Felix Holt occupies a middle-tier in the critical estimation of Eliot's novels. It is often disparaged as the "political novel," or alternatively "the one where the legal subplot is way too complicated."

At first, this seems unfair. The early introduction of Mrs. Transome is a showstopper, heroine Esther Lyon fascinates, and the detailed evocation of 19th century rural politics is through Eliot's narrative magic made riveting.

But things do go awry in the second half. A big problem is Felix himself: an idealization of a political view rather than a detailed character, the reader loves him rather less than Eliot seems to intend. The legal schenanigans are intriguing, but the tortuous plot machinations through which Felix comes to be imprisoned are near ridiculous. And finally, Esther experiences her moral conversion rather too quickly and tidily, coming to seem just a sketch for Gwendolyn Harleth in the later Daniel Deronda. Indeed, by book's end the most compelling plot thread standing is that of the unfortunate Mrs. Transome.

But to say a book isn't as good as Daniel Deronda isn't much of a criticism. For all its faults, Felix Holt is filled with excellent characters, a strong story, and unparalled insight into both 19th century England and the more universal collisions of morality and politics.

This is my 4th novel by George Eliot (after "Adam Bede", "Middlemarch" and "The Mill on the Floss") and it has become my favourite along with "Middlemarch". "Felix Holt" is so marvelously written and gave me many hours of reading pleasure - I can't understand why it's not as highly acclaimed or well-known as Eliot's other novels.

If you're a fan of Victorian literature, then you mustn't miss this brilliant work. The story's set in the 1830s and is 1/3 focused on politics (i.e. a fascinating insight into the electioneering process and the fight for a Parliamentary seat between the Torys and the Radicals), 1/3 on family and sensational issues (e.g. illegitimacy, dispute over who has the legitimate claim on the wealthy estates of the Transome family and plenty of blackmail, manipulation and betrayals) and 1/3 devoted to a love triangle.

George Eliot wrote so eloquently and beautifully that many times I find myself re-reading a particular phrase in order to saviour its beautiful words. Each chapter also starts with either a beautiful poem or some well-chosen lines from Shakespeare/the Classics. Here's a favourite of mine from Chapter 45 (a poem by Eliot):

"We may not make this world a paradise
By walking it together with clasped hands
And eyes that meeting feed a double strength.
We must be only joined by pains divine,
Of spirits blent in mutual memories".

I confess that above all, it is the suspense over the touching love story that kept me turning the pages very quickly. The hero is Felix Holt, a passionate, idealistic young man who studies medicine but chooses to quit midway and forgo a comfortable future as a doctor in favour of leading the more righteous life (in his opinion) of an ordinary, poor workingman because of his scorn for wealth and its corrupting powers. Felix is described as honest, brusque, generous and highly intelligent. He's got "wild hair", dresses simple and to his own liking e.g. not wearing a cravat "like all the other gentlemen", and sometimes looks like a "barbarian". He patronizes no one and is rather unpopular in the town of Treby Magna where the story takes place. His political views are Radical (i.e. more severe than the Liberals) but his main concerns are for the well-being of the working class and especially the future of their children. (Read the excellent "Address to Working Men by Felix Holt" which comes after the Epilogue). Felix's good intentions land him in great trouble with the law later on when a massive riot breaks out among the drunk working class directly after the election and Felix is wrongly accused of being the leader of the mob.

Early on in the novel, Felix is introduced to the heroine, Esther Lyon (the beautiful daughter of a poor chapel minister) whose vanity and high-bred manner he scorns. He rebukes and lectures her constantly in that straight-forward and honest manner of his because he cares to improve her views on what are truly the important things in life. Esther dislikes him utterly at first... she cannot understand why Felix doesn't admire her beauty and graceful manners like other young men do. Esther is vain and proud (at least, initially) and has always dreamed of leading a better life, with fineries and beautiful clothes and servants to do her bidding. And Felix Holt is definitely not her idea of a lover! But Esther is not unkind or ungenerous - she loves her father dearly and treats everyone well. Gradually, she begins to see the true nature of Felix's character and noble aims, and holds him in great esteem, despite his outward looks and manners. But Felix has declared never to marry and if he were ever to fall in love, he would just "bear it and not marry" (preferring to "wed poverty"). Later in the novel, Esther is courted by the rich and handsome Harold Transome whose initial reason for wooing her is to save his family estates. But he doesn't count on falling in love with her subsequently.

