And speaking as one who refuses to grow up, I enjoyed Blue Spots! Yellow Spots! from "before the beginning began to begin" all the way through to its very last end. The bright and vivid colors of the characters are somewhat reminscent of 'The Muppets and Fraggle Rock'and just as entertaining. The dialogue written in a rhyme format, though simple, is directed at small children and carries within its words a much needed message that most adults today could benefit from. The book is a reminder that prejudice and bigotry are not our rights from birth but are taught to us in the behaviors of those whom we look up too. If we want to change hate to love and make this world a better place in which to live, we must begin by accepting that we are all diffenent and yet we are all the same. If Blue Spots!Yellow Spots! can make one child's attitude more tolerant of those who are different whether it be by race, creed, or color, then the book has served its purpose well. Blue Spots! Yellow Spots! is a long overdue message to the Children of today and the adults of tomorrow. A great big ATTABOY to the Atwoods for adressing such a destructive problem with such an air of innocense.

Blue Spots! Yellow Spots! begins with the line "Inside your imagination where time cannot reach you'll find the Land of Dushkin." And with this line you are immediately immersed in another world. This particular book is about yellow Frazzies with blue spots and blue Frazzies with yellow spots, both creatures that live in the land of Dushkin. Blue Frazzies don't associate with yellow Frazzies and vice versa, until a chain of events teach the Frazzies an important lesson about friendship.

With colorful language that perfectly complements brilliant illustrations, this wonderful book is a must read for all children. It takes an abstract concept, racism, and breaks it down into concrete terms that young children can understand. The message in the book, that one should not judge people by their outside appearance but rather by their inner character, is one that we all should adhere to. John and Jenean Atwood are a fabulous writing team and I anxiously await other books with additional characters from the land of Dushkin. ...

This book brings post war scholarship on the history of Japan up date. Excellent index and glossary. Too expensive for the general reader of college text but an excellent addition to any library.

'Ancient Japan' is the initial volume in 'The Cambridge History of Japan.' As such it is a stunning effort to collect and organize the results of recent discovery about of Japan's early history. What surprised me from the beginning of the book was how much of Japan's early history has only been discovered in the last half of the 20th Century. In that period of time archeology and scholarship has added vast amounts of information to the story, dispelling some myths and affirming others.

The format is the classical form of a series of chapters written by experts in the field. Delmer M. Brown, who is Professor Emeritus at the Center for Japanese Studies (UC Berkeley) has done an excellent job of bringing the work together and making this first volume work as a whole, including writing a good piece of the text himself. Eight other writers contribute, with sections on the Jomon, Yayoi, Yamato, Asuka (century of reform) and Nara periods, ending with 784 CE. Collateral chapters on Japan's relations with the continent, Kami worship and Buddhism, Nara economic and social institutions, and culture are also included to fill out the overall picture. The religious and cultural studies I found particularly informative.

When a book attempts to cover this much material, the pace of exposition is often overwhelming. Brown manages to keep this from being extreme, but it would be dishonest to describe 'Ancient Japan' as a leisurely armchair read. On the other hand, it is the perfect vehicle for forming a mental picture of the periods under study, and identifying additional sources for further reading. As such, the footnotes, citations, and index/glossary are invaluable. In addition, the writing is all in a competent academic style that never bores, even when it fails to excite. Despite the steep price this volume is an important addition to a scholarly library. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Some good stories fill this volume. But the recent attempt at a John O'Hara revival failed for a reason. He's not that good. If you've read one O'Hara story, you've read them all. O'Hara's same obsessions are played out in every story. His two obsessions were 1) Status 2) The obsession with and assumption that if a male and female are left alone together, one will immediately try and jump the other's bones. Maybe I've led a dull life, but I've actually been left alone with girls and women when neither I nor they tried to bed the other. The other thing is O'Hara thought he was one of the greatest writers ever...but, by his own admission, was not that well read. He mainly read Hemingway and Fitzgerald over and over. Not bad role models at all. But O'Hara famously said in a review of a Hemingway book that Hemingway was the greatest writer since Shakespeare (suggesting, of course, that O'Hara was the SECOND greatest writer since Shakespeare!). But O'Hara once responsed to a critic who said his writing resembled Tolstoy's (pulEEASE!) that, "Gee, I've never even READ Tolstoy." Now how could O'Hara say Hemingway was the greatest writer since Shakespeare when O'Hara had never read Tolstoy!!! Even ego-ridden Hemingway admitted Tolstoy was a greater writer than himself. And how can a literary writer dare sit down to write when he hasn't yet read the master, Tolstoy. O'Hara was okay, but not great. Yeah, no wonder that revival attempt in the mid-90's flopped.

