Todesfuege (Death Fuge) is Celan's most famous poem, although he wrote it when he was only 24. Although it might seem cryptic, it is quite accessible in comparison with his later poems. Felsteiner does an excellent job of helping the reader to understand what Celan must have been like and further allows insight into his poetry in a straightforward, readable way. Because Celan is so difficult to understand, many critics, including Derrida, tend to interpret him in their own images.

Felsteiner, on the other hand, is more concerned with portraying Celan accurately than using him as a platform to promote his own agendas. I would strongly recommend this book as an introduction to Celan.

I appreciate this book most for its study of the relationship between Paul Celan and his most famous poem, "Deathfugue." Before the English translation of that poem in this book is a photograph with the caption, "Orchestra playing 'Death Tango' in Janowska Road Camp, Lvov, ca. 1942." Prisoners used that term "for whatever music was being played when the Germans took a group out to be shot." (p. 30) Before reading this poem, I had read that it was impossible to get permission from the holder of the copyright to translate it into English and publish it, even if an American expert wanted to call it the best poem that had been written in the German language since World War II. The poem may have more meaning for those who already know what it means, and who would not be puzzled by, "We shovel a grave in the air there you won't lie too cramped."

This is one of the most powerful books imaginable, touching chords in the human heart that we would often choose to ignore. It is the story of a man whose courage and creativity helped him communicate truth in a world that was desperate to silence his voice. Please read this book....it will change everything.

This book contains Paul Keres' best games played in the period 1929-1950. And as one might imagine, almost all the games are against World class players. What sets this book apart from many others of its genre is the annotations. Another reviewer rightly mentioned that Keres' style of annotation is as good as Bronstein. Those who are familiar with David Bronstein's books will get the point. The book has around 250 pages and covers 50 of Keres' games. This might give you some idea as to how detailed the annotations would be(unlike the lightly annotated books that cover a players' 100 or more games in the same number of pages). The games are all Keres' wins but at no point one feels even the slightest hint of personal bias in his annotations. They are highly objective and very detailed. Keres clearly explains the plans of both the sides and devotes around 5-6 pages to almost every game. He gives detailed variations where necessary but nothing to overwhelm an average player.

The one slight dissappointment that I have from this book is that I expected it to be a complete autobiography of Keres' life. But Keres doesn't talk much about his life in general or shares any interesting chessic stories or incidents that might have happened in his life(unlike Tal in his autobiography). All he mentions is the tournaments and matches he participated in a given year and how he felt his standard of play was compared to other successful players. But this shouldn't keep anyone away from buying this book. This book would've been worth its price even if it had no autobiography. The set of games are worth studying.

Finally I would like to say that even though the games are highly annotated, a sound understanding of both tactics and basic chess strategy is needed. The level of the games is high and so I feel that this book will be most useful to players over 1700(uscf). Also the footnotes added by John Nunn are in no way a nuisance(as mentioned by another reviewer). I was amazed to see that after going over 35 games, there was no occassion when even a single variation given by Keres was completely wrong. All Nunn does is is add to what Keres had to say or point out another interesting idea or variation that Keres probably ignored.

In conclusion I would like to say that these games have been thoroughly scrutinized by their creator and there aren't simply many chess books that match this book's content. So you can't afford to miss it.

This is an incredible book. First off, the games alone standout by themselves. Paul Keres' style is crystal clear, without any particular weaknesses in his play. He handled all phases of the game well and was a great attacking and positional player. His games are very instructive for beginners to masters.

Second, his notes are amazing. Each chapter has a collection of few games from one phase in his career and he begins each with a very engaging essay on his thoughts and life during that time. You really get into his mind as he takes you through his ups and downs throughout his life and how he prepares for games. The notes to the games are thorough and engaging. You never feel like an idea, line or variation is left unexplained. I feel Keres was one of the best annotators to ever live.

Finally, the format and translation of this edition are excellent, as with most of John Nunn's reissues. I don't own the first issue, but I can say this one is extremely nice, if you don't mind Nunn's sometimes annoying footnotes. This is must have book, for those who want to study from it, or just enjoy the games. I'm saving up money for the second volume, "Quest for Perfection!"

The basic material in this book, and its companion, Paul Keres: The Quest for Perfection (also available from Amazon) were previously published under another title. British GM John Nunn has updated the notes and added some games.

The result is a book that every serious chessplayer should have. Keres' deep notes will help players from Class C on up to improve their games and get more enjoyment out of chess.

