occupy them. In these two stories he creates very intriguing and complex situations. Both are mysteries and both perhaps have no easy solution or resolution because James lets the complex minds and psychologies of his characters subjectively grapple with a web that they have themselves woven and any resolution would mean an unraveling of their entire character. These are story long webs which can be baffling(Aspern Papers) or terrifying(Turn of the Screw), the psychological webs these characters weave can lead them to frightening extremes(Turn of the Screw) or can serve as a necessary support for the fragile psyche that created them(Aspern Papers). The real thrill of reading James is in how controlled a manner all is told. There are no obvious clues just psychological gradations and patterns which begin adding up to an overall impression. It can seem after finishing one of his stories that nothing much has happened at all, and yet a psychology has all the while been examined and quite thoroughly. Through his stories much is revealed about what lies just beneath the facade of life and what motivates our most basic perceptions, our identity, and our societal or world view. It has been said that James brought the insight of a psycholgist to his stories. But his insights are much more profound than a mere clinicians notes. In James we get a highly discerned character in a highly discerned context and the discerning reader will be entertained and enlightened and inspired to contemplate the workings of ones own intricate structure.

Masterful, difficult, and Real.
I regard Henry James as being something of a genius. T.S. Elliot considered him "the most intelligent man of his age." His later work, as these books fall under, are known for their complicated writing style. Nearly every sentence is, on purpose, much too long. There are endless complications, and at times pedantic sentencing. They will take a long while to fully absorb. However, I rather liked it. I happened to comprehend what he was saying, whereas most do not, from fear of trying. They truly are meaningful sentences of detailed insight.

The Aspern Papers has genuine suspense, though it is not a horror story. It is among the greatest short stories ever written, as with The Turn of the Screw. It covers the plight of a young man who studies the histories of writers living and dead. He comes upon a house, purportedly a place once of Mr. Aspern, the renowned author, whose "papers" unknown to the world remain. Were they diaries, another story? We do not know. The narrator then tries every possible way to befriend the old woman of the house, and her attractive daughter, so as to get at the papers. I will tell nothing more.

The Turn of the Screw is a brilliantly told narrative of a haunting. The Spirits, either of the dead or someone's imagination (we do not know)intent themselves on two extrordinarily bright children (boy and girl). The nanny must look after it all.

Now, again, the reader must be made aware of the difficulty of Henry James. He cannot easily be read. Thankfully, I succeeded.

Concentration, time, effort, these are the tools. If with patience you tackle James, you will be very well satisfied. You will see the realism of his characters, and how that the very dialogue between them has a living intensity. They speak so polite, intelligently, and subtle.

I do feel that Henry James was a magnificent genious. And has aptly been titled "the Shakespeare of novels."

Two of James's Best
These are two of James's most haunting stories. It is amazing how he uses his mastery of narrative technique to unsettle the reader. It is never clear in the "Turn of the Screw" whether the ghosts actually exist or whether the narrator herself is deluded. Similarly, in "The Aspern Papers" the narrator seems to be eminently reasonable and civilized, but his actions are anything but. This story, in its quiet, "boring" fashion, throws a very disturbing light on literary biographers. In fact, this is one of James's trademarks, the ability to probe the dark side of refined, genteel people.


The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other
Published in Paperback by Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (March, 1999)
Authors: Tzvetan Todorov, Richard Howard, and Anthony Pagden
Amazon base price: $13.97
List price: $19.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Conquistador Mythology
Tvetan Todorov's The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other perpetuates a number of the myths that surround the Spanish collision with the "New World".

Todorov reinforces the myth that the Aztecs believed the Spanish were gods, an idea that springs from the accounts of Diaz and from the earliest Indian accounts, all which were written over 30 years after the described events, by people without access to the inner workings of the Mexican court. The Indian accounts, written under Catholic supervision, do not relate to the "what happened" as much as they do to the "what should have happened." These Indians would not have known what happened and would have been well-versed in the accounts of their Spanish masters. The idea that Montezuma thought they were gods seems to be a good way for the Indians to explain what they did not understand.

Mistranslations of Indian words also account for this myth. Teotl, mistranslated by the Spanish to mean "god", more closely means "weird" or "strange". Todorov relies heavily on this myth to advance his thesis of miscommunication.

