'Spring Torrents', albeit a romantic tragedy, is infused withcomic elements at the will of an omnicient narrator, a style similarto yet distinct from Turgenev's friend Flaubert. What makes Turgenev's craft so brilliant is his ability to make us weep at the misfortunes of Dimitry Sanin yet not without reproval of Sanin's actions. Whereas Sanin is the protagonist of the novel, he also plays the antagonist of his own moral degeneration in the pursuit of love. 'Spring Torrents' is not as didactic as Turgenev's 'Fathers and Sons' which employs little subtlety in criticizing Russian gentry. This can be a welcome relief for the reader lacking familiarity with Russian Revolution; consequently, the book is very engaging and reads quicker than some of Turgenev's more political works, forgiving the moments that we are forced to pause, mulling over his beautifully ordinary prose, a graceful verse in German, or a breath-taking allusion to Virgil's Aeneid. If you are a man it will change you; if you are a woman it will change the way you look at men and their infinite vulnerabilities.

A marvelous tale of love's labors lost, this novella encapsulates the Russian spirit in a lighthearted and enjoyable fashion (despite its characteristic tragic outcome ... this is Russian literature, after all) that reads like a dream. One of the few books I forced myself to intentionally prolong the reading of (not wanting the pleasure to end), it is (at the same time) a book I hated to put down. Spirited like Lermontov, poetic like Pushkin, and wry like Bulgakov, this is a short tale of summer love that teaches volumes about the follies of (male) human nature. If the struggle of the main character portrayed by John Cusack in "High Fidelity" rang true with you, this is a book with a life lesson you should not miss.

A page turner. Intriguing characters. It captures Las Vegas with humor and realism.

Much better than your everyday crime fiction. It's a small book with a sense of humor that should have sold plenty, but small publisher and I guess hard to find. This guy knows lots about Las Vegas and gambling and only gives us the interesting parts. Moves fast & the characters, big or small, all fascinating.

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells is a classic science fiction/fantasy novel. It is based in England around the late 1800's and also thousands of years into the future. It is an epic tale of a journey through time. Every one of the Time Traveler's friends and colleagues doubted him. They didn't believe that he had gone into the future. But he did. He visited a gentle breed called the Eloi. They were all alike. They dressed the same, walked the same, looked the same, and even reacted to life's conflicts in the same way. These identical "people" served him gratefully, giving him all the fruit he could ever want. He tried to learn the Eloi language, but their short attention spans caused him to not learn very much. The Time Traveler began to dream as to why this race of people was so alike. He couldn't figure it out. He decided that he had found himself in a utopian society, where neither reason nor strength was needed. He didn't find the real reason out, until he had discovered his time machine to be missing. Night fell and all he could do was search. When he found it he also discovered a horrifying secret about the reason as to why the Eloi were so perfect. It was a terrible secret, one that you will only know if you read this book. Believe me, it's quite a twist. All in all, I would have to recommend this book to anyone. It has elements of every genre in it: horror, science fiction, fantasy, drama, and comedy. It is just a really well rounded book that all can enjoy.

What can i say about this book? It's a classic, and that sums everything up. As a young science fiction fan, i couldn't put this book aside and last weekend decided to read it. It was everything i hoped for.

A scientist builds a time machine. Why? Because of mere scientific curiosity. I know that's not enough for the modern fans, but putting the book in its historical contet, we go back to a time where the advancements of science were increasing every day, each scientific field being researched. Of course, Time wasn't the exception.

The time machine leads the scientist and the reader to a dark, bleak future, where the enthusiasm for knowledge has been exchanged by the pleasures of a dull, easy life withou work or preocupations, an utopia for a small group called the Eloi.

But underneath their feet live the Morlocks, a group of cave men who toil for the Eloi and are paid with their meat, for they are cannibals.

Wells surely wasn' an optimist regarding the future of our earth, for the time traveller ends his dark journey at the end of earth's existence, no longer inhabitted by men but by gigantic creatures such as crabs and butterflies.

Most readers might complain about the lack of characterization, thence my four stars, the weakness of the plot, nowadays very common,and even the lack of scientifical explanations, that makes today's science fiction novels so wonderfully complex. but this was a classic among the classics, that gave birth to so many books... A lot of people owing a lot to H. G. Wells, who never got anything for his unique book.

OK, we've all seen at least one of the movie versions of H.G. Well's The Time Machine, but none of them truly compare with the oringinal Sci-Fi classic. The book tells the story of the Time Traveler's journey nearly a million years into the future and the very unexpected and disturbing society he finds there. The Time Traveler formulates various theories based on what he observes of the society, which each, in turn, prove to be oh, so wrong! [Warning: mild spoiler] In the end, his realization of the future is especially terrifying considering it is the result of our current social structure (or H.G. Well's, anyway).

