Robin Wood is the Preeminent Authority on Hitchcock. Robin Wood is without question the greatest authority on the cinematic works of Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Years ago after seeing many films as I was growing up I decided to do some reading on the role of the Director. By pure chance I picked up and purchased Robin Wood's original edition of this book. Obviously it was at that time, myself still being in school very challenging reading for me. However, I was able to recognize brilliance over hypocrisy. Robin Wood has ever since remained the preeminent authority on Hitchcock's films. He has honestly admitted that his perspectives on some of his analysis have changed. This is not an outright statement that has had a change of heart or acquired a new taste in the aesthetics of Hitchcock's films. On the contrary, through ongoing analysis he has come even closer to the secret of Hitchcock's mastery of his art. An artist creates a work. A great portion of that work is constructed with conscious deliberate thought, some is intuitive and a small portion may be subconscious. Robin Wood, I believe has showed a continuum in his analysis of Hitchcock's work. Wood continues to explore the avenues of the intuitive and subconscious nature of Alfred Hitchcock, which manifests itself in his films. To this end I believe Wood has devoted a good portion of his life. The methods of the great pioneers have often puzzled conventional minds. I am not a great pioneer. I am puzzled. And what the heck does conventional mean? Happy reading!

Robin Wood is without question the greatest authority on the cinematic works of Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Years ago after seeing many films as I was growing up I decided to do some reading on the role of the Director. By pure chance I picked up and purchased Robin Wood's original edition of this book. Obviously it was at that time, myself still being in school very challenging reading for me. However, I was able to recognize brilliance over hypocrisy. Robin Wood has ever since remained the preeminent authority on Hitchcock's films. He has honestly admitted that his perspectives on some of his analysis have changed. This is not an outright statement that has had a change of heart or acquired a new taste in the aesthetics of Hitchcock's films. On the contrary, through ongoing analysis he has come even closer to the secret of Hitchcock's mastery of his art. An artist creates a work. A great portion of that work is constructed with conscious deliberate thought, some is intuitive and a small portion may be subconscious. Robin Wood, I believe has showed a continuum in his analysis of Hitchcock's work. Wood continues to explore the avenues of the intuitive and subconscious nature of Alfred Hitchcock, which manifests itself in his films. To this end I believe Wood has devoted a good portion of his life.

Though titled _Homosexuals in History_, this work is
not a dry, heavily footnoted, archly worded, jargon
laced, academic piece. Rather, it is immensely interesting,
engrossing, enlightening, and an excellent background to
serve as base for further academic or personal research
on the time periods and the personalities dealt with in
the book.
Rowse gives his own perspective in the "Preface": "This
book is decidedly _not_ pornography. It is a serious
study -- or series of studies -- in history and society,
literature and the arts. Many men of genius or great
eminence appear in it: kings like James I and Frederick
the Great, artists of the stature of Leonardo da Vinci
and Michealangelo; intellectual giants such as Erasmus
and Francis Bacon; many poets, writers and composers,
scholars and collectors, soldiers and statesmen, patriots,
politicians. The subject offers immense variety, men of
very different psychological make-up, character, tastes,
and gifts. Many more could have been included, but my
aim has been to be representative, not exhaustive. And
I hope, by the way, that these studies may throw some light
on the predisposing conditions to creativeness: in the
psychological rewards of ambivalence, the double response
to life, the sharpening of perception, the tensions that
lead to achievement."
This work is not a mere recounting, but rather an intelligent,
absorbing, often witty, even humorous, and most often very

sympathetic account of these lives and the contexts in which
they found themselves living and involved.
Rowse does not deal with ancient times, for he says that
his interests as an historian began with the Renaisssance,
"the transition from the medieval to the modern consciousness."
There are 16 chapters, titled: Medieval Prelude; Renaissance
Figures; Elizabethans and their Contemporaries; Francis
Bacon and the Court of James I; Courts and Coronets;
Federick the Great and Some Germans; Regency Connoisseurs;
Russia and Some Russians; Eminent Victorians; French Poets
and Novelists; From Ludwig II to Rohm; Edwardians and
Georgians; The Great War; Cambridge Apostles; A Handful of
Americaans; and Cosmopolitan.
Each of these chapters has the lives interwoven with
perceptive, intelligent, engaging comments about the
times, the values and hypocrisies, the acceptance --
or lack of it (both by the societies -- and sometimes
crushingly, by the individuals themselves... many sad
examples of the effects of repression, guilt, fear,
diastrous attempts to "normalize").
The sections of most interest to me, and in which Rowse
really shines, are his extensive knowledge of the ins-and-
outs of British cultural history. For he includes not
merely the eminent persons one might have encountered, but
also lesser known, but highly interesting and influential
people as well. Thus, in the excellent chapter on "Eminent
Victorians," we read: "In the [English] public schools the
classics were the be-all and end-all, the Alpha and Omega,
of education. They portrayed the relaxed and natural
attitude of the Greeks and Romans -- as of all Mediterranean
peoples -- towards sex." Within this context, Rowse continues
to discuss the scholars, thinkers, and writers who were
influenced by that education and by the writings produced
within Victorian times which examined and enlightened the
Victorians about that Classical era of art, philosophy,
and accepted male desire and love. In this chapter, Rowse
recounts the careers of John Addington Symonds, Horatio
Brown, Lord Ronald Gower, the Marquis of Lorne, Roden Noel,
Edward Carpenter (a modern activist for enlightenment,
humanitarianism, and acceptance -- a devotee of Whitman and
Thoreau), Walter Pater (incredibly interesting and absorbing
reading), and Oscar Wilde.
The other chapters which deal with the French, the Germans,
the Russians, and the Cosmopolitan figures like Constantine
Cavafy, the Greek poet of Alexandria in Egypt, in the early
1900's, are also excellent.
Each reader may take away his own assessments and "readings
of history" -- but the text seems to say, repression and
trying to tough it out, or change, or normalize through
marriage have only brought sadness and damage (not only to
the self, its sense of its own value and identity -- but
also to others). But profligate, decadent, hedonistic
pursuit of pleasure and self, using others as objects,
rather than relating to them as persons, is equally
horrendous. The message seems to be about the desire
for caring love, more than carnal pleasure.
* * * * * * * * *

