After reading a portion of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", particularly the preface and "Song of Myself", I found it to be inspiring and uplifting. Whitman is the most enthuiastic American poet I have ever read and his passion for life and nature is amazing. He did not ever want to miss a second of life or the smallest detail of nature. He shares his limitless love for all Americans, including, of course, himself. I particularly enjoy his frequent usage of listing without commas, which I find livens his excitement for life even more. Whitman, although he may come off as a bit over eager to some, truly makes you realize how blessed you are and how lucky you are to live in this beautiful place, and he reminds us all that we should not take any of these blessings for granted. Something I find I need to be reminded of more than I should. I recommend this book to all.

Words cannot describe the complexity of Leaves of Grass. I am constantly amazed at how well Walt Whitman holds it all together, keeping is hand on one object while amorously praising another. Everything works in perfect cohesion...An unabashed love of self, of nature, of all that is divine and not divine. Leaves of Grass is a truly inspired work...its words are boundless and fluent, rising in an intoxicating crescendo of naked emotion. "I am the poet of the Body; and I am the poet of the Soul." Throughout Leaves of Grass there is an overwhelming theme of unity...unity of man and nature, of man and man, of man and God. Excitable sputterings of ageless wisdom become scattered, but somehow stay anchored to the intricate framework of the book. This sounds contradicting, and it is reminiscent of a line from the book --"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; (I am large-I contain multitudes.) After reading this book, you will delight in how large Walt Whitman is.

I carry a copy of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass with me where ever I go. I think that it is America's great religious book; it contains just about everything one would need to know to live a good life.

Whitman published many different editions of this book. The one I carry is the 1892 "death-bed" eddition, which contains virtually all the poetry he ever published. However I also own the "first" edition, published in 1855. In this version the poems are published without titles, so that each poem stands on its own, without any images guiding the reader before hand. I recommend either edition - or both!

I tend to give a book **** stars when it should be read and ***** when it must be read. This book remains a good read even after the dot-com implosion. Perhaps even a better read afterward since the hype and frenzy are long since gone and the work can better live and die on its own.

Kevin Kelly, as founding editor of Wired magazine, has long been one of the new economy's chief advocates. In New Rules for the New Economy, Kelly tries to encapsulate the characteristics of this emerging economic order by laying out 10 rules for how the wired world operates. It is very well thought out and well written. A superb synthesis of new economy thinking. Right or wrong, it does a phenomenal job of putting forth the premises and substantive arguments that make the new economy such a provocative topic. Kelly manages to do this while maintaining a fluid and natural story telling style. Here is a representative sample excerpt:

"Communication is the foundation of society, of our culture, of our humanity, of our own individual identity, and of all economic systems. This is why networks are such a big deal. Communication is so close to culture and society itself that the effects of technologizing it are beyond the scale of a mere industrial-sector cycle. Communication, and its ally computers, is a special case in economic history. Not because it happens to be the fashionable leading business sector of our day, but because its cultural, technological, and conceptual impacts reverberate at the root of our lives."

This book both informs and, more importantly, inspires. Its powerful message has no doubt launched careers and changed lives. It will remain an important read for many, many years to come.

Kevin, like all good pioneers, has taken more than his fair share of "arrows in the back", but don't be mis-led by the naysayers, this one is the real deal.

Why do alliances among firms kindle increased innovation? Why does the law of diminishing returns not work the way it used to? Why are so many firms giving away their products? Why should some firms abandon their most successful product at its zenith? Why is the value chain becoming less important than the value web? What is the value web?

These are but a few intriguing questions that New Rules answers for business strategists. This tightly written tome offers a lucid explanation of the radical changes in the economy wrought by connected, networked communication systems. Kelly explains how and why the economic rules of the industrial age are being turned on their heads and elaborates 10 rules for the new information-based economy. He explains and offers familiar examples of each rule in action.

This is a must-read for anyone who would understand the changes taking place in post-industrial economies fueled by information technologies.

Perhaps the most important books ever written have two qualities: 1. They apply to, and are accessible to, a large audience. 2. They provoke the reader enough to spark action. This book qualifies on both levels.

1. This book is the work of a man who has read all the important works of economists, computer scientists and historians regarding the "new economy" and has distilled it into his own version of applicable rules. Whether his distilled version is the best version is debatable. But his writing is concise, easy to read, and profound. It is very accessible to most readers, unlike the larger textbooks that many in his field write. This is important, because clearly the new economy affects everyone, not just the academic elite.

