As a huge fan of "Babbitt" and especially "Main Street," I was happy to have come across an old edition of "Dodsworth" in a used bookstore. I tore into it eagerly but soon came up short. Neither satire like "Babbitt" nor as psychologically astute as "Main Street," the book reads like something from a middle school book club. The colloquialisms are corn-pone, far more prominent than in "Babbitt." Sam's reactions to his ocean voyages and to Europe are child-like, as are his inner responses to his wife's intolerable behaviors. The soap opera-ish inner monologues do not ring true, containing embarrassing proclamations about Great Europe and marital resolutions. Sam Dodsworth is painted as so naive, trusting, xenophobic and insecure that it is difficult to accept that he had an Ivy League education and was a master of business and industry.

The characterizations, in fact, strain credibility. How a man 50 years of age, president of an auto manufacturing company, can be so entirely innocent of the customs of the U.S. and the world outside his small city is baffling. He evidences no ability for making small talk, is ignorant of all current events and politics, is absent of even minor social charms with the rich-- all of these traits are overexaggerated for the purposes of the book. That Dodsworth and his wife have such a sudden disaffection and disenchantment ignores the certain difficulties of raising two children and navigating 20 years of maariage. It seems unlikely that Fran's pretentions emerge only on their trip. Certainly her preferences and choices in managing a family would have foreshadowed these problems.

A common criticism of Lewis's body of work is its uneveness. The depth and success of "Main Street" are contrasted with many of his later writings. I found "Dodsworth" too to read more like a novelization of an early screenplay, exaggerated and distorted for dramatic effect.

"Dodsworth" harkens to a day when you took time to read books, to savor words, descriptions, phrases, conversations between people. This is not a fast beach read, but a book to enjoy at a slow pace matching the flow of the text. Conversations go on for pages, with characters speaking in paragraphs, not sentences of 4 or 5 words. The book is an exploration of the mood and mind of Dodsworth, a retired American industrialist, still very much in the prime of his life, who is cajoled into taking his wife on an open-ended trip to Europe. The wife, battling the on-coming middle age years, flirts outrageously, and this leads to romantic entanglements. Dodsworth is left to fend for himself, and returns home, where he longs for his wayward spouse. Returning to Europe, he finds little changed and they agree to divorce. After fumbling around the contintent, Dodsworth finds a woman to love, but then his wife is dumped by her latest paramour and Dodsworh is faced with the choice of returning to his mate of 20 plus years, or setting out on a new course. You can feel his pain in coming to his decision. This book is a terrific discourse on the Ugly American as well as the phony European royalty. Both sides are equally distasteful, but interesting none-the-less. The only reason I didn't give this book five stars is that Lewis seems to rush the ending. The resolution comes too quickly compared to the pace of the rest of the book. It's like the author thought, "Well, I've got almost 400 pages, so let's wrap it up." By the way, there is a very good movie made of the book featuring Walter Houston. It's available on video and very faithful to the book.

No doubt, this one is for your 'must read' list. When you put it down, you will feel you've lost contact with some great characters, that you've really got inside a marriage, that you've seen life the way it can be.

Samuel Dodsworth is an automobile magnate in the early years of the business. When his company is bought-out, he's left free at age 50, to do whatever he wants. But he has a slick, steel-willed, glamorous socialite for a wife and she has ambitions of climbing. He had always been "too busy to be discontented, and he managed to believe that Fran loved him.""(p.11) Sam gets roped into an extended European tour. Turns out, he's just an escort and backdrop for her movie. He experiences rising discomfort as she worms her way into European high society (or what she takes to be such). The trip gives both of them the first chance in decades to find out who they are---the common motif in literature and life of travelling to discover yourself---and they realize that they don't have much in common. Their European experiences transform them. On a visit back to the States, Dodsworth finds that he has changed; he can't regard his old friends, their old routines and concerns, and their ways with the same equanimity. They have become provincial and empty in his eyes, but what has he become ? He slowly comes to the conclusion that he's cut loose from all the went before, but has no direction for the future. He takes up several possibilities, but is caught among the rocks of loving the wayward Fran, wanting to do something useful in the world, and needing love himself. It's a long haul, but he makes it. Lewis skillfully keeps the psychological tension going to the very last page. Great stuff ! As for Fran, you'll have to read the book.

