The authors should not have pursued the peculiar coincidentalism between JW's and Orwell's book 1984 to the belabored excess that they do. Despite this, the book is a facinating autopsy of the mass psychology of religion (in this case, Jehovah's Witnesses) and the deceptions and nonsense that adherents will endlessly accept. Written prior to the year 1984, the book accurately foretells the more recent doctrinal changes within the "Organization" as once again Jehovah's Witnesses reinvent their theology when even they can no longer stand the weight of its absurdity. The publication is refreshingly funny and easy to read, especially if, like me, you were raised in the bizzare siege mentality culture of Jehovah's Witnesses with its oddball idiomatic peculiarities and Armageddon hysteria. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses ends on a profoundly accurate prediction, noting that no matter which prophesies fail to materialise or which marked dates pass without event, JW's will continue to grow in number while members eagerly anticipate the day their god Jehovah starts a war on humanity destroying "this system of things" and all the evil people within it (though not his faithful flock of witnesses of course). A great book to grab off of the shelf the next time a pair of Watchtower Society pamphleteers intrude upon your property peddling their superstitions.

This is a good book and the illustrations in it are excellent. The book captures the totalitarian nature of the Watchtower movement as few books do because it is based on sound academic research and a background understanding of the movement. Both authors were raised Jehovah's Witnesses and are trained scholars. In fact, the book is based on a doctoral dissertaion by Heather Botting. My only complaint about it is that it places too much emphasis on the year 1984, which was not an important "end times" date for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Alfred North Whitehead, if he is remembered for nothing else, will always be remembered for his oft-quoted statement that the history of Western philosophy consists of nothing more than "a series of footnotes to Plato." In this small book (it has only fifty-seven pages of text, including footnotes and bibliography), Bernard Williams provides a succinct and useful introduction to Plato's thought and philosophical method.

Plato is the earliest Western philosopher for whom we have a complete set of texts. Plato is also, perhaps, the earliest philosopher to examine the full range of philosophical questions. Using the dialogic method, Plato explored questions of truth, beauty, immortality, ethics, and love. He contemplated the "mind-body" problem and, in his master work, "The Republic", sought to establish a sound foundation for the Greek polis. However, while Plato's range was extensive, his dialogic method created open texts, sometimes internally contradictory and always subject to interpretation. Plato adumbrated, in other words, a set of philosophic questions and a method which provided a fertile beginning for Western metaphysics.

Professor Williams effectively uses snippets of Plato's dialogues to illustrate Plato's philosophical method, as well as the uncertain conclusions, the "openness", of Plato's texts. Rather than approaching Plato as a systematic philosopher with fixed views, Williams quite accurately notes that "Plato seems to have thought that the final significance of philosophy for one's life does not lie in anything that could be embodied in its findings, but emerges, rather, from its activities." Adhering to that notion, this little book provides a wonderful way, particularly for the initiate to Plato (I think, here, particularly of the high school student exploring Philosophy for the first time), to begin grappling with timeless questions.

This book comes in at a little under 50 pages (45), and like Anthony Gottlieb with "Socrates," Bernard Williams is able to cover quite a lot of ground in that short space. Because of the limits imposed by its brevity, there is not much focus on Plato's personal life, or the context within which his ideas were born. Instead there is an excellent exploration of Plato's writings that weaves through his texts and gives the reader an idea for how to approach his works. It is not meant to be a complete and thorough analysis, but as an introduction or accompaniment to Plato's dialogues, it is a valuable book(let).

It's a pretty neat idea for Dodgson and Doyle to hook up and solve mysteries, but in this first installation, the answer to who was the villain was so simple that it was a bit of a boring read. Hopefully the next installments get better.

At the Brighton train station, Professor Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) awaits the arrival of Alicia Marbury, daughter of former student, Lord Richard Marbury. Alicia never makes her appointment. Instead, a distraught Charles meets Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, who agrees to help search for the lass.

Richard receives a note threatening the life of Alicia if he fails to withdraw his bill, one that will raise the age of consent in an attempt to end the horrid practice of child prostitution. When the kidnapped girl's nanny is soon found dead, the two famous English writers know they must work fast to save Alicia's life.

THE PROBLEM OF THE MISSING MISS is a fun to read historical mystery that deserves attention from fans of the genre because of the two writers who star in the book. Newcomer Roberta Rogow brilliantly develops the juxtaposition between the humorous exchanges of her two lead protagonists and the seriousness of child prostitution that is prevalent in Victorian society. However, it is the characterizations of Carroll and Doyle that are a delight and their jocular interplay turns the novel into a fabulous story. Readers will want more tales starring these two great authors.

Harriet Klausner

The parts with the octospiders are interesting and also the ending part about the cosmic philosophy. But there is too much soap opera again...Bulls*** again! Read the first Rama book!

With messages of duty, responsibility and the value of family, it's likely that this book will apeal to a more mature reader. While this last installment of the RAMA tales holds all the magic of the past 3 books, it also holds some very real, if disapointing truths about mankind. We are not the creators chosen race, indeed, we are simply an eliment in one universe of many by which the creator seeks a simplicity only a god may aspire to. Some refreshing ideas on the origins, purpose and existance of the universe and our place in it.

This book is one of the few resources available to western readers on pre-war and WW II era Japanese films, Japans greatest era of cinema according to Noel Burch (author; To the Distant Observer). Unfortunately the text is also clotted with a particularly repugnant variety of paternalistic American leftism.

I've read this for a class i took on film, it's pretty detailed and well written. I'd recommend this for a person who's interested in japanese film.

