My (10 year old) daughter got interested in '20,000 leagues' after reading the "Wishbone" version (go ahead and laugh). I went searching for the real thing to read with her, and came across this edition. With all of the missing content recovered, plus the annotations to fill in all sorts of additional information, the result is fascinating for adult readers. If you read the usual (butchered) version as a kid, you really owe yourself this one. All of the critiques of Verne over the years that tried to belittle his knowledge of science turn out to have been based on translations that whacked out what Verne really said -- they thought it was too dry and boring. Reading what he really said, plus the extensive footnotes that describe the state of knowledge at the time, make Verne's brilliance tripling astonishing. Just consider that he wrote about the Nautilus at a time when the Hunley was the state of the art!

One of the great problems with Jules Verne is that in the English speaking world he is relagated to the category of "Boys' Own Adventures". On the Continent, however, he is considered a brilliant social commentator, and biting satirist, AND a man who predicted the future. This is a volume that helps set matters to the right.

If you know of "20,000 Leagues" already, you will find little different at first. The plot is still the plot. Nemo is still Nemo, Prof. Aronnax is still pompous and fascinated by the Nautilus and Ned Land....

Ned Land is a flaming socialist.

This is one of the major shifts between the original French and the "cleaned up" English editions. Most of the science of the day was pulled out as a "dull read" and all the Socialism, anti-English remarks, and other commentaries of a "questionable nature" were excised. We Americans have unfortunately been until only very recently only able to find these poor early translations, or translations based on these poor translations. There is much more to Verne than submarines and diving suits. He is a man with a vision of his times, both scientific and political, and his books underline this strongly.

English readers, demand your Verne well-translated! Do not allow yourself to be fobbed off with bowlderized versions! To be able to read as he wrote himself (well, in English, for those of us who don't read French...) is a greater pleasure than merely an amusing old science-fiction story from the 19th century. Reading this book, as Verne /meant/ it to be read, if a pleasure, but also a struggle to understand ourselves and our relationship to the oceans themselves.

The best translation in English. Satisfies the intellect and imagination. Translated to show the truly beautiful qualities of Verne's writing that no other version can equal. The adventure comes alive by not omitting the breadth and depth of Verne's aesthetic ability originally entrenched within this masterpiece.

Cannon was a central founder and leader of the working class wing of the Communist Party. He was expelled for organizing opposition to the Stalinization of this party. In these writings Cannon explains the dangers of Stalinism and contrasts it with the revolutionary Marxist alternative that he and a number of other workers were in the process of founding. These writings also touch on little known but important working class struggles before the thirties, like the textile battles of the south and the mineworkers "save the union" movement. Cannon's insights on politics as well as his fine writing ability make this a good read, and an important one for those wanting to discover their roots in the fight for a revolutionary party.

In 1928 James P. Cannon is one of the central leaders of the US Communist Party known through the labor and civil liberties movement as the leader of the International Labor Defense,sent to Moscow to represent his faction in the party. In 1928 Cannon along with two of his assistants happen about Trotsky's critique of the draft program of the Communist International. They decides that these are the right ideas, and they fight for them, knowing they will lose offices, and jobs, not knowing but facing being attacked in the streets, their homes burglarized, pilloried through the labor movement from a leader of tens of thousands to a leader of a dozen. This book shows what Cannon's faith in his ideas meant and how they struggle to build a nucleus of a real movement because of the faith of ideas and in the revolutionary capacities of humanity. Anyone who thinks that Marxism had anything seriously to do with the US Communist party should read this book. Anyone who wants the courage to fight for a real future for the working and farming majority of humanity should read this book.

The Left Opposition in the Communist Party USA, expelled in 1928, fought to maintain the traditions of the Russian Revolution against the corruptions and crimes of the bureaucracy of Stalin. This collection of writings by its central leader debates the issues at stake: the future of the USSR, the revolutionary potential in the U.S., revolutionary work in the labor unions, the South and the fight against racism, and much more.