Who does Esther ends up with finally: Felix or Harold? But take it from me that the romantic scenes between Felix and Esther are the most passionate and heart-wrenching I've ever come across in a classic literature - with many kisses and hugs amidst pure longing and despair, and scenes filled with beautifully spoken words of affection which brought tears to my eyes.

For many, many reasons, "Felix Holt" makes for a most brilliant read. I urge you not to miss it.

Some might say nothing can equal Middlemarch as Eliot's greatest work but I think that even if Felix Holt doesn't rank alongside it in literature, it should be given at least an equal status.

The novel deals with provincial politics in nineteenth century England through the mouthpiece of one of the best male protagonists ever drwan in literature by a female writer. As in all her books, Eliot is sharp in her details, the satire is poignant and she doesn't miss out on humor. Feminism takes a different turn here, with telling criticisms on the way females were brought up at that time and in many third world countries, still are brought up.

Eliot is never bitter, never hopeless, yet always realistic and idealistic with this difference: she doesn't let it get out of control. Fear not: mawkish is the last thing this book is. Some details might seem to be superfluous but it adds up to showing the literary prowess of this great woman, and is very helpful in letting you understand the real stuff going on at that time. A good, very well-written socio-political novel, that depicts the atmosphere of its time with more accuracy than many other books I've read.

Eliot does have the most amazing ability to get into her characters' minds. although this book is an all rounder in the sense that it comments on most social issues, the two main intimate themes of the books are personal to the central character, Felix, the most "alive" hero of nineteenth century literature: his politics and his love interest, in herself a very compelling and subtly drwan character.

Worth reading for all Eliot, Dickens, and Hardy fans. Will definitely give you two or three new opinions: even if the time period is different, much of the philosophy of the book is still very relevant.

Hops and Plana play together in the spring when they are just little bunnies,but the next spring they are playing together in a slightly different fashion.Felix Salten has a wonderful sense of nature and tells his animal stories in a truly sincere fashion.The rabbits celebrate life-and there are many rabbits who survive dangers like hunters,captivity and predators-and,as in life,a few who do not survive.Hops is the only survivor, in fact,of a litter of rabbits.(Read the story to learn why this is so.)There are cameos by Bambi and Faline.Gobo is even mentioned.It is easy to see why Salten's animal stories can be loved by children and adults.

Although Fifteen Rabbits is, in short, about a bunch of rabbits hangin around in the forest, it is still one of the best books I have ever read. It isn't just a cutesie bunny-rabbit-frolicking-in-the beautiful forest-type book, either. In fact, a lot of the scenes are too complex or disturbing for young children to read. This ain't the Disney version of Bambi, folks.

In Fifteen Rabbits, we learn about all of the adventures that our two good rabbit friends Hops and Plana (think Bambi and Faline) get into. Salten has once again marvelously written a novel that is supposedly for children, but can actually be more well-appreciated by adults. I cried so much over little Epi's death. The scenes are so sorrowful that you actually think that you are losing one of your good friends. :-)

PLEASE go out and read Fifteen Rabbits. Although I've never figured out why Salten gave his book that title, it will still be one of the very very best books you will ever read!!

If you loved the story of Bambi, you will also enjoy this book about the lives of a small group of rabbits. This was written in much the same vein as Bambi, so expect some sorrowful scenes as well as wonderful uplifting scenes. Well worth the effort to find! I still have my copy from 1981 if that tells you anything!!

