David Herbert Donald's "Charles Sumner" is an exhaustive biography touching all areas of the man's life. Throughout, Donald is balanced in his treatment of a controversial man who was described, quite accurately by another reviewer, as the country's first "politically correct" politician. As a person I do not think I would have liked Charles Sumner nor agreed with his extremism in many of the positions he took (most other people in the government did not either), but his life is well worth reading about for a fuller understanding of the decades immedaitely prior to and immediately following the Civil War.

Donald goes into many speeches, newspaper reports, letters, personal opinions of others, and proposed legislation to give one a real feeling for the man. His controversial life and opinions give one much to think about regarding the complex issues of race, reconstruction, and society in mid-nineteenth century America. Although this is not the most lively written of biographies, it is judicious and scholarly. Well worth the time.

Harvard historian David Donald applies his keen intellect to the life of Charles Sumner and writes a worthy biography of a man Americans should know more about. Sumner might be described as the first "PC" politician. If you're interested in the Civil War, race relations, or the perils (and triumphs) of a public life devoted to principle, you'll learn much from this book.

Charlotte's Story was a delight! In addition to being a fascinating historical account of life in the Florida Keys in the early 1930's, it is a story of self-sufficiency. Charlotte was a "city girl", but adapted quickly and well to life on an island. The story is written in a journal type form and gives almost a day to day accounting of life on the island. The characters that she meets and tells about are intriguing. As I read Charlotte's Story, I found myself wishing that I was living on an island like Elliot Key in the early 1930's!

Charlotte's Story, written by Charlotte Arpis Niedhauk, edited by Mary-Alice Herbert, and published by Laurel and Herbert, is a fascinating page turner as well as an important historical document of how a young couple managed to exist alone on an isolated Florida Key in 1934-5. Their survival reminds one of the manner in which people lived before the advent of electricity, supermarkets, running water, or any of the modern conveniences. Their "store" was the beach, where they would look for and find what they needed from raw materials cast forth by the ocean. Charlotte's resourceful husband Russ would make such objects as a dipper from a coconut shell with a handle carved from a madiera limb, a windproof ashtray from the bottom of a shell, fish and lobster traps, kitchen cabinets, and even a jewelry box from a coconut for Charlotte from their "lumber store," the beach. City-bred Charlotte learned to cope with mosquitoes, sandflies, and scorpians, and even how to scull a boat. Their island home was visited by a potpouri of strange, often frightening characters, who threatened theri lives and made off with their property. No one who reads the book will ever forget the couple's experience in the terrible hurricane of Sept. 3, 1935. According to a newspaper report, the barometric pressure was the lowest ever recorded in thehistory of world weather. Excerpts are given from Russ's diary, i.e."Violent wind squalls lasting from 20 to 25 minutes. Sometimes with wind bursts to 70 or 80 miles per hour....Charlotte is sitting on the floor in the open doorway. She saw the tide receed 50 feet before each squall, and then return with a rush. Each time a little higher. No waves visible. The wind has blown the tops off. Afraid for our boat at high tide...The roof of the old house is blowing off in chunks. I can't stop it." After the hurricane was over, the couple decided that being alone on an island had lost its attraction for them, and decided it was time to return to the homeland. At the beginning of their sojourn on Elliott Key, Charlotte seems a naive, somewhat helpless young female. It was a delight to see her grow into a resourceful, independent woman who was an equal partner to her husband. She wrote her story from notes and memorabilia almost a quarter of a century after they left Elliott Key. The first edition of Charlotte's Story was published in different form by Exposition Press in 1973. When the book went out fo print, the clamor for it was so great that Laurel and Herbert republished and reedited it in 1998. This is a book for everyone, Florida Keys residents, tourists, feminists and macho men alike; in other words for simply everyone who loves a good read.

