What is there to say about T.S. Eliot's waste land? Nothing, that isn't already said. Read it, a couple of times, and let it flow down on you and make you breathless. No other poem (well, perhaps "Hollow Men" by Eliot can do that) has that power.

We're living in i waste land.
Thanks T.S.

"The Wasteland" is an absolute "must-read" for anyone interested in poetry, or even in society in general from Eliot's fascinating era. It has a different tone than some of his other well-known work, almost nihilistic- in part, a reaction to the war, but also a timeless commentary on human life and the emptiness that often accompanies it.

I wasn't certain what to expect when I got this book. I was a bit concerned that since it was written about experiences in the 1960's that it would feel a bit dated. Although the 1960's view of the future of East Africa's peoples and wildlife is not entirely accurate, I am finding the book to be an excellent way to prepare for a trip to Tanzania--for someone wanting a combination of background on the peoples, landscape and wildlife. Matthiessen's usual subdued, to me, dry style seems leavened a bit by his awe. And the account of the elephant researcher who's 'close encounter' approach puts Matthiessen off his feed, was really enjoyable to me--a departure from his usual, very dry approach. I recommend this one to anyone interested in the peoples and wildlife of Eastern Africa.

Is there anyplace wild enough to lift the weight that Occidental culture has placed on our shoulders? Africa, where the first man walked erect, may be the last place where man can feel awed enough by Nature to try and remember that he, also, is just another among the millions of other species that populate the planet. Paul Bowles, Bruce Chatwin, Doris Lessing, Isaak Dinesen and Peter Mattieshen found that answer, and shared the experience. In Mattieshen's poetic account, the tragic and fabulous beauty of a continent that has been devastated by greed and war is revealed, as the impossibility of traveling Africa and not falling in love with it and being changed by it forever.

This bilingual text enhances the experience of reading Paz's poetry. His poetic form can be as spare and suggestive as tanka/haiku or dense with visual imagery as in the poem, A Fable of Joan Miro. The meditative tone of many selections suggests that beyond the accomplishments of art, literature and music, the essential composition is of oneself: "to learn to see so that things will see us and come and go through our seeing." Highly recommended.

Octavio Paz wrote some of the most remarkable poetry and prose of the 20th century. The collection of poems entitled "A Tree Within" represents one of his most memorable achievements. A remarkable diverse blend of short lyrics and longer, Whitmanesque creations, "A Tree Within" is definitely a collection that bears careful reading and re-reading.

The book is richly studded with multicultural references and allusions--to Epictetus, Buddha, Gilgamesh, Jack the Ripper, the Aztecs, Don Quixote, and many, many, more. But Paz is not merely trying to dazzle us with his knowledge. He is also introspective and revealing. He struggles with deep questions about language, love, and other concerns.

Paz seems to be searching both for an ideal poetic language, and for a form of connectedness that transcends language--a paradoxical quest, yet pure Paz. When he writes "Man's word / is the daughter of death" (in the poem "To Talk"), it strikes me as both a tragically naked confession of inadequacy and a moment of serene liberation. At other times, Paz seems, like Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, to be groping towards the creation of a sort of "secular scripture" for the (post)modern age.

In the poem "I Speak of the City," Paz writes, "I speak of our public history, and of our secret history, yours and mine." The histories recorded by this visionary genius are certainly some of the most important literary creations of the 20th century.

For those who believe that T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land' is a critical part of twentieth century liturature, Valerie Eliot's book about the creation of that poem is a must-read, be it for a scholar or the general reader.

The book nicely reproduces the original drafts of Eliot's Poem, complete with annotations and recommendations by Eliot's good friend and advisor Ezra Pound. Through these early drafts, the reader can see both the large amount of text that was cut and the fact that the final part of the poem "what the thunder said" went virtually unchanged from the first draft to publication. If you hope to understand the challenging, complex text of 'The Waste Land', this is a fine place to begin.

Valerie Eliot's publication of her late husband's Waste Land manuscripts affords the reader an opportunity to delve beneath the mysteries surrounding this truly remarkable poem. Hailed as the "greatest poem of the 20th century", a masterpiece which "captured the disillusionment of a generation"; indeed, as the "justification" of Ezra Pound's modernist "experiment", yet referred to by Eliot, himself, as "just a piece of rythmical grumbling", the Waste Land is sure to spark off in any reader a burning desire to know more than Eliot's powerful words can ever themselves explain.

Written primarily during a "rest cure" on "Margate Sands" ("I can connect Nothing with Nothing") and Laussanne, Switzerland; following what Eliot's London doctor diagnosed as a "nervous breakdown", but which the poet refferred to in his letters as an "aboulie", or state of "emotional derangement"; it is little wonder that the poem is not an easy one to come to grips with. In the years following it's publication, countless readers and critics, following the "clues" left by the poet in his now infamous "Notes", have charged off in pursuit of answers and meanings in places they shall never be found. Eliot later explained to his friend, Pound, on whom the poet had bestowed the task (or honour, in this critic's opinion) of editing his original manuscript - that his "Notes" had done little more than lead his readers on a wild goosechase after holy grails and other crazy things which had little bearing on the poem itself. The fact that Pound, the editor, chose, and was permitted by the author, to slash out over half of the original Waste Land fragments in an operation which he described as the "Caesarian Operation" speaks volumes for itself. For it was in this operation that Pound's theories on Vortisism and Imagisme, and Eliot's own theories on poetic "impersonality" and committment to the "Great Tradition" were fused. The result - the final masterwork, the "cult" poem we know today. In the manuscript publication, the missing pieces to Eliot's inticate puzzle are at last to be found .If you are an Eliot fan, or have any interest whatsoever in the Modernist movement, or the inner workings of a creative genius' mind - this book is an absolute MUST !