2. If you are a student of life, Kelly will provoke you to some action. His statements are all bold. He doesn't state the obvious; he makes predictions that may or may not come true, and he grounds them in fact and theory--albeit vaguely some times. But his message applies to everyone.

One of the most underappreciated parts of the book is his bibliography at the end with his comments on how relevant he found each book. The action that Kelly sparked in me was my resolve to read more books--specifically the ones listed in his bibliography. If you want to study how the world is going to work in the future, my advice is to start with this book. It will open you eyes to a whole new world of writing.

I found this book to be very poorly edited. There are a number of mistakes that make it somewhat annoying. I also found the choice of the artists in the book to be poor. This book might have been good back when it came out in 1993 but now in the year 2000 I find it to be dated.

I have shown this book to many artists for autographs and they are amazed because they havent seen this book before...it is great to update

This excellent book covers all of the major players in the comic book art world. Kirby's introduction was one of his last written works, and is a must have for Kirby fans. Byrne's article about the art process is definitive. Ohlandt's article about the history of comic books is one of the best. Bravo!

Kelly goes on a wide-ranging journey through evolutionary theory, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and market economics; he admits that, if "cybernetics" was still in vogue, his book would be an update on thinking in that field. He believes, with considerable evidence backing him up, that our technological future will not be a Metropolis-like scenario of industrial gray steel; Technos and Bios are converging to create a neo-biological civilization made up of both humans and "living" machines. This digital culture will be characterized by the swarm, with many minds directing one superorganism. These trends, Kelly believes, mean the end of centralized control; our social and economic future will be decentralized and distributed, essentially "out of control."

This book must have been as much fun for Kevin Kelly to write as it is to read. It's a little long but very easy to understand. It'll make you think and you are sure to enjoy thinking about the ideas and examples in here.

A more correct title might be "Out of Centralized Control." Kelly's point is that Nature is not a command and control monolith, but instead, a network of relatives, friends, neighbors, and sometimes predators. Nature does not control the Universe so much as it encourages cooperation within the Universe. The examples Kelly gives in the first few pages set the tone of the rest of the book. One is the flock of geese, which somehow knows its migration path from hemisphere to hemisphere even though none of the geese in the flock have ever flown it before.

As Kelly shows us, there are plenty of surprises in Nature. Uncertainty is built in. That's life ! Some readers might find it hard to believe that Nature is not particularly concerned about efficiency. It doesn't mind duplication, redundancy, and a little waste. It fact, it wants these things because they lead us to flexibility. Kelly's point in all this seems to be that Nature does not play by the numbers.

It might be even harder for some readers to believe, at first, that Nature creates new things out of nothing every day. But, Kelly will win you over on that point and many more. His "Nine Laws of God" which sum up the book in the last chapter made me want to read it a second time.

One nice companion to this book would be "Morphic Resonance and the The Presence of the Past: The Habits of Nature" by Ruppert Sheldrake. That book presents a theory that is considered radical by many, yet the critics usually concede that it's well reasoned and fills many of the gaps in our knowledge of Nature.

If you'd like to think about the theological implications of Kelly's ideas, try a few books about process theology, particularly these: "A Basic Introduction to Process Theology" by Robert Mesle, "What is Process Theology?" by Robert Mellert, and "Ominipotence and Other Theological Mistakes" by Charles Hartshorne.

This book is a fascinating roller-coaster ride through a host of emerging technologies which will no doubt have an influence on all our futures. Kevin Kelly demonstrates quite convincingly how the technological is becoming more biological. Artificial intelligence, robotics and our knowledge of ants and bees has produced insect-like robots capable of smart collective behaviour. Genetics, evolutionary theory and massively parallel connectionist machines (the fastest computers on the planet) are yielding emerging fields like evolutionary software design where the computer code is "bred" rather than being written. Open, closed, complex, self-organising, centrally controlled and distributed systems are all examined and contrasted, including everything from Borgian libraries to zero-sum games. Kelly tells us of his personal experience in Biosphere II, and contrasts the paradigmatic differences between the made and the born. What is made by us tends to be minimal, mechanical, predictable and maintenance intensive (even in our "autonomous" systems). By contrast, when we consider the different magnitudes of information in a blueprint compared with a DNA strand, we see that the born is vastly more complex, organic, unpredictable and constantly adapting to environmental changes.

The book on the whole is accessible and a real technological page turner. It will be of particular interest to anyone with some background in computing, artificial intelligence, biology, information theory or cognitive science.

This book made me want to scream, or cry. The characters are beautifully rendered, and some of them are dispicable people. That's what made it so unenjoyable to read for me.