I read this years ago when i checked it out of the public library. It has been one of my favorite books and captures the heady period of pre-Maoist warlord ridden China before WWII. It reads like a spy "temple of doom" novel with Yarldey shamelessly being the main character but its a great read.

What's interesting is that cryptography played such an important role so far back before computers and data lines. Although not a very technical book for crypto-fans, it captures the spirit of the early codebreakers as misfits and outcast. Just like the Flying Tigers, Yardley gives a very unique look at the role that Americans played in China before the Pacific War. I highly recommend this book if it ever comes back into print.

Hired by Chiang Kai Shek to crack Japanese spy codes (this was after the KMT retreat into the hills), Yardley found himself in the beseiged city of Chungking where EVERYONE IS A SPY (Ted White makes an appearance as a green reporter to whom Yardley teaches poker.) Pre-dating Cold War factionalism, Yardley wrote with a candidness that seems eccentric today (this man had no "ISSUES"); but in his day, he was seen as dangerously indiscreet. His American Black Chamber (located in New York City!) was shut down after a successful run for budget reasons - unemployed and then ostracized when his book on cryptography was banned for revelations of American code cracking methods, Yardley found himself ~temping~ for the "Generalissimo" in the Chinese backwater. An incredibly talented cryptographer and unabashed ladies' man, Yardley provides a charming and lucid slice of that life to which this review cannot do justice. Note that this book is "Hard to Find" - find it! Find its precursor, "Ameri

This is a book written in easy to understand terms, that takes away much of the fear-out-of-ignorance associated with mental illness. It has the potential of taking the reader from a state of ignorance to the level of being able to take a first crack at diagnosis.

These doctors do the general public a great service by sharing their thoughts on mental health issues. Columbia University is one of the premier colleges to participate in the revolution going on in the field of psychiatry. This book is recommended for any public or private library.

Over the centuries, there has been a great deal of Christian poetry written by a broad range of poets, but only a tiny handful of that can stand comparison with the very best nonreligious poetry. The later poetry of John Donne, Milton, Dante, some of the early American Puritan poets, and the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins does not quite exhaust the list, but it consumes most of it. And, of course, George Herbert stands at the head of any such list. Of all these poets, Herbert is probably my favorite as a religious poet. By that, I mean someone who is religiously satisfying while at the same time writing exquisite poetry. There is simplicity of expression in Herbert that is missing in Donne, and a personal piety that I do not find in Milton, whose poetry, while unquestionably religious in spirit, is somewhat spiritually dry. One wouldn't read Milton to inspire piety. Hopkins is brilliant, but I find myself focusing on his over alliteration.

George Herbert was one of those either fortunate or unfortunate younger sons of a landed family who was forced to enter the Church because the family title passed onto his older brother. That brother, very nearly as well known as his younger brother for his own writings, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was the author of several books, including what could be regarded as the first history of comparative religion written in England. The religions compared were not, however, Christianity, Judaism, Islam with Buddhism and Hinduism or with so-called primitive religion, but with Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian religions.

This is an excellent edition of Herbert's poetry, but one should note the title carefully. Herbert, in fact, wrote a fair amount of poetry in Latin. That unfortunately, is not included either in original form or in English translation.

Other poets can write about the beauty of the woman that they love, but Hebert writes of the true source of beauty, the source that most deserves praise in poetry: God. Hebert's poetry is a tribute to God, for whom he gave up everything to go into ministry. A musician, Herbert writes much of his poetry in a way that is almost musical, and may have at one time been set to music. A collection of his poetry can be an incredible devotional tool for personal reflection and praise. It can also be wonderful to study in the classroom because of his brilliant use of literary devices. My favorite poem of his is The Holy Scriptures. For a taste of Hebert's beautiful tributes... "Oh book! Infinite sweetnesse! Let my heart suck ev'ry letter...."Your heart will suck every letter from Hebert's beautiful poetry.