DODSWORTH is a psychological study of the first order, sincere, unpretentious and so well-written. It is not a satire on the lines of "Main Street", "Babbitt" or "Elmer Gantry", but a serious novel in the full sense of the word. Samuel Dodsworth comes across as a solid man of conservative nature who may have once been in a rut, but learns to think far more than people ever give him credit for, particularly his wife. He becomes flexible and learns to live, while Fran only continues to consume and demand. The plot plays itself out amidst a background of constant discussion as to what makes an American, what makes a European and what are the differences ? While this theme fascinated Henry James and numbers of other writers, it seems a bit passé in this day of the Web, 7 hour flights across 'the pond', massive tourism, MBAs in Europe and great museums in America. Still, it's part of the ambiance of the 1920s when this novel was written. The slow dissolution of the marriage, the contradictions of personality, the existence of strengths and weaknesses, aggressive and passive roles in both husband and wife, the psychological disintegration and re-building of a man's self-image-these are the main themes of DODSWORTH. It's one of the great American novels.

While I don't consider myself a math expert, I have certainly had to navigate my way through undergrad level math texts on more than a few occasions. In preparation for this book, I re-read Strang's "Linear Algebra and Its Applications" (an excellent text) and felt confident that I should be able to assimilate the material from this book. From the outset, the order of presentation of material in this book seemed promising: start with a review of Linear algebra and complex numbers, continue with Discrete Fourier Transforms, and then develop discrete wavelet transforms followed by continuous wavelet transforms.

Unfortunately, in spite of a promising game plan, this book serves to obscure the subject rather than providing a accessible introduction. The writing style is very terse and takes the reader through Lemma after Lemma without much in the way of explaining the motivation of these theorems or providing connecting narratives. The the reader is required to assimilate numerous disconnected mathematical ideas before a attempt is made to pull together the main ideas. And when the main points are developed, the treatment is uneven and generally too sparse. The only illustrations in this book come from MatLab or some other wavelet software package and there is a lack of conceptually oriented diagrams found in other types of text books.

Overall this book seems to be a compilation of material drawn from various sources and "sewn" together with mathematical proofs. Rather than focus on the main problems that wavelets are supposed to address (namely temporal and spatial localization) and develop the mathematics from that perspective, the emphasis on Lemmas and proofs drowns the reader in too much detail too fast. While this book may be a good supplement with other material, I found that this book too tedious to read and is a poor introduction to the subject without the benefit of a good instructor.

Wavelet theory is one of the newest branches of mathematics, originally emerged from the broader harmonic analysis, but now making its own way because of its multiple applications.

There are several possible approaches to the subject, but maybe this one is both the easiest and the best one. Modern analysis relies more and more on operator theory (linear algebra in infinite-dimensional spaces) so this approach fits nicely in the overall framework of modern mathematics.

This kind of introductory expositions are essential for a subject to get widespread, and this one really deserves full attention because by using these kind of techniques we are now able to solve better a lot of problems involving pulses, signals, oscillations, etc. Right, this is achieved normally using Fourier methods, but mathematics has improved a lot since the times of Fourier, and now we know that classical Fourier analysis is not always suitable for our particular needs. Wavelet analysis provides a means for constructing a specific Fourier-like method to solve our problem according to its intrinsic nature.

Contents: Prologue: Compression of the FBI Fingerprint Files; Background: Complex Numbers and Linear Algebra; The Discrete Fourier Transform; Wavelets on Z_N; Wavelets on Z; Wavelets on R; Wavelets and Differential Equations.

Originally intended for undergrads, but useful as a more advanced reference. Includes full explanations and lots of excercises. Extensive bibliography. Nice hardbound (as usual in Springer).

A previous reviewer asks why, since this book has been published, has no one refuted it? Look a little more. "Intelligent Design Creationism and It's Critics" includes reviews by some of the formost scientists in the world. Essentially, Behe's argument is the same as William Paley's and fails the same way. After 150 years, Darwin's idea has become solid fact. Over time the holes keep getting filled in with more knowledge but there will always be new details to understand. Arguing that the idea is wrong because you don't understand a detail is disingenous at best.