I especially recommend this book for those of us with short attention spans - it's only 140 pages (and that's the large print version). But don't get the wrong idea, this book still has more depth and creativity than most 500 page books i've read and is a great read, even compared with today's science fiction standards.

This book has to be considered a classic considering it spawned a whole genre of time traveling books, movies, and tv shows whcih imitated it. Get a hold of a copy and read it today!

This book is helpful in putting structure around a referral program. We'll be implementing many of this book's suggestions.

I chose to read two books, one right after the other - Endless Referrals by Bob Burg (also reviewed) and Business by Referral by Misner and Davis. Business by Referral is a good follow-on to Endless Referrals. With only a little overlap, Misner and Davis pick up where Burg stops. However, be warned; this book starts off very slowly. Misner and Davis take a VERY academic approach to the entire process. I felt as if I were in grad school again. That having been said, the follow-up element of the Misner and Davis system is the strong point of this book. They have provided a complete set of forms, which they allow to be reproduced. The forms are used for determining where you are in the referral-based business process, finding your strengths and weaknesses, building on your strengths, and strengthening your weak areas. The follow-up system is super. The techniques presented by Misner and Davis will not be integrated into your process as readily as Burg's in Endless Referrals; however, they are vital to a continuing referral-based business process and will serve any business person well for a very long time.

This book is solidly recommended and is a must-read for anyone looking to build a long-term process in referral-based business. The forms that are provided are worth the price of the book, but you'll need to read the book to really understand how to use them.

"Business by Referral" is a cross between a business plan and a referral marketing campaign. It is chocked full of ideas on how to motivate people to provide referals for your business. My favorite is the ingenious GAINS exchange which allows people to interface and learn about each person. GAINS offers an easy way to interview members one-on-one, and learn about their Goals-Accomplishments-interests, networks, skills. A very well done and easy to read book. I recommended it wholeheartedly to any business person (small business or large.)

Hey, wake up and smell the coffee! Japan's academic
establishment is indeed an insular and hostile environment.
All foreign devils who intrude into this realm must be wary
for even if they are invited (by contract) they are invading
the inner sanctum of Nihonjinron nationalism and will be
looked upon as suspect or treated with not so subtle mockery
at every turn. In l994 the totalitarian bureaucrats in
the Ministry of Education (indoctrination and mind control)
fired all foreign professors, including those who presumed
that they had lifetime tenure. Contracts are meaningless.
Imagine the Federal government of the United States suddenly
firing all foreign educators because of 'budget considerations'.
There would be a firestorm of protest from the ACLU to the
Young Republicans Club. But in Japan no one raised even a
whimper of protest as the devil gaijin were shown the door!
Even those gaijin who had shown a humble attempt at social harmony and had mastered the Japanese language were fired.
Educators like Hall had a private audience with then US ambassador
Walter Mondale. They voiced their grievances. He made a mild
protest to the Japanese government and then the matter was
quietly forgotten!! Don't waste your time trying to build an
academic career in Japan. The educational authorities here will
play you along but in the end they'll screw you while howling
gleefully. I wish to God the American government had acted
in a similar fashion in l994 and retaliated by firing most
Japanese instructors in America, but such is not the American
way. Hell, we even train terrorist pilots how to fly jumbo jets.
In Japan, 'Uncle Sam' is often looked upon as 'Uncle Sap' and
America's emphasis on academic freedom and individual rights are
viewed with disgust or contempt. How do I know all of these
things? I am a former university instructor at Japan's most
elite private college, Waseda University. I well understand
Hall's lament on closed minds and intellectual cartels. I was
treated with only slightly veiled contempt by the 'honorable
sensei' at Waseda. Sadly, one
can only fear that Japan will slip into a nationalistic mood
once more, akin to that of the l930's with dire results for
all of Asia and the United States. No, not war. Just having to
endure these bores. More enlightened Japanese
academics are seeking teaching opportunities outside of Japan!
Hall has done a favor to any younger academic contemplating
a teaching career in Japan! Forget it! Stay home and go to
work in a bank.