This fascinating little book -- originally published in French with the subtitle "The Figures of Time from Kepler to Thom" -- deals generally with discoveries related to dynamic systems. The first chapter recounts the history of results related to the granddaddy of dynamic systems: celestial spheres and their orbits. It's a gripping account that places Kepler's and Newton's breakthroughs in context, so that their importance is all the more appreciated. By the end of the 19th century, scientists believed they could accurately predict the location of any planet at any point in time, past or future.

But as Ekeland so well conveys, the haughty hopes of scientism would soon be dashed. The second chapter describes the difficulty -- nay, the impossibility -- of making the required calculations to any accuracy. This is perhaps the most startling part of the book. Even if you have a math and physics education, you may not be aware of the results of Henri Poincaré, who showed among other things that there is no closed-form equation or non-divergent series for expressing the positions of three orbiting bodies in space (the so-called "three body problem"). Ekeland also describes Poincaré's qualitative results, which demonstrated the fractal character of planetary orbits. He then goes on to describe Lorenz's discovery that dynamic systems modeled by even a few simple differential equations exhibit chaotic behavior: a small perturbation in the initial conditions can lead to a vastly different outcome over time. This result re-enforces Ekeland's point that dynamic systems cannot be simulated computationally with any accuracy.

The third chapter describes the results of René Thom's catastrophe theory, which explains why a small change to the configuration of a system can cause it to change states rather dramatically (Thom calls such shifts catastrophes). Ekeland is careful to point out that catastrophe theory applies only to dissipative systems, that is, systems in which stable equilibria are reached due to the dissipation of energy (usually through friction). He also uses a somewhat skeptical tone in describing the more far-fetched areas to which catastrophe theory has been applied by Thom and its other proponents. Nonetheless, catastrophe theory is certainly interesting and does make intuitive sense.

This book is an all-too-rare literate popularization of mathematical ideas. Indeed, literary references abound, especially in the final chapter, which is a long analogy between dynamic systems and Homer's epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. Although I found this analogy a bit strained, I highly recommend the book's first three chapters. In addition to clearly describing a wide variety of mathematical results (using relatively few equations and copius illustrative figures), it also contains a number of surprising little gems. The foreword by Felix Browder is also excellent, putting the rest of the book into appropriate context. Finally, Ekeland has included two fascinating appendices describing other results related to the book's theme, but in slightly more detail.

All in all, this relatively short book (138 pages) packs quite a whollup! I strongly recommend this book to anyone with even the least bit of interest in mathematics or physics. ...

Occasionally you encounter a book about a subject that you know reasonably well, or least think you do, only to discover that you had little understanding after all. When I first read Ivar Ekeland's "Mathematics and the Unexpected", I was absolutely startled. I knew some physics and math, and I had always assumed that differential equations and physics accurately described nature. Differential equations and physics seemed to go together like bread and butter. Ekeland quickly showed me that I had not really thought about the way differential equations are used in physics.

Ekeland has written a book about mathematics, not a mathematics book. "Mathematics and the Unexpected" does not require familiarity with advanced mathematics and celestial mechanics, and yet Ekeland discusses both topics. The thoughtful reader, rather than becoming confused, will come away with insight into some of the most exciting work in mathematics in the last thirty years. I suspect, however, that the reader knowledgeable of more advanced mathematics will be even more appreciative of Ekeland's achievement.

This is not a new book. Ekeland received the Jean Rostand Prize in 1984 for this outstanding work of scientific popularization. He discusses classical determinism, impossible calculations, deterministic but random systems, unstable but stable systems, and dissipative dynamic systems as he positions us to understand catastrophe theory. In the 1980's catastrophe theory was more controversial as some early proponents had either applied the theory inappropriately or exaggerated its capability. Ekeland concludes with a thoughful critique of catastrophe theory.

I encourage anyone interested in pursuing more recent works (popular or technical) on chaos theory, fractals, or nonlinear dynamics to first read "Mathematics and the Unexpected". Ivar Ekeland has produced "a cultured text with the rare combination of deceptive simplicity and powerful insight" that provides a solid foundation for exploring many contemporary topics in mathematics. The phrase in quotes is from the London Times. This is definitely a five-star book.