For the last two days I have read Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow to my 4 and 7 year old. We have learned the history, vocabulary words, the different methods the artist used to illustrate the poem, and many other interesting facts. They are begging for more! What are great book! Longfellow makes history come to life. You can just feel the night air in Revere's face as he so courageously warns the people.

It had good information for my report in the back of the book. It had true history of the ride. I liked the illustrations. My moms friend did the design layout.

"One if by land, two if by sea/ And I on the opposite shore will be" -- The stirring ballad of Paul Revere's ride lives in the lands of folklore and poetry simultaneously thanks to the craft of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (Longfellow's distinctive poetic style earned him a lampoon on "Bullwinkle's Corner", an honor he shared with Wordsworth and R. L. Stevenson, among others.) What sets this edition apart is illustrator Ted Rand's vivid rendition of the poem: large, dramatic pictures alive with a sense of danger and blue with frosty darkness. As a reader of stories to preschool groups, I would not ordinarily seek out Longfellow to present to three-year-olds, but Rand's big, bold pictures capture their attention and suck them in to the drama of an exciting (though historically less than accurate) piece of Americana. As a read-aloud for first through third grades, this book is a good opener for _George the Drummer Boy_ and _Sam the Minuteman_, both by Nathaniel Benchley, and _Six Silver Spoons_ by Janette Sebring Lowrey.

I don't know, how good is the English translation, but the story and characters are so good I hope more English readers discover it! It reminds me of C.S. Lewis' writing in this respect, that it speaks deeply to both young and old. You can read and re-read it and it grows as you grow. The story is timeless and its turn-of-the century Budapest setting doesn't make the book dated or hard to relate to. The real setting is in the hearts and minds of children on the brink of adulthood.

For those who are learning the Hungarian language at an intermediate level the original text of this book makes for great reading -- fantastic story and the vocabulary and style are not at all complicated.

This tale of two groups of boys who fight over a vacant lot where they can play in Budapest gripped me from the first page. I couldn't put it down. The boys exemplify old-fashioned bravery and honor and values that have been out of style for a long, long time. The character Boka learns a profound lesson about life - that it encompasses death. I loved this book and I am a middle-aged woman, not the intended young boy audience.

It helps that I read this in Budapest in the neighborhood of Paul utca and the Botanical Garden. When I mentioned the book, my hosts smiled and said I would love it, then took me on a tour of the main sites where the story takes place.

By the way, I don't think it's out of print in Hungary. I saw copies of the English translation in every bookstore in Budapest. It's published by Corvina Books.

The Paul Street Boys is a wonderful tale of bravery, heroism, patriotism, honour, truth, love, war and passion. It contains all these in the microcosm of two groups of teenage boys living in Budapest who are about to fight for a small open space amidst the busy streets of the big city where they can play ball. But that's just the basic plot. The characters, Boka, Feri Acz and Nemeczek especially, are incredible children. They, when I read the book as a child, were a symbol to me of what boys were supposed to be like. Not because they fought. Not because they had fun on their playground. Not because they had secret societies. Because they knew the important things in life: love, honour, home. The story is funny and sad, light and tragic all in one, and more importantly, it teaches a lesson without beating you over the head with it. I learned the lesson when I first read it when I was just a boy, but when I read it now that I am all grown up, it still makes me weep. Why? Because it is about growing up and learning to live and learning that life is about winning and losing and sometimes both at the same time. And at the end of the novel in our souls, just like in Boka's, "for the first time there begins to dawn an understanding of the great mystery of life in which sorrow is so strangely intertwined with joy."

Whether you're a Verhoeven fan, or just want to read an interesting account of a director's relationship with the film industry, this book will satisfy you. The author interviewed past Verhoven associates from the stars of his Dutch films to Michael Douglas, as well as longtime friends like cinematographer Jost Vacano (who has worked with Paul for 25 years). He also spoke at length with Verhoeven himself, getting some great quotes--not to mention insight--in the process. The translator has done an excellent job of making this book engaging and readable, unlike some biographies where the recitation of facts can get boring.

The book covers Verhoeven's childhood, early student days, his time in the military making documentaries, and his entire film career in detail from his first major Dutch production through the making of Showgirls. For the length of the book (only 300 pages) there is A LOT covered. If you are hoping to learn more about this rather infamous director you will not be disappointed.
There is a new chapter for each of his major Dutch and American films.

Besides the biographical text, there are some black and white photos before and after each major section and a complete filmography (through Starship Troopers). The book also has an index that is actually useful in finding the info you need.

I recommend this highly for anyone interested in Verhoeven--you might even find yourself surprised at how personable, intelligent, and funny he is.

