The Folger Library series are your best Shakespeare source. They specialize in Shakespeares' greatest plays and are quality books that are perfect companion and translator to Shakespeare. It is loaded with page after page of translation from the Old English expressions that are no longer in use to our modern talk, and pictures as well as historic background information on th Elizabethan era and Shakespeares' life. Hamlet is without question Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, remaining in our theatrical culture to this very day. It has become a conversation piece for English professors, dramatists and screen actors (Mel Gibson tackled the role in 1991) and even psychologists, who claim that Hamlet had the Oedipal complex, especially when they read the scene in which Hamlet is in his mother's bedroom. What makes Hamlet so great ? Why does this old play still come alive when performed on the stage in the hands of the right actors ?

Shakespeare, believe it or not, was a people's person and knew about the human condition perhaps more than anyone in his day. Hamlet deals principally with obscession for revenge. Hamlet is a prince whose father has been murdered under the evil conspiracy from his uncle Claudius and even the support of his mother, Queen Gertrude. Depressed, wearing black all the time, and very much as solitary as any "Goth" would be in our day, Hamlet laments his situation, until his father's ghost appears and urges him to avenge his death. The mystery still remains, is this ghost real ? Is it, as many in Elizabetheans thought, a demon in disguise ? Or is it simply a figment of Hamlet's own emotions and desire for revenge. At any rate, Hamlet's father appears twice and Hamlet spends most of the play planning his revenge. His most striking line that reveals this consuming need is "The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king!".

Pretending to be mad, he scorns even the love of the woman he genuinely loves, Ophelia, whose mind is shattered and heart is broken and who has an impressive mad scene. The deaths of Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are also in Hamle'ts hands and a consequence of his revenge. The famous soliloquy in the play, is of course, "To be or not to be", taken on by such great actors as Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles. Hamlet muses on the brevity of life and the suffering which can only cease through death, as he holds a skull and is evidently suicidal. Finally, the last scenes are the most dramatic. Hamlet duels with Laertes, Ophelia's brother, and with Claudius himself. The deaths of the main cast, including the Queen, goes to show how tragic the human desire for greed and revenge is.

This is Shakespeare's finest tragedy, and quality drama, best seen in a live stage performance, but that also works as a film. As for this book, as I said before, this is the Hamlet to have. You will become more acquianted with Hamlet and Shakespeare even more than taking a year's course with a teacher. This book itself is the teacher.

If you could read only one thing in your lifetime Hamlet should be that one thing. It is Shakespeare's best work by far, and within its pages is more meaning than you could find within the pages of an entire library full of books, or plays as the case may be. A mere review, a couple words, cannot do Hamlet justice. At times I realize that the language of Shakespeare can be difficult that is why I recommend the Folger version because it helps to make the images expressed by Shakespeare's characters clear to the reader, and allows them to get their own deep personal meaning from Hamlet, Shakespeare's greatest work, with out being bogged down in trying to decipher and interpret his antiquarian English. Don't just listen to what I say, or read what I write, read the play on your own outside the cumbersome restraints of a classroom and see for yourself what I mean.

Ah, yes. Hailed by many as Shakespeare's Magnum Opus (is that right?), this is certainly one of his most significant dramatic works. Hamlet is an atmosperic story of internalization - of feelings (guilt, love, hatred), of people, thoughts, and actions. Marked by indecision and a strong sense of self-pity and self-consciousness, Hamlet makes the slow transition from fear to determination in his quest to avenge his father's death. Oedipal complex, supernatural powers, royal incest, revenge - these are all explored in the play. Several famous questions are posed and thoughts explored - of existence, suicide, meaning, value. Hamlet is just packed with philosophy, psychology, and humanity. A must-read in which you will find many of the most famous soliloquies in all of Shakespeare. Thrown in Yorick's skull, poor Ophelia, good Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, you've got yourself one awesome play.