Todorov also falls into the trap of believing that the Aztecs were frozen by their obsession with signs and with astrology. He believes that the Aztecs were dominated by a past-oriented tradition whereas the Spanish were the only participants able to adapt. He argues that the Spanish use of written words gave them an ability that the oral-tradition based Aztecs did not. Reality, however, suggests that the Aztecs were very good at improvisation, especially during battle. Within the first few encounters with their Spanish enemies, the Aztecs learned how to beat horseman, how to avoid being hit by cannons, and that the Spanish were not impressed with tactics designed to frighten and demoralize the enemy.

Montezuma's lack of quick action does not mean he was frozen with fear, or that he was waiting for signs from his astrologers, instead it seems to be exactly what how a man who could put tens of thousands of soldiers in the field would react to a small party of Spanish. His gifts to the Spanish were not symbolic of his wishing to buy their friendship, but were a statement of Montezuma's power and wealth.

Todorov's book is important because it raises issues about how the self discovers the other. But it's advancement of outdated myths cannot be ignored.

When cultures collide.....
More than a simple history of the conquest of America, this book exposes many of the semiotic mechanisms that worked in favour of the conquistadors, and explains how the mighty Aztecs fell before a relatively small number of invaders. The narrative of the conquest of America serves as a sort of case study to illustrate Todorov's ideas concerning the Other, and ample supporting evidence is given from the writings of Columbus, Cortes, several Spanish historians of the period, and even some of the Aztecs' writings. The Conquest of America explores what happens when cultures collide, and signs loose their meaning. For example, and Aztec generals possess a special uniform that is designed to strike terror in to the hearts of the enemy, while for the Spanish, who are clearly not as supersitious as the Aztecs' former enemies, these special uniforms simply serve as a very clear sign indicating which soldiers to attack first. By targeting the commanders, Cortes quickly puts the defending army to rout. These miscues between the Spanish and the Aztecs occur at all levels: religious, linguistic, social, and in terms of general world view. Again and again both the Aztec and the invaders are unable to overcome (if that's the word) their inability to see what is happening around them through anything but their traditional frame of reference. When confronted with a new situation (i.e. a new continent, a new aggressor), each party proves unwilling to adapt, with grave consequences for the indigenous populations of Mexico. There are many lessons here for a world where globalization of trade and communication are bringing cultures into contact and, too often, conflict. A very enjoyable, eye-opening read.

Columbus and the Making of the Savage Other
In The Conquest of America Todorov delves deeply into the dark consequences (intended and unintended) of the European discovery of the Americas and represents the first important study of the influence of religious belief on the interactions beginning with Columbus with the "savage" Other. While many people attempt to dismiss the religious aspect of this relationship, but as Todorov shows it is central to understanding the dynamics of European conquest and the ultimate fate of the "New World's" indigenous inhabitants. Both in his letters and his diary Christopher Columbus repeatedly expresses his primary purpose as a religious one. Perhaps, due to the obvious problems for the Catholic Church that this represents this motive has taken a backseat to the supposed thirst for gold that has overshadowed the religious roots of this horrific tragedy ever since.

An important aspect of Todorov's thesis is his well-supported claim that it was precisely the claim to European racial superiority that the Christianity strongly reinforced[es] provided justification for the actions of the Spanish, even in its most severe manifestation. In fact, Todorov invokes the unimaginably horrible image of Catholic priests bashing Indian baby's heads against rocks, ostensibly to save them from damnation to Hell, which their "savage" culture would have otherwise consigned them to.
The logic of this deed and other like them illustrates the pernicious influence of Christianity in the Colonial project, which lies at the root of the hegemonic self-image of Western experience-first defined from the perspective of Columbus and Cortez.

If religion was a guiding principle in the lives of the conquerors, as Todorov points out, so to was it for the conquered, especially in the case of the Aztecs. Baffled by the paradox of the famous story concerning Cortez and his several hundred Conquistador's ability to defeat the entire Aztec empire, which numbered at least several million, Todorov reveals that it was primarily due to Montezuma's belief that Cortez and his party was Gods, which led to his reluctance to raise an army in opposition. In the middle section of the book Todorov gives a detailed analysis of this stunning historic event and shows that Cortez' victory was not necessarily due to any great military achievement, instead it was mostly the result of the Aztec's refusal to mount any kind of a effective defense until it was too late. Thus, it was Montezuma's indecision, born of his own religious belief that led to the sudden collapse of the Aztec empire.

