Self-made billionaire Paul Getty was once credited with being the richest man in the world, and here he presents some of his philosophies on life. The book is not titled "how to become rich" since that isn't its focus, and contains Getty's advice about the sort of person you should be, if you are rich or to be rich. Intelligently written, it presents the gritty reality of Getty's accomplishments, and the good and bad sides of being successful in business. Although targeted mainly at the novice in business, it has wide appeal, and in separate chapters also covers Getty's opinions on investing in stocks, real estate, and fine art.

Jean Paul Getty is the epitome of the American entrepeneur -resourceful, industrious, focused, innovative, and ambitious.

J. Paul Getty tailors his message and shares his wisdom and business acumen for YOU, the aspiring entrepeneur.

J. Paul Getty's "How to Be Rich" contains a variety of subjects --how to acquire wealth, how to succeed in everday business, internationaol trade, etc.-- addressed in a candid and intelligible approach. Also, if you're an aspiring executive, you should acquaint yourself with Getty's "millionaire mentality" and espouse a "cost-concious" and "profit-minded" business perspective.

I strongly recommend this book, especially for aspiring entrepeneurs and business executives. Although reading this book will certainly not make you a wealthy person(that requires hardwork and zealous determination), Getty's "How to Be Rich" will certainly en[rich] your knowledge.

This is one of the best books on business and finance I've ever read. As stated before, the book does not tell you how to become rich. It tells you how to be. The impression one gets of Mr. Getty is a highhly intelligent, liberal thinker. He shatters the myth that is so often portrayed; that the rich are selfish, overly conservative people who care nothing for society around them. While this may be true of some, it is not true of all. Mr. Getty discusses a way of being, a philosophy that is both tough and humanistic. He shatters many other myths as well. He points out that becoming wealthy is not a result of knowing things others don't, or cheating innocents, but instead entails hard work, persistance, patience, common sense, and risk. This is a must read for anyone with aspirations of becoming successful in the business world. Well worth the paltry sum it costs.

It makes me laugh, all of the different translations of the title. A direct translation is "The Games are Done." I read this novel this year as a sophomore in French 4. My teacher, who majored in French literature, analyzed this novel with us, and each of her students came away with a better understanding of the book. Personally, I loved it. It made you think, but it wasn't so obviously philosophizing that it would turn off someone my age. Sartre's philosophies were woven into the story, and you come away with a feeling of enhanced "smartness." :o) Also, if you ever want to impress a Frenchman with what you've read, just say, "J'ai lu Les Jeux Sont Faits." I'd recommend this book to anyone.

What if you had just one chance to avert disaster? What if you found your soul mate, and had 24 hours to establish a love? What if these opportunities did not present themselves until after you are dead? In Jean Paul Sartre's "Les Jeux Sont Faits," (The Die is Cast), the afterlife, love and exisentialism are all explored. The main characters Pierre and Eve meet and fall in love in the afterlife, and have one chance to return to life and avert the resistance movement Pierre and his comrades have planned. The story is gripping and the plot is imaginative. Les Jeux Sont Faits presents many themes and ideas: taking responsibility for ones' actions, Sartre's view on love and war, a thinly veiled contempt for the German invasion of Paris, classicism and fate. I enjoyed this book very much and encouraged me to learn more about Jean Paul Sartre. The ending surprised me, and I must admit it made me cry! I read this book for my grade 11 French class. My class enjoyed it, and so will you!

This has been my favorite book since I first read it, more than 5 years ago, and it still has a place of honor on my bedside table. Sartre's tale of Pierre and Eve is simply riveting. This is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read - and you don't need to know a lot about literature to enjoy it!!

That's what Barlow writes about in this read-in-a-day work. A popular science account of evolutionary biology, mostly in Quaternary North America, it explores the co-evolution of plants and animals. She points to traits like large size, seed retention, digestion tolerance, and abrasion tolerance as indicative of megafaunal dispersion and thus identifies megafaunal fruits -- pawpaw, avocado, guava, papaya, passion fruit, cherimoya, desert gourd, honey locust, and Kentucky coffee. Next the author considers the various recently extinct North American species (horses, mastodons, tapirs, sloths, camels, giant tortoise) and which might have been interested in the various fruits. An interesting background discussion compares and contrasts foregut (ruminants like cattle, deer and sheep) and hindgut (like horses and elephants) feeders.

