Gary Nabhan and Stephen Trimble have penned a fine collection of essays on how children perceive and play in their environment. References are made to psychological studies that support a child's need for wild places, but the real value I see in this book comes from the authors' own anecdotal experiences with their children. If you are a parent of small children, you will especially enjoy the ideas you will get for places to take children to play and explore. Read this book and you will begin to learn why children need to experience wild places. And why, as adults, if we share the "hands-on" experiences with our kids, our own connection to the landscape becomes more deeply rooted.

At first glance, this book seems to be another in a long line of published material telling parents how to be good parents. But it really seemed like a personal reflection of what makes life great through a child's eyes. Instead of trying to raise a child through adult methods, this book shows that through simply remembering what being a child was and why it was fun is enough to help you understand what your child is thinking. Through this understanding, you will become a great parent. I was very pleased with my purchase and recommend this book to anyone that has had any contact with children.

The Invisible Man is a classic science fiction novel, having an incredibly strong plot and being written in a way that utilizes it to the utmost. Through suspense and conclusion it keeps you thinking and, of course, wanting to complete it. It was hard to put down to go to bed.

This Penguin Classics audiobook is actually a three-hour, two cassette UNabridged presentation of Wells' novel, despite Amazon's listing of it as "abridged".

Paul Shelly gives an excellent reading. His narration is eloquent and melodious, and his remarkable voice talent captures the individual essence and quirks of each character. This rendition preserves every bit of the suspense and drama of Wells' classic moral tale of science without scruples, and it bears up well under repeated listening. I keep my copy in the car, and at times it has left me reluctant to arrive at my destination. Very highly recommended.

I find Tournier's writing very agreeable. He goes into the task of seperating the personage from the person. Basing it on dialect with others and having communication with your own spiritual self Tournier provokes many interesting thoughts. A good read.

I believe Paul Tournier began his career as a medical doctor in Geneva, Switzerland, in the 1940's, but so many people who came to him about their physical problems complained about their religious and emotional difficulties, that he trained to become a psychotherapist. He was a scientist as well as a devout Christian, and one of the main ideas of his books is the restoration of the doctor-patient human relationship in the practice of medicine. In that he may have been a forerunner of the holistic style of medicine that emerged about twenty yars later.
"The Meaning of Persons" is a good book to start with, if you are inclined to read books on healing with a Christian point of view. His style is intimate, readable, and charming, and his translators are very good. You will want to read more of his books.

This unique book - a stylistic cross between "News of the Weird" and "In Cold Blood" - is a fascinating exploration of a popular urban legend, the alleged "death" of Beatle Paul McCartney. I am neither a Beatles fanatic nor a student of contemporary myth, but I loved this book! Intelligently-written and comprehensive, "Turn Me On, Dead Man" is a witty, trippy walk down memory lane for those of us who remember hearing the rumors of McCartney's demise - and simply big fun for everyone else. A nifty case study on how urban legends are born and how they can take on a life of their own

"Turn Me On, Dead Man" is an excellent book and is very interestingly written. While the story is a historical account of a slice of life from our musical past, it reads like a novel. I am not an avid Beatles fan, but I was totally captivated by the book. Andru Reeve obviously spent a lot of time researching the background for his book and talking to the people who actually lived through and participated in some way in the Paul is Dead hoax. It is delightful reading and is a book that I would heartily recommend to anyone, but especially to those fans of the fab four. My only complaint is that this is the only book that Reeve has published. The guy has the talent to be recognized as a first-rate journalist and novelist

Beatle fans always knew that someday there'd be a whole book on the subject, but this book surpassed my expectations. Before reading this book, every written account of the 'Paul Is Dead' rumor seemed the same to me...not much more than a list of the 'clues' and the Beatles' explanations. But Andre Reeves' book is not just a listing of clues...in fact, he saves that for the very end of the book. Instead he wisely gets behind the origin and evolution of the rumor, showing how a college student's tongue in cheek newspaper article snowballed into a national obsession, almost like a small fire gradually getting out of control and turning into an inferno. Reeves puts the reader right into those crazy weeks of October 1969 so that he/she can get a glimpse of a world unsure if the baby-faced Beatle was still walking the Earth, barefoot or otherwise. The accounts from the rumor's key players provide information previously unavailable in any Beatle books, and shed new light on many areas. Those who continue to profess that the Beatles concocted the whole thing really need to read this book before uttering another word about it. If you just want a fun-to-read listing of clues, there are many web sites that provide one. But if you are looking for some true stories behind the rumor that put it in a whole new perspective (in other words, if you truly wish to learn something,) 'Turn Me On Dead Man' more than satisfies.