This book is a great story of true adventure. Great reading, great pictures...but there's more than meets the eye here. The real adventure is what you are not told about...the plight of the pilot. Stay tuned for a true story told to me from the actual pilot, a best friend, who manned the helicopter and his version...only time separates the story from the reader.

The year 1919. The city is Chicago. Eight men enter the room of "Sleepy" Bill Burns and conspire to fix the World Series. The money was coming from Arnold Rothstein or "AR" to his friends. Eight men were about to rock the foundations of baseball for greed and the hatred of Charles Comiskey - or was there another story?

Asinoff recounts the months leading to, the days during and the years after the 1919 World Series with amazing detail and clarity. His story is told and as you listen you'll think you are actually there. This audio book is by far much better than the movie.

What you get is 8; count them 8, how ironic, tapes that weave a story of deceit, corruption, and conspiracy on both sides of the law. From Joe Jackson and Eddie Cicotte to Lefty Williams, Chick Ghandl, Buck Weaver, Happy Felsch and Swede Risberg the tragedy is unraveled.

The recording was a true pleasure and the actual use of transcripts, reports and other material adds major credibility to the exposing of baseball worst nightmare. Asinoff is to be commended on this first rate work and baseball needs more men like him. A real standout performance!

This review refers to the audio book version.

For anyone who may have become curious about Advaita Vedanta, and who is looking for a good introduction to what many feel is one of the greatest philosophical achievements of either the East or West, there could be no better guide than this book.

Eliot Deutsch, professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii and for many years editor of the prestigious journal, 'Philosophy East and West,' writes in a wonderfully lucid and straightforward style, and clearly admires his subject as being of universal philosophical interest.

In his short book of just 120 pages, he skilfully introduces us to the basic ideas of this complex system (Brahman, Levels of Being, Brahman and the World, Self, Karma, Epistemology, Ethics, Moksa and Jnana Yoga), while taking care to avoid overwhelming the reader with too much detail.

Advaita, we learn, is a non-dualistic system, expounded primarily by Sankara (ca. 788-820), the main concern of which is to show that all boundaries and distinctions are unreal, that reality is not made up of parts, and that "in essence it is not-different from the Self" (p.3). There is, in other words, only the Self, Brahman, or the One, a state "which is ultimately a name for the timeless plenitude of being" (p.9).

If this seems difficult, think of a movie screen. Any scene projected upon the screen will seem to hold a multiplicity of clearly defined and separate objects: a man, a woman, a child, a dog, a table, chairs, walls, windows, etc. We know, however, that the picture is one. Now consider what is present at the moment in your own field of vision. It too 'seems' to contain a multiplicity of 'objects'...

In reading this book I was impressed, not only by the clarity of the author's style and by his lucid treatment of the subject, but also by the fact that, although his approach to the subject is that of a philosopher, he clearly respects Vedanta as being both a way of spiritual realization as well as a system of thought, a religion as well as technical philosophy.

Eliot Deutsch, in short, has given us a book which is fair-minded, scholarly, and extremely well-written. It is also well-documented and has an excellent bibliography. Those who might wish to further deepen their understanding of Vedanta might consider looking at 'A Duet of One - The Ashtavakra Gita Dialogue' (Advaita Press: CA, 1989. ISBN: 0929448111), a fine translation by Ramesh S. Balsekar of an amazing and beautiful short early Advaita text which deserves to be better known.

This epic poem begins with language that is fascinating and strangely honest. It is written in seven cantos which prove to be a very easy read and striking at the same time. Huidobro invites you into a world that is created and governed by himself, much like the world Tolkien created in "Middle Earth." The difference is that in Huidobro's world there are no rules, no grammar, and no universal truths. A reader should leave his or her own biases and assumptions at the cover of the book. By the time the poem is in its last canto, the author arrogantly assumes that the reader speaks the language of the poem and writes accordingly. The poem was written for readers who can understand the last canto of the poem, which to the naked eye appears to be nonsense. Huidobro is one of the finest contemporary poets that I have come across.

Eliot Porter's beautiful photographs of wildflowers, trees, and mountain streams are an interesting juxtaposition to the often caustic prose of Edward Abbey, who writes the main body of the text, and Harry Caudill, who writes the epilogue. This book is Abbey at his best, showing that he can write well about a landscape other than the American southwest. He describes the landscape of the Southern Appalachians in their stark reality: the billboards and phony saloons of industrial tourism, the abandoned stores and churches, the paved roads catering to the rich and sedentary, the forsaken Cherokees. His story is a truthful and compassionate account of the tragedies of the region, as well as a powerful argument that capitalism has failed. This is not the place to start with Abbey--"Desert Solitaire" or "Abbey's Road" would be a better choice--but for those who are already familiar with him, this book will not be a disappointment.

From the cover:, " The students, none of whom had ever been to Aunt Arie's before, were awed, drawn inexorably into the little circle of activity that surrounded this 5' 6" dynamo who laughed and pecked on each of them and tapped their shoulders and grasped their knees and tried to remember their names and loved them, instantly, and without reservation-strangers all". This book is wonder full, and heart full, and shines a little light into a way of being that is fast becoming a just catchy phrase on a hall mark card.