"Ghosts" reinforces the sense I've had since visiting Africa that North America is empty of some large and important creatures that should be here. I can now better visualize what plants they were eating, and what their preferred habitats were like. I can also better visualize the cascade of extinction, past and present, from animal extirpations to the plants that evolved with and depended upon them.

As is often the case in my morning carpool to Kansas City, passions ran high when I raised the topic of megafaunal dispersal. George was at the wheel, I was riding shotgun, and Bob and Stan were scrunched up in the back of George's old Honda Accord. I was, to the best of my ability, explaining the arguments in Connie Barlow's new book about extinct seed dispersal partners: The Ghosts of Evolution. Connie asserts (along with veteran paleobiolists Paul Martin and Dan Janzen), that certain largish animals had big enough gullets to swallow fruits like Osage oranges whole and then poop out the seeds several miles away, thus expanding the plant's territory in the next generation. Unfortunately, nobody provides this service for Osage oranges anymore, which is why they all lie around rotting within a few yards of the mother tree every autumn.

In an attempt to confirm that a creature like a mastodon would willingly eat Osage oranges, Martin and Barlow persuaded the director of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago to offer the fruit (scientific name maclura pomifera) to three of the zoo's elephants. "Affie, the matriarch of the Brookfield elephants, did eat maclura--but just the first fruit she was offered. After that, she showed no interest in any more. The reactions of the other elephants were strongly negative. One wasn't even willing to smell the fruit when the offer was first made. Finally, she took it from her keeper and hurled it down the hall. The second elephant did the same thing but aimed for the public area." I can't say that I blame them. As a child, I was under the impression that Osage oranges (or hedge apples) were poisonous.

Zoo elephants' finickiness notwithstanding, the book argues that some species are obviously "overbuilt" for the ecological niche they inhabit today. Why would natural selection lead to such an outcome? For example, pronghorns can run not just a little faster but way the hell faster than any of their nearest predators (wolves and coyotes). This speed is apparently a relic of days when something faster than wolves or coyotes were chasing pronghorns, possibly a New World cheetah that became extinct thirteen thousand years ago. Well, you may ask, why haven't the pronghorns slowed down and devoted their evolutionary energy to something more productive, like jumping barbwire fences? More generally, what is a believable schedule on which a species reacts to changes in its environment?

As Connie Barlow analyzes the results of experiments with the exotic fruits and seeds in her New York apartment kitchen, she writes with delight and authority. She teaches us technical and colorful terms such as seed predator and pulp thief. The former destroys seeds by eating them rather than by defecating them intact. The latter eats the flesh around the seed and discards the seed without transporting it to a promising new sprouting site. We humans are guilty of both depredations, although with our compost heaps we have introduced a modest new dispersal path for domesticated fruits. Barlow's story is certainly not bereft of poetic lyric, as in the "paucity of pawpaw pollinators"--or of Conan Doyle-ian suspense: "Perhaps the most compelling evidence that Mrs. Foxie defecated persimmon seeds intact can be found in my collection of fox feces."

In her final chapter, Barlow preaches the gospel of "the great work:" the purposeful and painstaking reversal of the appalling history of extinction for which our species has, knowingly and unknowingly, been responsible. If the dedication to and passion for nature that is evident in this book can infect an emerging generation of professional and amateur naturalists, we may within our lifetimes see the beginning of this work.

As is often the case in my morning carpool to Kansas City, passions ran high when I raised the topic of megafaunal dispersal. George was at the wheel, I was riding shotgun, and Bob and Stan were scrunched up in the back of George's old Honda Accord. I was, to the best of my ability, explaining the arguments in Connie Barlow's new book about extinct seed dispersal partners: The Ghosts of Evolution. Connie asserts (along with veteran paleobiolists Paul Martin and Dan Janzen), that certain largish animals had big enough gullets to swallow fruits like Osage oranges whole and then poop out the seeds several miles away, thus expanding the plant's territory in the next generation. Unfortunately, nobody provides this service for Osage oranges anymore, which is why they all lie around rotting within a few yards of the mother tree every autumn.