A scientist, his sidekick and a big strong sailor are going to have their lives changed forever when they are sent to capture a giant octopus. But, instead, they fall overboard and find out what they think is an octopus is really a giant submarine with a Captain Nimo and a crew that speaks their own language (which the trio calls "the submarine language")! In this submarine, they go on millions of adventures like: tunneling through blocks of ice in the antartic, zooming through tunnels from sea to sea, and seeing every different kind of fish you could ever imagine. The only problem is the scientist's sidekick joins with the big sailor, Ned, and together they try to escape. They have many of their own adventures too, like when they try to escape the first time and they almost get caught by cannibals. The second time they escape and write a story which you will read if you want to read it and it's called, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". If you're looking for an adventurous book that's exciting and funny too, then just read the book I did a review on. Lindsey (age 9)

A action-packed thriller, 20,000 leagues under the sea starts ou t when M. Arronax and his servant, Conseil, are asked to help track down and kill a sea monster on the Abraham Lincoln. When a Canadian named Ned Land harpoons the monster,it sinks the Abraham Lincoln. M. Arronax, Conseil, and Ned survive and are taken aboard the monster which is a submarine called the Nautilus. On there voyage they cruise the world and learn many secrets of the sea. When the captain of the Nautilus, Captian Nemo starts to go mad, M. Arronax, Conseil, and Ned escape the Nautilus and are drawn in to a legendary whirlpool in a mini-boat. There, the Nautilus is destroyed, but the people in the boat live.
The reason I gave this book 5 stars is because it's action-packed, very creative, well written, and is full of knowledge.

This is Verne's classic novel about Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus. What really fascinated me when reading this story and other Verne novels was not only Verne's contributions to the science fiction genre, but his founding of a whole new genre, one that, as far as I know, he has never been given credit. I think Verne was the first to write the techno-novel, a work that is filled with technical details ala Tom Clancy. For this novel, Verne did considerable research to describe what was known as accurately as possible. Professor Arronax and his servant Conseil board a U. S. ship that is searching for a monster that has sunk a number of other ships. They discover that it isn't a monster at all but a submarine, captained by a mysterious man known only as Nemo (Verne will present readers with Nemo once again in "The Mysterious Island"). Arronax, Conseil, and an American harpooner named Ned Land travel with Nemo and see many wonderous things and have many adventures. Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" has gotten some very poor reviews over the decades since it first appeared in 1869. In many cases, it was because of the translation and not because of Verne. A number of the early translators inserted their own sections with their own ideas and opinions and deleted much of Verne's own words. So, readers should be aware of the translator. I read an excellent translation by Walter James Miller that was also annotated. Such an annotated volume can prove to be very helpful to teenagers getting acquainted with Nemo and his submarine.

I am not normally a fan of this type of novel (hell, I read science fiction), but I read this book for an English AP class this summer, and I must say that I liked it. As a snapshot of English social life at the time it was written, it is faultless. The plot, while somewhat inconsequential by today's so-called "standards", is entertaining, and leaves the reader in a state of suspense up 'till the conclusion. The dialogue is also very charming, witty, and definately a product of it's time, but relevant. There are novels throughout the history of literature that stand as epoches for certain time periods, and Emma can be realistically called one of them. It wraps up the early 19th century English social life period very well, and more realistically and less sense of being dated than Pride and Prejudice or some of Jane Austen's other novels (or those of her contemporaries.) If you like this type of novel it is a must read, or, if you're like me, it is something interesting to pick up when you want something different from what you usually read.

I definitely recommend this book to first time Jane Austen readers, and especially to young girls, for it is so cute and so amusing. I wish I were "forced" to read this in High School for I would have surely written good papers on it. I can't see how anyone can dislike this classic. Jane Austen's character "Emma" has her faults of course, be she is a true character that is amusing and utterly charming, unlike those characters in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, which by no doubt are wonderful books, but Emma truly has to be my favorite Austen work. It is predictable, even without having seen the movie that was based on this work (that mind some of you was written over 200 years before Alicia Silverstone existed...gosh!) but the predictability of it made it all the more enjoyable, like a sort of mystery in romance. I definitely recommend this book to anyone over the age of 11 or 12. I know I'll make my kids read it some day. It is superb!

Emma is the first Jane Austen novel I ever read, and 13 years later it's still my favorite. It's also the most accessible, easy to read Austen novel. I literally could not put this book down. I thought all the characters, especially Emma, were wonderful. The title character, whie arrogant, was well meaning in her attempts to play matchmaker for the people around her. I could really relate to her, because I recognized that I've met people like her. She was at once funny, well intentioned, spoiled, controlling, and sweet. This book is really funny. The introduction is very useful in helping the reader keep all the events of the story straight. As well, it gives readers insight into the times, and into Austen's views about society. I really appreciated having the cast of characters printed at the beginning of the book, because there are alot (sometimes, it seems, too many) characters inhabiting the book. Because each person in the novel is so distinct and well drawn, the occasional confusion is worth it. I highly reccommend this book to anyone!

