Leaheys book is by far my preference of the history of psych textbooks (I've also examined Brennan's and Kendler's books). I use the book for personal reading and to give a sense of history and develppment to other courses. His book is especially notable for considering a wide variety of psychological ideas, and its consideration of the interaction of cultures, societies, and psychology. the only reason I give it four stars is because it's not quite as exciting as a novel and I want to see certain sections expanded - (eg. the intellectual-cultural roots of founding psychologists in Germany and Vienna) - but the bibliographies are especially meaty for a textbook.

As much as I love to read, I wasn't very convinced about this book when my dad picked it out. But I can now say it's one of the best books I have ever read. It's sad yet honest, beautifully written. I recommend this book highly.

Anne Garland has three suitors - which one of them will win her hand? Hardy's "The Trumpet-Major" is set in Southern England during the Napoleonic Wars. This was a nervous time - tensions were high due to the threat of French invasion: this context permeates the actions of all the characters of the novel. Indeed, Hardy introduces into the narrative some real historical figues, such as King George III and Captain Hardy (of HMS Victory fame).

This isn't a bad book, but it pales in comparison to to Hardy's major novels. I like Hardy when he's at his gloomiest, when weird events happen in the depth of the English countryside. This book is pretty routine stuff both in its underpinning theme (who will marry the eligible young lady? - it seems to me that nineteenth century novelists were almost totally obsessed by this)and its lightness of style. Utterly harmless, but instantly disposable stuff.

I have read most of Thomas Hardy's novels--he is, along with Wilkie Collins, my favorite novelist--and this is the first one by which I have been disappointed. Still, a disappointing book by Hardy is worth ten by nearly anyone else, so let me explain. The ending felt quite out of the blue and abrupt compared to the events leading up to it, yet in retrospect, it makes more and more sense.

The ending aside--where the oddness is confined to just the last two pages--this is a superb character study of five disparate main characters and a handful of minor characters. Hardy is a master at imbuing each character with not only distinct personalities, but with the inconsistencies and flaws that make them leap, whole and warm-blooded, from the page. His characters are never stock people; they always seem as though they are people you could (or do) actually know in your own life.

The primary character is Anne Garland, a lovely country village girl who is much sought after by three different local men. These include Festus Derriman, a ne'er-do-well with a temper and a lust for his uncle's money; John Loveday, a soldier and the trumpet-major of the novel's title, who is the kindest, most patient character I believe I have ever seen in a novel; and John's younger brother Bob, who is a boisterous sailor with good intentions but a short attention span when it comes to the ladies. The machinations by which these three seek to catch Anne's eye is endlessly inventive and endlessly interesting for the reader, and her varied reactions to their attentions is a marvel of observed detail and the inconsistency of human nature. By turns hot and cold towards each of the men, Anne never seems shallow or thoughtless--merely human. There is also another sharply etched female character, the actress Matilda Johnson, who appears only a couple of times, but who is the linchpin of much important action.

As always, Hardy likes to insert subtle humor into even the most serious of situations. In detailing the village's concern about Napoleon (who is referred to frequently in the book by the derisive nickname "Boney"), Hardy writes:

Widow Garland's thoughts were those of the period. "Can it be the French?" she said, arranging herself for the extremest form of consternation. "Can that arch-enemy of mankind have landed at last?" It should be stated that at this time there were two arch-enemies of mankind, Satan as usual, and Buonaparte, who had sprung up and eclipsed his elder rival altogether. Mrs Garland alluded of couse to the junior gentleman.

You will be surprised, as I was, by the man with whom Anne Garland ends up. Yet now, just a day or two after having finished the novel and having been almost affronted by the abruptness and seeming insuitability of the ending, my position has softened and I can see that Hardy was actually quite true to the characters, their motivations, and their choices--however inconsistent they may at first have seemed to the reader. This is not by any means a great Thomas Hardy novel, but an average novel by Thomas Hardy is still a marvel of construction, of character, and of plot.

She was walking through the library carrying the university's entire Hardy collection. I already had a nasty schoolboy crush on her, but after that day I was jello. And perhaps it began on the afternoon she lectured on Thom. Hardy, describing him as a poet who sacrificed his art to survive as a novelist. Yet, his novels were not pot-boilers, and Hardy eventually returned to his true muse. I shouldn't write this - let Linda explain it to you.