I watched the TV series based on this book on Iranian TV when i was 3 or 4 years old. As another reviewer mentioned, this book and the TV show are part of Iranian culture now. Iranians usually take themselves very serious, but this book dares to make fun of the Iranian life. After the revolution, it was banned by the Islamic Republic. I even heard that one of the actors who played in the movie went to jail after the revolution because of a scene when his character makes fun of Islam! Ayatollah Khomeini and his entourage, who unfortunately are still ruling in Iran, had a very limited set of mind and they didn't understand what comedy means! But people still had the show on Video tape and and watched it. It was still great. It's a true Iranian classic!

My Uncle Napoleon is a hilarious examination of a part of Iranian society in the 1940's. The character development is the strongest aspect of the book and the situational comedy is also very good. I recently read A Confederacy of Dunces; these two novels share many qualities.

My Uncle Napoleon gives a portrayal of Iran that is very different from what is provided by the mainstream press. While the aristocratic characters belong to a place and time that is long gone, the mannerisms and character types satirized in the book are still present to some degree in many Iranians.

Read this book if you want a good laugh or a glimpse of Iranian culture you could not otherwise get.

My Uncle Napoleon (aka: Daei Jon Napelon) is one of the great Iranian masterpieces. Although the story is sure to inform the non-Iranian reader about WWII era Iran, its true topic is one that anyone can relate to - true love. This book will remind you what it was like to have a crush on someone that was unavailable. Much like Charles Shulz's Charlie Brown and the "Little Red Haired Girl," our novel's protagonist has fallen madly in love with someone that is inaccessible to him. Meanwhile, interfamily politics keep rocking the young man's already unstable boat. What I like most about this book is how heart wrenching emotions and laugh out loud comedy go hand in hand, much like in real life. It is this book's realism that is its greatest asset, everything from the characters to the emotions within this book are a true reflection of real life. Dick Davis has done a magnificent job translating this novel, all of the characters' original dialogue and various ethnic colloquialisms remain intact. As a result this book is a fantastic insight into Iran for the non-Iranian reader. Not to mention that you are sure to win many Brownie points with your Iranian friends/colleagues if they find out that you have read this book. This is because My Uncle Napoleon is a part of Iranian culture that is very personal to most Iranians. It was made into a famous television miniseries in the seventies (alas it is still left untranslated) that to this day is one of the most popular shows in Iranian history. Most Iranians have a worn out set of VHS tapes somewhere in their house that attest to this. So please hesitate no more, and order this wonderful book. I'm sure that you will treasure it.

Ginzburg tells a very touching story of a very close, honest group of friends whose main source of communication is the seemingly lost art of letter writing.

If you read anything by Natalia Ginzburg, read this gorgeous novel set in various houses and flats around Rome, Italy and New Jersey. The story is told in letters, but Ginzburg's characters are not emotionally-confined as one might expect with this genre. This novel examines love and its duration, across years of friendship and parenting.

In this second of three planned volumes, Dick Davis continues in his effort to provide a fairly broad translation of the Shahnameh. He effectively utilizes the prosimetrum form, a mixture of verse and prose (naqqali in Farsi), where verse is used to accentuate periods of heightened tension.

In addition to being a fine literary accomplishement, this series of volumes is quite beautiful and heavily illustrated throughout with reprints from 16th and 17th century manuscripts. The books are very sturdy and make for excellent display.

I recently saw this book as well as the first volume in the planned three-volume set in the Bay Area in connection with an exhibit of art work from various Shahnameh manuscripts currently on display. In all fairness to the publisher and the author , it should be stated that this is a magnificently illustrated art book, not simply a text. The full-color enlargement pictures of miniature fragments from medieval Persian manuscipts are breathtakingly beautiful, and the high price no doubt reflects the fact that this book was a masterpiece and very expensive to produce. It is exquisitely produced and for those who can afford it well worth the cost. The rest of us should urge our public libraries to acquire it as it gives an in depth knowledge of this ancient history which very few of us are even aware of. This book would surely be a collectors prized possession.

A great historical account of family life as the wilderness of the Mississippi Delta was slowly transformed into an agilcultural society and a place where many call home. This book takes you back to how hard life was for those who paved the way to where we are today.

As a native of Mississippi and a woman, I appreciate the historical value of this story. I loved the fact that the reader knows Mrs. Hamilton was not a professional writer (she says in the intro that she had only written letters before Helen Dick Davis asked her to write out her memoirs), but nonetheless, she eloquently and honestly told her story. Although this book is an autobiography, it reads much like fiction. It is an enthralling story and held my attention like few autobiographies or biographies do.

Davis shows that Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is not just a celebratory chronicle of Persian monarchy, but an examination of the relationship and duties between ruler and ruled. My first encounter with the Shahnameh was in high school where I was informed that the story of Rostam and Sohrab indicates an Iranian penchant for treachery. A Viking romance with essentially the same story somehow does not indicate the same for Norwegians.

It is hoped that Epic & Sedition will bring more attention to this great piece of world literature or at the very least dispell some of the more extreme Orientalist analyses of the poem.

Dick Davis provides a full verse translation of one of the principle stories of the Shahnameh. This translation of the Legend of Seyavash is an excellent place to start into the Shahnameh.