In an attempt to confirm that a creature like a mastodon would willingly eat Osage oranges, Martin and Barlow persuaded the director of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago to offer the fruit (scientific name maclura pomifera) to three of the zoo's elephants. "Affie, the matriarch of the Brookfield elephants, did eat maclura--but just the first fruit she was offered. After that, she showed no interest in any more. The reactions of the other elephants were strongly negative. One wasn't even willing to smell the fruit when the offer was first made. Finally, she took it from her keeper and hurled it down the hall. The second elephant did the same thing but aimed for the public area." I can't say that I blame them. As a child, I was under the impression that Osage oranges (or hedge apples) were poisonous.

Zoo elephants' finickiness notwithstanding, the book argues that some species are obviously "overbuilt" for the ecological niche they inhabit today. Why would natural selection lead to such an outcome? For example, pronghorns can run not just a little faster but way the hell faster than any of their nearest predators (wolves and coyotes). This speed is apparently a relic of days when something faster than wolves or coyotes were chasing pronghorns, possibly a New World cheetah that became extinct thirteen thousand years ago. Well, you may ask, why haven't the pronghorns slowed down and devoted their evolutionary energy to something more productive, like jumping barbwire fences? More generally, what is a believable schedule on which a species reacts to changes in its environment?

As Connie Barlow analyzes the results of experiments with the exotic fruits and seeds in her New York apartment kitchen, she writes with delight and authority. She teaches us technical and colorful terms such as seed predator and pulp thief. The former destroys seeds by eating them rather than by defecating them intact. The latter eats the flesh around the seed and discards the seed without transporting it to a promising new sprouting site. We humans are guilty of both depredations, although with our compost heaps we have introduced a modest new dispersal path for domesticated fruits. Barlow's story is certainly not bereft of poetic lyric, as in the "paucity of pawpaw pollinators"--or of Conan Doyle-ian suspense: "Perhaps the most compelling evidence that Mrs. Foxie defecated persimmon seeds intact can be found in my collection of fox feces."

In her final chapter, Barlow preaches the gospel of "the great work:" the purposeful and painstaking reversal of the appalling history of extinction for which our species has, knowingly and unknowingly, been responsible. If the dedication to and passion for nature that is evident in this book can infect an emerging generation of professional and amateur naturalists, we may within our lifetimes see the beginning of this work.

Love's book is handy as a reference or for just flipping through, but be careful about using it as an authoritative source. I found a handful of mistakes, including its listing of snuff films as real. This has been an urban legend/hoax for decades, and its inclusion here makes me wonder just how well-researched the rest of the book is. For example, that section came from an article in Penthouse on Satanism, perhaps not the best source for such material.

(For a more accurate view of the snuff film hoax, you might pick up a copy of Nadine Strossen's book Defending Pornography, where she tries to dispel the rumor that won't die. Or Susie Bright's article in the San Diego Reader (18 November 1983). Or Kim Mohan's survey of horror films Nightmare Movies, which the original film was. Or the May/June 1999 issue of the magazine the Skeptical Inquirer.)

Other than those sorts of oversights, the book is fun to read, in part just to convince yourself that there are weirder people than yourself out there!

I bought the Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices and it changed my lovelife.I tried some of things mentioned in the book and became instantly popular at my swingers club.:o)
I also had a chance to meet Ms Love at one of her lectures,and her knowlidge of sexual practices far exceeds the book.
Since our meeting I started collection of her nudes and I'm her biggest fan now.
Never had so much fun with any book before. :o)

You probably don't expect to find yourself compulsively reading a book called an encyclopedia of anything, but then you probably don't expect to be reading about men who coax angry bees to sting their penises in order to make the organ swell and become more sensitive. The 750+ listings here will propel you from amazement to amazement as they carry you from abduction as a sex act to zoophilia (sex with animals). You will be repelled and excited, entranced and titillated, shocked and sucked right into the world of sexual extremes and oddities. And, all the time, you'll be making mental notes of which entries you just have to tell this or that friend about. Maybe not a book everyone will be comfortable having on the coffee table, but one you'll want within ea

See storyline above.

In this Repairman Jack novel we learn a bit more about his family. His divorced lesbian sister is the one in need of repair on this go round, though Joe and Stan, the arsonists from a previous novel, do make a rather large cameo appearance (and then disappearance).

