Welcome to "Animal Farm" as performed within the setting of the Soviet National Writers Union during the communist era. We all know the AF credo: "All men are born equal--some more so than others" could have been made to order for the bloated pompous Soviet bureaucracy of yore. Fur Hat was my first introduction to Vladimir Voinovich: after reading this delightful satire on corruption/cronyism/toadyism within Party machinations, I nominate Voinovich on a par with Vonnegut. Readers will meet lots of Party types in this story: typical system hacks (Pyotr Lukin), over-decorated pompous military types (Karetnikov) and blatant anti-Semites (nearly every character in the book). Even our hapless protagonist, Yefim R, is married to a devoted Party member, "...but underneath her bra she wore a cross..." All kinds of deceit and posturing go on on a daily basis..the politics and pecking order of the national Writers Union come front & center as smug leaders pass out fur hats to its members, according to their rank and file within the group. Of course, celebrated writers who've won (dubiously so, albeit) titles and accolades get the top fur hats like reindeer and rabbit. Our hero, Yefim, receives the lowest ranking hat: fluffy tomcat. Poor Yefim. He is not disrespected by the powers-that-be because of his mediocre talent, but because he "writes only of good men challenging earthly elements." Union officials don't approve of Yefim's "writing about decent people & pretending there's no such thing as the Soviet state, or district and regional committees." Yefim's determined efforts to get a higher-ranking hat for himself ("even rabbit would be better!!") unfold into sublime absurdity as he goes from one Party official to another, encountering toadyism/nepotism/bribery/euphemisms and underhanded tactics. "Even on an iceberg, a Soviet collective will have its careerists, stool pigeons and at least one KGB agent." An exiled scribbler from the Soviet Union himself (1980), Voinovich rips on the Russian mentality that delight in military over-decoration and its writers that write just to receive titles and headlines. And international headlines themselves does our Yefim make as he finally loses his temper with one especially dull Party hack. When the western media ggets hold of this incident, they blow it all out of proportion (as western media is wont to do). Then our hero gets blacklisted as rumors of his "treason" spread like wildfire (the perfect example how rampant paranoid delusions become in police states). The western media dubs Yefim a dissident and builds his literary reputation up far beyond even his own imaginings! You'll have to read the book to see how the 'fur hat debacle' turns out. DANGER: THIS BOOK IS AN EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY BASHER! ENJOY!

Propelled by the need for recognition, a Soviet writer loses all perspective in this saga of his craving for the "fur hat" which is awarded by his writers organization. When he finds his hat will be common "fluffy tomcat" he is unhinged and tries to manipulate all the channels possible to him to get a fox hat...or perhaps even wildcat? The pathos of Soviet life and the repression of art takes its toll on the writers and the artists involved here, and the making of a martyr is all wrapped up in the most gut-wrenching humor imaginable.

Vladimir Voinovich is the premier Russian wit of the 20th century. This novella is fresh and sharp, with a hint of the Soviet sarcasm that Voinovich is all too famous for. A good, quick read--and a rollicking good time!

Nabokov and Pushkin are among my favorite authors, both having an excellent command of the language, the media, and the art. But Nabokov's Pushkin is too literal to be any good. James Falen's trans. is far superior, perhaps the best, and it's worth while to read the very best Pushkin. Ironically, Nabokov was fretted that anyone other than his son would ever translate his words; I think Pushkin would have felt the same if he saw Nabokov's translation of his masterpiece. Falen, while also literal, also is metered and rhymes. Nabokov's thuds. Read Nabokov's great novels (Pnin, Lolita, King Queen & Knave, Bend Sinister, Invitation to a Beheading, Despair, etc.) but leave Pushkin to Falen, not Nabokov.

I'm a Russian Language and Literature major in Yonsei Univ. in Korea. Having lived in Moscow for around 3 years, I'd heard there a lot about Pushkin and read many of his famous works. The most prestigious of his, however, must be "Onegin." It's a great mixture of verse and prose in its form. If possible, try to read this in Russian, as well. This long poetical prose was written for 8 years and the ending rhyme perfectly matches for the entire line until the very end. Compared to others, it is definitely a conspicuous and brilliant one. "Onegin" can be the author himself or yourself. The love between Onegin and TaTyana is neither the cheap kind of love that often appears in any books nor the tragic one that is intended to squeze your tears. As a literature, this book covers not only love between passionate youth, but also a large range of literary works in it, which can tell us about the contemporary literature current and its atmosphere. Calling Onegin "My friend", Pushkin, the author, shows the probability and likelihood of the work. Finally, I'm just sorry that the title has been changed into English. The original name must be "Yevgeni Onegin(¬¦¬Ó¬Ô¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬Û ¬°¬ß¬Ö¬Ô¬Ú¬ß)." If you are a literature major or intersted in it, I'd like to recommand you read this. You can't help but loving the two lovers and may reread it, especially the two correspondences through a long period of time. Only with readng this book, you'll also learn a huge area of the contemporary literature of the 19th century from the books mentioned in "Onegin" that take part as its subtext. Enjoy yourself!