This is, for anybody Catholic or non-Catholic who is interested in the Pope, a good read. But the book is flawed by a full jar of political intrigue. I would buy it, but for the story of the man, not the story of the CIA files on him.

Pope John Paul caught the world's attention with his work to end communism in Central Europe. I am not a Catholic, but I have the utmost regard for what this man has accomplished. The title of this book gives away the author's regard for him also. The Americans give credit for the fall of communism to former Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev, especially in the video series 'Biography of the Millennium' done by A&E, but without the Pope's knowledge of the Central Europeans it would have just been a dream of theirs. I read this book with a great deal of relief that it had been published during the Pope's lifetime. He would probably regard the historical oversight of his work with less frustration than many of his supporters.

This book, which uses the subject's life as a framework for reviewing events and political philosophies leading up to the millenium, has much to recommend it to the general reader..... One need not be intimidated by its size and scope; it's extremely readable and consistently fascinating. As a non-Catholic, I was surprised to learn how very complex and interesting this man Wojtyla is, and, like the movie "Titanic", the inside story of Poland's liberation is exciting, even though one pretty much already knows how it's going to turn out!.... I was also intrigued by the material in the book detailing the origins of the Pope's unpopular views on women and sex, and by the author's discussion of methods used by John Paul II in his struggle against Soviet tyranny as contrasted to those employed by our own government..... While I don't know whether I believe Kwitny's conclusions about the irresistible force of high moral courage -- will the Pope's methods work for the Dalai Lama against the Red Chinese without Star Wars waiting in the wings?? -- I certainly want to believe them, and the evidence marshalled in Man of the Century is both convincing and inspiring.

I read this book a few months ago and I agree that it is a good book. The adventure and depiction of the characters is excellent. You feel as if you are watching the scenes come to life right in front of you. I feel the title of the book is not a good one though. "Phillipe", for one, is the "Man In the Iron Mask", but, he isn't a main character at all. He also never becomes one. I had watched the movie and now own it, so I assumed that it would follow the book. It doesn't at all. It's totally a different story from the book. I loved the movie, don't get me wrong. But if you've watched the movie and now want to read the book, expect something totally different. This book should be titled "The Last of the Muskateers", because that's what it's really about. How all of the muskateers are in their prime and how they slowly but bravely die off. Until there's only one left. I don't know if Mr. Dumas wanted to suprise people or if he thought that he had the appropriate title, but it really doesn't fit the book. The outcome of "Phillipe" is extremely different from the movie and the "Queen Mother" isn't so kind. The movie was appropriatley titled, not the book. Both good stories, two different depictions.

Let met start by saying that I've read this at least four times, so obviously I love it. But the title is deceptive. If you are looking for a story about a falsely imprisoned man bravely escaping and getting revenge on those who did him wrong, you should think twice about buying this book. Hollywood has for years tried to turn this novel into such an "escape" story, based mainly on its title, so that's the impression people have of the book.

If you're looking for such a story, I'd highly recommend The Count of Monte Cristo (Oxford has an edition that runs upward of 1,000 pages - which is daunting - but Bantam has an abridgement that is 450 pages and is quite entertaining. That may be the exact book you're looking for!).

The Man in the Iron Mask tells a different story, one based on historic facts. In 1661, King Louis XIV of France had his minister of finances - Nicolas Fouquet - arrested for embezzlement. Also in that year, Louis successfully wooed a young handmaiden named Louise, which caused some stir. In this novel, Dumas gives us the secret history behind these facts, and it is no surprise that the story involves his famous Four Musketeers.