In the final third of the book Todorov investigates the impact that these events have had on the subsequent writings on the subject. In particular, he focuses on the work of three writers, all Spanish, but among the first generations of Europeans native to South America. These works that are primarily only known to scholars in the field offer many surprises to the contemporary reader, showing that there was a far more open view of the non-European "Other" expressed by those who lived among them in the waning days after conquest. Perhaps, that is one of the most insidious luxuries of victory-the ability to show compassion for the defeated, but always, yet always too late.

Todorov's work is an important work, which would be of great interest to students of literature, history, cultural/indigenous studies and post-colonial theory. After reading this book Columbus Day and all that it necessarily represents will never be seen in the same way again.


Dark Moon Mysteries: Wisdom, Power, and Magic of the Shadow World
Published in Paperback by Llewellyn Publications (June, 1996)
Authors: Timothy Roderick and Anthony Meadows
Amazon base price: $14.95
Average review score:

So-so.
It was okay. Not great, but okay. The fluffiness doesn't abound, but it's there. He does do a good job with the Jungian psychology, but he can do so much better. Janet and Stewart Farrar do a better job with the Jungian thing.

I like how Tim stresses that one should not hold the light's hand and hide from the dark; the dark must be faced and explored.

All in all, his work is better than that of Mr. Konstantinos *COUGH*FLUFFY*COUGH*, and the rituals... ugh! Must... breathe... fresh... air!

At least the cover doesn't look cheesy.

Hauntingly Real
This book is a "must have". My personal tradition is a blend of outward and inward workings. This book is well and truly grounded in inner workings. Timothy Roderick balances and blends his experience in psychology with his wisdom of Wicca. It's one of the few books out there that understand the inner aspects of personal growth and our spirituality. My only regret about this book is that when I met Mr Roderick a few years ago, I didn't have my book with me to ask him to sign it :)

Refreshingly intelligent
When I first saw this book on the shelf, my first thoughts were, "Oh no, another book about casting dark and evil spells". However, upon flipping through it, I found it to be quite a different story. Upon taking it home and actually reading it, I found it to be a wonderfully different outlook on magic and the psyche.

While Timothy Roderick does follow Wiccan principles such as the Rede ("Harm none"), this is a far cry from the usual light-and-faerie-dust fare of many Wicca books out these days. He uses Jungian archetypes, psychology, and historical mythology (with liberal quotes from the master of mythological studies, Joseph Campbell) to delve into the shadow self of the psyche and bring about healing and acceptance of this darker side of one's human nature. This does not mean that he is condoning evil or negativity...but is merely showing the reader how to get to the shadow self and work with it to help deal with negativity instead of supressing it.

The format is a step-by-step process in which the reader is introduced to an aspect of the shadow self through a guided meditation with a fairy tale for an example, then rituals are given for each new moon to further enforce what has been learned. Later in the book, more advanced workings are introduced.

Timothy's writing style is easy to follow and very straightforward while still being lyrical and very intelligent at the same time. One won't find white light workings here, but as we are reminded in this book, everyone has a dark side and balance is not achieved without working with it as well.


Dragon's Gold
Published in Paperback by Tor Books (July, 1987)
Authors: Piers Anthony and Robert E. Margroff
Amazon base price: $3.95
Average review score:

A Potential Hero
Dragon's Gold is the first novel in the Kelvin of Rud series. John Knight was a Terran and a fugitive from the Queen's dungeon when he meet Charlain while trying to steal her horse. Charlain was a fortune-teller and knew that John was coming and that they would be married, so they were wed the next day and had two children, Kelvin and Jon.

In this novel, Kelvin and his sister Jon are dragon hunting with Mockery, the mule they have just bought. Jon finds a scale and then another and then more, following the dropped dragon scales up and over the nearby hill. On the other side is a dragon, which she first thinks is dead, but then only injured. To resolve the problem, she bounces a stone off the dragon's snout with her sling and gets his attention. Now she decides that she is in trouble and yells for Kelvin. Coming down the hill, she falls in a hole and can't get out. Kelvin goes to her rescue and falls into the same hole.