Treasure Island, a story about a boy who goes on an adventure of a lifetime (a treasure hunt!), is an action packed book for young adults to enjoy. Though the book had too much description to get to the point, it was a good read. From good guys, to bad guys, sailors, to mutineers, friends to enemies, Treasure Island has it all. The authors' word choice for this book is incredibly sophisticated and makes the book a little more descriptive, ( though I was not always sure what the words meant). Using "ship slang" and having the characters say just what they need to say at the right time. The theme in this book is one we always need to keep in mind "be careful who you trust, people aren't always to be what they appear to be". So if ever you need a good book to read I definitely recommend Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Giving Treasure Island five stars is like declaring Helen of Troy homecoming queen. It's too little,too late. This is the classic tale of pirates. Its' themes have been worked and worked again,but it remains untouched. Stevenson is a master storyteller at the top of his form. From beginning to end the plot never lags,and the characters possess a richness and depth rare in an adventure story. Every reader of English ought to make their acquaintance--Jim Hawkins,Billy Bones,Old Pew,Silver,and the rest--at some time in his life,preferably when he is young,and his heart still believes it can find that treasure. Treasure Island has been francised,moppetized,filmed,and abridged,but never bettered. Accept no substitues! Read the entire book. There is plenty here for children and adults. Like all great literature,it works on more than one level. Dominating the whole Story is the figure of Long John Silver. As his name implies he has a lunar quality. He is attractive,facinating,powerful,but with a dark side. Again,he is murdering,lying,and infinitly self-seeking,yet like Jim we cannot help liking him and wanting him to like us. At this level Treasure Island is a study in criminality that asks: Why is it that the best,the most full of natural power, often turn their gifts to evil? And why do we find evil so attractive? A word about editions. There are many,but by far the best is the hardcover featuring the illustrations of N.C. Wyeth. No one has succeeded as he has in capturing the spirit of the tale. If you are looking for a cheaper paperback edition that won't blind you with cramped layout, or ruin the whole experience with goofy illustratons,choose the Puffin Classic. It's unabridged,sturdy,and features a beautiful cover illustration.

"Treasure Island" is the classic adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Set on the high seas amid treasures and pirates, it is the story of a young boy's adventure. "Treasure Island" has been done by everyone from Disney to the Muppets. It's been imitated many times and influenced countless books and movies.

A mysterious pirate shows up at an inn owned by Jim Hawkin's mother. The pirate is killed by a gang of rogues, but Jim finds a treasure map belonging to the pirate. Jim then embarks on a journey to far away island to find the treasure. Of course, nobody can be trusted - especially the cook, Long John Silver. With his peg leg and parrot, Silver is the stereotypical pirate. Once the island is reached, sides are chosen - the mutinous pirates against the ship's crew. Jim goes on a journey within a journey on the island, going from one side to another, as the treasure is hunted for.

Everyone should read this book at some point. It's especially good for young boys, due to the fact that the main character (Jim) is a young boy. It's well crafted, and easy to read. And it's hard to put down once you get going. What else can you ask for?

John Lennon's untimely death was one of the great tragedies of Paul McCartney's life.

Not only did he lose a former best friend and half of the best songwriting team of all time, but the resultant rush to eulogise Lennon was often done at the expense of McCartney, whose own contribution was often trivialised.

This is McCartney's version of the history of the Beatles and their music. It is hard to imagine McCartney being insecure about anything, but he certainly seems territorial, protective and sensitive of his own legacy.

Perhaps the greatest injustice to McCartney was being inducted to Rock and Roll Hall of fame seven years after Lennon, in spite of being an equal contributor to the Beatles, and having a far more commercially successful solo career.

As far as the Lennon McCartney compositions go, there are a few surprises, for instance, he says he wrote the music to 'In My Life' a song which is obviously very Lennon but this actually makes sense. On many of the other Lennon songs he wrote the middle eight or the words of the last verse and vice versa. At times this seems petty, but to be fair he does give Lennon credit on some songs that are obviously strongly McCartney compositions such as the middle sections of Michelle and She's Leaving Home, and a 50/50 credit on I saw her standing there. On Eleanor Rigby he credits Lennon some of the lyrics to the final verse, although in the Anthology documentary he says the song is 100% his. The key to crediting any Lennon McCartney song is he who sung it wrote it or most of it.