This is an astonishing collection of short stories from a past master that everyone has forgotten, but could surely learn from, or relish. I liked the novellas best, including "Imagine Kissing Pete", "Ninety Minutes Away", and "Natica Jackson." What I was astonished by was how quickly they were read; it was like watching and feeling life unfolding before my eyes. The first masterpiece in this collection is "Over the River and Through the Wood" that must be one of the most disturbing stories ever written. It is disgusting to me that not a single O'Hara story was included in the recent "Best American Short Stories of the Century"; if a claim can be made that Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald must be included, then so must O'Hara. John O'Hara is an American legend. He should be revived.

Kleppner is the one name I think when I'm in a doubt regarding any stage of the advertising procedure. The book is not extremely intensive, but explains in a precise way each stage. It might be too USA oriented, but works fine for international students. Surely a must in every student's library.

Kleppner's Advertising Procedur

This book offers a new path to introduce us in macroeconomic studies, quite innovative if we compare to its congenerous, however very focused on rational expectations contribuitions. The authors suggests we must priorize our comprehension about the long term economic flutuactons, in opposite of the traditional ones, which dedicate the last pages to develop these subjects; in Hall & Talylor's book, the reader is introduced to the basics frameworks and modern theories soon in the firsts chapters. So, the natural consequence of their proposal is the loss of the primacy of Hicks's IS-LM model - as a basic framework tradionaly adopted as necessary to understanding the macroeconomics fundamentals - to the contemporaries economics growth theories, enriching it with many "real world" examples about its approaches. The only restriction I do is the negligence, or a little more emphasis, on other kind of approaches in macroeconomic thought (the post-keynesians contribuitions, for example), causing us the sensation that the macroeconomics reality is restricted to rational expectations workings. For an approach which priorize the evolution of the schools of macroeconomics thought, I recomend the Froyen's book. In spite of that, is an excellent introduction to macroeconomic theory.

This book is well organized to help student learn macroeconomics. It has the best utilization of pedagogical features (not just graphs, captions and colors) I've ever seen. I found key term call-outs, section reviews, and keypoint outlines to be the most helpful. I appreciate the efforts of reducing the amount of reading necessary to understand the concepts.
If you are not a lazy student, you will have lots of case studies, news analysis, econ puzzles, and biographies to broaden your breath. All these features are well organized so that you can read efficiently, thanks to the ingenious layouts.
I am actually here to look for other books by Mr. Taylor to support my current textbooks.

Full of good stuff that one normally has to research in half a dozen different places and media. Ruley has a very good grip of how to build Windows NT into an enterprise, particularly when using TCP/IP. I recommend it

This is a very pragmatic book on NT Networks. It discusses real life situations and has product recommendations. It will serve useful for most of the implentation specifics of NT Server both in a small LAN and an enterprise domain

Despite the title, this isn't so very far along in the series and in fact features the introduction of the very politically correct "Ms. Liz Probert." The cases are the usual set, and Rumpole faces his usual trials and tribulations, most notably from a new member of chambers who wants to make everything much more efficient. The eponymous tale is one we've seen dramatized, where Rumpole has great success betting on a "four-horse accumulator," tells a judge exactly what he thinks of him, and is (of course) frustrated when his go-between leaves the country with his winnings.

Entertaining, as always.

Rumpole has an assortment of foes in this collection of 7 stories: Judge Bullingham, his Head of Chambers Sam Ballard, dishonest prosecution witnesses, police officers, prosecuting barristers, and even the barrister defending his client's co-defendant in a case of armed robbery where a bank guard was wounded. No wonder he thinks of winning a fortune betting on horse races and moving to Spain in the last story, "Rumpole's Last Case". You should enjoy reading this book to find out how many cases Rumpole wins and if he really retires.