The heroine, Isabel Archer, begins her adventures with much vitality and promise, yearning to see life and the world and not to settle prematurely into marriage and domesticity. Although James shows she's not perfect -- she's naive and somewhat conceited -- it's still pretty easy to fall in love with her. You look forward to seeing what great things her life will bring.

And then it all falls apart. After 200 pages of building her up, James marries her to a scoundrel and spends the next 300 pages suffocating her, one liberty at a time. Others have described this book as "uplifting" and spoken of Isabel's strength and courage; I honestly can't see what they could mean. I found it genuinely painful to see such a beautiful character destroyed. With all credit to James's writing skills, this book made me miserable. I couldn't wish it on anyone.

Henry James is one of my favorite authors and The Portrait of a Lady is one of his greatest works. In it, he creates a unique and unforgettable heroine, Isabel Archer, and then proceeds to let her make all the mistakes the young are capable of making. In fact, Isabel is so sure of herself that, at times, I found it difficult to have much sympathy for her poor choices. But one thing I never felt for Isabel Archer was indifference, all to James' credit.

The Portrait of a Lady is truly 19th Century literature at its finest, but that means it also contains elements that might be distracting for the modern reader. There are lengthy descriptions, the pace is rather slow and James never lets us forget we are reading a book. He makes liberal use of phrases such as "our heroine," and "Dear Reader." While all of this was expected in the 19th Century, some readers today might find it annoying.

Those who don't however, will find themselves entranced by a beautiful story of love and loss, unforgettable characters (there are many more besides Isabel, most notably the enigmatic Madame Merle) and gorgeous description, all rendered in James' flawless prose.

Anyone who loves classics or who wants a truly well-rounded background in literature cannot afford to pass this up.

The best thing about 19th century novels is that they take so long to unwind, you know that you are guaranteed a long and satisfying trip into a story. I initially bought this book after seeing the Jane Campion film, (which I actually wasn't too crazy about)but I always think it's a good idea to read the source material. After a few false starts (warning: one needs to devote all their attention to James in order to enjoy him)I finally got into this book, and couldn't put it down. From the great settings of the novel, to the variety of fascinating characters (the liberated Henrietta Stackpole, the sinister Madame Merle, the beloved Ralph Touchett, Ralph's eccentric mother, the flighty Countess Gemini, the deadly Gilbert Osmond, and of course, Isabel Archer herself... James gives characters great names as well) "Portrait" is a great novel not only of self discovery, but self deception. How many of us in this world have liked to have thought ourselevs as free to make our own chocies, and were excited by a future full of "possibility" only to allow something (or usually someone) to get in our way and make us realize just how quickly we can lose our freedom and be in a cage that we need to get out of. (Pardon my bad grammar.) Those of you looking fora Jane Austen type ending, this may not be the book for you, but I think this book is more of a spiritual cousin to Austen than we may think. It all comes down to making choices, and teh effects of those decisions. Throw off any reservations that you may have because this book was written over a century ago, it's as fresh, funny, tragic and riveting today as it was then. (And hey, buy the film soundtrack which perfectly captures the mood of the story for accompaniment..that was a plug!)

"Frankenstein" is a typical novel from the romantic period. The story is based on the conflict of a scientist with the results of his work. But Frankenstein is far more than that: It is the story of two individuals (Frankenstein and his "monster") and their acceptance and behavior in society, and of course, the novel contains a lot of latent psychological information (what would Freud have said about that?). However, it is typical for the age of romanticism that the feelings and thoughts of the individuum are at the center of the plot (see e.g. the works by Byron or by the German authors Eichendorff and Novalis). This holds as well for the music composed during that time (Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, ...). Mary Shelley describes in great detail the innermost feelings of Frankenstein and his "wretch" and how they changed from one minute to the other, and what made them change their moods, and why and how, and who was around etc. This actually - because presented through the entire book - makes the reading of the highly interesting story rather tedious. Story: 5 stars, Fun: 1 star