It's hard to believe that James's theatrical turn of the late 19th century ended with his audience "booing" him off the stage. This novelized play reads quickly and delightfully. I've read more than twenty of his novels, and this was the quickest of them all.

The plot is simple enough (at least for James): two houses, apparently back to back, in Wilverley, a small English village, set the scene. One contains a widow, the other a young married couple. The young wife widows the young husband, and he becomes Wilverley's "most eligible bachelor," except for the fact that he promised his dying wife that he would never marry again, at least not during the life of his child. So somebody has to kill the child, right?

Enter James's genius for character. There's Paul, the huge, infinitely imperturbable son of the wealthy Mrs. Beever; the diminutive and impetuous Dennis Vidal; Tony Bream himself, a remarkably good-natured but insensitive fool; and the powerful Mrs. Beever, whose awful determination cows every one else before her. Like James's best writing, his characters become interesting on their own; his fictions become an opportunity to satisfy curiosity. I think that's what makes this book a "page-turner"; the characters are interesting enough that I want to know what's going to happen.

In the end, I suppose, what makes this book succeed is what would have made the dramatic version fail: James's endless fascination with the workings of the human mind must have become either painfully boring or just incomprehensible to a theatrical audience. However it came about, I recommend it unequivocally.

This book is a novelization of the play by the same name. And you can see the stageplay - the characters are continually coming and going - and there's stage business - all of which I think shows some stiffness - yet about half way through the novel I was startled at how much the characters were real, rounded - I could just about see them - they ached with life - I was always aware of the stage during the novel - the story itself is rather shocking - it's a mystery novel! - it's all very well done - it's short - and it's very psychological

I am impressed with The New York Review's revival of this unexpectedly non-Jamesian title. A truly unique James choice to bring back to life--it's been done so with a cover so compelling (I'm not a tradional James fan) I opened the book which I found locally in a brick and mortar as they are now called, book shop. The internet cannot do justice to the thoughtful sophistication of this book's packaging. (But I can purchase another copy here more easily!) The publisher's comments about the work were also compelling and complimentary to the cover art. The Other House is a mystery, a detective story, a love triangle with more than three angles--a true page turner--with a timelessly human plot and "modern" characters. Anyone thriller fan would be enchanted with it. And turning every page, holding the book, is a sensory thrill. Paper, writing, art--all representative of what any literary rebirth deserves. If it's worth bringing back--do it with quality, I say! They did--along with a whole marvelous collection of equally intriguing books, with well written new introductions. Good choices--the pieces themselves, the introduction authors and the book artist designers. Truly timeless in all ways!

This volume of Socialist Workers Party leader James P. Cannon?s writings is dated to a tumultuous time. The Stalinized Communist International, and the German Communist Party, refused to wage an effective struggle against the rise of Hitler to power, causing a defeat felt by workers and farmers around the globe. This defeat was as unnecessary as it was massive. This caused not a whimper of protest within that movement. Communists who defended the traditions of the Communist International of Lenin?s time, led by Leon Trotsky, became convinced that the official Communist movement had now become an obstacle, not an opportunity, for world revolution. They moved to gather their forces into a new revolutionary movement. In doing so, they also searched for, and found, groups of revolutionary-minded workers from other backgrounds, who themselves had been deeply affected by the political and economic turmoil of the 1930s.

Amazon lists this book as out of print, but Pathfinder has reprinted this book in an attractive new edition with more pictures, better type, notes etc. Most revolutionists today fight in small groups awaiting for and seeking out mass struggles by the working class. This is the story of the Communist League of America, the small group of American supporters of Leon Trotsky who went from the peak of the depression with its inactivity and defeats f to the big struggles in 1934 including the Minneapolis Teamster Strikes led by the SWP.
This is the record of Cannon with the support to Trotsky fighting for a clear principled way to turn the movement to the potential of workers resistance, to struggles by Blacks around the Scottsboro frame-up among other things, and at the same time building internationalist principles.
This is also the story of how the CLA and the world movement led by Trotsky realized that the Stalinist capitulation to Hitler in 1933 meant the Comintern was dead, and a new revolutionary international was required.
Everything Cannon writes has a certain wit and wisdom about it, where the value goes beyond the political to the personal and beyond. Even though these were tough times, there is even a glint of humor to be discovered where you might least expect it