Something a bit different in the recent sea of Holmes pastiches. Here the situation faced by Holmes, Watson and Lestrade has a distinctly modern touch, but without jarring anachronism.

A psycho serial child killer named Algernon Clayton, convicted 20 years before, has been released from prison on a technicality and has become the leading exhibit in a questionable but popular social reform movement. It's almost routine today for brutal killers to be sanitized by the forces of Political Correctness and converted into saintly, put-upon targets of police brutality and social repression, suitable to be the figurehead of some large organization self-proclaimed to be Fighters for Truth and Justice, and--- it could have happened in 1895 as easily as 1995.

Naturally, the luckless Lestrade, who was only indirectly involved in the original case, has become the prime scapegoat of the reformers. Holmes is thus presented with a complex set of problems: if Clayton was indeed guilty, how can he be neutralized by evidence that will stand in court, before he begins another killing spree? How can Lestrade be protected from the press and the reformers? And what hope is there of finding new evidence in a case cold for two decades?

To say more would spoil the grim fun. At 140 pages this is just about right in length for a case in which Holmes finds himself doing fairly routine police work in hopes of turning up some lead by sheer chance and persistence. As you can see, this isn't your mother's Holmes pastiche, unless your mother's pastiche was written by Andrew Vachss.

You'll enjoy it, I think.

I'll admit I'm on a Sherlock Holmes kick, and what a delight it was to discover the writing of John Hall who effortlessly seems to mimic Conan Doyle while spinning a credibly Holmesian tale. Clearly an expert in the period, Hall writes with an ease and wit (I laughed out loud) truly reminiscent of the creator of Holmes and Watson - not a moment rings false in this quick-paced story of Holmes' efforts to clear his old friend Lestrade's name from a long past police fiasco, and to finally bring the truth of a horrible crime to light. Only drawback for me was that I personally prefer a bit more personal involvement of Holmes, but this was a real winner, and I can't wait to read the rest (this is apparently Hall's fourth Holmes pastiche.) A master - to be watched and savored!

I got a kick out of WHERE THE BOYS ARE. It was pretty amusing to watch good-guy Ben try to dig himself out of a pit of half-truths as he tries to impress a beautiful girl who innocently believes he _lives_ in the posh bungalow he was cleaning. This book cheered me up on a bad day. Who could ask for more?

This book really made me laugh. The way Ben tried to impress Lexie by telling her that he was a big rich guy was sooooo funny. I've read this book 3 times already and I'm still not tired of it. I still pick it up and read it when I'm bored. This book is wonderful and you will never ever get tired of reading it.

I was pretty much blown away by this book. Unfortunately, I'm coming late to discovering Steinbeck. I read "Travels With Charley" early on and more recently "Tortilla Flat." Of his fictional works "Cannery Row" has far been my favorite to date.

From "Tortilla Flat" Steinbeck has come a long way. "Cannery Row" is more cohesive of the two; it's storyline being more linear. It still reads like a series of vignettes but each leading to the next to put together the tale, and what a tale it is. It hangs on to a thread of realism and captures a greater sense of what it is to be human, the interrelatedness of a community, despair, and hope, magnifying all of humanity within a microcosm of Cannery Row.

Again, there is a characteristic band of Monterey merry men, but this time there is the offset of people with jobs and responsibilities. Doc, who is based on Steinbeck's great friend Edward Ricketts, leader of the Oceanic Biological Institute, is an endearing character. Steinbeck paints a portrait of someone you would want to meet, instantly respect, and be lifelong acquaintances. There is a strong sense of familiarity here.

Chapter 2 is some of the finest writing I've come across. A beautiful two-page poem. "Mack and the boys, spinning in their orbits. They are the Virtues, the Graces, the Beauties of the hurried mangled craziness of Monterey and the cosmic Monterey where men in fear and hunger destroy their stomachs in the fight to secure certain food, where men hungering for love destroy everything lovable about them."