If you are expecting the novel Frankenstein to be like horror scenes depicted in the movies, you better think again. Instead, Mary Shelly allows the reader to create more images in his or her own mind. Today, we are so brainwashed to violence and gory images on television, that we sometimes forget what "real" horror used to be like. When you read Frankenstein don't forget that Mary Shelly wrote the book in the 1880's in a time of social unrest. The writing style is different, and the pace of the novel is not as up to date as modern books. Her descriptive words allow the reader to create the monster in his or her own mind, without actually seeing it. When Shelly writes, her words give such detailed images of what is going to happen next. For example, when something "bad" is going to happen, Shelly generates a spooky and mysterious setting.
One of the major themes throughout the book is science technology. When Victor creates the monster, he is challenging science, and therefore challenging God. When the creature awakes, Victor realizes that he has just done a "horrible" thing. He is disgusted with the thing he created, which led him to feel extreme guilt and compete rejection of the monster. Is it science that led him to self destruction? Shelly wonders how far will technological advances go before a man becomes too dependent on technology? Science destroys his life because the monster dominates him, and Victor winds up being a slave to his own creation.
What was also interesting about the novel was how Shelly made the reader feel sympathetic for the monster. After all aren't we supposed to hate this thing? She portrayed the creature as a "normal human", showing love and affection. The creature's ugliness deterred anyone from coming close to him, and made him feel like an outsider. This rejection from society made the monster sad and helpless. His only revenge was to engage in destruction. This is when the "real" monster is created. After reading parts of the novel I felt bad for the monster, in a way I never thought I would.
Although slow paced, Mary Shelly's style of writing will allow you to take on different dimensions and force you to develop your own profound ideas about the topics discussed in the novel. I think Frankenstein is a great Romantic classic for anyone who has a imagination.

The Frankenstein monster is truly one of the most tragic characters in classic literature. He is obviously quite brilliant, having learned to speak (rather eloquently, I might add), and to read simply by secretly watching others. He's sensitive, kind, and appreciative of nature's beauty-all of the most admirable characteristics of a wonderful soul. And yet, he is vilified by all who come in contact with him because of his physical repulsiveness.

His longing for love, especially from Victor, was so painful that it became difficult for me to read. I kept hoping he'd find someone to show him the littlest bit of kindness. His turn to violence is entirely understandable, and Victor's irresponsibility toward his creation is despicable. Victor, who is outwardly handsome but cowardly and cruel, is the story's true monster.

In addition to writing a captivating story, Shelley raises many social issues that are still relevant today, nearly 200 years later, and the book provides a superb argument against *ever* cloning a human being.

(Note: I have the edition with the marvelous woodcut illustrations by Barry Moser and the Joyce Carol Oates afterword - superb!)

Like any other recent Wrox titles, this one contains jewels and pretenders. On the bright side, quite a few of the Java and XML chapters are strong, and I particularly liked the ones on EJB, PL/SQL-Java inter-operation, and SOAP. There is also a chapter at the end on setting up the environment to run the book samples. On the not so bright side, the PL/SQL chapters are disappointing, because they cover either fundamental stuff that anyone who calls themselves an Oracle developer should know, or irrelevant technologies like OAS PL/SQL cartridge and PSP (huh?). The chapters on JDBC and connection pooling wasted 60% of the pages by talking about the basic JDBC API and showing the details of a connection pool manager class, rather than talking more about Oracle's extensions to the JDBC 2.0 standard and optional packages API. Finally, there is one glaring omission - MTS (I am talking about the Microsoft stuff here), although it does contain an informative chapter on ASP/Oracle. One more thing: this book covers Oracle8i Release 2, not the latest 3.

With everything considered, you may still want to own this title, as it is the only book under the sun that covers all (well, almost) current distributed programming technologies that interface with Oracle (both J2EE and Windows DNA). It also covers promising Oracle proprietary technologies such as interMedia, BC4J, and Portal (aka WebDB).

This book is one of the more comprehensive I have read about Oracle programming. It has very good examples and you will find tips and information you won't find in any other books/web sites/forums etc. This book has been written by genuine Oracle developers and you will get a depth of real-world knowledge and application. I recommend highly it for the serious Oracle, Java and XML developer.

To produce this book, Wrox took twenty expert Oracle developers and had each of them write about their area of expertise. The result is that whether you are a manager, a developer, or a DBA, if you are working with Oracle 8i this book should be on your desk. This book covers virtually every topic that you need to understand about the Oracle 8i development platform. It does not cover each topic completely but it provides a thorough and in most cases sufficient introduction on each topic. For a particular topic of interest you may need an additional book but to get all the information found in this book you would need ten volumes at least. The book opens with an introduction to Oracle 8i and some of its components including Net8 (Oracle's network solution) and Designer 6i (Oracle's development environment). The next section covers PL/SQL and PSP (this is similar to JSP). This is followed by an extensive section covering Java. This section covers JDBC, SQLJ, EJB, and interMedia (Oracle's powerful search tool). The last section covers XML and includes information on DOM and SAX parsers, SOAP, XSL, XSQL, and more. Extensive case studies are scattered throughout the book. Examples show how to use Oracle tools such as BC4J to develop enterprise applications. The book even includes primers on Java and XML. As a tour of all the features of Oracle 8i, this book is without competition.