Like Karel Van Wolferen's the Enigma of Japanese Power, and more recently Alex Kerr's brilliant Dogs and Demons, Cartels of the Mind should be viewed not only for lessons in how foreigners can or cannot relate to Japan, but to understand how the Japanese people are being damaged by the subtle, yet brutal systematic mind control of Japan's Ministry of Education.
This is in response to the review that says:"Speaking of "closedness", there must be much more opportunities in Japan than now, only if any foreign people speak and write Japanese fluently. This must be a certain barrier, but it can be easily overcome if they are humble enough to learn Japanese language, the very essence of Japanese culture."
I have lived in Japan for ten years, am fluent in the language and must state that learning Japanese may have gained me a few half-hearted compliments, but far from being a road in, most foreigners are even discouraged from displaying their abilities. It has helped me in social situations and with academic pursuits, but it has never helped make inroads towards career advancement, or helped penetrate the obstacles that Mr. Hall discusses in his book. He's right on target!

It's hard to find fault in a book that speaks the truth so eloquently..and so courageously. Unfortunately, Japan doesn't have enough people of Ivan Hall's character - people willing to take a stand and raise awareness of what is really happening underneath the tatemae the Japanese have so carefully constructed. Gutless Americans are not a rare breed in Japan, and the fact that many have bought into the fact that the treatment of foreigners as "others" is just shou ga nai (a fact of life) continues to reinforce to the Japanese that there is something intuitively correct about Nihonjinron (the sense of the Japanese as being a special people by blood and the Japanese language a language only masterable by pure Japanese). And gutless American businessmen and longterm residents aren't the only ones to blame; Japanologists and Japanese academics in the U.S. sell-out in equally large numbers, their motives being that they don't want to risk hurting their Japanese colleagues' feelings or chance losing research money or grants. Spineless.

In Cartels, Ivan Hall puts his professional career and reputation on the line for a noble purpose. There is no doubt that he was aware of the negative publicity he would receive in Japan for exposing this deeply engrained social corruption, but his work is larger than him. It was written for all of the foreigners who have had enough of Japan's insular ideology. For those of us who pour our time, energy, and heart into Japan as residents and who deserve nothing less than acknowledgment and treatment as similar people. Ivan Hall hits the nail on the head when he exposes Japanese kokusaika (internationalization) as an attempt not to open its culture up to people of other cultures, but to instead emphasize differences and block access to Japanese culture. Learn English, speak English to people who appear to be Westerners, and you have achieved kokusaika. Allowing Westerners to move to Japan, learn Japanese fluently, and behave like us, though, is unthinkable. Hogwash.

In 1898 the United States went to war with Spain under the slogan "Remember the Maine". While most history textbooks tell us that it was over the Maine that we went to war, in "Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century", Ivan Musicant contends that war with Spain was in actuality a fait accompli.

This is the most significant aspect of Musicant's work. He positions the war as being fought, not because of geopolitical concerns or souring foreign relations, but because of domestic political considerations in both Spain and the United States. Neither side could back down from what was an avoidable war because, which ever government blinked first would have been brought down in its turn.

Beyond this though there isn't much to recommend "Empire by Default" relating to new scholarship on the war. Musicant spouts the consensus line that the war brought America out of its isolationist shell and into the world of international politics. This actually may be true for the post-Civil War period; but, excepting this period and that following World War I, the United States was not an isolationist country. We were as involved in international affairs then as we are now. The prime difference between then and now is that now we typically control the international stage whereas before we were just a member of the cast.

Musicant also is a bit misleading with his title. A book called "Empire by Default" leads me to believe that it will have quite a bit to do with the effects of the war, primarily our acquisition of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Instead Musicant only briefly mentions the struggles we faced following the immediate acquisition of the Philippines and this only in relation to the scandals that the War Department faced in early 1899. On Puerto Rico Musicant is entirely silent.

The majority of the book deals with the operations on the battlefield and the preparations the United States government made for the war. This is interesting history but not very informative. History for history's sake is fine; but, I like to at least try to glean some important information from everything that I read. In this, "Empire by Default" comes up short.

A wonderful military book. This book details the Spanish America war and its environs. it details the important figures like Mahan, Dewey, Roosevelt. It details the rise of guerrilla warfare in Cuba and the Phillipines. Nevertheless I felt it did not eleborate on the importance of the conflict internationally. It iverestimated the Americans as showsing the war to be won before it was fought. The reality of the conflict, the first defeat of a European power by a non-european power(the Russo-Japanese war was in 1905). Although one passage relates the newspaper jingoism detailing the first shots of the rugged americans against the sparkling halmets of the Spanish soldiers, it underestimates the impact of this war in which the Americans whiped european colonism off the face of the American continent.