As a mathematician who doesn't generally enjoy popular math books, I found Mathematics and the Unexpected to be quite pleasant reading. Instead of being a treatise on the enjoyment of puzzles, I think it conveyed much of how mathematics is integral towards human understanding of the world around us. I have recommended it to my non-mathematician friends, to the point that my copy is on permanent loan.

This volume marks Clewell's arrival in the realm of poetry that contributes something substantial to literature. It's not as inspired on the whole as _The Conspiracy Quartet_, which is his best book to date, but it contains some of his best individual poems.

I wish you would buy this book. You need this book. Everyone you know needs a copy of this book. The holidays are coming up. Birthdays, Anniversaries, Mondays. All good reasons to get this book and give it to someone you care about. Your life will be better for it--his or her life will be better for it--I promise. It's all about seeing the world clearly and loving it anyway, or rather, because.

Intellect, lyricism, deft language, personality, topics of the heart, the landscape and everything in between ... This is the real stuff, a voice that has earned its clarity, honed a point of view, and insists on humor and good spirirts. Had enough of Jorie Graham? Try Clewell.

because I had hoped for something to supplement the perspective from Lowry-Richardson's book. It is still a good book, though, especially for the undergraduate.

I read this text in my organic chemistry core course.I am certain that this is not one of the "run of the mill" texts in organic chemistry flooding market today.I must say it's really an advanced text that gives you less of statements and more of proposals.It stimulates reader's scientific temper and makes the reader challenge the simplistic and dogmatic perspectives prevailed in the contemporary organic chemistry.As mentioned by the author he could refrain himself from making it an encyclopedia of organic chemistry but he gives us the rationale behind the stabilities and reactivities of organic molecules by which one can enter into the "dreadful endless jungle"(in Friedrich Wohler's words,1835) with innumerous mind-boggling reactions with appreciable amount of confidence.It is not recommended for the beginner in the subject but is a real beacon for the graduate students in the feild.

caroll's book is an excellent "advanced" organic textbook and reference. more of a teaching textbook than a strict reference guide, but all around great. it's without a doubt the best adv organic text i have come across (out of the 7 that i own and many others that i have glanced thru). highly recommended.

This was a great novel I liked it alot. I wonder though why the ending was not done better. It seemed that the author was in a hurry and needed something to finish it. Thank God; however, the author brought back Dire McCann at the end.

I have enjoyd reading the three books of this trilogy,and the conclusion is very great.At last the characters face the truth. Very good book, from a very good author.

Yes! Don't you just love it when mages battle? Finally the agents from the Technocracy and the Traditions meet under the most dire circumstances, fighting a common enemy. The stakes are high, the losses are great, and Weinberg actually manages to make us feel empathy for a cyborg! This trilogy is even better than Weinberg's Masquerade of The Red Death, I strongly recommend it. I would have enjoyed seeing a little more Paradox though, but you can't get everything. Read it carefully, and see if you can figure out who the Master of Harmony was. Hopefully Weinberg will give us the answer sometime in the future, until then, read and rejoice.

I'm sure lots of people have been in this situation: you blitz through species counterpoint in your freshman year as a music major, only to realize its importance much later (i.e. after your extensive tour of the rest of music theory). Books like Salzer/Schachter's are a good way to go back and do it properly. This book is excellent and thorough, covering counterpoint not only as a theoretical grounding for later harmonic theory, but also examining its use in large-scale composition. The only problem with the book is the Salzer/Schachter's prose- it's like they're bringing down the counterpoint rules on tablets from the sacred mountain. Some procedures are flatly forbidden that more relaxed authors -- like Jeppesen -- excuse (in instances where fudging the rules produces a beautiful voice leading). In some cases, they flaty contradict other authors. Whereas Jeppesen cannot encourage voice-crossing enough, Salzer/Schachter list it as a mortal sin. Worse, Salzer/Schachter write their exercises for 'The Student', an individual of impossible concentration and diligence who can compose whole exercises in his/her head and would be ashamed to even touch a piano. In other words, their tone is not exactly encouraging- compared to 'The Student', your early efforts are bound to feel pretty clumsy (at least mine were). Still, this is a nice book with lots of good exercises and examples drawn from real music literature. Between Salzer/Schachter, Fux, and Jeppesen, it's more that possible to make a thorough review of counterpoint working by yourself.