The most interesting portions of this book are the direct quotations by McCartney about his life, his relationship with John and the other Beatles and his relationship with Linda, and his insights into John and the meaning of many of his songs which are the best I've read. He is surprisingly candid and open, compared to tv interviews where he has rarely allowed interviewers to get behind the McCartney persona.

Some of his comments about John are quite touching. The history of how he met Linda, and how their relationship developed is a compelling love story.

For instance we get to hear about the death of Paul's mother when he was 14, the tragic death of John's mother the business relationship with Brian Epstein, the Apple fiasco,the wrangling, the naivety of the Beatles in business matters, the loss of ownership of their songs and so forth.

As for Mr Miles himself, he is not the world's greatest writer, which is why I only give it 3 stars. The chapter on avantgarde London is the most boring thing I have ever read. He could easily have edited 100 pages out of this book without compromising the content.

In addition, he is obviously biased towards McCartney and disses Lennon by act and omission. He zeroes in on McCartney as a painter making him out to be a better artist than Lennon, and making the most pretensious comparisons between McCartney's art and classic painters.

He doesn't seem to understand that by undermining Lennon he is also undermining McCartney's credibility. Fortunately, McCartney's own comments are far more respectful, and seemingly objective.

In Mr Miles favour, I must say there are very few questions about McCartney that are left unanswered, and in spite of all its obvious flaws this is still the best psychological insight into Paul McCartney and John Lennon that I have read, so I would recommend this book. I would strongly recommend the books by Hunter Davies and Philip Norman.

Many Years From now is a superb book by Barry Miles. Mr. Miles was and is close friend of Mr. McCartney's dating all the way back to the heights of the Beatles reign. This book gives you the background biographical that most McCartney & Beatles biographies have but what separates this from the others is the oral history from Mr. McCartney himself. His insights into his relationship with John Lennon, the swinging London scene of the 60's, days on the road with the Beatles and most importantly, the stories behind the songwriting and creating of the Beatles songs are revealing and engrossing. Of particular interest are the chapters on Sgt. Pepper's, the White Album, the creation of Apple Records, the first few weeks he spent with soon to be wife Linda in New York City and the ultimate demise of the Beatles. The book is a bit lengthy and some chapters could have been trimmed down (the chapter on the time in India with the Maharishi is one to note), but if you are a fan of Paul McCartney or the Beatles, you will not find a book that matches the insight in this one.

The most amazing thing about this book is the objectivity Paul is able to give. He openly admits when he handled things poorly with George during 'The Beatles' and 'Let It Be'. There are also many quotes from previous interviews with John and others, and it is continually stated that John and Paul have only disagreed on two of their songs on the writing of it (who's idea, middle-eight, etc), with Miles quoting others to support Paul's claim to only one of these disagreements. It is wonderful that the true love that was between them all shows through. This is great for Paul and Beatle enthusiasts, but die-hard John fans may find it hard to stomach; not only for sections discussing Yoko, drug use and other intimate insights, but even where, through past interview quoted, John himself gives more credit to Paul for songs that have been widely known as "John's songs" than they may like.

In The Inmates are Running the Asylum, Cooper has given us a vehicle to articulate our frustration with today's technology. He does so in a humorous, down-to-earth fashion that puts us at ease with our confusion with today's feature-happy electronic devices and software. He offers an empathetic stance, leading the charge against all the new features we have grown to hate or ignore, thrust on us by overzealous engineers (the inmates) ignoring the pleas of designers and consumers alike. This is quite an admirable task considering he is a guru in the field of technology and one of it's prime developers. He gains his authenticity from his experience within the computer industry. If ever there was someone who should be savvy about technology, it should be Alan Cooper, but he is right there as frustrated as we are with products which require manuals bigger than most dictionaries.

In this book, Cooper offers us an insider view of the world of product design and software programming. The world of computers and everyday appliances are merging and, Cooper contends, the merger is not necessarily in the best interest of consumers. He offers some sound advice to designers, engineers and programmers on how to improve the design of products. Although I did not agree with all of his solutions, I still highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever wanted to throw a VCR out a window or designed a product somebody else wanted to throw out a window.