If you want to know what is at the core of intelligent design, this is the book. With essays by Behe, Meyer & Dembski, this offers a rare multi-author volume that still fits in a cargo-pocket.

Want to know why ID critics never talk about this volume? It is too solid--they can't touch it. Plus Behe successfully responds to his critics. Instead, they have to resort to name calling and warnings of danger lest someone read this. But don't let them tell you what to think. Evaluate ID for youself.

...P>It's about S-C-I-E-N-C-E. It's about following the scientific evidence wherever it leads, even if it knocks over your favorite sacred cow. Seems to me that the scientists doing objective science these days, at least in the area of microbiology, are all on Behe's side. The rest are stuck back in the paradigm of the 1850's, and can do nothing constructive, only try to suppress his ideas.

Galileo would recognize these tactics in a heartbeat.

I foolishly bought this book without doing much shopping or asking around. I found it way overpriced for what is ultimately a so-so book on the subject. I'm not a slate expert, but I tend to question the authority of authors writing about slate who are not actually slate roof restoration contractors. I checked out their web site, and they sell snow guards for a living. The author fully admits on his web site that "His start in the business was not via the usual apprenticeship or training program or even working in the summer for the local roofing company. Rather, his then high school teacher asked Brian one summer, to help find and purchase used roofing slate that many Vermont farmers had tucked away somewhere on their property." He then goes on to state that he learned the trade just by tearing slate off old roofs. Again, I'm no expert, but I believe that there's a lot more to slate roofing than can be learned just from removing slate.

I'm not saying that you can't learn a great deal by tearing something apart to see how it was put together, but my question is this: if you learn a skill on your own, without the benefit of the guidance of a master of the craft, how can you be sure you're doing it right? And perhaps more importantly, how can you be sure you're *not* doing something wrong? And when you're dealing with a slate roof, which could potentially survive for centuries, seemingly minor mistakes (due to an ignorance of the craft) might not be noticed at first, but could be devastating to the roof in the long run (by which time you've long since moved on to wreck other roofs).

I've since bought Jenkins' book on the subject, and am *much* happier with it. The author clearly knows his craft, has been practicing it for over 30 years, and is still an active slate roof restoration contractor. So don't waste your money on The Slate
Book. Jenkins' book is by far the better choice (and more reasonably priced, too).

I have worked with the author of this book on a slate roof. His work is poor and I think he has no buisness trying to come off as some kind of expert. Belive me he's not. John Cook Oak Sheet Metal, Inc.

I have been involved in the Slate Roofing industry for 14 years. Before this publication was available, each slate company had their own installation manuals, but none were written from the perspective of the applicator or the specifier. This left a tremendous void in the industry.
"The Slate Book" fills this void as no other publication can. This publication covers every aspect of slate roofing, from a new roof to the repair of an existing slate roof. When putting together a specification for any project, their section on budgeting a project will pay for the book over and over and over again on just one project. Every detail is covered thoroughly from the very basic for those who are just doing a small repair to the most advanced situations. A tremendous amount of experience is behind every page. This is what makes "The Slate Book" an absolute must have for anyone who is involved in the slate roofing business. The Authors of this publication have made a committment to the industry which is invaluable. Simply put, there are other manuals out there. No other manual on the market can come close to this one. It is simply the best.

Elegantly written, thought-provoking, abrasive, and immensely informative, Bell-Villada's essay is nonetheless affected by two important flaws: its relative lack of focus, especially toward the end of the book, and its rigid application of a left v. right girdle. Bell-Villada obviously believes that the left is always good and progressive, with the possible exception of Joseph Stalin, whereas the right and the center are innately deficients, both morally and intellectually, for they either call for a return to the past or for a blind defense of the statu quo. The problem here is theoretical. Arguably, the milieu of artists is ill suited for this kind of Manichean mutilation. Many artists, in modern times, have adopted syncretic political dispositions comprising ingredients such as contempt for the statu quo and rejection of dominant values (especially utilitarianism), this leading them either to fascism or to bolchevism, with a great deal of transactions between the two (it is significant that Bell-Villada does not have much to say about Ezra Pound!). Most fascists were also revolutionary and anti statu-quo: in fact, many were attempting to revitalize socialism. Rather than using only "left v. right", Bell-Villada should have added other variables such as "romantic v. enlightenment" and "liberal v. anti-liberal", and use them all with a great deal of flexibility.