I usually rate Wilson's novels with five stars, but this just didn't have the oomph I'm used too. As mentioned by a previous reviewer, it lacked certain repairs. Sure there was suspense, and it sure moved at a quick pace, but this supernatural thriller didn't have quite enough closure. I will, of course, read the next novel in this series, with just a little apprehension, not much, just a little. I think the editors at Forge slipped a little bit also with some of the spelling. One more gripe. There is no microwave oven, in home, that will run 99 hours.

Still highly recommended...because it's F. Paul Wilson.

If you haven't read any of the Repairman Jack books, you don't know what you're missing. Buy them at Amazon today! Start with The Tomb and work your way up Hosts, the latest installment in the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. It proves that you can't keep a good man down!

Of all the trains in the city, the gunman just had to pick the one that Jack was riding. Jack saves a trainload of passengers in the first few pages of the book, almost has his identity blown by an overzealous reporter and then has to help his long lost sister get her friend out of what appears to be a weird cult. Jack is back and at his best. Get ready for a wild ride that only Repairman Jack can provide. I couldn't put this one down! This has something for everyone. Die-hard Jack fans will learn more about his past and be delighted to know that he's got some adventures ahead! Looks like the Otherness has a thing for him and it's not letting go. I can't wait for the next book!

F. Paul Wilson brings Repairman Jack for another adventure. And his sister too! Finally, we learn more about the personal life of Repairman Jack. This installment plays off the supernatural element introduced in The Tomb and continued in a lesser form in Conspiracies, All The Rage, and now in Hosts. Once you start Hosts, be prepared to read through the wee hours of the morning. The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch and Nightworld were all extraordinary novels. All the Rage and Hosts fall a step below the aforementioned novels, but any novel involving Repairman Jack is addictive . . . and you keeping asking for more.

I am a grad student who read this book in preparation of a paper on the movement. I did not know my precise focus, but after reading this book I thought my focus should be the disunity of the leadership of AIM. This book presents a leadership that could not seem to come together on a precise mission. The key figures seem well-intentioned but their lack of agreement on direction seemed to tear things apart.

This book has a lot of great information about the leadership and it is a excellent reference for learning about the seizure at Alcatraz, the Native American Embassy and the second seige at Wounded Knee. I think my problem with the book was that I had heard of these events for years and had romanticized them and to read the problems AIM faced internally left me surprised and let down.

Well written book by Native Americans who write an objective history of the 60's style Indian movement that merged into Dennis Banks' American Indian Movement. The first section about the Alcatraz take over is very informative about the Bureau of Indian Affairs plan to move Indians off the reservation to assimilate them in Cities. Unfortunately, many of the Indians that relocated off the reservation ended up in their own Ghettos in poverty. However, these urban Indians such as the Mohawk Russell Oakes get personally involved in the take over of Alcatraz. The authors define well how the plans to take over landmarks comes about, the value of publicity and they bluntly
describe the failures in organization. The failures botch attempts to take Ellis Island and leave the Trail of Tears caravan virtually without shelter which inadvertently results in the take over of the BIA building. Unfortunately, the movement seems to falter with acts of vandalism, burning of a building in Custer, South Dakota and the destructiuon of buldings at the seige of Wounded knee and the unfortunate circumstance of kidnapping. The damage to property, reports of alchol abuse such as the get together in Warrenton, VA. undermines the movement in my mind. Thse acts seemed to diminish the goals of the Indian Movement although the authors make a point that even Martin Luther King could not control all the elements of his movement. Although the actions of AIM do obtian publicity and sympathy for their movement, the authors ironically note that their followers never materialize in large numbers. The book peaks with the reoccupation of Wounded Knee that succeeds as a great reminder of the mistreatment Indians in the past and invoking tribal rivalry between the current council President and AIM. In the finale, the authors note the failure of AIM to maintain itself after many of its leaders such as the charismatic Russell Means are put on trial or in some cases put in jail. The authors quote admirers and critics of the movement which is punctuated with the lack of concrete ideas that could translate to realistic acheivable goals and a lack of organization. Overall a very fascinating book that I wish spent more time on the transition of its main leaders to "Reborn Capatalists" (Banks)
and movie Stars (Means - Pochohontas and "the Last of the Mohicans). In addition, I wish the book provided more detail on the desires of reservation Indians, their problems and ideas for positive change. Very unfortunate that Clyde Warrior, one of the main leaders of the 60's rebirthing of an idealistic Indian movement, dies in the late 60's at the youthful age at 29. If he could have maintained his health and vision, his impact on AIM might have led to greater organization and acomplishments.