Truly elevated writing with a sense of melancholy that presents itself as part of life, hanging in the balance with the parties, grocery stores, tidal pools, whorehouses. Great book. Now on to Tom Joad.

John Steinbeck wrote this incredibly vivid and lucid portrayal of a cast of characters in the economic hard times of the depression, in California, with great care and passion. This reader feels like he is right there, in that community, with Mack, and Doc, and the others. One of the wonderful aspects of reading this book was feeling that even though many of the characters had relatively isolated, hard lives, they were still living in some sort of true community. I had the sense that they all shared the same spiritual sky (for lack of a better description), and I have never had that sense about any other characters in any book. This book is magnificent, and it illuminates what human nature we all have in common, while playing masterfully on the mysteries of individual character, in each of the characters, and in all their individual and collective pasts.

This is a GREAT book, and I recommend it to everybody.

Cannery Row is almost like a book of short stories. There are some central stories that follow main characters, such as a gang of jobless, penniless hooligans known as "Mack and the Boys", and a marine biologist named Doc, but interspersed between these chapters are very short tales about everything from two sailors on a date with two blondes to a gopher who decides to build his home under the ground on Cannery Row. Steinbeck explains this story-telling format in the first chapter by asking the reader, in terms that warn the reader of his similarity to the character of Doc in the novel: "How can the poem and the stink and the grating noise - the quality of light, the tone, the habit and the dream - be set down alive? When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be way to write this book - to open the page and to let the stories crawl in by themselves."

The style of the Cannery Row - like most of John Steinbeck's fiction- is easy to read and free-flowing, which can be deceptive, because the characters and themes are quite deep. Take Mack and the Boys, a group of friends the town views as worthless, though friendly and fun-loving, do-nothings. A lot of the book centers on their attempts to do good things that continually turn out bad. As Mack tells Doc after a surprise party for him turns into a disaster that all but ruins his laboratory, "I been sorry all my life. This ain't no new thing. It's always like this... Ever'thing I done turned sour.. If I done a good thing it got poisoned up some way... I don't do nothin' but clown no more. Try to make the boys laugh."

In this way Mack and the Boys seem like simple, pitiful characters. However, Steinback uses them as examples of people who are truly content with themselves and their lives, and who don't try to rely on money to achieve happiness. As Doc describes them to his friend Robert Frost, "Look at them. There are your true philosophers. I think... that Mack and the boys know everything that has ever happened in this world and possibly everything that will happen. I think they survive in this particular world better than other people. In a time when people tear themselves to pieces with ambition and nervousness and covetousness, they are relaxed... They could ruin their lives and get money... They're all very clever if they want something. They just know the nature of things too well to be caught in that wanting."

Because of his ability to show the humanity of all his characters, even those viewed negatively by others, Steinbeck has a true gift of characterization. This is also seen in Doc, a good character whom everyone in Cannery Row likes and relies on. Although he has many friends and allies, Doc is portrayed as a lonely, solitary man who is more at home while dissecting animals or reading books than at the bar or a party with his friends. Doc's character comes to life near the end of the book when Mac and his friends finally throw him a successful party and for the first time in the novel he relaxes and lets himself go while in the presence of other people. There is also a mentally challenged child named Frankie who shows Doc what real love is, and this is a good way to show that although many people can need and want a person, very few actually care for him or her unconditionally.

Steinbeck's literary gifts do not stop at characterization of people. He constantly uses personification throughout the novel, so that animals seems as real as the other characters. And of course, by titling the novel Cannery Row, Steinbeck promises readers a great description of the setting and surroundings of the novel, and he does not disappoint them. I have been to Cannery Row and although it has changed a lot since Steinbeck's novel was published in 1945, I am still able see it come to life again in my mind while reading the novel. Steinbeck begins it with this description of Cannery Row:

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and wh--e houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'wh--s, pi--s, gamblers, and sons of bi----s,' by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, "Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing."

This is a powerful description of Cannery Row and the characters who live within it, and Steinbeck tells the reader all about the place, time, and people throughout the novel. Anyone finding the first paragraph intriguing will be just as intrigued by the end of Cannery Row, because John Steinbeck expertly shows all of these things and more throughout the entire work....