I have personally purchased more of these books than any other human being. I like to keep a stash of them because they are simultaneously poinant, poetic and full of wisdom. I find that the cadence of her speech remains as beautiful in translation. "The Little Virtues" is a timeless book that speaks to the wonders and concerns of today, although the stories it contains were written earlier in the mid-twentieth century.

I have been looking for a version of the shah nameh that both adults and children could enjoy, for years. I was first exposed to these stories as a child by my grandfather and I have never forgotten them. The Heroism, Romance and Tragedy that one is exposed to in these stories is truly exhilarating. It is simply but lyrically translated.The book also has beautiful reproductions of the persian paintings on the shah nameh which are an added treat.
I eagerly await the two volumes which are yet to come.

In this first of three planned volumes, Dick Davis begins his effort to provide a fairly broad translation of the Shahnameh. He effectively utilizes the prosimetrum form, a mixture of verse and prose (naqqali in Farsi), where verse is used to accentuate periods of heightened tension.

In addition to being a fine literary accomplishement, this series of volumes is quite beautiful and heavily illustrated throughout with reprints from 16th and 17th century manuscripts. The books are very sturdy and make for excellent display.

I recently saw this book as well as the second volume in the planned three-volume set in the gift shop at the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., in connection with an exhibit of art work from various Shahnameh manuscripts currently on display. In all fairness to the publisher, it should be pointed out that this is a gloriously illustrated art book, not simply a text. The full-color enlargements of miniature fragments from medieval Persian manuscipts are breathtakingly beautiful, and the high price no doubt reflects the fact that this book was very expensive to produce. It is exquisitely produced and for those who can afford it well worth the cost. The rest of us should urge our public libraries to acquire it!

An enjoyable read. Having no knowledge of the language in which the original was written, it's impossible to tell how true to the original the translation is, but I found this English verse rendition flowed very well.

The story is essentially an exemplary tale of how to lead a good, ascetic life (the denial of "the Self") and how few can actually achieve that. It is replete with illustrative yarns, as the hoopoe (the leader of the birds), counters the other birds' foibles, and their excuses not to make the journey. Therefore the theme is a familiar one - how to strive for and achieve spiritual fulfilment by use of the allegory of a difficult journey. Yet it is written with such clarity, wit and insight, it's nonetheless a refreshing read.

Even though I am a decendant of Farid Ud Din Attar, I can say without bias that this book is excellent. A must read, filled with many lessons and hidden analects.

I shed tears of sorrow when I read the story of the grand Shaikh, a master of the outward and inward Islamic sciences who, tortured by the pangs of love's uncontrolable fire, recounces his faith. What follows is so beautifull that it can only be captured by reading the book!!!

This is a collection of the scripts from Season 12 of Doctor Who, Tom Baker's first season. When one encounters this sort of material, it's worthwhile to see how much value-added there is. Is this just a simple reproduction of the scripts, or is there a significant amount of additional material? I am pleased to report that there is. For starters, the scripts themselves indicate the changes between the camera scripts and what actually made it on the air. But besides that, there is a season overview that discusses the casting of Tom Baker, the addition of Harry Sullivan as a character, and how the season was planned.

Then, with the individual scripts, the book provides background along the lines of the DWM Archive features, covering the development of the scripts, the production team, the production details, and a brief critique.

There are also numerous footnotes associated with the scripts, and my chief complaint with the book is that these are stuck at the end of each episode rather than at the bottom of individual pages, necessitating either a lot of flipping back and forth or a good memory if you choose to wait until after reading the episode to see what the footnotes say.

However, that's basically a quibble on what is an excellent book and a significant addition to my Doctor Who collection.

Alot of people ask "why a script book?" I wondered myself until I got it.
It includes the complete shooting scripts including dialog & scenarios not used in the finished product.
It also gives behind the scenes insight to the filming of Tom Baker (Doctor #4's) First Season as the Doctor.
If you are a fan of the show, I would highly recommend it to you!

Not so much another retelling of a year of "Doctor Who" as the ultimate reference guide to Season 12 of the series, "Doctor Who: The Scripts, Tom Baker 1974/5" tells virtually everything you could want to know about the production and execution of "Doctor Who" in the first year of Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor. Included here are the scripts (complete with changes made during shooting) for all 20 episodes across the 5 stories of the year, story histories, production notes, casting choices, transmission information, music notes, prop histories and inventories, scene sketches and maps, reproductions of newspaper clippings, notes on potential but unmade stories, changes made for American TV, audience reaction polls, and a ton of footnoting for just about every reason imaginable.

More than any other behind-the-scenes science fiction book I've read, this one really tells you what tough choices and concessions had to be made, why they chose person A over person B, what got cut for budgetary reasons (a common problem with Doctor Who) and what concessions (or lack thereof) were made for continuity. This book is a massive undertaking, and, indeed, authorship is spread between numerous people. If there is a question you want answered about Season 12 of Doctor Who, the odds are really good it's in here somewhere.

While I find it hard to recommend this book to the casual Doctor Who fan, it's invaluable to the die-hard Whovian or the student of film or TV production. This is simply the finest production book I've read and I dearly hope to see them tackle other seasons in the same way in the future.