I'm so happy that I'm Russian and I could read this masterpiece in original language. This is one of the best Russian books ever written, and it is the example of all-time classics. Evgeniy Onegin is so extremely well-written, so original, so interesting, so intelligent. If you want to understand Russian people, you should live in Russia for years. But if you want just to approach to understanding them read some Russian literature. Your first authors may be Tolstoy or Dostoyevskiy, but I should recommend reading Pushkin at first because he is the most Russian of all Russian writers.

The only thing that may make your reading not so great is the fact that you will read it in translation. I have never read any but I think that if you like (or dislike) one of them you should try some others.

I know that Nabokov didn't translate it using the verses (and Pushkin's verses are so great), but I think it is the most punctual one. So maybe you should try to read exactly it (especially if you have already read some not so punctual translation but in verse form).

Anyway Evgeniy Onegin is one of the greatest books ever written!!!

If you remember Woody Guthrie, or even if you don't, this is a must. What fun to sing along with this book... " Bling Blang, hammer with my hammer, Zing-o zang-o Cutting with my saw" The sheet music is even printed on the inside of the jacket! Although the collage pictures are not to my taste, the joy of having fun singing this with my baby more than compensates. Kids will probably enjoy the children's artwork at the end of the book more than I.

While this book does not come with the bonus CD that 'Howdi Do' does, it is a great book with wonderful illustrations. But do your child a favor and also purchase the 'Howdi Do' book, you will then get the music CD performed by Band of Weeds, giving a childish musical romp to three of Woody's wonderful songs, including "Bling Blang", by far one of my children's favorites.

This is my 3 year old son's favorite book. Our whole family sings and dances as we read it. My son knows the whole thing and loves to pretend he is hammering and sawing. Buy it, make up a tune, sing it, and enjoy!

If you would like to see a book of some of the games of a great player, you may be interested in this book. But a few words of warning first.

#1.) This book came out BEFORE Kramnik won the chess World Championship, so already it is a little dated.

#2.) This is some of the dryest text you may ever see in your life. (Few, if any good stories.) In fact, if you suffer from insomnia, this may be a good book for you. I also get the impression that Kramnik either accepted factually that he was very talented, or he is one of the most conceited individuals on the face of the earth.

#3.) Many of the Soviet books are "ghost-written" by other chess players - trainers, analysts and such. I get the impression that this is what happened here. (A few of the errors in analysis are too basic to have been perpetrated by Kramnik. Indeed, I. Damsky is probably responsible for the majority of this book.)

Having given the above harsh criticisms, you may get the idea that I hate this book. This is simply not the case. I am a Master who makes a great part of his living from teaching chess. I consider it my responsibility to give as an honest review of every chess book as I possibly can. I also feel it my duty to reflect what many of my students and contacts on the Internet have told me about this book.

If you are looking for a book with some of the best annotations by a top player available, this would be a good book for you to choose. (Many of the annotations are gleaned from magazines where Kramnik had a direct hand in reviewing the games.)

What this book lacks in great stories, and perhaps quality, it makes up for in quantity. You get almost 200 deeply annotated games by the current World Champion. You will get one of the most COMPLETE chess educations available in one book by carefully studying ALL of these games. (And I estimate it would take the average player nearly two years to do this!)

Warning: Most of these games are highly technical. Many of my students decribed them as "dry and boring." (In the style of Capablanca and Karpov.) The average player may not have the skill to appreciate just how hard it is to play like this. Careful study of these games will definitely improve your chess.

....

Kramnik has defeated Kasparov in their 16-game match a few months ago.

I thought that this simple fact would enlighten potential purchasers.

Kramnik's games are so beautiful and his annotations so insightful that I am forced to award his book five stars. Be warned, however, you will learn next to nothing of his childhood from the text. For those of us interested in the human side of chess, this is a major fault.