It was interesting to note that the authors refer to Sitting Bull as a Oglala Sioux when in fact he was a Hunkpapa Sioux (page 190).

I knew nothing about any of the events depicted in this book. They had been referenced in some other readings I had completed so I was seeking out more information. I felt this book was a great synopsis of the events of the Indian rights movement of the 60's and 70's. I was disappointed in the lack of information on Leonard Peltier and his situation. I wanted the book to continue for a few more years! I think it is sad that the general public has forgotten, so quickly, what occurred during this time. I was born in 1965 and I think once this movement was waning from the media, it was quickly forgotten by the majority of Americans, which is sad. I would recommend this book to anyone searching to understand the plight of the Native Americans today and the history of their search for freedom and the right to exist as they choose.

India is a country that evokes very strong emotions. On any brief visit, one is enraged by the filth, the decay, the disorganization, not to speak of the heat and the dust. But when one has lived there for some time, a strange magic starts to work. It is like the seductive charm of a beautiful gypsy woman in rags! What secrets lie buried in her chest?

India is more than a palimpsest. It is as if each layer were alive and continually changing right before your eyes. How does one write about such a land without a stereotypical juxtaposition of the old and the new? How does one communicate the horror and debasement that has entered the soul of urban India and still be able to speak of the ancient springwells of its culture?

Well the task may appear impossible but it can be done as shown in this magnificent book by Paul William Roberts, a British-Canadian writer. Recounting several journeys made over an eighteen-year period, Roberts is able to draw a powerful pictu! re of India with its smells and sounds, bazaars and chai-shops, bug-infested cheap hotels and rationed electricity, gurus and drug-runners, penuried ex-rajas and movie-stars, country roads and camel rides, ashrams and whore-houses. But these are just the props for his marvellous gifts of story-telling.

It is a very moving book which also manages to be funny and profound. Through his experiences he is not only able to describe the moods of the many Indias, he also paints the soul of the West. This book is not analytical like the travel books of Naipaul; for Roberts the story is told through suggestion and a torrent of feelings. In linear discourse, the same drama in the sky will be thunder to the blind and lightning to the deaf, but Roberts is able to capture in one sweep the many dimensions of his experience. This method literally transports us to India; we become his fellow-travellers.

The journeys are peopled by fascinating characters: A seven-foot tall German ta! ntrik in loin-cloth; a 300-pound woman who actually cooks h! er lunch on a pressure-stove in a crammed bus; sex-crazed followers of Rajneesh; old aristocracy reduced to penury; hippies in Goa; the dom raja of the burning ghats of Benaras.

Although the book has its gurus, the maharaja, the hippies and the movie-stars, it does not deal with hackneyed themes. Roberts brings a rare perception to his experience so that we are brought face to face with the universals of the human condition.

Returning from India on his most recent trip, Roberts evokes an emotion familiar to expatriate Indians and others who have lived there for any length of time: ``As the plane left the ground, rising up over the central plains of India, heading out over Rajasthan, I gazed down at the fast-disappearing features of the land. The thousands of tiny villages; the mountains; the rivers; the jungles; the deserts; the temples; the great holy cities; and all these people---I was leaving them all yet again. On the headphones an Urdu ghazal singer was wailing o! ut the Oriental version of country music: Whatever he sang about, it had to involve broken hearts, broken dreams. I felt the bittersweet ache of love inside, too; felt my heart swelling up---as if wanting to embrace the whole world. India: I couldn't live with her, and I couldn't live without her.''

It is a remarkable book, one of the great travel books of our times. Not only does it evoke the mystique of India, it does so with great aplomb and style.

It is the perfect book to read this year, the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence. Written with great zest and sympathy, it shows why the attraction of India is something more than a longing for a homeland. India may be an infuriating place but there is magic in its rhythms!