The Salzer counterpoint book is a must for any serious musician. This book adresses counterpoint not as a theoretical abstraction but as a concrete musical experience. All too often counterpoint is reduced to meaningless exercises not connected with real world music. This book, which is fairly new, combines Fux's species counterpoint whith Schenkerian thought to create the most solid counterpoint book to date.

Felix King creates a delivery service with Sara, Felicity, and Cecily, but bosses them around so much that they quit! Felix is now on his own and he foolishly accepts a bet that could cause his horse (Blackie's) life! This is based on an episode of the ROAD TO AVONLEA television series that spanned seven years and 91 episodes. I loved this story because it makes you think and laugh and it's good soul food because of it's heartwarming theme. It DID almost make me cry at the end...poor Blackie. These stories are very heartwarming and set at the turn of the century in the town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

When Alec King buys a new stallion to replace good old Blackie, Felix promises to somehow earn enough money so that his beloved friend is not sold away from the King farm. When Blackie is hitched up to an old wagon "Felix's Delivery" is born. As far as Felix is concerned his new business is a smashing success and he takes on Sara and Cecily as partners, paying more attention to counting his change than making sure his deliveries arrive at the proper destination in one piece. Alec King's father always said boys have to learn lessons the hard way and Felix seems destined for a hard lesson to learn indeed. Plus, it does not help that everybody from his bossy sister Felicity to Hank Webster, Avonlea's "other" delivery man, has something to say about Felix's efforts.

"Felix and Blackie" is written by Heather Conkie, adapted from her own teleplay for the "Avonlea" series. Although the series was based on the writings of Lucy Maud Montgomery, this particular episode uses Montgomery's characters from the Story Girl novels to tell an original story. Conkie does a wonderful job of fleshing out her teleplay, especially in terms of what Felix is thinking as his business goes from bad to worse and everybody starts picking on him. Felix King tended to be used as comic relief in the early years of "Avonlea," but the story of "Felix and Blackie" provides realistic depth to the character as we see the young boy grow up a little bit in this episode. The scenes were Felix tries to act like a man and fit in with the crowd outside Lawson's Store ring true as does the climax, where Felix and his father both learn an important lesson. This was one of the better episodes of the show and it is nice to see that it has been preserved by this novelization.

This textbook is a combination book, partly the biography of an exceptional individual and partly a history of scientific discovery. The author, William Summers, is eminently qualified to write such a text, being a physician, scientist, and historian at Yale University.

D'Herelle is a renowned Canadian Scientist about whom I was totally ignorant. Born in Montreal, he traveled and lived in numerous areas around the world, although France became his eventual home. He never gave up his Canadian citizenship, however. D'Herelle was born to a wealthy family in Montreal, and after high school he traveled extensively, thanks to a gift from his mother. He never found time to return to formal schooling, but he learned enormous amounts in his chosen field, microbiology. His seminal scientific discovery was the description of bacteriophages, and their possible application in human infectious diseases. For this he received numerous awards, and at one time was a research professor at Yale University despite his own lack of formal education. Dr. Summers clearly delineates the process of scientific discovery, and the subsequent controversies over the nature of this new discovery (was it really a living organism or an enzyme?), and the determination of scientific priority. There is a fair amount of technical description, but Dr. Summers is a clear and logical writer who is able to guide the reader through the scientific process.