As many reviewers have said, the very monotony of Aleksandra's last diary gives it an eerie significance. However, beyond that, there is little to recommend it. Entries, spaced one to a page, mostly consist of a single brief paragraph, and the content is boring-- notes on the weather, her health, the health of her children. "Sat for 10. m[inutes] on the balkony [sic]." It is a very short book, and a very quick read. Only for the true Romanov fanatic (of which I am one), I'm afraid. Aleksandra's letters and the letters & diaries of the others who shared her captivity are far more interesting.

Alix's diary is a most important document,
it reveals her , but in a very different way to say
how her letters do.in her diary, it is of chief importance
to note the things she leaves out, and how laconic the
text itself is.this tells as much about her at the time
than had she written pages about her feelings and experiences.
This is an extremely important book, the last page is
agonising - the "ex-Tsarina" has written in a fine and clear
hand "July 17th" - but the page is blank. We have to read
what Alexandra didnt write - between the lines.her last
diary reveals her final states of mind, her humaness, her fear,
in those last terrible words, in the entry for July 16th.
Alix has written her own memorial here, and it is a just tribute.

It is ironic that, being the most private of persons, many of the last Tsarinia's most intimate thoughts are now available in several books, including this recently declassified diary of her final days. However, readers who search out this book are probably sympathetic, and will find her daily entries of interest and sometimes moving. Alexandra wasn't writing a best-selling novel -- simply a daily account of the tedium of their imprisonment, and how she, her family, and attendants passed the time -- but for those interested in Alix, her husband, and children, this book is a valuable link to their final days. The introduction, essay by Jonathan Brent, and other sections are all appropriate accompaniment. It will be interesting to see if excerpts from the children's diaries also are eventually published; several books compiled and edited by Russian archivists already have quoted from some of those diaries.

If you are interested in the last tsar and his family, I invite you to contact me at whitcombj@juno.com.

Required for an IT class. Written in 1998, four years old, you'll find lots of outdated material. Some of it is still timely, mostly the theory stuff.

This is a must-read for anyone who wants an introduction to Information Systems. This must be a prescribed reading for Masters in IS. The book is very relevent even today in the digital era. It covers different aspects of IS from development to managing, local to global. And it is very easy to read too!

This is a required book for a graduate course I'm taking. It is full of timely information and includes numerous case studies from real companies. These studies help to integrate the information provided so it is more easily understood. The book is not an easy read; no one should expect to be able to skim through it. There is simply too much information for that to be successful. But for a serious student, who will take the time to read the book, it is an excellent resource.

The thing I noticed most of all about this book is the strength the author has is creating original and interesting characters - from the main character, who is overly honest, wry and sarchastic yet is deeply affected by the war, to the glue-sniffing former friend who is so out of it that he wants to join the Crotian army because he'll be paid more. I don't think this book could have been written in English-it has the feeling of a translation from Serbian (that's a good thing).

I'm only 17 but do to the recent activities in Yugoslavia, I've been thrown into its path. Arsenijevic is a writer who beautifully entwines comedy and tragedy. You are often laughing and crying because of the ambivalence. If you have been paying attention to the horrors going on in Kosovo right now, you somehow can understand, through reading, how those people fighting to remain normal feel right now. A must read. You'll never put it down.

This is a great book about methaphysical Belgrade during past ten years.

I was looking for a guide to recent rock recordings. This was not it. Most of the groups I looked up weren't listed (P.O.D., Incubus, et. al.). You'd be better off just going to their website or reading reviews on amazon.

For anyone who wants to build a collection of the best popular music on CD this is a really useful guide. The Editorial Review (above) gives you a good guide to the structure of the book, so I won't repeat that.

The digital revolution, with a great deal of music now readily available in a lightweight compact format has created a new dilemma--what to buy.

An artist you like, say Diana Ross or Miles Davis, might have sixty or a hundred albums listed in a catalog or on a Web site. If you wanted to build a music collection that contained just one example of their best work, which of these would you buy?

This book will help you make that decision and, most importantly, help you avoid buying duds that you will later regret.

The question has been raised as to whether this book is necessary, as the Web site version is fuller, not to mention free. I guess that answer to that is that it depends on what you want it for. The book is a handy reference that you can read in bed, in the bathroom, take with you to the music store, read on the beach etc. So you don't have to buy it, but if do want a print version, here it is. It would also be (or is) a valuable reference work for any library, radio station, print publication, or as a starting point for anyone doing any kind of research into poular music. I imagine that it would also be indispensable for anyone who purchases music for any kind of musical library or collection.

