Being perfectly honest, I bought this book because a relative was featured. But the more I looked at the photos, the more fascinated I became! I ended up reading the book from cover to cover! One could feel that this was a true labor of love for Mr. Freeman! That he traveled all over this country visiting quilters, many he did not know before he arrived on their doorsteps. The African American networking among quilters was apparent as one quilter would recommend another, often in another state, whom Mr. Freeman should visit. The book is a true reference book on quilting. I learned about the major quilting patterns and saw so many varieties of the patterns. It is heartening to know that this folk art is still being practiced. Would that more people could see these quilts! There should be more exhibits. Surely many young people would be inspired to quilt. This is a art that must not fade away!!

This book is truly awesome. Although I have almost every quiltmaking book in print, the photos here are of the most unique and breathtakingly beautiful I've ever seen. And the accompanying stories about the quiltmakers are at once inspirational and humbling ... e.g., a quilt depicting the lynching of a woman's father, and explanation of how neighbors were afraid to attend the funeral. (Don't let that discourage you; most of the quilts are uplifting and gorgeous by any standards -- and the few sad ones are incredibly moving and meaningful.)

I can't imagine anyone not loving this book. Frankly, I was so awed by the gifted artists whose work is contained therein that my first thought was that African Americans have all the talent and creativity (and, no, I'm not an African American). Even if you're not moved by the stories/bios (although I can't imagine not being), you've *GOT* to be awed and inspired by the extraordinarily beautiful and truly unique quilting, which cannot help but enable you to improve your own designs.

I wish that there were more stars than 5 ... This book deserves the highest rating imaginable.

Influenced by his love of quilts, photographer Roland Freeman acts as anthrolopologist and quilting historian in this beautiful, comprehensive book. Featuring full color photos of African-American quilts and quilters and well-researched text, this book is a must-read even for non-quilting enthusiasts. The history and cultural heritage of a people have been preserved in this beautiful artform. I found myself moved after reading this book. You will be too.

Maybe it is because I am from Revere, maybe it is because I am an Italian American, maybe it is because I am a sensitive woman, surely it is because Roland Merullo is an exceptional writer!

I felt like I was reading my history, and the history of my family as I was reading this story. The characters are all people I grew up with, the same insecurities, the same hopes and dreams, the same tragedies, and Mr. Merullo captured the heart and soul of life in a small town in America perfectly!

I absolutely love this story, these characters and I am so Proud that I am a Revere person.

I beg you to read this story and not laugh out loud and cry with your soul!

I don't know how to thank Mr. Merullo enough for his insight, his humor; his soul must know my soul and I am forever in his debt.

Enjoy,
Debbi :)

"Revere Beach, In Those Days" is the beautiful story of young Anthony Benedetto's spiritual journey that confirms his love for his Italian-American family even as he must cut many ties with the place and people of his childhood. It is the kind of rare book that made me want to reread it immediately. It would be a great choice for a book club; there are so many levels to it to be discussed, pondered. Anthony's unforgettable Grandfather has an idea for his grandson that helps him find his way in life. Merullo's idea for America is to rediscover the spiritual realm and to temper its hunger for the material one. How appropriate that Merullo is a Massachusetts writer. His story is told so elegantly that he makes masterful writing feel easy. One can only hope that he will write more books like this one. Encore!

This really is a wonderful book. The question is, what makes it so wonderful, and such a pleasure to read? First, I think it is the sensibility of the author, which is at once wise and so lively as to seem like life on steroids. Also, I think that it comes from experience that is perfectly perceived, and the experience here is so essentially American. The characters are alive and touching, and there were times, in reading this book, when I found myself overwhelmed by the hard, real, recognizable humanity that Merullo has portrayed. This, surely, is the true test of any book. This novel reafirms my belief in American fiction.

A personal favourite. Captures admirably the absurdity of it all. Contains gems like 'Even as he obsessively asks himself why he is not loved, the amorous subject lives in the belief that the loved object does love him but does not tell him so.' Also has what is probably the best paragraph ever written on jealousy: 'As a jealous man, I suffer four times over: because I am jealous, because I blame myself for being so, because I fear my jealousy will wound the other, because I allow myself to be subject to a banality: I suffer from being excluded, from being aggressive, from being crazy and from being common.'