Roberts absolute tenacity regarding his subjects and complete dedication to every word he writes ensures readers feel themselves present in every encounter and experience. Availing himself full range of expression to write and live as cynic, mystic, adventurer, good friend, and seeker, Roberts takes us on strolls through the beautiful, humor-filled, and the bazarre. His concept of displaying in this work varying perspectives between two different trips to India that are seperated by decades of time as well as personal growth offers readers great awareness of the country and more so the man writing of it.

This is a unique book. Racy, interesting and yet profound in some ways. Being an Indian, I have always been fascinated by how non-Indians view India. This book did not disappoint.

It tells you vivid tales about spiritual India - many which even I dare not believe but can not dismiss either. Paul William Robert's account has a ring of sincerity and authenticity. Somehow we don't always realise what an interesting and unique place our country is. Things that we take to be ordinary, every-day happenings show up as unique through PWR's account. Is India really that strange?

The book is difficult to put down, if you are interested or puzzled by India. And if you were born in India but live abroad, consider buying it as a gift for your children. Trust me, they will not be disappointed. This book may not show the complete picture, but it does show a very important part of the picture. That too, with honesty and some sympathy.

This is good theology book but not great. It is somewhat well written. It is easy to read. I would recomment "Bible Doctrine" by Grudem over this book. Both cover about the same material. I found that Enns does not hold as close to the bible as he should and tends not to tell both sides very well.

Enns does an excellent job in taking a very complex subject (namely, theology) and breaking it down into a very readable format. While he certainly has his personal theological bent, it is not very apparent throughout much of the book, as he seems to honestly tackle the different styles and beliefs of doctrines. He is very effective in objectively (as far as it can be done) describing the various systems of belief. Numerous charts found throughout the book accentuate the discussion of the different chapters. The glossary in the back includes 1-2-sentence defintions, and while this is perhaps too simple, I could see this being advantageous for a beginner who is easily overwhelmed. For someone who would like an overview of theology, I would think this book should be a most valuable research tool.

I have read many "theology" books, and this one rates among the best. This book goes into depth that will assist someone in full time ministry, but the material is explained in a way that anyone else can easily comprehend it. Paul Enns did an outstanding job at organizing truths and principles found in the Word of God into easily understood topics. The material is rock solid, since it is based entirely on the Bible itself. This book is a necessity for addition to anyone's library.

In a state of depression and desparation I felt an overwhelming urge to drive to [a bookstore] in search of help. I didn't even know what I was looking for. I did know my search would defintely begin in the "Self-help" section. I picked up several books on relationships and read the backs of them. The third one I picked up was "Love is a Choice", and when I read the back I started to cry. It was like divine intervention because I had only heard the term "codependent - I didn't know exactly what it meant and certainly didn't know that it applied to me. Boy, did it ever. This book was such an eye opener for me and truly has changed my life. I know I have a long way to go in the healing process (maybe a lifetime), but now I have hope and the power of knowledge on my side. The greatest (and most unexpected) benefit of reading this book was that it helped me to get to know God - someone I didn't think knew me or loved me. I am so thankful that this book was written, and that there are people with the knowledge, experience, and expertise out there willing to work hard to make a happy and healthy life a reality for so many of us. Thank you!

I can honestly say that this book changed my life. I first read a page of it during a boring sermon at church, at a time when my marriage was going downhill. It sucked me in so fast I couldn't put it down. It was a shocking experience to read my entire life story written by complete strangers . It has a very straightforward style, but I think it's also easy enough reading that a teenager could understand it. The mix of psychology and scripture was exactly what I needed, and I don't know if I could have accomplished effective healing without it. The book is effective alone or in a group setting. My church even used it in place of a Sabbath School class: While everyone else was in groups studying Daniel and Revelation, I was in a group studying codependancy from a biblical perspective. I would also recommend this book to pastors looking to meet the emotional needs of their congregation.