It takes some skill to hold a reader's attention for 658 pages. Musicant generally succeeds in his narrative of the Spanish-American war. A specialist in naval history, Musicant gives particularly close attention to the naval battles at Manila and Santiago de Cuba. His description of the gallant but hopeless attempt by the Spanish fleet to escape from Santiago is gripping. Other striking sections describe the chaos of the American embarkation at Tampa and the suffering of American troops investing Santiago. In other parts of the book, the detailed accounts of military politics and preparations may lead many readers to skip ahead. The most disappointing part of the book is the last chapter titled "Empire," a very abbreviated commentary on "the dawn of the American century." The book is reasonably well served by its few maps and its black and white photographs.

If you need a book that explains the technology, then buy this book.
If you need a reference guide, then buy this book.
If you need some examples that illustrate the power and limitations of this technology, then you should *definitely* buy this book.
If you are looking for the big picture, concerning the big freaking aspect-oriented programming thing, if you want to read about scientific justification, and if you're looking for proof, then you *might* consider buying this book, but I didn't find it very valuable from that perspective.
If you just want to be entertained, then you might consider buying something else. Maybe something like 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'.

I have read this book with great interest. My conclusion - this is
excellent introduction into new field of information technology. The great
advantage of the book is the "from simple to complicated" style of
presentation that allows to recommend it as a great introductory course for
self study. The extension of Java classes into AspectJ can play the same
revolutionary role for Java developers as some years ago
Microsoft MFC implementation did for Windows 3.1
programmers. The concept of dynamic crosscutting can be enormously useful
for everybody involved in the development of real-life business applications.
The style of presentation allows to start using AspectJ for application
development very quickly. The large number of simple examples is
represented in the way similar to the famous Stroustroup's C++ book.
This book can be recommended to everyone who is interested in the new way
of thinking and the current state of information technology innovations.

I have not succeeded to compile and execute the code from the book due to a
lot of technical problems. The code listings and examples in Kiselev's book
can be recommended as invitation to think and develop you first application
in AspectJ.

I liked that book - it manages to squeeze a lot of new information into relatively small volume - though may be at the expense of the ease of understanding by novices.
Explanations are concise and relying on reader's intelligence, without "I'm teaching you" condescending approach so common for many "methodology" books.

Code examples are useful - if you don't care much to compile them. They rather have to be treated as pseudo-code that illustrates the AOP concepts - and very effectively, I think.

I wish more books like this one were published - short, to the point, respecting both my time and my bookshelf space.

good informative book, definitely recommend for anyone looking to enhance their tuning knowledge.

Outstanding book!! I have over 12 years of professional tuning experience and the information I got from this book was outstanding. I highly recomend it to anyone, wether they are a beginner or a pro!!!

This book was easily read. Most of the material (85%) in the book is very easy to relate too without an engineering degree. The book is beautiful with lots of diagrams and pictures for reference. I'm looking forward to the Advanced Tuning Book and plan to purchase as soon as it is available.

This book should be a follow up of Demura first book. This book still covers basics, which it does well. I would recommend this as a basic or intermediate book.

Photographs are illustrative and techniques are clearly described. Not a tutorial, rather a presentation of 20-30 useful techniques that can be blended into your own program as needed. I felt I got my moneys worth and would recommend this book to a friend.

The Advanced Nunchaku book by Fumio Demura and Dan Ivan has inspired me and respected myself.The information and pictures are excellent for advanced and people who are better then beginners.This book has a lot of solid information and is well written with perfectly easy to follow steps.Have fun!

Klima writes beautifully, but I found the book to convoluted to give it a higher rating. I think he tried to squeeze too many themes and sub-plots into one book, and also that the narrator takes too long to resolve his inner turmoil about his extra-marital relationship. But the book is nonetheless worth reading for the prose, which is exemplary. This is not a book to read in small chunks on trains and planes, and should be tackled under perfect reading conditions.

Throughout much of the last thirty years some of the finest literary fiction has emerged from Eastern Europe. Much of this was due to Philip Roth's championing of the work of Kundera and other Czech writers. Klima is less well known than his former compatriot, but is a more interesting writer.

This novel is charming, a discourse on life, love, censorship, totalitarianism, and Kafka. The tale of an academic forced to give up his academic career to turn to street sweeping, the central character walks through Prague cleaning, and we find ourselves accompanying him. An engaging humane character wins over the reader, and although this novel is slow to start the conversational style slowly engrossed this reader at least.

Klima's work will not satisfy those looking for an easy read. But if you are prepared to be challenged then persevere. I, and many friends, have grown to love it.

But if you enjoyed this novel try one of his early books of short stories, My First Loves, or an overlooked masterpiece of Polish fiction, Tadeusz Konwicki's A Minor Apocalypse.

personally, I'll take it... this is a book that's going to stick in my head for a long while... perhaps a bit hard to get started but with so many little scenes and images that... well, like I mentioned, it's going to stick in my head for a long while...