The dragon doesn't see Jon when he comes over the hill, but he does see Mockery. As he goes after Mockery, Jon pops up, yells that he can't eat their mule, and bounces another stone off him. Now the dragon is after Jon again. When the dragon grabs Jon with his tongue, Kelvin and Jon drop a boulder on it. The dragon reflexively lets go of Jon and tries to pull his tongue out with no success. Kelvin sends Jon after the tent pole to use as a weapon. Of course, she has to ask why he wants the pole and then checks out the injury on Mockery where the dragon has pulled out the mule's tail, but finally she brings back the tent pole. Kelvin sharpens the pole and stabs the dragon in the eye, which causes the dragon to jerk up his head, with pole and Kelvin attached thereto. The resulting fall knocks Kelvin unconscious.

When Kelvin comes to, he finds himself up a tree, the dragon dead, and Jon busy prying off scales. They remove as many scales as they can reach without moving the dragon and start home. However, a bandit acosts them, steals the scales, and heads off to sell Jon to the Boy Mart (he hasn't yet noticed that Jon is a girl). Kelvin tries to stop him, but is totally ineffective. The only thing left for him to do is to follow Jon and the bandit, but instead he goes home and reports the kidnapping. The guardsmen identify the bandit -- a former guardsman -- but kick Kelvin out for wasting their time. The youngest guardsman, however, refers Kelvin to his father, Mor Crumb.

This novel is about a prophecy of the Roundear that will unite the kingdoms of Rud. Kelvin has round ears from his Terran father and so is supposed to fulfill the prophecy. He has fought a dragon, but he has a long way to go before he is ready to lead armies. His sword play needs a lot of work. So does his aggressiveness; Jon has more than he does.

This story is a magical quest tale, searching for the magical artifacts of Mouvar the Magnificent. On the way, Kelvin learns to fight and to be an effective leader. He has plenty of help, starting with Jon and Mor Crumb.

Recommended for Anthony fans and anyone who enjoys light adventure tales with a touch of humor.

This book is wonderfly entrancing!
I first read this book six years ago when I was twelve. Recently I was going through some old boxes and I found this old dusty book. I read it and just like that I fell in love with reading all over again.I definetly recomend reading all of the books in this series.(Dragon's Gold, Serpent's Silver, Chimaera's Copper, Orc's Opal, and finally Mouvar's Magic.)

Dragon's Gold
I absolutely loved it!It was a truely imaginitive piece of work. I'd like to see more work of this caliber. A sci-fi / fantasy ride from start to finish.


Early Samurai: 200-1500 Ad (Elite Series, Vol. 35)
Published in Paperback by Osprey Pub Co (June, 1991)
Authors: Anthony J. Bryant and Angus McBride
Amazon base price: $11.87
List price: $16.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

A brief history of early samurai -- a bit too brief
Although this book is easy to read and follow, I found it that it skimmed the surface a bit much. It glosses over many important events and people who were instrumental to the development of the warrior & samurai class, without delving too much into anything. I think that the format of this entire series is more at fault than the author is; however, a more informative, detailed, and equally easy to read is Turnbull's "A Military History".
The one thing which this book does cover very well is the armor, and Bryant probably does know what he is talking about, as he is an armor specialist. This mismatch between the very deep armor and the quite shallow history made me confused as to who the author's intended audience was supposed to be.

there is big error
I always enjoy reading Osprey books .it's informative, and easy to read.However this title contain serious error . there weren't any kind of proof that certain Japanese army invaded Korea and conqured them moreover it was boosted by Japanese right -wing imperialist before they invade china and other asians contry to justify thier deed historically. except fo that ,it's worth readingand well illustrated .Angus Mcbrde's paltes is always superb..

the first Bushi
Osprey's Elite series run about 64 pages, which allow for a greater scope or more detail on a given subject. Although this title covers 1300 years (!), the subject is medieval Japan, so it is narrow enough. The evolution of Japanese body armor is worth the price alone. Surprisingly, there are no period illustrations. Photos and drawings of reconstructions are more than adequate, however. An extra long set of color plates by Angus McBride are, as always, wonderful. NO MAP???!!!!