Cooper is right on the money with many of his descriptions regarding the grafting of computers into various facets of our lives. Throughout the book he addresses the daily issues "apologists" (whether they are willing admit it or not) and "survivors" alike struggle with and put up with, such as Microsoft* software, (need I say more). The section of the book that really struck a chord, as I work with engineers to create product training, was the reference to the use of "bribery by chocolate" and how it resulted in cutting overtime of a Technical Writer by more than half. This not only showed the human side of the programmers/engineers that many of us don't get to see, but it validated my methods. Bravo!

Cooper also has a clear process flow for creating successful technology-enabled products, which he compares to that of the filmmaking industry. Design first, program second, user test and bug test third, and finally tweak. In order to keep the vision and goals clear in this process Cooper creates personas to clarify and better target the product's user. When the design and programming team is able to keep this in mind with a constant visual of the pre-determined persona(s), the product plan is in control and the product will be a success.

Cooper brings a lot of insight and practical ideas to software design in "The Inmates are Running the Asylum." He provides strong arguments for investing time and effort into good design. Unfortunately, his style isolates one of the primary groups who should read this book -- software developers.

As with so many designers, Cooper starts by bashing existing software and design. Part one points out that bad design of software can cause lots of things to fail. I can't agree with his thesis that adding a computer to anything makes it fail, but adding bad design certainly can cause failure. Software developers won't appreciate being to fall guy.

This antagonism muddies the message. Many readers will miss the premise and value of the book's message because of his insistence on placing blame. He very nearly comes across as "software would be so much better if we didn't have those pesky developers!" It's easier to hear criticism from a colleague. Unfortunately, Cooper fails to provide his bona fides (he has been in software developer for many years) before bashing, so a lot of technical readers will put down the book -- figuring he's some design crackpot who's never shipped a product -- and never pick it up again.

That's a shame. Cooper is a skillful guy, and he's got important things to say. His points on design are spot on, and he identifies the root cause of design problems well, and what keeps them around. He provides a much larger perspective than other books that focus on user interface design exclusively.

Part 2 explains why bad design cost businesses money, good will, and time. However, the supporting evidence is composed of qualitative examples, rather than more quantitative, financial evidence that some business readers might find more compelling. Although he claims that his goal for the book is to make this business case, it's only 40 pages - less than 1/6th of the book's complete text. Part 3 goes back to laying the blame at the feet of developers. The points he makes are valid, and his explanations of how we got to where we are well founded. His concept of "homo-logicus," though derisive, is insightful. However, the left-brainers out there will have to wear their thick skin to get full value out of this discussion.

Finally, in part 4, Cooper throws us a bone. We get some of the stuff that Cooper is really expert at: design. He describes several powerful techniques that people can use to address their real-world design problems. In part 5, Cooper integrates design back into the product development process. He advocates roles and responsibilities for designer in this process. It would be interesting to see his reaction and placement of the role of designer in one of the new agile methodologies.

This book is worth reading. Software engineers who can look past the tone will learn a lot. Unfortunately, there are few alternatives that contain such a valuable content, with a better tone. You can go back and read "Programming as if People Mattered", but picking the valuable insights out of that 1991 text is difficult. Other alternatives are Joel Spolsky's "User Interface Design for Programmers," but this text tends to focus on the nitty-gritty of user interface design rather than design as a whole. I look forward to his next book. Maybe he'll make developers a primary persona, and not the villain.

As a Java Developer I was looking more for a reference and minimal set of abstract examples on how to use the syntax of jsp directives, jsp structures, and servlet practices. EJB and XML coverage was very minimal and despite my previous WROX book Professional ASP 2.0 (which was excellent) this book fails in regards to teaching the foundational practices of JSP and Servlets. It is indeed loaded with lots of examples including a good case study called, El Weeds of Limon. The explanations were very surfacy and didn't have enough of the technical details. The type of detail missed should be assumed from books that try to cover too many topics which spread the "meat" of the matter very thin.

Rather than getting you started on the right track it gets you started by making you copy examples which IMHO is a poor way to learn especially if the examples are not very generic.