After finally realizing that I was this thing called "codependent," I began to read all the well known titles so that I could be "codependent no more." They were helpful in that they oriented me to this new concept and defined it...gave me something to think about. Then one day five years ago I happened on "Love is a Choice." I read it voraciously! I put it inside other books as I sat through classes in nursing school. I underlined, I highlighted, I read passages over and over that set fire alarms off in my head! I came to Amazon to see if I could still buy it because I have physically worn mine out. This book was life changing, and gave me a foundation to make profound progress in my recovery. Now I go back and read my journal from years ago and can't believe I was ever that person.

this is a comedy only in the sense that the play ends well - ie, noone dies, most everyone is happy. else, there's little humor in this comedy, save for the knave, lucio. like others here have pointed out, this is actually a pretty serious play that takes a pretty hard look at human weakness, particularly lust. there are some fine, impassioned speeches by claudio and his sister, who pleads for his life. worth a read. but don't expect any laughs.

One of Shakespeare's lesser read and lesser performed plays, Measure for Measure profoundly explores the themes of justice and mercy. This exploration compensates for the defects of the play: the unbelievable resolution, the Duke's refusal to interfere early on (which causes pain to the characters), the inconsistency in the application of morality (Isabella considers it wrong for the betrothed Claudio and Juliet to have sex but justifies--and even helps to arrange--it between Angelo and Mariana), and the unexpected suddenness of the Duke's proposal to Isabella. The play seriously weighs the concerns of justice and mercy, and although it ultimately favors mercy, it recognizes the complexity of the issue. How can one practice mercy and yet restrain vice? How can one "hate the sin" yet "love the sinner?" Mercy seems to be the necessary choice over justice because man is too fallen to bear the brunt of justice. "Judge not lest ye be judged. For with what measure you mete," said Christ, "it shall be measured unto you." If you hold a high standard for others (as does Angelo for Claudio) and yet fall short of it yourself, you will be judged by the same standard. Since we seem destined to fall short of righteousness, it is best to practice forgiveness, so that we too may be judged lightly. And yet there is a concern that such practice of forgiveness will lead to a laxity that permits vice to flourish (which is the reason the Duke leaves Angelo in charge in the first place). Though mercy and forgiveness are favored, the arguments in favor of justice are not simply dismissed.

Quote: "Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault's condemned ere it be done.
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To fine the faults whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor." (II.ii.38-42)

Measure for Measure is seldom read, and not often performed in the United States. Why? Although many of Shakespeare's plays deal bluntly with sexual issues, Measure for Measure does so in an unusually ugly and disgusting way for Shakespeare. This play is probably best suited for adults, as a result.

I see Measure for Measure as closest to The Merchant of Venice in its themes. Of the two plays, I prefer Measure for Measure for its unremitting look at the arbitrariness of laws, public hypocrisy and private venality, support for virtue, and encouragement of tempering public justice with common sense and mercy.

The play opens with Duke Vincentio turning over his authority to his deputy, Angelo. But while the duke says he is leaving for Poland, he in fact remains in Vienna posing as a friar. Angelo begins meting out justice according to the letter of the law. His first act is to condemn Claudio to death for impregnating Juliet. The two are willing to marry, but Angelo is not interested in finding a solution. In despair, Claudio gets word to his sister, the beautiful Isabella, that he is to be executed and prays that she will beg for mercy. Despite knowing that Isabella is a virgin novice who is about to take her vows, Angelo cruelly offers to release Claudio of Isabella will make herself sexually available to Angelo. The Duke works his influence behind the scenes to help create justice.

Although this play is a "comedy" in Shakespearean terms, the tension throughout is much more like a tragedy. In fact, there are powerful scenes where Shakespeare draws on foolish servants of the law to make his points clear. These serve a similar role of lessening the darkness to that of the gravediggers in Hamlet.

One of the things I like best about Measure for Measure is that the resolution is kept hidden better than in most of the comedies. As a result, the heavy and rising tension is only relieved right at the end. The relief you will feel at the end of act five will be very great, if you are like me.

After you read this play, I suggest that you compare Isabella and Portia. Why did Shakespeare choose two such strong women to be placed at the center of establishing justice? Could it have anything to do with wanting to establish the rightness of the heart? If you think so, reflect that both Isabella and Portia are tough in demanding that what is right be done. After you finish thinking about those two characters, you may also enjoy comparing King Lear and Claudio. What was their fault? What was their salvation? Why? What point is Shakespeare making? Finally, think about Angelo. Is he the norm or the exception in society? What makes someone act like Angelo does here? What is a person naturally going to do in his situation?

Look for fairness in all that you say and do!