It probably isn't so great if you want information on recently released music. After all, it takes a while for an initial critical evaluation to take root. Just consider how many Grammy winning or best selling albums start to look quite shabby once the initial acclaim wears off. Where is M.T. Hammer now? But for a survey of the whole library of recorded popular music, you can't beat it.

This is THE guide to 20th century popular music. It examines the merit of recordings _within the context of their genres_. Useful star ratings are combined with (usually) paragraph-length reviews. Good artist biographies are also included. ...

It is odd that no one else has noted this. But this book is specific to pool checkers, even though he calls the game American Checkers throughout and has separate books with the name Pool Checkers in the title. Key differences between regular, ACF checkers and Pool checkers: (1) regular pieces can capture both backwards and forwards in pool checkers, but only forward in regular checkers; and (2) kings in pool checkers can move any number of squares along a diagonal; in regular checkers, kings can move only one square backwards and forwards.

If you don't play pool checkers, this book is not for you.

A very useful book to understand how translate a postion in a winning position(if it's possible). You can learn to understand how implement your idea to try to win a match. At the same time you learn to avoid not strong positions. A very beautiful book.

Vladimir Kaplan`s second masterpiece "The Key to Sucess of American Checkers" is a must-reed for anyone seeking to understand checker law. The principles of play are worked in different types of position. There is an invaluable chapter about the complicated strategy of center encirclement.. This book helped move my skill at checkers to completely new heghts.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin remained a dedicated Communist to the last days of his life. The last two years of his life, partly covered by this collection of Lenin speeches, etc., he was not completely sane. The details of this may be found in Dmitri Volkogonov's excellent bio of Lenin--a "must." To the end of his life, Lenin favored an ever larger Soviet Union; a "Soviet of the Whole World," as he declared on many occasions; he never retreated an inch from the idea of the dictatorship of the Communist Party, though he loathed the bureaucratism that had sprung up within it. Perhaps his insanity prevented him from acknowledging that he himself was responsible for this concentration of power at the top in the hands of a few. Of course, Lenin feared the growing power of Stalin. Yet it was he, Lenin, who had created this Frankenstein Monster (e.g., by appointing Josef Djugashvili (Stalin) General Secretary of the Party in 1922). This book, in a sense, attempts to "pardon" Lenin. However, as Volkogonov and many others have pointed out (esp. in Russia since the demise of Communism there), Lenin's behavior, including that near the end of his life, remains unpardonable for its brutality and fanatical commitment to Socialism and Communism. Lenin was a hopeless elitist whose self-assuredness and arrogance, disguised with mock humility, knew no bounds.

"Five years after the victory of the October 1917 revolution in Russia, V.I. Lenin waged his final political struggle.

"He was fighting to maintain the communist course with which the Bolshevik Party had led the workers and peasants to power over the landlords and capitalists of the former tsarist empire and defeated the invading armies of fourteen nations.

"At issue were the burning questions of the day:

***How to forge a union of workers and peasants republics and defend the rights of historically oppressed nationalites

***The basis for the New Economic Policy and its place in the world struggle for socialism

***Strengthening the alliance between the working class and the peasantry

***Defending the state monopoly of foreign trade

"This book compiles the speeches, articles, letters, and memos in which Lenin took up the battle inside the Bolshevik Party. Many of these documents were suppressed for more than three decades by the murderous regime, headed by Joseph Stalin, that represented the bureaucratic ruling caste. Some appear here for the first time in English, including one never before published in any language" (from the back cover).

Vladimir Lenin, perhaps the most important historical figure in the twentieth century, not only fought against the tyranny of the capitalist class, but he also tried to fight against the growing bureaucratism in the Soviet Union that eventually led to Stalin's takeover of power. We see here his fight to spread the revolution and make it a truly a world revolution, not confined to a backwards country in Europe. He wanted to free mankind from subservience to a ruling class. The new biography of Lenin, written by a former Stalinist-turned-capitalist, is completely rebuked here. The biographer Volkoganov is a typical bourgeous seeking to denounce anything that smacks of true revolution and is quick to make friends with his new masters by writing his attack on Lenin. I suggest that anyone truly interested in Lenin read Lenin's works, and for a biography, read Trotsky's book on Lenin.