This book is good as a reading book or as a quick reference for scholarly research in the area of LGBT studies. I personally found Rowse's treatment of King James to be a good starting point for a paper I wrote on homosexuality in Jacobean England.

This excellent collection of Wallace's writings, interspersed with commentary and vignettes by the editor, is very well done and a welcome addition to the literature about/by Wallace. The relationship, or 'delicate arrangement', between Wallace and Darwin, and the triggering of Darwin's book by the Ternate paper, is one of the strange and scandalous mysteries of the evolution of science, and a tale seldom told straight, in a tradition too many wish to fix with their own agendas and unable to quite handle the unconforming Wallace (cf. Brackman's A Delicate Arrangement). The Darwinians simply don't get it. The text contains a selection of Wallace's spiritualist views, and while these are caught up in the confusions of the first discredited 'new age' and theosophical movements of the nineteenth century and helped to discredit him, they do register Wallace's deeper insight finally than Darwin's into the problems in evolutionary theory, taken as a thesis about natural selection. Noone seems to grasp that Wallace not only co-discovered selectionist evolution, but was able to see the catch in the resulting account of the descent of man, which is the emergence of potential, not explicable in terms of adaptation. Someday the world will catch up with Wallace.
This fine book is slightly marred with Gould's tendentious remarks about Wallace in a short preface. If Wallace's reputation suffers it is partly because the Darwinian establishment keeps him in a box, witness this preface with its polite sideswiping. I hope it will increase sales with Gould's name and that readers will skip the preface for the book. Gould was quietly nervous about this aspect of his Darwin obsessiveness.
It is a mystery if ever there was one.
Stand back and consider the remarkable set of facts involved in the duo, starting with Darwin's early paper, Wallace coming from behind, the unnecessary sending of the paper to Darwin (he could have had the credit, the overall constellation of events and the resulting dialectical spread of views, something quite different from one man producing a theory. Does it not strike one as quite odd? To the Darwinian reinventors of Plato's Cave, it won't seem odd at all, they are too far gone.
I hope this is the beginning of a new proper account of biological theory, Wallace to the fore. Darwin's delay, and the missing letters, and the rigging of the Linean Society papers, do not bode well for the always-propped-up reputation of the Great Founder beside the real one, depicted here. Excellent book.

Alfred Russel Wallace was one of the nineteenth century's most brilliant observers of man and nature. He is best known for his working out of the theory of natural selection, and the way his communication to Darwin on the subject propelled the latter into action resulting in his "On the Origin of Species." But Wallace was much more than this, and had interests a good deal more far-ranging than Darwin's. In addition to his natural selection connection, Wallace can reasonably be credited as the founder of the modern school of biogeographic thought, as history's foremost tropical naturalist and field biologist, and as one of the founders of the science of exobiology. So too, he was one of his period's most vocal supporters of spiritualism, a leader of the land nationalization movement, a prominent socialist, and an outspoken supporter of women's suffrage and opponent of mandatory vaccination.

With credentials like these, it is hardly credible that he is as little known today as he is. Certainly his "other man" status viz. Darwin hasn't helped, but neither did he during his own life attempt to draw attention to himself in all these connections. Add to this a perfectly clear and enquiring mind, a bit of naivety, and one of the most uncompromisingly pro-"little guy" understandings of the human condition, and you have a personality who is much overdue for re-examination.

Berry's anthology continues (but does not end) the recent Wallace renaissance. Berry has done a remarkable job of covering the range of Wallace's interests in just one volume, though to do so he has had to provide excerpts rather than whole works (with the exception of two or three of Wallace's most famous essays). He has also gotten the history right, and provided an editorial narrative that is mostly right on target, and pleasantly composed. If you are the kind of person who likes adventures in the realms of logical and sympathetic thinking, you'll love this collection!