This collection of writings and speeches, steeped in the workers struggles of the 1930s and the leadership challenges of forging a communist workers party, really impressed me with how relevant and useful they are today. James P. Cannon was a young organizer for the IWW and early Socialist Party, a founding member and leader of the Communist Party in the United States in the 1920s, and central leader of the cadre who fought to maintain the Bolshevik's revolutionary course against the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union and Communist International from the late 1920s on.

Here you will find week-by-week, sometimes day-by-day, news, analysis, and proposals for action. Cannon writes as a participant and leader of a workers party involved in organizing coal miners, textile strikes, the big 1933 New York hotel strike, the historic Minneapolis Teamsters strikes of 1934. He takes up key international questions: the evolution of the Stalinist leadership in the Soviet Union, the rise of fascism in Germany, and the difficult, persistent efforts led by Leon Trotsky to rebuild a new revolutionary international movement. Many of his writings detail questions of party leadership, lessons of faction and tendency struggles, or answer key practical questions: "what to do next?"

I'd strongly suggest reading this along with Cannon's "History of American Trotskyism" that covers the same historic period, "Teamster Rebellion" by Farrell Dobbs, and current writings that pick up the struggle today, including "Their Trotsky and Ours" and "Capitalism's World Disorder" by Jack Barnes.

This is an excellent college level text.I particularly like the detailed "real world" drafting problems for the students. Also it has a very good apppendix. It is comprehensive enough that we use it in three different courses here at Vincennes University.

I have had this book in my drafting library for some time now. I am always using it and recommending it. The book is laid out so that you can go from beginning drafting up through advanced. It not only says what the standards are, but walks you through drafting technology so that you understand why they are like they are. I believe that anyone that is going to be doing drafting should have this in their library.

This book is loaded with technical information for the dratsman and designer. A must have for anyone who is in the mechanical technology field.

This text was the basic drafting manual that I used during my technical education; its use did not end with school, however, since I refer to it frequently in my occupation. It tells everything that needs to be explained and described in the general drawing problems that might be encountered in industrial practice. It contains excellent descriptions and illustrations for: Drawing Threads, Fasteners & Springs Geometric Constructions Clear, Concise instructions in using Drafting Instruments, (before the time of Computer Aided Drafting & Desing, in any case). An Excellent overview of the Industrial Design & Development Process, (which I wish my supervisors would read). Sectional Drawing. This book is to drafting what Machinery's Handbook, of the Industrial Press, is to the metal working industries. There are a variety of Drafting Textbooks available, but none are incrementally better, let alone drasticaly better.

Based on research findings, the authors discuss the movement toward competency-based education. Using case studies and best practices, shows how developing competencies narrows the gap between the classroom and work. The book identifies the four skill combinations most sought after by employers as: managing self, communicating, managing people and task, and mobilizing innovation and change. Includes a "Making the Match Year 3 Questionnaires (skill sections) for Students, Graduates, and Managers.

This book is valuable reading; no doubt about it. But while I agree that competencies help narrow the gap between the 'ivory tower' and the fast-forward world of competitive edges, let's not forget the instructor's road warrior experiences, which can make or break the classroom-workplace connection. Let us also keep in mind that there are some very valuable concepts and information that you only will learn about in the classroom. Review by Gerry Stern, author of Stern's SourceFinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Information and Resources and Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder.

Despite the criticisms levelled at Trollope for his "authorial intrusions" (see Henry James for example) this novel is always a pleasure to read. The characters take precedence over the plot, as in any Trollopian fiction and this is what makes a novel like BARCHESTER more palatable to the modern reader, as compared to any of Dickens's. Some readers may find the ecclesiastical terms confusing at first but with a little help (see the Penguin introduction for example), all becomes clear. What is important, however, is the interaction between the all-too-human characters and in this novel there are plenty of situations to keep you, the reader, amused.