This book is not only about 'love' or 'lovers',but also about life and being. With sentences down to earth, and easy to understand, Barthes displays the essence of postmodern thoughts. By reading these fragments, you will be able to understand difficult philosophical terms not as pedantic knowledge, but as the maxim that you'd be relied upon for your own contemplation.

Barthes dissects Love,analyzing it whit the painstaking precision of a skilled forensic.Here you see what one feels when Love,the very hope of it,is like a fallen leaf in a cold winter morning.This is a very sad book,but illuminating,even amusing,in some parts;but alas,fragments are all that remains,when one loves too long in vain.

Before anything else is said, it should be known that this edition is a prose translation, which does not retain most poetic characteristics of the original poem although for a modern English reader this is probably the best edition yet: fairly clear and still interesting in its own way. Orlando Furioso is a 16th century epic poem dealing with Charlamgne's wars against the "Saracens" who had (if we are to take the poem as historical fact) even reached the point of besieging the city of Paris. Of course,the book was not meant by its author to be historically accurate in any way, merely a parody of chivalric court legends as the book description says. Whoever reads this book and fails to sense irony on every page, even crude jokes in some parts clearly does not understand what he is reading in the least. But Orlando Furioso is not a parody of just chivalric court legends; it also pokes fun at the Illiad, popular tales and even common peasant stories. The heads (complete with helmets) sliced in two by a single sword blow are taken from The Illiad, in which Greek champions perform similar feats, although in Orlando Furioso, literally hundreds of men meet their end in this manner to the point of becoming amusing in a way. And I found it strange to notice a very clear similarity between the story told by an innkeeper in the book and the prologue to a translation of a 13th century version of the Arabian Nights (translated by Hussain Haddawy). Ariosto had no possible way to know of the existence of the Nights, but still it is interesting to see how truly close the two incidents are: In Orlando, two men who have given up on the possibility of women being chaste, take one woman and watch her day and night, yet she still deceives them in their own bed. In the Nights, a demon has locked his wife inside an impenetrable castle, yet she still deceives him as he sleeps right next to her in bed. The two events are described similarly, with the same irony (being meant as a joke which the author denies believing in in the least). The book is funny only in the way reading Candide is funny. This is simply another example of what makes the book enjoyable. During the reading of Orlando, somewhere about 3/4 of the way into the book, the reader may wish that it would end right there and that two characters; Bradamant and Ruggiero should get married and finish the story. But the continuation of their separation and further adventures is just another parody of common legends, exaggerated out of proportion. In the end, with all its jokes and its surprisingly individualistic narrative technique, its more serious scenes (the most touching of which is when a woman named Isabel is killed) forms into a large picture, with a great deal of good atmosphere, such that when it ends (although the reader may not have been touched very much during its reading) will want it to go on.

Easy enough to refer to a prose translation as "appropriate for the masses," but the fact remains that when a translator is freed from the necessity of forcing a poem to conform to rhyme and meter in a second language, he has access to a broader range of vocabulary and is therefore more able to remain true to the spirit of the original (as Waldman deftly explains in his introduction). Is it any wonder that this work has received so little attention in America when past translations have been so hidebound and pedagogical? Orlando Furioso is anything but a sing-songy, staid old verse.

In Waldman's translation are to be found both the idealised virtues of chivalry and sometimes startlingly lowbrow humor, all wrapped up in an epic tale of adventure, romance and magic. By providing an unabridged translation (another shortcoming of more traditional editions), and by attempting to capture the true flavor of the work rather than slavishly abiding by the dictates of classical poetic rules, he has presented to English readers for the first time a tale that rivals the epics of Homer in its scope and aspiration. And for sheer entertainment value (coupled with the elitism of Ariosto's sly jabs at the very people for whom the work was composed), this work is all but impossible to beat-- his original audience, after all, was not the literati, but the idle rich.

Ariosto was one of the giants of Renaissance literature, and this was his footprint. Grand, touching, funny, witty, stirring -- as Dryden said of Chaucer, here is the world's plenty. Some of the greatest poets of the next two centuries (Tasso, Spenser, Milton) explicitly attempted to overdo him, and only sometimes succeeded; Byron took as much from Ariosto as he did from Pulci.