I recently picked up a better book which includes all the jsp and servlet best practices, perfect amount of HTML mixture in handling forms, etc. and also a broad coverage of the currently available JSP/Servlet Containers like the Jakarta group's Tomcat 3.1 Container.

I would recommend this book if you're looking for examples, period. However if you want to learn JSP and Servlet technology the proper way pick up Core Servlets and JSP by Sun Press. It's also more up to date with the JSP 1.1/Servlet 2.2 spec.

Pro:

*) Covers a lot of ground on up to date (01/2000) server side tech, Servlets, JSP, RMI, XML, EJB, JINI, CORBA, JNDI, LDAP, JDBC, Mime, cookies, Internationalization.

*) Lots of hands-on details with many examples.

*) Very fluent and usually clear.

Con:

*) Very little on theory, concepts, server architecture using these technologies or trends, goes straight to the details.

*) Many exercises don't work without some hacking (they could still fix it, the code is on their site).

*) So much is about Java Servlets you would think Sun published it.

*) Not all the chapters are in the same level, you can feel many people wrote the book.

This book is outstanding! It covers the new features of JSDK2.1 wonderfully. It introduces JSP and other J2EE features. I recommend this book to all current Java Server programmers and to all who want to learn about Java Server Programming. The depth is wonderful and the examples are very good. The only knock is that it is expensive and you don't get a CD. However, there is a web site to download the source code, nice touch Wrox Press! Even though the book is expensive it is well worth the money! Knowing what I know now, I still would buy it again. But this time I would by it through Amazon so I get a discount. :-) Note, I paid full price and still think I got a great deal.

One of the most famous science fiction books to date is H. G. Wells' classic War of the Worlds, which has become national paranoia in the late 30's with Orson Welles over the radio. And later in the 50's become a national hit with the movie goers. Well, neither the radio broadcast or movie rendition really took the book to its letter by letter copy, but rather improvised like most non-literal entertainers. The book begins with suspicion, suspense and wonder as a meteor passes the sky without any real notice to anyone. While the book is told in the perspective of the scientist (whose name I cant seem to recall at the moment), later, somewhere after the mid-point the gears switch and we learn what the scientists brother is doing elsewhere. For the majority of the book, once the aliens have control over the earth, which is within the first 4 chapters, things calm down and become a bit stale. Only after we come back to the scientist from the brothers story, things pick up, but mind you, they pick up slowly. I am happy I got the chance to read this book, but was a little dissapointed in how the story unfolded which is why I gave this book 4 stars. Nonetheless, certainly a required reading for science fiction fans, and even now, amongst those persuing literature.

I finally read this book for the first time at age 27, and was not disapointed!

The imagery is incredible, Wells tells the story of invasion and chaos as if he had been there himself . . .I could certainly imagine myself there.

I do think you have to be a little bit older, more well read to better appreciate this book. I noticed several school kids from VA put reviews on line calling it boring. Of course, these are probably the kids who were expecting the main character to be like Will Smith and the earthlings to travel to the Martians space station (a la Independence Day).

And that was part of the book's charm. No influence from Hollywood. Written in the late 1800's, before movies existed, the book is way ahead of its time. Independce Day obviously got its influence from this book, and is a more updated (and Americanized) version.

Hey, go read it now!

Unknown to the inhabitants of Earth, the planet Mars is aging and nearing its exhaustion. The Martians, not even perceiving humans to be anything other than animals, decide that it is time to seize this lush, young planet. Landing in several locations in southeastern England they begin their conquest of the planet. Can man, with his most advanced technology hope to stop the Martians with their much more advanced technology?

You've seen the 1953 movie, War of the Worlds, and want to read it in book form? Well, then don't look here. Herbert George Wells wrote this book in 1898, a mere one year after The Invisible Man, and two years after The Island of Doctor Moreau. The moviemakers of the 1950s made a wonderful movie, but one that, alas, bears very little resemblance to the original!

This book is one of the crowning examples of nineteenth century fantastic fiction. It is a gripping story that masterfully combines horror and suspense, keeping you at the edge of your seat until the final page.

I am lucky enough to possess the 2001, Books of Wonder edition that contains fourteen wonderful, full-color, full-page illustrations plus the two-page illustrations on the front and back, all done by the masterful Tom Kidd. It is very well made, and would make an excellent addition to any library.