One of the worst anthologies of literature I have ever read. You know a literature book does not deserve to be taught in an English class when it includes manuscripts from television's Seinfeld.

The fact that it contains television scripts makes it work for college students who are not as familiar with "reading" as they are "watching." The introduction of television scripts as a form of literature that belongs to the genre of "Theater/Drama" helps the students make the trip from television to other forms of "Theater" and then into works of fiction and poetry and, finally, into the world of "classic" literature. There is room for all tastes in Literature - as with art, the value of a text lies, finally, with its audience.

This book is more of the authors editorializing than teaching what you need for the A+ Certification. I found more valuable information on line for free. The material was scattered throughout the book. The index and glossary were lacking terms that were common in the Transcender test prep software. I did pass the exams.

This book is excellent if you don't know squat about computers. Now if you dont know squat then why you taking the A+. So you can get a job and ruin someone computers?? Noway.. Learn computers from experience before taking A+. I am A+. I bought this book, and read the first chapter before giving up.. It was so basic. I took the test the next day and passed easily.. So this book is not worth the money if you have expereince with computers. But if your a idiot at computers, well use this book and good luck!!

Hello, Im also Dan Stevans, but Amazon makes it impossible (not 'near-impossible', just 'impossible') to contact an email rep. to resolve passwords so I guess I'll have to start from scratch in reviews (RIP Dan Stevans): At any rate, the Mike Meyers book is a decent book. I've read the whole thing, and I don't have any major gripes. However, I believe he's trying to cater to a very broad audience, from extreme novices to techs with several years experience under their belts. If you've done computers for several years then this book will smooth over lots of the rough edges and prepare you for the A+ exam. There's still some errors that will have to be fixed in the fourth edition, but nothing extreme.

Bottom line: if you don't know extreme computer basics (like minimizing or maximizing a window, or don't even know what DOS is), then you're not ready for A+. The recommended amount of experience is '6 months', but I believe you need to be very comfortable with comptuers to take the A+ exam.

The CD however, is bad. It's like a 1st year Java programmer making min wage created this code. The refresh is bad, the radio buttons sometimes don't mark the selected answers, and some of the answers are incorrect, not to mention the program freezes sometimes in the adaptive section.

The funny thing is, this CD is a 'promo' for the ... A+ CD by Total Seminars...if this is the promo, I definetly don't want to shell out the bucks for the main course.

Some books are meant to teach, and to elucidate new material; this book is not one of them. It seems the purpose of this book was rather to record for prosperity all theorems related to Stochastic Calculus. Instead of developing any intuition on the subject, the author seems to think the purpose of writing is to use the most elegant proofs with the most modern of mathematical jargon. In short, the book consists of stated lemmas and theorems with terse, undeveloped proofs. This book will not teach you anything.

This book is without doubt the worst business biography ever to disgrace the binding of a book. Included in the comparison is every paranoid conspiracy rag and company house publications. No where can a reader find such an aggravating waste of time of distinguished or at least well-known men as well as any reader mistaken drawn into reading this undiverting tome.

A comparable book would be a series of interviews with the leading anti-Communists (Vaclav Havel, Pope John Paul II and Lech Walensa) all done by Robin Leach. The shallow and undistinguished questioning and trivial treatment of each is depressing.

The book begins and ends with Mr. Meyers' self-indulgent chattiness. The book is more than half filled with his irrelevant observation and thoughts of the day. The background on any of the interviewees is no more extensive than reading the employing company's press packet and clipped articles in Fortune and Time. Combined with ignorant turns of phrases like "quantum-fold increases" (in context, it is supposed to mean REALLY BIG) and pedestrian comments, the reader can only cull a few observations, Steve Jobs is persuasive, Ross Perot is intense, Jim Clark is a rapid talker. This book is a definite must-miss for any one studying the particular business leaders interviewed.

If you need a book to buck up the self-esteem of an aspiring non-fiction author this is it. If this book can be published, any book can get published.