This volume was a great disappointment. First, it is riddled with spelling and grammer errors. Where was the editor? Second, the author rambles on and on about how attractive he was to this gorgeous lady and what a "catholic" (little "c"?) his wife was. Give me a break! His wife bore him seven children, was faithful, and there is not one good word for her? She knew he was scum - he just hasn't looked in the mirror. There are no new insights into how detectives work either. In the conclusion the author essentially says he has hurt a lot of people, can't right the wrong, so he is has gone to live in the wilderness and raise dogs. Oh, what a shame! This author, potentially, had a great story to tell. Unfortunately, he has not done it - yet. I hope that he will some other time. A therapist might help him out, but he is going to have to grow up some day. Save your money.

As I read this book I realized this author's intent. You are either going to hate him for his actions or not.I any event, the book raises strong emotions.I like the book and congratulate the author for having the courage to write it.

keep an open mind as you read this book. mr. kelly managed to find that once in a blue moon type of love, and then the strength to do what was right. the courage to publish the truth like this, gives me termondous respect for this author.

The projects in this book were created by some of the top crafters in the industry today. I have made many of the projects and applied their techniques to many more. The directions are clear, concise, and easy to read. The styles range from primitive country, Asian, to sophisticated elegance. Decorate pillows, spruce up plain candles, send unique greeting cards, and create beautifully decorated journals. There are charming beginner projects as well as some for the advanced crafter. I'd recommend this book to anyone!

To say this is the best book I've ever read might not mean much, considering the fact that I'm only 16 and there are hundreds of other superb books out there which I hope to read someday. Nevertheless, I can't help but give this novel my most enthusiastic support. I've read it twice already, and it has pointed the way towards other Beat works like Naked Lunch, Howl, and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, as well as several other Kerouac novels, all of which I have enjoyed immensely. At the same time, I was disgusted that I was the ONLY person in my accelerated english class to have even HEARD of the book. At my age especially, when we're inundated by Dickens and Shakespeare (all wonderful, yet sometimes monotonous, pieces of literature), its nice to know that there are novels out there written in a more casual style, a style that we can relate to. I know people who, God forbid, actually read for recreation now that they know books like On the Road exist. On the Road is a wonderful, brilliant book which, unfortunately, isn't used in any high school I've ever heard of. And, contrary to what Mr. Capote may think, it is certainly not just "typing."

As a junior in college, I was hesitant to read a Kerouac novel because of the negative connentations associated with the "Beats". While contemplating reading "On the Road", a friend nakedly asked me, "isn't that book about drugs?" My reply "I don't think so", couldn't mask my nervousness about the content of "On the Road". Was I about to read another dated novel about a scene whose time has passed? Well let me assure the quisical reader that this novel is the complete opposite of tired and dated. Kerouac is an amazing, inventive, and charismatic writer who entertains with every word. I assure you this novel is as entertaining as advertised. The plot revolves around the adventures of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity(thinly veiled altered egos of Kerouac and Neal Cassidy) as they cross the country in search of an illusive yet ever present freedom. Enjoyable scenes

1. Paradise's first trip from the East Coast to the West Coast. The descriptions are joyously vivid and intensely enjoyable. Wow!

2. Kerouac's descriptions of a jazz show in San Francisco. His enthusiasm for jazz is well-documented but this scene conveys the love for jazz like no other author has done before or after.

Enjoy this novel with an open mind and a love for powerful writing.

Jack Kerouac's writing is so smooth. It flows unlike any other writing I've come across. He was on Benzedrine when he was writing this book, and at times you feel as if you are on it with his descriptions of the American and Mexican landscape. It is the story of Sal Paradise, and his road trips he takes in the late 1940's. He is searching for so many things; truth, culture, landscape, and his history. The person that either inspires all of these trips or accompanies him on all of these trips is Dean Moriarty, an insouciant free spirit who is likewise looking for some answers. I can't help but feel that there is no real plot to speak of, in the traditional sense of introduction, climax and resolution. However, the important thing to realize is that Kerouac was not trying to tell the story of only one or two people; he was painting of picture of the American landscape shortly after the Second World War. He does this through the interactions of different drifters along the road. The picture he paints is perfect. _On the Road_ displays the post-war era as well as _The Grapes of Wrath_ displayed the great depression. This is a great novel, and can be understood and enjoyed by a person of any reading level.