"Fish" is a parable that deals with Mary Jane who was assigned to the third floor of her company who had the reputation of being ineffective, unfriendly and labelled a "toxic energy dump." Mary Jane had to find ways to improve morale and basically changed the attitudes of some thirty employees under her supervision. She employed the tactics of fishmongers at Pike Place Fish, a world famous market in Seattle in order to learn from them how to make the workspace more fun and effective.

The four principles that Mary Jane learned from the fishmongers are "choose your attitude," "play," "make their day," and "be present." The book basically explains how these principles would improve morale in the workplace, making it fun to work even if the work itself is boring and at the same time, valuing both their internal and external customers. "Fish" is quite encouraging and it reminds me a lot of "Who Moved My Cheese?" as both books are short, concise and easy to understand.

Fish! is a deceptively thin but surprisingly inspiring book. I found it easy to relate to and engaging because the main characters, Lonnie and Mary Jane, were down-to-earth people in realistic circumstances. There weren't any business buzzwords or corporate strategies to make it feel contrived. While claiming that there are 4 things necessary to change the way we look at our work, I found one major theme prevailed for me: bring 100% involvement to our jobs - no matter what we do. The book talks about "choosing your attitude" and "playing" at work, but it was clear to me that these seem to happen naturally when you don't resist your work and become totally involved in it "being present" as Lonnie describes it. I believe these philosophies go far beyond work and apply to every area of one's life. If we are totally engaged in any activity, especially the one we spend most of our lives doing, learning to be present is easy when you simply do what you have to do.

The best book I have ever read on the subject of being present is Working on Yourself Doesn't Work by Ariel and Shya Kane. While Fish! is a fun way to learn how to enjoy even mundane tasks, it only scratches the surface compared to what Working On Yourself Doesn't Work will teach you about truly being present and satisfied in all aspects of your life. Both books are simple, fun reads and can help you discover magic in your life.

A wonderful book that simplifies the steps to have the right atmosphere in any environment.

Mary Jane has been given the difficult task of turning around the 3rd floor inefficiency to be a productive and pleasant place to work. In helping her in the task she meets Lonnie, who works in the fish market, and who makes her see how he managed to bring the best out of his employees even though they work in a stinky place.

The four lessons learned to achieve such results are: Attitude, Play, Make their day, and Be present. Those simple words and how to carry them between the employees and be able to transmit them to the customers should be enough to turn the life around.

A great book, that also helps with our daily lives and how to approach life on daily basis, make the best of things, give it your best shot and the rest is history.

As a history book, Johnson's text has one thing going for it from the start: it is quite thick. Not being personally intimidated by thick books, I dove into this one with anticipation. He starts out well enough, with a wonderful survey of pre-colonial and colonial life in the New World. His is one of the few history books I have read that attempt to explain the mindset of the colonists, and why they felt so strongly about forming a nation of their own. Johnson is not afraid of offering his opinions about the venerated Founding Fathers, and quite a few are found wanting. Not surprisingly (given Johnson's political views) he gives short shrift to Jefferson, and high marks for Hamilton. What struck me as bizarre is that while Johnson obviously appears to be a proponent of small government, he idolizes a man who embodied the vision of an all-powerful Federal state.

Rather like sampling from a buffet table, Johnson's history jumps from subject to subject, with lit! tle or no segue. He may discuss trade relations with Europe in one section, and then launch into a survey of the American art scene in the next. As the text continues, his opinions become more personal and more critical, often resorting to criticizing someone's personal appearance in the absence of more tangible faults.

By the time the narrative reaches the 20th century, all pretense of historical objectivity is lost. Instead we are subjected to a line-by-line excoriation of "liberal" thought and progressive action. He manages to gloss over quite easily the abuses of the late 19th and early 20th century industrialists, and instead aims his barbs at those who attempted to expose wrongdoing and exploitation. He criticizes the "liberal" establishment for their adoration of JFK, but then heaps unconditional praise upon Nixon and Reagan. I could forgive him his point of view if it were not for the constant glossing over of entire aspects of both administ! rations.

What makes an effective history book interesti! ng is the way that events are linked together. The good historian will spend his time showing how this happens, and he may try to offer some lessons for tomorrow. In this, Johnson's text is deficient. Instead, he uses his book as a pulpit for political assassination. It is not that he is wrong for stating his opinions so vociferously, it is just that a history book is not the best place in which to do so.