This is a fantastic biography of the director of The Fourth Man, Robocop, Basic Instinct, Showgirls and Starship Troopers. The first half of the book extensively details Verhoeven's childhood, education and early film career in the Netherlands, then switches to chapter-long "making of" stories on each of his American films up through Showgirls (Starship Troopers was still in production at the time this book was published).

Verhoeven is a VERY smart man and has led an intriguing life. If all you know of him is that he's "the pervert who made Showgirls," you'd do well to read this book. Good job, Rob Van Scheers!

Everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask about the freaky Dutch filmmaker.

An audacious book that takes to task much of New Testament scholarship. It is outrageous in its bold assertion of the correct and proper way to do social research on the NT - but it is deliciously right in so doing. One can only marvel at the author's skill in dismantling the Aunt Sallys of many a Biblical scholar.

A book of supreme importance. It grapples with the simplistic state of New Testament scholarship and shows with a clear method and a profound grasp of the sources that we can reconstruct only with care the social background of the Pauline writings. It is a "must read" for anyone involved in Biblical studies today.

This book, though concerned primarily with the economic life of the earliest churches, is of greater significance than might at first appear. It argues persuasively that New Testament scholarship has failed to take account of the popular culture of the first century and has, as a consequence, badly misrepresented the experiences and practices of the first Christians. The author then provides a model of how an "appropriate context" can be constructed from the diverse array of non-elite sourcs we possess from this period (epitaphs, curse tablets, dream interpretations etc) and reexamines the economic behaviour of the earliest churches in the light of it. The book also contains a concerted criticism of the "new consensus" in Pauline scholarship (the belief that the earliest Christians contained amongst their number members of the elite of their day) and, it has to be said, the plethora of new empirical data provided by the author and his rigorous critique of the consensus' method, leaves it in tatters. A rare book in NT scholarship: one that has something genuinely fresh to say.

This book is an excellent resources for leaders of companies,that are reengineering key process and to sustainable competitive advantage and offers ways of thinking our business strategies or changing organizational.
This book offers excellent ideas for using innovative reward and recognition programs to accelerate organizational and culture change.

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'People, Performance & Pay' is must-read for all executives and HR professionals who want to understand the point-based pay system, known as the Hay Guide Chart-Profile Methodology. With concrete examples from their consulting experiences, Thomas P.Flannery, David A.Hofrichter, and Paul Platten clearly explain how to develop compensation strategies to support business values, work cultures, and strategic goals.

In the literature, the Hay system has been criticized because it may promote a bureaucratic culture and because it fails to differentiate between high and low performers or contributors. For example, Edward E.Lawler writes, in his 'Rewarding Excellence,' "the Hay system is the most commonly used approach for determining pay and reward levels in large organizations, although numerous other evaluation systems have also been developed. There is a real question, however, about whether Hay or any of the others is the best approach in today's business environment...Job evaluation fits a traditional bureaucratic approach to management that relies heavily on control through job descriptions, standardization of work, and hierarchical levels of management." On the other hand, after defining the Hay system as 'pay for empire,' Peter Block argues, in 'Stewardship,' "it is a widely accepted method of using job descriptions- including the number of direct reports, type of budget responsibility, and levels of responsibility and decision-making authority- to make rational the different pay levels within an organization. For what it was asked to accomplish, this system has done an elegant and durable job. But we must question exactly what it was we asked the Hay system to do-to pay people based on the size of their territory, number of subordinates, budget size, level of authority...Soften it if you like, but these are measures of empire, not contribution to the organization."

In this context, the authors say that "certainly there is truth in Block's statement. Indeed, as the title of our book suggests, people and their performance-their contribution both as individuals and as members of the organizational team-are the linchpins of any effective compensation strategy. But that title and statement do not, despite what our critics might say, signal a sudden shift in our philosophy about pay. The fact is, we've always believed that people and how they performed constitute the foundation of any successful business strategy. We've always believed that compensation is an important element of a successful human resources equation that puts people first...When the Hay system is properly used in the right circumstances, it can still be very effective in creating people-and performance-oriented pay programs."

I highly recommend this reference source on the Hay system.

The ideas in the book helped me to reshape my organization's compensation programs to align with our overall strategy. It's been great!