This book is an incredible work of scholarship, with extensive use of primary source documents. However, because the main thrust of this book is one of scientific discovery, we get very little analysis of d'Herelle's personality. I would have been interested in some speculation on how his lack of formal education might have influenced his often-stormy relationships with other scientists. Also, why was such a distinguished scientist so poorly treated at the Pasteur Institute, his spiritual home? There would be much to learn from a biography of this highly complex individual. Meanwhile, this is an excellent book that helps us understand the nature of scientific enquiry while saluting an outstanding scientist, who just happens to be Canadian.

This book reviews the life of Felix d'Herelle, the man responsible for the co-discovery, naming, and popularization of bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria. From bacteriophages came molecular genetics, and from molecular genetics came biotechnology as well as much of modern biology. Bacteriophages, in the guise of the bacteriophage therapy of bacterial diseases, may even change your life, serving as the next generation of truly effective antibacterial antimicrobials. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and benefited greatly from the insight provided into d'Herelle's life and influence on bacteriophagy. Without question, any individual interested in bacteriophage therapy, or just plain bacteriophages as more than just tools at the heart of molecular biology, will want to read this book.

This is not a bad introductory documentation book, but quite skimpy in the amount of information and examples it contains.
Not sure it is worth buying at that price. I bought it after reading the previous reviews - I think they overrated it!

After reading my colleague's comments I rushed out and purchased this book. I, too, am trained and certified in Information Mapping© and was impressed at how closely the approach in this book is aligned to that method. However, what I like most is the fact that this book can be used as guidance for a wider scope than just documenting software architectures because it shows how to organize your documentation requirements, develop clear documentation and manage the entire process from start to finish.

I also like the clearly articulated and illustrated advice about how to augment text with graphics, and how to select the views and associated graphics to document requirements, specifications and the finished architecture. An example of how this book goes beyond documenting just architectures is a project in which I was engaged two years ago. One of the major deliverables was a set of operations guides. While this is related to architecture with respect to how its used after it's in production, there were no books that fully described how to go about it in a coherent way. Using the advice and techniques in this book I could have greatly improved upon what I did produce. While I cannot change the past, you can be sure that I'll use this book to its fullest the next time I need to write ops guides, especially when it comes to showing component and connector views, and elements and relations.

If you do technical writing either professionally or as a part of your job get this book and keep it nearby. If you read and use the material you're ability to communicate will surely improve, and you'll be able to tailor your documentation to each segment of your audience (business and technical), as well as to clearly communicate information. You'll also learn much about managing the documentation process itself.

Since reading a fascinating document titled "CMU/SEI-2001-TN-010 - Documenting Software Architectures: Organization of Documentation Package" a year ago and discovering that the approximately 20-page document was the basis for a book I have patiently waited, and am delighted with how the book turned out.

First, this book stands out as one of the clearest descriptions of how to not only document architectures, but how to manage the documentation project. Second, this is not a dogmatic prescription for how to document, but instead gives a set of techniques and views that can be used singularly or in combination to produce documentation that meets the needs of all technical and business stakeholders.

When I read the brief predecessor to this book I liked the way different view types and styles were introduced, but was left to my own imagination and creativity to employ them based on scant descriptions. This book rectifies those gaps by providing comprehensive guidance on how to create each view type and when it's most appropriate for inclusion into the documentation project. I was also intrigued by the earlier document because it discussed 'information chunking', which is the basis for a technique in which I'm trained and certified called Information Mapping©. The book expands on the earlier work, and it turns out that the material is not only consistent with Information Mapping© at a high level, but also shares many core principles. To me this is another plus because it will introduce readers who have not benefited from formal Information Mapping© training to powerful and effective document design and development techniques.

Another strong point about this book is the attention paid to managing the documentation process - it's one thing to write clear documentation and quite another to manage a process where many writers contribute to the documentation. I also liked the illustration examples, which epitomize how to effectively portray technical detail, and the discussion of other methods of documenting architecture.

In my opinion this book should become the standard for developing and managing documentation. It belongs on the desk of every technical writer and on the bookshelf of every architect and designer. I waited a year for this book and it was well worth the wait.