But don't read this on that account. Read it because it's a delight from start to finish. War, love, and chivalry are the poet's themes, and they're here in all their forms.

I don't know Italian, but everyone I've asked who would know assures me Reynolds's translation captures not just the essence but the spirit of the original.

(Ignore the reviews that claim that this is a prose translation -- they are from another translation.)

Over the years, I have worked with dozens of small-to-midsize companies, all of which were in dire need of improving one or more of the following: cost reduction, culture change, customer retention, cycle-time reduction, defect reduction, market-share growth, productivity improvement, and product-service development. You can thus understand why I was curious to know to what extent (if any) Six Sigma could be helpful to small-to-midsize companies.

By now we have become well aware of the success of Six Sigma initiatives at major international corporations such as ABB, Allied Signal/Honeywell, Black & Decker, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Federal Express, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Kodak, Motorola, SONY, and Toshiba. Once having read this book, I am convinced that -- with certain modifications -- Six Sigma could perhaps be even more valuable to small-to-midsize companies which, obviously, have fewer resources. What exactly is Six Sigma? The authors provide this definition: "A comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of consumer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes."

The authors identify what they call "hidden truths" about Six Sigma:

1. You can apply Six Sigma to many different business activities and challenges -- from strategic planning to operations to customer service -- and maximize the impact of your efforts.

2. The benefits of Six Sigma will be accessible whether you lead an entire organization or a department. Moreover, you'll be able to scale your efforts, from tackling specific problems to renewing the entire business.

3. You'll be prepared to achieve breakthroughs in these untapped gold mines of opportunity -- and to broaden Six Sigma beyond the realm of the engineering community.

4. You'll gain insights into how to strike the balance between push and pull -- accommodating people and demanding performance. That balance is where real sustained improvement is found. On either side -- being "too nice" or forcing people beyond their understanding and readiness -- lie merely short-term goals or no results at all.

5. The good news is, Six Sigma is a lot more fun than root canal. Seriously, the significant financial gains from Six Sigma may be exceeded in value by the intangible benefits. In fact, the changes in attitude and enthusiasm that come from improved processes and better-informed people are often easier to observe, and more emotionally rewarding than dollar savings.

The authors organize their material as follows: Part One: An Executive Summary of Six Sigma; Part Two: Gearing Up and Adapting Six Sigma to Your Organization; Part Three: Implementing Six Sigma -- The Roadmap and Tools; and finally, The Appendices: Practical Support. According to Jack Welch, "The best Six Sigma projects begin not inside the business but outside it, focused on answering the question -- how can we make the customer more competitive? What is critical to the customer's success?...One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us."

If anything, it is even more important for small-to-midsize companies (than it is for the GEs of the world) to answer these two questions correctly and then track and compare their performance in terms of what their customers require. The well-publicized objective of Six Sigma is to achieve practically-perfect quality of performance (ie 3.4 defects for every million activities or "opportunities") and this is indeed an ambitious objective. Collins and Porras, authors of Built to Last, would probably view it as the biggest of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). In that book, they assert that the most successful and admired companies have the ability -- and willingness -- to simultaneously adopt two seemingly contrary objectives at the same time. Stability and renewal, Big Picture and minute detail, creativity and rational analysis -- these forces, working together,, make organizations great. This "we can do it all" approach they call the "Genius of the And."

Pande, Neuman, and Cavanagh suggest that all manner of specific benefits can result from following "the Six Sigma way." For example, Six Sigma generates sustained success, sets a performance goal for everyone, enhances value to customers, accelerates the rate of improvement, promotes learning and "cross-pollination", and executes strategic change. All organizations (regardless of their size or nature) need to avoid or escape what the authors refer to as the "Tyranny of Or." Here in a single volume is about all they need to seek "practically-perfect quality of performance." Whether or not they ultimately reach that destination, their journey en route is certain to achieve improvement which would otherwise not be possible.