George Herbert is hard to find, and the standard Hutchinson edition is expensive and weighty. This new Everyman edition is both affordable and compact, without sacrificing quality. It's beautifully printed, elegantly bound, accurately arranged and intelligently footnoted. I was thrilled to come across it and have bought several editions so that I could introduce friends to the insight and beauty of this profound poet. A must for anyone who loves poetry and everyone who seeks God.

This is a first-rate edition: a carefully-edited text that includes Herbert's prose works, and Walton's biography. The intro and notes by Slater are terrific, meant for the general reader, infor- mative and graceful. The best inexpensive edition of this wonderful poet now in print.

This is the best book that i have. It is a must read for all who can read and all Special Forces. It put life on hold as you read it.

The most moving is "self pity"

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself. --D. H. Lawrence

This book of poems shares the top spot in my bookcase with Whitman's "Leaves of Grass". They are accessible, highly perceptive, pertinent and intensely personal. My favorites are:

"FIDELITY" - "...The wonderful slow flow of the sapphire..."

"GOD IS BORN" - "...And so we see, God is not until he is born. And also we see there is no end to the birth of God."

"SHIP OF DEATH" (Appendix III version) - "...Pulling the long oars of a lifetime's courage, ...and eating the brave bread of a wholesome knowledge..."

"GRIEF" - "...How am I clotted together Out of this soft matrix... The air, the flowing sunshine and bright dust..."

"WEDLOCK" - "...How sure the future is within me. I am like a seed with a perfect flower enclosed..."

Finally, as a scientist I marvel at his intuitive grasp of relativity in "SPACE" and "RELATIVITY" - ..."As if the atom were an impulsive thing always changing its mind."

I would be delighted to share my enthusiasm with other readers.

While this is by no means a complete collection of Wells' science fiction, it does consist of his most famous seven novels: The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, The Food of the Gods, and In the Days of the Comet. Bonus features include a short preface written by the author and several original illustrations from each book's initial publication. The typeface is a little unusual in that the text is presented in two columns per page, but this format does hark back to the old style of book and magazine publication. The novels are arranged in chronological order, but Wells suggests in his preface that those not yet familiar with any of his work may be better served by first reading The Invisible Man or War of the Worlds. While I have reviewed the novels included here individually, I thought it important to at least make clear exactly what this collection consists of. If you can find this book it is an excellent buy, particularly so for those just discovering H.G. Wells.

Normally, I do not like Well's work. But, these were some of his best. I have not been able to find a better place to find these books. They are a great read to even people who have never heard of him. I recomend buying this book, I know I liked it.

I'm a Balzac's french fan.
"Cousin Pons" is one of my favourites Balzac's novels.
This novels speaks about art (music, paintings, ...), social relationships in a family and in a flat, and over there of FRIENDSHIP.
The friendship between Pons and Schmücke is the most facinating aspect of this novel (may be it's more than a frienship : a platonic love ?).

This novel (Cousin Pons) for some reason is my favorite Balzac novel. Touching, perceptive, melancholy, and filled with brilliant characterization. You might try this if you have never read Balzac, and find out what happens to a "poor relation" who is suddenly discovered to be a "rich relation" by the relatives who have been treating him shabbily for the past three decades.

Then of course it's on to "Lost Illusions" and its sequel, "A Harlot High and Low" (Splendeurs et miseres....)

Shaw sets a new standard for synthesis in the sciences, not just the earth and planetary sciences.His profound and compelling theory provides a wholly new view of earth history and dynamics through the medium of nonlinear dynamics. This is a tremendously exciting, landmark work around which seminars in several different disciplines should be organized.

Shaw is a pioneer blazing trails for earth scientists into real applications of the popular but rarely applied theories of dynamical system behavior. This text is a landmark in science that opens doors to new ways of thinking, challenges many scared cows of the science, and points to better paths. Anyone interested in Choas, fractals, system dynamics or earth processes in general will find this book a deep intellectual keystone to scienctific thoughts.