The First Epistle to the Corinthians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)
Published in Hardcover by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (December, 2000)
Authors: Anthony C. Thiselton, Donald Alfred Hagner, and I. Howard Marshall
Amazon base price: $56.00
List price: $80.00 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Too Much!
This commentary is simply too much: too many words, too many concepts, too many theories, and paradoxically, too few conclusions. It is overly technical and often gets lost in overly subtle hermeneutical or linguistic arguments. I am very grateful for his own translation (why France writing on Mark in the same series opted not to do the same is a mystery). It should also be noted that Thiselton is much more of a philosopher/hermeneut/semanticist than he is a theologian. In defense of others who find the book too technical, it must be recalled, in the words of the editors, "the purpose of the series is to cater to the needs of students who want something less than a full scale commentary . . .the authors will bear in mind the needs of the beginning Greek student as well as the pastor or layperson...who does not use the language on a regular basis." If that is the stated aim of this series, Thiselton has failed that aim since this is the largest, most technical commentary on 1 Corinthians in the history of the English language. It fails to connect with its own purported audience.

Brilliant, but Bloated
For this review, it may help to know that I am a pastor and a Ph.D. candidate. On the one hand, this is an amazing scholarly achievement. Having read several key passages, I am thoroughly impressed by Thiselton's abilities: his mastery of secondary material, his sophisticated understanding of language and interpretation, his exegetical nuance and synthetic skill. This is simply the best commentary on 1 Corinthians in English for the scholar or seminary student. On the other hand, if you are a pastor trying to preach/teach through 1 Corinthians, I recommend you look elsewhere. There is just too much extraneous information in this book which does not directly bear on our tasks. Also, while I commend Thiselton for listing nearly every possible position on a subject, it is frustrating to read so many pages and not be sure what Thiselton's opinion is or why he holds it. There is an astonishing amount of erudite information in this book, but often too much! I wish the publishers of the ever more girthsome commentaries would realize that often, less is more! Thus, I rate the book 4 stars (5 for scholars, but only 3 for preachers). For the pastor, I still recommend Fee as the best commentary, with Barrett and Kistemaker as great complements.

A brilliant scholarly commentary
First of all, the NIGTC series has never claimed to be anything but a scholar's series. So it needs to be judged on those terms. Judging it on value to the pastor who may or may not have the advanced Greek knowledge this commentary demands (2 years minimum, probably exegesis experience as well), is like judging the NIV Application series' value for scholars. This is not to say Thistleton does not deal with issues of application, he does. But the primary purpose is to survey the critical literature in view of the text.

Thistleton is one of the leading British scholars of hermeneutics today, and it shows in the work. This is thorough and careful exegesis, often much more careful than Fee's work, which I also admire. This, plus Thistleton's immense vocabulary, can daunt even the most sophisticated reader. But his style is lucid, and, for a commentary, enjoyable. His scholarship is impeccable, and even when one disagrees with him in the end, one understands why one can come to such a view rationally even if you don't accept his presuppositions, which is not always possible in Fee's work.

In short, this commentary is the new standard in Greek scholarship, and is set to be it for a long time. If you don't have the background for this commentary, it is very difficult going. But it rewards careful study.


Space Travel (Science Fiction Writing Series)
Published in Paperback by Writers Digest Books (March, 1997)
Authors: Ben Bova, Anthony R. Lewis, and Tony Lewis
Amazon base price: $16.99
Average review score:

Prepares you for more advanced works
This is, for the most part, a good book. Although it does have some errors of style (METRIC UNITS! PLEASE!) and a few errors of fact, as noted by other reviews, it covers a wide scope in adequate detail.

This books gives the basics of space science. From these basics, you should be able to branch out to more advanced tomes (Example books: The Starflight Handbook, The Third Industrial Revolution, etc.)

Use this book to get started, but don't trust its entirety.

Another Excellent Book in the "Sci-Fi Writing Series".
This is another of the books in this series that was put together by Ben Bova and a host of others. Mr. Bova has written a ton of Sci-Fi, and he is definitely an authority on the subject.

This book covers the science behind spacecraft, and delves into the history of spaceflight, both manned and unmanned. It also covers the technology, even going into the math of calculating thrust, impulse, etc.