Do yourself a favour and take a trip back into Nineteenth century where technology is just a blink in everyone's eye. What you will discover, however, is that human beings have not really changed, just the conventions have.

I rushed home every day after work to read a little more of this Trollope comedy. The book starts out with the death of a bishop during a change in political power. The new bishop is a puppet to his wife Mrs. Proudie and her protégé Mr. Slope. Along the way we meet outrageous clergymen, a seductive invalid from Italy, and a whole host of delightfully ridiculous characters. Trollope has designed most of these characters to be "over the top". I kept wondering what a film version starring the Monty Python characters would look like. He wrote an equivalent of a soap opera, only it doesn't take place at the "hospital", it takes place with the bishops. Some of the characters you love, some of the characters you hate, and then there are those you love to hate. Trollope speaks to the reader throughout the novel using the mimetic voice, so we feel like we are at a cocktail party and these 19th century characters are our friends (or at least the people we're avoiding at the party!). The themes and characters are timeless. The book deals with power, especially power struggles between the sexes. We encounter greed, love, desperation, seductive sirens, and generosity. Like many books of this time period however, the modern reader has to give it a chance. No one is murdered on the first page, and it takes quite a few chapters for the action to pick up. But pick up it does by page 70, and accelerates into a raucously funny novel from there. Although I didn't read the Warden, I didn't feel lost and I'm curious to read the rest of this series after finishing this book. Enjoy!

This is the second of the six Barsetshire novels, and the first great novel in that series. THE WARDEN, while pleasant, primarily serves as a prequel to this novel. To be honest, if Trollope had not gone on to write BARCHESTER TOWERS, there would not be any real reason to read THE WARDEN. But because it introduces us to characters and situations that are crucial to BARCHESTER TOWERS, one really ought to have read THE WARDEN before reading this novel.

Trollope presents a dilemma for most readers. On the one hand, he wrote an enormous number of very good novels. On the other hand, he wrote no masterpieces. None of Trollope's books can stand comparison with the best work of Jane Austen, Flaubert, Dickens, George Eliot, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky. On the other hand, none of those writers wrote anywhere near as many excellent as Trollope did. He may not have been a very great writer, but he was a very good one, and perhaps the most prolific good novelist who ever lived. Conservatively assessing his output, Trollope wrote at least 20 good novels. Trollope may not have been a genius, but he did possess a genius for consistency.

So, what to read? Trollope's wrote two very good series, two other novels that could be considered minor classics, and several other first rate novels. I recommend to friends that they try the Barsetshire novels, and then, if they find themselves hooked, to go on to read the Political series of novels (sometimes called the Palliser novels, which I feel uncomfortable with, since it exaggerates the role of that family in most of the novels). The two "minor classics" are THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. The former is a marvelous portrait of Victorian social life, and the latter is perhaps the finest study of human jealousy since Shakespeare's OTHELLO. BARSETSHIRE TOWERS is, therefore, coupled with THE WARDEN, a magnificent place, and perhaps the best place to enter Trollope's world.

There are many, many reasons to read Trollope. He probably is the great spokesperson for the Victorian Mind. Like most Victorians, he is a bit parochial, with no interest in Europe, and very little interest in the rest of the world. Despite THE AMERICAN SENATOR, he has few American's or colonials in his novels, and close to no foreigners of any type. He is politically liberal in a conservative way, and is focussed almost exclusively on the upper middle class and gentry. He writes a good deal about young men and women needing and hoping to marry, but with a far more complex approach than we find in Jane Austen. His characters are often compelling, with very human problems, subject to morally complex situations that we would not find unfamiliar. Trollope is especially good with female characters, and in his sympathy for and liking of very independent, strong females he is somewhat an exception of the Victorian stereotype.

Anyone wanting to read Trollope, and I heartily believe that anyone who loves Dickens, Austen, Eliot, Hardy, and Thackery will want to, could find no better place to start than with reading the first two books in the Barsetshire Chronicles, beginning first with the rather short THE WARDEN and then progressing to this very, very fun and enjoyable novel.