More than a travel guide, it spends more time on background and the meaning of sites in the Philippines. Many beautiful photos. Good book to learn about Philippines without going. My American friends that have read this book say it was BiG help to them in understanding not just travel only.

This is one of the books you should get when you're going to the Philippines. It is a very long book filled with good detailed facts. The photographers who took the pictures got very good shots of the Philippines. Another good thing about this book is that is has very good information when your touring the Philippines in the back of the book. It tells you information about the weather, lodging, holidays and festivals, what should be worn, and even how to speak basic Tagalog (the official language of the Philippines). There's a lot of things I haven't mentioned. If you want a good quality guidebook on the Philippines, then you should try this book!

No matter what you think about differential equations, you just got to have that book. The software that comes with it, is dynamite, and fully adds to Mathematica's Dsolve. Fact is, after you read the book you may understand what Ordinary Differential Equations are all about. "By the way there is nothing ordinary about Differential equations". These guys really know their stuff. Even better they can really explain it well. The book reads like someone is constantly talking to you or guiding you. The presentation is great. My only problem is that I finally understood the stuff. [ A pleasant one at that] The other fascinating thing about the book is the historical backgound of the mathematicians who contibuted to the discovery of DEs. This makes the book so enjoyable. Read this book and your girlfriend/boygriend will think you are a true inspired genius. However make it fast. They are bound to find out for themselves. This book will be true classic. BTW, you c! ould also look up another great book on DE. Authors are Blanchard, Devaney and Hall. Published by Brooks/Cole. These two books are all you should ever need.

Really good, if not best. It is the resource text as an example for textbooks for the years to come. You learn to work out analytically first and then computing and numerically. The Mathematica notebook format of the acompaning CD-Rom is not only containing all the 900 pages of the book and it's graphycs but also animations and the solutions to exercises and Mathematica exercises. I would have liked that my first ODE textbook would have been like that one. Fantastic!

I have been trying to learn to site read music for 30 years. This book has made it so that I can look at the note and I know exactly where my fingers belong. I wish there was a volume two to go past the basic nine notes, but it feels really wonderful to have those notes finally make sense without having to review each time I pick up the book. Really wonderful book for adults or children.

Great book for absolute beginners who don't read music. Gently guides student one step at a time through learning fingering and learning to read music. Better than any other book I've seen or used; even parents who don't play themselves could use this book to teach their children. Might be *too* easy for those who already play another instrument or know how to read music, though.

The author provides the reader with an extremely informative and insightful explanation of why we have been unable to achieve peace in the middle east. The book's discussion of both blatant and subtle propoganda is clearly referenced with bibliographies. The years of research and the effort which went into writing this book is readily apparent. The author's style and analytical abilities are indeed commendable.

The book is hard-hitting but readable. The author makes the case that when we assume that those from the Middle East see things as we do, we make a grievous error. Although apparently written before 9/11, he predicts these awful events precisely because we fail to understand the "honor shame" codes of our adversaries. There is a particularly well written chapter (a post-script) about the 9/11 tragedy.

The book is wrenching, in one sense, because when we no longer assume that we have rational negotiating partners in the Middle East, then at least initially, we can expect much continued violence--at least until the various and sundry dictators are removed from office and genuine democratic reform occur in the Arab and Middle Eastern worlds.

Best, I think, for children, Jews by Choice, and non-Jews with questions. It is written on a very basic level. Wonderful reference source for when those occasional "trivia question" moments come up, and you simply "have to know."

A well written and easily searchable reference source of the "whys" of Judaism. Explains traditions connected with holidays and major life events (weddings, births, funerals) clearly and concisely. The book has a serious tone, and the reader can expect a serious treatment of the subjects covered.

Kaplan and Sheinwold defined their K-S bidding system so well in the late fifties that newer editions of their original book remain the definitive reference. The weak one notrump opening is as good an idea now as it was in 1959. Standard American bidders can switch to K-S and probably improve their bidding significantly just by adopting the weak one notrump opening (and the many implications thereof). The only weakness this volume suffers is the absent index.

As a serious bridge player during the seventies, I wore the cover off of more than one copy of this book. Except for a mystical group of international players, the Italian "Blue Team" (la squadra azura), bidding methods were universally "Goren" or "Culbertson". Kaplan and Sheinwold were two of a few luminary stars who challanged orthodoxy with radical bidding concepts in the Amarican Bridge arena and helped to re-establish Ameraca's status in international championship play. Based on the weak (12-14)notrump, five card majors and weak two bids, This agressive system presented tools for players to really think about what they were bidding and why. Along with the Roth-Stone system, Shenken, and the Precision Club, K-S provided a pathway for serious bridge players to move into the world of modern, thoughtful bridge play.