If you're looking for the definative guide to Six Sigma, you've just found it. From fundamentals to advanced program management, its all here. I first read Pande and Holpp's little 87-page book "What is Six Sigma." The impressive guide convinced me that I needed to pick up a copy of their "The Six Sigma Way." I'm really glad that I did. As a management consultant, I can say without reservation that the ideas expressed in this book are applicable to almost every manager -- regardless of whether or not they are currently involved in a formal Six Sigma program. In addition to enhancing quality, the Six Sigma framework is very useful in identifying and removing irrelevant processes from your product or service operations. Saving your Company both time and money... and freeing up your employees for more value-added work. In addition, I would also recommend Hammer and Champy's "Reengineering the Corporation" and Ashkenas, Kerr, and Ulrich's "The GE Work-Out." Overall Grade: B+/A.

I found the book to be clearly written and even fun in places. It provides a solid and practical overview of the principles of Six Sigma. It explains Six Sigma as a flexible system to help manage processes in companies. It addressed all the questions I had in trying to decide whether Six Sigma is appropriate for my company. It provides much practical and non-dogmatic advice about how to implement. I bought the book to prepare my self to fight against the six sigma way. After reading it, I am very enthusiatic and am planning to propose this approach for my company. I highly recommend the book for anyone needing an overview of the topic from a management perspective.

I have owned a copy of this book for five years, and reread it at least once every month or so, along with my ancient copy of 'Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen', of which it is a sequel. The book deserves to be reprinted, plus, its two sequels, of which only a hint has been published - a chapter in a Jerry Pournelle anthology indicating that all is not well in Hostigos. The characterisations, military lore and exciting plot make this a stand alone novel to be enjoyed on its own merits. We had to wait many years for this sequel, I hope that the authors of these posthumous tributes to Piper's Paratime Universe will soon find publishers for their next works.

H. Beam Piper's last book was one of his best, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, an alternate timeline novel of a PA State Trooper in a land where the formula for gunpowder was the secret of a particularly despicable church.

After his death, John Carr and Roland Green wrote a sequel, Great King's War, that Ace inexplicably let go out of print. Ace also sat on the second book in the series.

This is a very rare book,There are a very few Alternative histories novels which approach the feel of this novel. It is a sequel to "Lord Kalvan Of Otherwhen" by H. Beam Piper. I feel it is just as good or maybe better than the original.

Since my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I have bought every book I could find about the subject. After devouring each book myself, I pass it along to my mother and siblings to read. I enjoyed because it gives a truthful and heart-felt account of one woman's situation with her father's Alzheimer's, and shows how the disease not only affects her relationship with her father but also her relationships with her siblings, husband, friends and even her clients. Praise to Avadian for writing about her experiences.

That being said (typed), I did not think this was the best account that I have read of the subject. Davidson's book describes the author's experience with her husband's Alzheimers, and is much better written. It gave a much more clear description of the slow decent into Alzheimers, and is a beautiful, almost lyrical book. By all means do buy but please consider reading Davidson's book first.

A beautiful story told by a young successful career-woman who put her life on old for a father who has Alzheimer's. Like me, Brenda Avadian was in her thirties when her life was disrupted by having a parent diagnosed with Alzheimer's. In this beautifully written chronicle, Brenda shares that story and also includes a bibliography, helpful Web sites, and a very helpful list of "Ten Suggestions for Caregivers". Wonderful full-page photos of Brenda's father are included in this delightful book that should be on the reading list of every caregiver.

I first met Brenda when she came to our support group. I witnessed and assisted in her journey with her father as she did with me with my husband. Brenda's courage, compassion and humor are an intregal part of this book. Her experiences in this book will help other people realize they are not alone, and to really enjoy and learn from every little or big event in their loved one's journey through Alzheimer's.

Zachs lie was the book ive been searching for. It was a great book and kept me reading from start to finish. Roland Smith did a great job writing the book and it was a great read. I definitely recommend this book to people of all ages.

I loved reading the book zach's lie. It kept me wanting to read more and more as the book went on and it was hard to put down. Roland Smith did a great job writing it and he seemed to make you relate to the characters. I think anyone from 12+ should definitely read this book.

