I don't review a lot, but I like to speak up for books that seem to me overlooked, especially if there is a risk of their going out of print, etc. Anyway -- there is a spate of books out there purporting to explain the mechanics of the market, but this one seems to me one of the best. It's analytically ambitious, but nothing beyond the comprehension of a serious amateur. It's also refreshingly free of the somewhat shrill celebratory preaching that you get so often in the genre. I've been pushing it on law students with no econ background & have enjoyed gratifying success. Please buy it so the publisher keeps it available.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Sverre Lyngstad's translation of Trætte Mænd is that it hasn't been done earlier. After all, Garborg's novel of disillusion and decadence marks not only a unique chapter in his work, but a point of peculiarity in Norwegian literature as a whole. Beginning with Joris-Karl Huysman's novel A Rebours (Against Nature, 1884), Fin de siècle decadent literature flourished in Europe during the waning years of the 19th Century. Oscar Wilde and Herman Bang were merely two of a host of authors producing such highly aesthetic and anti-bourgeois texts. Yet in Norway the trend remained largely absent - with only a few exceptions, including Garborg's novel. Thus Weary Men is a novel of particular literary-historical significance, and Lyngstad's translation a welcome appearance.

As to the translation itself, it is thoroughly adequate. While one occasionally wishes for a smoother turn of phrase (for example, "I alle tilfælde" is translated as "At all events" instead of the better-sounding "In any event"), the English rendition offers no significant stumbling blocks to the American reader. And the quality of translation improves significantly in the second half of the novel. It should also be mentioned that Lyngstad received the Inger Sjöberg Prize from the American-Scandinavian Foundation in 1996 for an excerpt of this translation.

In addition to the actual text of the novel, Per Buvik's Afterward will be useful to students and teachers alike, particularly to those less familiar with the decadent movement in 19th Century European literature. Buvik places the novel in general European and Norwegian contexts, as well as in the context of Garborg's overall authorship. He also surveys some of the more prominent readings and criticisms of the text. All-in-all, this book is a success, and its publication is to be greeted warmly.

Swiss modern-mystic Arne Klingenberg's book is a mini-workshop on turning your life around in order to be happy. The ideas presented have substance; they are both practical and valuable in a world that can't seem to turn that frown upside down very often. It's spiritual, it's metaphysical, and it's very *profitable* to be happy. And why shouldn't it be? Surely we have grown out of the need to suffer poverty. Got a friend in need? This book makes a great gift for one in financial straits. Included in the book is a daily exercise given to the author by the master of a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. This metaphysical technique alone is worth the price of the book. So, get the book...get busy...and be happy! :)

A book to read is all I can really say. The title explains it's topic, and covers it well. Not amazing, but definatley thought provokin. The rest will be revealed when you read it.

Prof. Westad's book provides the reader with a solid overview of the tumultuous events that engulfed China in the wake of WWII and led to China becoming the world's most populous Communist country. Prof. Westad has an engaging writing style that keeps the reader's interest, unlike many of the works written by academics. He does a good job at introducing the reader to the salient political and military events that led to the eventual defeat of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party) and does a good job at giving those new to the subject matter the necessary background to expand their studies. Unfortunately, the work lacks in several respects. First, the the book's maps are too few and provide little of the necessary detail for one to truly understand why the principal actors made the military decisions they did. Bluntly put, the maps should have included more topographical detail and there should have been more maps covering areas of fighting in smaller increments of time to permit one to truly follow the course of military events. Furthermore, in his introduction Prof. Westad states "the main emphasis (of the book) is on the political and military history of the war..." As a former Marine combat officer who later served as a diplomat in China, I found the book lacked in both respects. There was a good deal of coverage regarding the issues of CCP debate regarding its land reform policies and debates about those policies within the party. However, the book fails to provide as much information on what the KMT leadership's thoughts about this and other important socio-economic issues. In addition, there was only superficial discussion of the military forces, organization, weaponry, and almost no real attempt to provide a detailed chronology of the war's events, at the strategic, operational or tactical level. In spite of these criticisms, I strongly recommend the book at a good starting point for those who have little or no knowledge of what happened in China during these years as there are few works available in English that deal with the subject well.