More specifically, Aramis becomes privy to the fact that Louis has a twin brother languishing in the Bastille, and he attempts to switch the two. The novel details his fascinating and rather intricate plot to pull this off, as well as how the other Musketeers fit into the plan.

However, the first couple of hundred pages concern mainly the aforementioned historic events, and its a bit of reading before you get to the meat of the action.

I can't recommend this book highly enough - it seems to have become part of my life, the way some good books can - but don't let the title create a false expectation. You'll be dissappointed - instead, read The Count of Monte Cristo.

But if you love literature, if you love stories of complex intrigue, and especially if you love the Four Musketeers, you HAVE to read this book at least once in your life!

This is one Dumas best works, and to those who dislike i say this: to say it has an awful ending means you have completely missed the point. There a number of peaple (the makers of the recent film included) who seem to believe that it's about a man who is forced to wear an iron mask, it isn't. The book is actually about the destinies of the musketeers and how they meet them, the mask is simply a plot vehicle for this. Secondly the book makes little or no sense if read out of secquence with the others, you see this is the final part of dumas final musketeers story (the vicomte de bragelone) and should be read after the other parts. All that said this is great book, only dumas can take 120 pages to tell one day and keep us gripped. The ending is wonderfully sad and still keeps us guessing.

Having had no prior knowledge of Paul Erdos and his work, I purchased this book on a whim. I enjoy biographies of interesting people and he certainly was one. The book is a biography for the most part but also contains much biographical anecdotes of other great mathematicians. I found these anecdotes to be very interesting and a good introduction to this group of interesting people. I find these brief descriptions interesting enough to pursue full biographies of some of these individuals. There is also much discussion of various mathematical principles and theories. While this may seem daunting, they are explained with amazing lucid language that any layperson may grasp even these most difficult mathematical laws. I found the book a great introduction to the world of mathematics and found myself more interested in math than I ever was before. It made me regret not taking calculus in college.

Being something of a 'lapsed' mathematician (long ago math major, long unused), I'm always interested in books that involve numbers and people who love numbers. I'm usually not fond of biographies, but I'd heard good things about this one and decided to give it a try. To my surprise and joy, it turned out to be more about numbers and math in general, than about those irritating details of a person's life that usually get in the way of a good read. I agree with one of the earlier reviews here that trying to write an entire book devoted just to Paul Erdos would probably have been futile -- his entire life was numbers. This book opens doors for people who aren't familiar with the various theories and offers some 'math surprises' for those of us who were familiar with math in a former life. I'm still puzzling over the tiling result. (Sorry, you'll have to read the book to find out what it was.) Loved it. Highly recommend it. Have so far purchased two copies as gifts and will likely purchase at least two more (I have a lot of math-oriented friends).

This is a wonderful book. Hoffman writes a series of vignettes about Paul Erdos, a giant of number theory. Erdos, who died in 1996, was as eccentric as he was brilliant. Though Erdos engaged in few activities outside of mathematics in his adult life, he lived as interesting a life as anyone's, in my opinion. The stories about Erdos and his fellow mathematicians are so entertaining and, in some cases, so genuinely uplifting or poignant, that I have read some of them five times. Also, the quotes and opinions from Erdos himself are very interesting and amusing. His ideas were certainly unconventional, but many of them are very insightful. "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" does not provide the most systematic account of Erdos's life possible, but in its current format it is more enjoyable.

This is to serve as a rebutal to the earlier so- called review. De Man's war time involvement with the Dutch fascists was indeed unfortunate, as was Heideggar's espousal of nazism, as well Eliade's support of the Romanian fascists. This does not however take away from the beauty of their literary and philisophical works. Something that as a Jew I have had to grapple with. Derrida is an Algerian Jew, and was Paul de Man's close friend. His approach to reading is principly an ethical one. Perhaps you should turn your attention to his book on de Man. And perhaps also, you should reread the above book, or first read some other books on deconstruction, as your characterization of it was terribly off base. Deconstruction in it's Derridean form is extremely subtle, requiring a mental agility to grasp the closeness of it's readings. You would be doing yourself a service by reapproaching it more with an attentive honestness not exhibited in the above review. As to the book in question, I have always enjoyed Paul de Man's work, however if you are not familiar with continental philosophy it may not be the best opening into that world-Derrida, Delueze, Cixous and later Hedeggar may prove more stimulating and enjoyable.