I give Zach's Lie 5 stars because it is a very interesting book. If you like mysteries this is the book for you.
One night Jack, Joanne, and his mom are ransacked by three drug smuggling men and were threatened to be killed. Police! The men shouted and left the house. The DEA {Drug Enforcement Agency} came and arrested the family and took them to headquarters and had them move to a different town, change their names, and no more contact with friends, [like no more letters, telephones calls, and e-mail.]
In the new town Elko, Nevada he meets a girl named Catalin and the janitor, Sam. Catalin took Zach up where her grandpa had a sheep farm. That's where the bad guys found him.
Do not put this book down until your done. Find out what happens to Zach when you read Zach's Lie.

Ths book was written by an ardent Maoist in the heady days in which all of Parisian intellectual circles were Maoist. It is now a top read by anyone who comes into contact with the Maoist Literature Association (known as the MLA). Cultural Studies is an extension of Mao's Cultural Revolution.

As with Mao, the idea was to change the meaning of virtually everything, taking the mandarin intellectual class, and moving them to the fringes of society, and taking the marginal farmers and moving them into the universities. In a similar way, Barthes takes marginal cultural activity such as professional wrestling, and moves it to the center of cultural discourse, while he takes Shakespeare, and the canon, and moves it to Manchuria.

It's a heady experiment. In China, the result led to a staggered economy, massive famines, and the death of the entire intellectual class. In the west, it has mostly remained a literary curiosity, but one with a curious history.

Barthes often praised the Maoists, and even travelled to China with other members of Tel Quel (Philippe Sollers and Julia Kristeva were fellow travellers, and they learned Chinese in order to translate Mao's poems into French). This book must be read in tandem with Simone de Beauvoir's book The Long March (about Mao's Revolution) and Julia Kristeva's Chinese Women, in order to give it a historical and intellectual context.

I'm French, and I read it in French. This book is an absolute must for any who wants to understand our Society. Although it's been written 45 years ago, it's more than ever actual, just like if that guy, as a clairvoyant, had been able to decode our present society (and all its incredible deviante face )half a century before. I must say I'll never see the world and medias like before again. More than a book, this is an enthralling weapon against mass passivity.

This book requires a bit of trust on the part of younger readers (like myself) because it makes references to things that happened in the1950's. The world in the year 2000 is a very different place. However, MYTHOLOGIES by Roland Barthes is all the more intriguing for that reason.

I found the essay and Wine and Milk quite engrossing. Equally intriguing were the ones on The Face of Garbo, Novels and Children, The Writer on Holiday, and Romans in Films. My favorite essay, however, was the one on Wrestling. I am not, nor have I ever been a wrestling fan. Perhaps I felt enlightened when I read the essay, especially when I compared it to wrestling today. Even though Roland Barthes brings up the fact, and acknowledges that French wrestling is different from American wrestling (remember, he's talking about the 50's and 60's), The differences have in my estimation only grown more noticeable. And yet the one thing that remains the same is that WRESTLING IS NOT A SPORT...it is a SPECTACLE. Through this essay I was able to add a new word to my French vocabulary... La Barbaque... meaning stinking meat. A term I wouldn't have associated, before reading Barthes, with wrestling.

If you're an essay enthusiast, and enjoy reading about our immediate past, MYTHOLOGIES may be of interest to you.

Thunder cave is a very good book to read. the reading level is 4.4 but it is not that bad. the story takes place in Kenya, Africa. the main characters in the books are Jacob,Robert,supeet, and donavan. this book talks about how you can live in Kenya without a grown up.

Thunder Cave is one the best books I have ever read. It's all about elephants, the Masai people, and poachers. When Jake's mom dies, Jake secretly goes to Kenya on a wild adventure to see his father who works in Kenya. On his way, Jake meets Supeet, a Masai boy who's trying to bring back the Masai people and the heavy rains. Jake finally finds his father, and they move to New York.

I think Thunder cave is the best book I have ever read. I like all the adventure. In the book, Jake (the main character) finds out that his mom has been injured in a car accident, later Jake's mom (Beth) die's. So he sets out on a trip to Kenya, Africa to find his father that he hasen't seen in a long time. If you like mystery, adventure, and suspence then you will LOVE this book!!!!