I admire Paul Johnson's unabashedly biased approach to his discussion of the drivers of American history. There is no reason why historians must limit themselves to mere description stripped of analysis. Such analysis shines through in the early chapters and up to the events of the Civil War.

But starting with the late 19th Century, the book begins to lose its edge, and at times it seems that even the author is bored. But more than that, he loses his historian's sense of balance of major personalities as we enter the 20th Century. Whereas, for instance, Johnson intriguingly explores the brilliance and shortcomings of Jefferson, building a complete picture of the man, we are treated to only half of the picture by the time we reach the 20th Century's presidents. The only democrat who is spared is Truman, and rightly so. I certainly agree that Kennedy was far less the man than the one painted in our popular culture, but Johnson's attacks on Kennedy for expanding US involvement in Vietnam leaves Eisenhower (who initiated US involvement) curiously uncriticized.

Conversely, Nixon is treated as almost saintly. True, we should give credit to his geostrategic vision, but a reasoned analysis of his pushing the envelope of presidential authority would have been of more use to the reader. To this end, an important thread not wholly explored but culminating in Nixon's unprecedented use of presidential authority, is an exposition on why power in the 20th Century was being increasingly abrogated by congress into the President's hands.

Instead, for example, we are told that the Reagan Administration was morally no worse than any other administration in circumventing the Constitution in pursuit of covert foreign activity. There is much to praise Reagan for, yet Johnson spends far more time describing Reagan's sense of humor than on taking him to task for letting the deficit explode during his tenure, or explaining his role in Iran Contra.

Bush is treated with near derision for not marching into Baghdad (even though his Arab allies threatened to break up the coalition if he did so, a point not mentioned by Johnson). Yet little is said of Bush's management of his administration's reaction to the collapse of the Soviet empire and talk of the expansion of NATO. Bill Clinton is derided for being a sleaze almost as surely as Kennedy was. True, but even with little to show for his foreign policy record even now, Clinton's support of an expanded role for NATO, his support for Most Favored Nation Status for China, or his signing of NAFTA, is not mentioned at all. Ultimately, my feeling is that if, say, NAFTA were signed into law by a Republican, Johnson would have spent as many pages on that momentous event as he did on Reagan's joketelling.

Paul Johnson's "History of the American People" recalls the narrative historical style of Herodotus. Without such a classical approach, any attempt to write on such a broad topic as three hundred years of American history would be doomed to pedantry; as it is, Johnson has created a powerful, readable work that recognizes the importance of many strands of American life -- not simply politics, but art, industry, architecture, music, and religion. With this in mind, the few factual errors of which so much has been made say more about the sloppiness of the editor than the abilities of the historian.

I've read a number of reviews complaining that this book only focuses on America's leaders. Either these readers have never actually read the book or the capability of politically correct True Believers to see only what they believe exceeds even my fevered right-wing-conspirator's imagination. My reaction upon reading this book was that here, finally, was a history that realized the liberal historian's dream of "history with the politics left out." Does a political history devote two pages to Tiffany glass? Does a chronicle of Dead White Senators rhapsodize endlessly on Scott Joplin or Louis Sullivan?

Senator Ted Kennedy once remarked that in America, all change begins at the ballot box. While acknowledging the power of democracy, this book suggests that the most significant changes in out national life have begun elsewhere, when free citizens are left free to invent, to build, and create. That said, even I have to admit that as Johnson's narrative takes him to the period which he himself has experienced, his partisanship shows a bit -- not nearly as much as an ostensibly "objective" textbook might, but conservatives are rightly held to a higher standard. Where much is given, much is expected.

Even so, however, what partisanship does creep into the narrative is nowhere near as sharp as some of the above reviewers (who seem only to have encountered Johnson's book in photocopied handouts in Washington State University's remedial history class) would have us believe. Wilson and especially Truman are given far too easy a ride, in my opinion, although I might ascribe this to a Briton's gratitude at those presidents' role in saving Europe. Johnson's treatment of Reagan, while ultimately positive, does make more of his weaknesses than would a true hagiographer. Johnson, like Walter McDougall and Stephen Ambrose, is a readable treasure among historians. We should encourage him. Buy two copies!