I have used the section on theoretical spacecraft design in a novel that I am currently writing. I have found the information it includes to be very valuable.

Space Flight Primer
Ben Bova, at the top of the by-line on this work, has remained one of the most reliable and respected authors in the fields of science and science-fiction writing. That is, Mr. Bova can be counted on to craft excellent non-fiction; non-fiction that is engaging and informative. This book is expertly written for the lay reader with a basic awareness of the material. This is designed to be a guide for would-be SF writers about the technology of space travel. Better yet, this is the best primer I've read recently about the technology we'll need to settle space. It's a book that's useful to more than just SF writers. Science journalists will find it a useful reference as well.


1985
Published in Unknown Binding by Hutchinson ()
Author: Anthony Burgess
Amazon base price: $
Average review score:

dead and unprobable
i quite enjoyed burgess dissing of the faults and quirks of '1984'.

the only fault with 1985 is that it tells a unprobable story in a totally un-living fashion. his misinterpretations of syndicalism and anarchism also disturbs me. a good idea, but poorly executed.

good critical work, but a poor novel
Burgess' 1985 is really two works combined. The first is a series of essays and self-interviews that discuss Orwell's 1984. These are a great group of essays that really throw some light on Orwell's novel. Anyone who likes 1984 should read these essays. The second half is a novella of Burgess titled 1985. The dust jacket gives the impression that it is supposed to be a sequel of sorts. It isn't. It is a dystopia that takes place in 1985 (written in 1978) and is supposed to be a (more) possible scenario at the time. It isn't very entertaining, and a lot of ideas, characters, themes, etc aren't fleshed out the way they should be. But I suppose that could do with the shortness of the story. And Burgess should have been more careful with his title. Burgess's 1985 isn't a frightening or as well written as Orwell's 1984, and Burgess drawing the reader to make a comparison only hurts his story. After the novella is a short chapter on Worker's English (WE) which is Burgess' version of Newspeak. The problem is that WE isn't used much in the story, is really nothing more than a little slang, and I understand that Burgess only has the chapter/essay because of Orwell's explanation of Newspeak, but it is dull and unnecessary. Then Burgess finishes out the volume with another self-interview which discusses the possibility of his future. All this in only 270 pages. Still, the discussion of Orwell's 1984 that the first half is comprised of is excellent and the book is worth finding, if only for that.

Illuminating
A stunning book which I stumbled across completely by chance - and one which throws new light on two of the last century's most important novels: Orwell's 1984 and Burgess' own A Clockwork Orange. I have long been an admirer of both books, but this book is fascinating in that it goes some way towards clarifying the moral stances which have long remained open to interpretation in the two previous books. Unusually for a popular work, the book combines a devastating critique of 1984, with it's own fictional riposte (the 1985 of the title). The latter part being particularly interesting as a reminder of just how pertinent the issue of syndicalism was in the days just before the resurgence of rampant lassez faire.


Embedded Software Development with eCos
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall PTR (25 November, 2002)
Authors: Anthony J. Massa and Anthony Massa
Amazon base price: $34.99
List price: $49.99 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Index is worthless
This is an OK book, bringing together a lot of the eCos documentation and some sage experience.

However, the author did not spend very much time on the index, and this limits the usefullness of the book compared to the online documentation.

For example, all of the eCos functions start with "cyg_", yet none of them appear in the index.

Great for Windows Users...
The book is a good introduction to eCos, even though much of the book's material can be found in the eCos documentation, available on line. The sample code and accompanying explanations give the reader a leg up on building useful software; unfortunately, all the code is in C, so C++ programmers may have to do a little more digging to get their code working correctly. Finally, while the walk-throughs of installation, configuration, and building are great, they all are based on Cygwin running under Windows. A corresponding section for Linux users would be a useful plus, especially since (from a perusal of the eCos mailing list), build errors under Linux are not uncommon.

All things considered, however, the book is a great buy.

Embedded Software Development with eCos
If you are embedded software developer and would like to use an open source, this is the book you want to keep. It have everthing you need from setting up the software enviroment and a guide to build code from the Ecos repository using PC environment. ECOS is tough to follow but the Author shows and explains how it worked.
I wish the author could expand the porting section to other processor.


Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262

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