Genesis and Genelogy alone is worth five stars. If you don't believe me - read it.

One of the best analyses upon the metaphor subject. The chapter about the Marcel Proust metaphors is pure light. Do not lose it!

Bound in _A Cat, a Man, and Two Women_ are three stories by one of Japan's most esteemed modern writers, Junichiro Tanizaki. For anyone who has followed Tanizaki's work, the stories are ostensibly by a younger Tanizaki; the stories capture hints of the perverse and psychological drama, which he has mastered in his later work. I must admit, having read many of his later novels first, I found the stories in the collection a bit slow. Nonetheless, as admier of Tanizaki's literature, I felt the collection gave me a better understanding of his progression and maturity as a writer. His attention to the psychology of the women characters vis-à-vis the male protagonist in the title story, "A Cat, a Man, and Two Women," reminded me of his novel _Quicksand_, written much later. The story "Professor Rado" is arguably a nascent version of _A Diary of a Mad Old Man_, which centralizes trans-generational desire and foot fetishes. Out of the three stories, "The Little Kingdom" was my favorite -- it gives the impression that Tanizaki is both an astute and creative social critic. The story reminded me of the novel _Nip the Buds, Shoot the Children_, by another notable Japanese author, Kenzaburo Oe, where children rule the adult world around them. The collection is worth a read.

Although extremely well written, the point of these stories escapes me. And this coming from someone who has a fair familiarity with and appreciation for Japanese literature. Despite the book's short length, it took me several weeks to get through it -- my interest and intellectual curiosity were never truly aroused. I was particularly dismayed by the stories' endings, which struck me as rather arbitrary and gratuitously abrupt. To be sure, it is nowhere written in stone that a story must always provide some sort of resolution. That doesn't mean, however, that it should end more or less in mid-sentence -- and with a 'ho-hum' from the reader.

tanizaki is my most favorite author ever since reading some of his works in college. therefore, i have read "a cat, a man, and two women" for leisure. i would have to say this is one of tanizaki's shortest works but not short of complexities of relationships of all sorts. the main part of this book deals with the complexity of not only the relationship between a man and his present wife (cousin) and an ex-wife but with a long time cat companion named Lilly. i don't know if i can call this a love triangle, more like a love rectangle. the cat, Lilly, is used and abused in this story. Lilly becomes the reasons and emotional links of all the problems between the man (Shozo) and his women, Shinako and Fukuko. A helpless animal is being "abused" by these characters, the cat can be used to represent Shozo's "actual" wife, the cat was "used" to make both wives jealous by Shozo without him directly trying, and the cat was snatched by ex-wife to lure Shozo back to her. focus is driven away from the human players in this story and is mainly on helpless Lilly. I felt Shozo never needed a wife in first place, all he needed was Lilly, Shozo is a real cat lover and tanizaki did well describing all the feelings dealing with loving a feline.

Rocco Buttiglione is an absolute cretin. A servile henchman of the cancerous worldwide catholic lobby and a junior partner in Berlusconi's neofascist bloc, he contents himself with the few crumbs that fall from his master's table... like a faithful, mangy little dog. May Jah have mercy upon him and upon the misguided souls who have nothing better to do than to read his insignificant works.

The book is hard to understand not only in philosophical thought but also some polish history would help.
As a casual reader I found the book to be more of a task then I wanted.
A challenge is good if you have the patience for the subject mater. I rated the book high because it was well written and informative but a little over my head. I simply didn't have the back round knowledge I needed to get full understanding.
There are other books on Pope John Paul 2 that would be more beneficial for the causal reader.

The reader seeking to understand the thinking of Pope John Paul II will find no better introduction than this remarkable book. Buttiglione is a major philosopher in his own right--as if evident from his careful discussions of Adorno, Sartre, Marx, and other thinkers he brings into dialogue with Wojtyla. Highly recommended.