Tired of all those solemn "memoirs" and "remembrances" that are on the library shelves? Well, this one will knock your socks off!
If Boswell were alive today and using videotape instead of a quill pen, the talk shows would have him as their constant guest.

I'm not sure if I'd want to have known him, but this lecher, alcoholic, and moocher had a keen eye for London high- and low-life that will keep you hanging on every page.

To anyone who, like myself, has found a real and deep enjoyment in reading the Life of Johnson, I can only recommend Boswell's own diaries. The first volume - his 'London Journal' starting in the year he met Johnson - is pure delight. Boswell always saw himself as a character acting in the drama of life, and he could be almost excruciatingly honest and objective about himself. His voluminous diaries record all the trivia, triumphs, and despairs of his own life, day by day and year by year.

My own opinion is that Boswell is a far better diarist than Pepys, though not nearly as well known in this respect. There is a fascination about seeing his whole life recorded from youth to shortly before his death, with all the same force and liveliness that went into his Life of Johnson. His inner life is at least as entertaining as his outer life. He seems totally determined to write about himself as he wrote about Johnson - warts and all.

It's this courage and honesty about himself that makes us respect Boswell even when he is at his most foolish or debauched. The diaries make it extremely clear that he was no idiot, and that the Life of Johnson was no fortuitous masterpiece. From his diaries he comes across as a deeply sensitive, romantic, self-conscious man. Charming, likeable, and often playing the clown to his acquaintances; but often filled with self-doubt, frustration, insecurity, and a deep depression that he concealed from all except his closest friends.

We see Boswell puffed up with vanity at some silly social success, and the same Boswell quietly devoting large amounts of time and money that he could ill spare to helping people in trouble. We see Boswell in love again and again with totally unsuitable women, and eventually marrying the cousin who had always been a good, close friend rather than an object of wild romance. We see Boswell in his vibrant youth, and his tragic final years, as an alcoholic filled with bitter shame and despair, yet unable to reform.

His diaries are certainly one of the great undiscovered treasures of literature. They deserve to be a lot better known than they are.

It has been quite awhile since I have read this book but and can remember few details. What sticks in the mind is the complete humanity displayed by its author. Frankly, Boswell is unlikable and hardly to be admired but his passion and candidness make this book very readable today. Not many tomes from this era can make this claim. It is a must read for both those interested in Johnson and those students of the human condition.

To keep it short, I was handed this book when I was 10yrs of age, by a father who worked in the herpetarium. Not only did it, and even now as an adult, shock me, it made me give nature a greater respect. An excellent read for naturilists and those curious to animal nature in the extreme.

So you thought the elephants down at the zoo were cute did ya? Ever know that in 1944 one zoo elephant ate its keeper! What about those harmless hippos they look cute in those cartoons but in Africa they're known as the most meanest animal on the continent. This book isn't for the PETA crowd and it is far from politically correct but it is a fascinating look at animals eating and attacking man! Turn about is fair play and with out our firearms and sometimes even with them we're still one of the slowest weakest members of the animal kingdom. Read and enjoy!!

James Clarke has a writing style that can hold the attention of even the most dicriminating of readers. I have recommended this book to many friends and without exception they have all come away with a certain amount of awe at the realization that, we as modern men, seem all to often to have forgetten: that we are simply protein to many animals, in many parts of the world today. Clarke gets away from the false and foolish notion that is propagated by many "bunny huggers" and "Disneyites" today. Namely, that wild animals are really just lovable furry critters that are waiting for someone to pet them. He is very, very objective and gives the facts on malevolent animal/human relations in a way that is not dry and bland the way many are presented nowdays. He does this by quoting many sources newspapers, naturalists, hunters, explorers and many official and medical records. Above all, I came away from this book with the feeling that I had been given the facts and allowed to makeup my own mind instead of someone making it up for me!! Oh, and read the book to find out what animal is the greatest Man-Killer of all time. You'll be suprised!