I know less about the times of Richard Harding Davis than I should, and was pleased to learn a little of it by peaking over his well-clothed shoulder. I would, however, enjoyed learning about the character of RHD more if the author liked him better. There's certainly something to be said for a biographical author who is not also a sycophant, but there's also something to be said for having at least a modicum of respect for your target. Yes, RHD certainly seemed silly, prissy, pretentious, sentimental, overdressed, and moderately rediculous - in fact, a charicature of his own public persona - but I would quite like to have figured that out for myself without Lublow constantly, and in so many words, calling the man ridiculous. He certainly wrote the rest of the book well enough that we would have figured it out for ourselves.

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Highly recommended for the adventurous at heart.

When I began reading Lubow's biography, I knew nothing of RHD, other than he was a well-known journalist at the turn of the century. A major discovery was in store. During this most interesting read, I became fascinated with his persona, his rise to fame, his peculiar first marriage, and most especially his experience and adventures in covering (so many!) wars.

Equally fascinating is the criticism that followed him.

His writing was "overblown." He put on airs of royalty. His fiction was simple-minded, etc. etc. etc. Deserved? Maybe on some points. He wrote a certain way for a certain time. It may not all have been high art, but it worked, famously. So what really nagged his critics? HE WAS TOO POPULAR.

We can only imagine how big a star he'd be today. He was the best known journalist of his day. He was startlingly handsome. He wrote best sellers. He worked in New York City. He built a dream house in the country. He loved to party with famous friends. He enjoyed plays on Broadway. He WROTE plays for Broadway. He was a member of a social elite few could ever join, and fewer would ever want to leave. Enough? Now add his European, Latin American, South African and Far Eastern war adventures, some of which were astonishing, and you've got the makings of a major, major modern day celebrity.

I was happy to make his acquaintance.

It is unlikely that another so detailed biography will be written of RHD. It is as factually correct as any will get (footnotes abound). Yes, there could have been more analysis and commentary, but as written, we are left to make our own judgments about the man. Read the book, if you can still get it, and you will be happy to discover Richard Harding Davis.

A final word. When he died, Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were among those who wrote him tribute. But most memorably, here are the final lines offered by Booth Tarkinton:

"Youth called to youth: all ages read him, but the young men and young women have turned to him ever since his precocious fame made him their idol. They got many things from him, but above all they live with a happier bravery because of him. Reading the man beneath the print, they found their prophet and gladly perceived that a prophet is not always cowled and bearded, but may be a gallant young gentleman. This one called merrily to them in his manly voice; and they followed him. He bade them see that pain is negligible, that fear is a joke, and that the world is poignantly interesting, joyously lovable. They will always follow him."

Wow.

One shouldn't place stock in what was indeed a horrible movie. 'Total Eclipse' does nothing for a true admirer of Rimbaud. Rimbaud was not flamboyantly gay--he was a hedonist, therefore he was bi-sexual. If you really want to know about Rimbaud, I suggest you pick up a copy of Enid Starkie's book. There you will find all you need. I have nothing more to say to you--you disinterest me....

I found this book after viewing the movie directed by Agnieszka Holland (1995) called "Total Eclipse". The stars are Leonardo diCaprio (Titanic, Romeo & Juliet) as Rimbaud and David Thewlin as Paul Verlaine. The story is based on the biography of the famous French poet Arthur Rimbaud. He was not only a boy genius, writing his best poetry while still a teenager in 1870's France, but he was also a flamboyant and notorious gay person.

At the time that he was at his creative best, the teenaged Rimbaud was seducing and carrying on a torrid affair with a much older man, the poet Paul Verlaine. Verlaine is very much the less famous poet of the pair, being somewhat of a drunk.

One can imagine the scandal today, never mind in France of 120 years ago. Remember this affair predates the English scandal of the young Marquis of Queensbury and the notorious Oscar Wilde. The book gives us a sense of the notoriety of the behaviour of the two poets. The affair ends when the older Verlaine shoots Rimbaud in Brussels.

One has to admire the strength of the young Rimbaud to live his life as he saw fit. He certainly showed the courage of his convictions, and dammed the consequences of his love for the older man. Even today such a life style would take more courage than most men could muster. All in all, the book is a facinating read about a person who did it all his way.

Well, I judged this book by its cover, and I was wrong. The beautiful illustration on the cover is NOT what you will find on the inside. All of the internal illustrations are black and white outlines. I was very disappointed. However, the story is much more expanded in this version than in any other that I have seen. There are actually fairies in this fairy tale. Don't buy this book for the pictures or you'll be disappointed...buy it for a new, but familiar version of the classic tale.

Arthur Rackham not only excelled at creating full color illustrations; he also was an unrivalled master at the art of the silhouette. In this reprinted children's classic, Rackham lavishly illustrates C.S. Evan's intricate retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story with one amazing silhouette after another. One of my favorite illustrations when I was a child was a fabulous two-page cross-section of Sleeping Beauty's palace, including such great details as slumbering cats, doves, scullery maids, the king and queen on their thrones, and of course the princess in her high tower. It never ceases to impress me how much a masterful artist like Rackham could communicate just with beautifully crafted graphic shapes alone- and remember, just because something's not in color, doesn't mean it's not good! Highly recommended!

As an MBA student who had to take a strategic management class, I found this book too wordy and boring. The authors of this book tried to explain some simple concepts redundantly. In the next edition, the authors need to imorove their writing styles

Great use of case study, factual detail and explaination is good. My enclosed software was fine, other students complained that it was "buggy"

This book is way out dated (1989). If you are looking for specific up to date information to open an account it's a waste of your time and money. If you want general information about the banking system then it's worth the read.

This book is clear, consise and expertly researched. I've read other books on the subject and found this to be the most helpful and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend it to anyone considering a Swiss bank account. This book will tell you exactly what you need to know.