I now have all 7 volumes - all 7 available currently. But I only got volume 5 about a month ago, much later than 6 and 7. And the biggest problem I am facing now - how am I going to make it last till they print the 8th?! I read one story per week - though I die to gulp them down and make a feast of reading this book. Each precious tender love story - only one a week. Once in a week I sit down and switch the world off and read about love - because that is what Sturgeon have been writing about all his life. He takes you by hand and shows you that somebody's Eden is always somebody's else Hell; and makes you walk beside a quiet girl - quietly.. Or sit and listen to a slow dialogue of two cowboys near the fire - and at the last words to burst out laughing only to smile sadly and tenderly a minute later... Theodore Sturgeon makes you love life - and that is the best compliment I could pay any writer.

As a writer, Sturgeon provokes one of two reactions in me: either to just give up since I know I'll never be able to equal that much quality for as long as I live, or to sit back down and write even more in an redoubled effort to equal that quality. I tend to like the second myself and I think Ted would agree, reading one of his stories you get a sense of wonder and enchantment, much as he probably felt writing it and to me it's like a gaunlet being thrown down saying, "This is the best I can do, I know you can do just as good. Prove it." Ah but the quality here is not to be believed. Even if you discount the "undiscovered" story "Quietly" which is apparently a precursor somehow to More Than Human (it's a tenuous link, even the series editor admits it) there's stuff like the title story, one of the groundbreaking stories not only for science fiction telling but the short story genre in general, there's also a neat creepy jazz story and a Western story and so much that when you finish you sit back and think about all the good stuff you just read . . . and then realize that the five volumes that are to come are supposed to represent his very best work. Argh, Ted, you don't make the challenge easy but I think it's one I accept. You want no less. Read them all already, what are you waiting for?

The publication of the collected short works of Theodore Sturgeon is cause for rejoicing. Sturgeon is the Beethoven of Science Fiction, and this fact has not yet been recognized. The thing that makes Beethoven tower over all other classical composers is his compelling ability to communicate powerful emotion. His greatest works are more than technical masterpieces; they make the listener glad to be human. They uplift, magnificantly.

This is also exactly true of Theododre Sturgeon. Sturgeon's greatest works speak directly to the heart, as do the works of Beethoven. And they do so as powerfully, since they almost always speak of love. Human love, not any pale imitation.

For several decades, most people new to Sturgeon had to approach him through his novels, since publishers did not like to print short story collections. This is a shame, since approaching Sturgeon through his novels is very much like approaching Beethoven through his string quartets. Masterpieces they may be, but they're not terribly approachable. If you want to appreciate Beethoven, start with his symphonies. If you want to appreciate Sturgeon, start with his short stories.

And just as Beethoven's best work was done later in his life, so also were Sturgeon's best stories. In the time frame that "The Perfect Host" covers, Sturgeon was just beginning to hit his stride. His greatest work will show up in the volumes to come.

Thank you, Paul Williams, more than I can say, for bringing this collection into print.

Phenomenal Woman is an AMAZING poem that has touched so many females, showing that it is not whats on the outside that counts. showing that you dont have to be pretty or skinny to be phenomenal. this poem is one of my favorites because it made me stop worrying about what people think of me. i love this poem because when i am feeling ugly or fat i can read this poem and it will make me feel so much better.

Phenomenal Woman is a "sassy", provocative, intriguing, and alluring poem. Dr. Angelou delves into the soul of every woman and reaches up with the truth. I have admired Dr. Angelou since I read her autobiography (I Know why the Caged Bird Sings, et al.) since my high school days. She truly is an inspiration! Thank you, Maya!

What makes this book so unique and fabulous is the combination of Maya Angelou's "phenomenal poem" and Paul Gauguin's exotic paintings. It's unbelievable how well the two art forms go together. I've lost count of how many times I've read the book. I just keep going back to reread the poem and stare at the pictures. ... It's a great gift idea for a girlfriend.

This book sends the message to kids that you cannot be something you aren't. As hard as you wish and try, you still are yourself and you have to learn to accept it. If you are always trying to be like somebody else, no one sees the real you.
George the pig is always trying to be like Gertrude, the multitalented cow. He goes too far and finally realizes (with a little help) that he should act like a pig, not a cow.
I think this is a great book for kids to read with or without a parent. The illustrations are very colorful. My favorite character was Gertrude (the multitalented cow). I would recommend this for anyone to read.

Paul Brett Johnson's imaginative adventures with Miss Rosemary and her farm-full of precocious animals just keep getting better with The Pig Who Ran a Red Light. Playful watercolor illustrations and country-toned jargon add up to adorable fun for all ages, and especially "those who have sometimes wished to be somebody else." I think I got as much of a kick out of this delightful book as my nearly-three-year-old himself, and we liked it even more than its fun-filled predecessor, The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down.

This is an amusing book with great kid humor, and a punch line to remember to be yourself. Nice addition to any library for grade level K-3