It is truly amazing that someone with this gift of writing and background could rise cto a position of prominence and responsibility within Salomon Bros. Moreoever, to have maintained his career despite Kaufman, Merriweather, Gutfreund and others truly speaks to the value of a Brooklyn disparate youth. Worth reading.

While clearly the work of a deranged, borderline sociopathic personality, it's a great collection of stories. I laughed hard enough to burst capillaries in my head, which I think is causing hair to grow back (a nice side benefit). I recommend this for everyone except for kids who live in my neighborhood, who definitely don't need any new ideas.

I enjoy this book not only because of all the hilarious experiences in the author's life, but also because of the warmth loving feeling he had treasured each event. I am touched by his sincerity.

Gilpin et al. aptly depict and identify what has made Yale's workers and the movement they have created so vibrant and strong. This book is all the more pertinent given last month's strike of all four unions.

I had to read this book for a US Labor History course at the University of Colorado. It was absolutely incredible. The authors trace the events leading up to the strike but, more importantly, they describe how the community of New Haven came together in order to defeat "Corporate Yale." I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in labor history and the struggles faced by American workers.

Haunting photos with a very intimate feeling to them, and eloquent text make thought-provoking points about black culture, its social impact and the feelings these artists have always had for each other. Getting strengths from each other, they taught us all things about how to be strong. Unique and provocative book. Really enjoyed and learned from it.

I first read this book in english in the year 1985. Then I've read it in spanish by the year 1990. And it is surprisingly how modern it is, althought the time passes by. I strongly recommend all parents to read it. It is really worthwhile, and it helps a lot when raising a child is the theme. Mr. Isaacs asseses the theory with the practice in a natural way, and "makes it easy" the task to be a parent. This book was one of the rocks my wife and I used to raise our 7 children.

I was 11 when I first read David & Lisa/Jordi. These stories cannot be recommended highly enough. Dr. Rubin clearly cares about his patients and the characters he has based on them. His compassion shines through like a beacon. These books are not to be missed.

David, a gifted neurotic, compulsive boy meets the psychotic Lisa in a residential treatment center. He masks his obvious attraction to the girl by claiming to be clinically interested in her. She speaks in rhyme to suppress her "alter ego," identified as Muriel. David unlocks the riddle of why Lisa speaks in nonsense rhymes and from that point on, he makes incredible progress. His psychiatrist, Dr. White and Lisa's teacher, John are compassionate characters one can't help but love.

Jordi really touched my heart. I first read "Jordi" when I was 11 and it remains a favorite book to this day. Jordi was a very bright boy who lived in Brooklyn. He knew all the train and bus routes in the tri-state area and at 8, had not learned any academic skills. Jordi is clearly schizophrenic and his mental illness makes him confused about what is real and what is fantasy. He fears garbage pails because he thinks the opening is an ear that can hear him. He fears rain forests because he thinks trees will land from the sky onto him.

Jordi did not fit into any mainstream program and he was lucky his parents had the foresight not to commit him to an institution. That was just too inhuman. Luckily for Jordi, a day school opened in his area and he was admitted. I loved the way he and his teacher, Sally, worked with each other. Lisa makes a guest appearance in this book with her teacher, John. They, too, help Jordi in that he learns that he is not the one being hurt when he sees Lisa kicking John in anger one day. Sally helped Jordi shed many of his misperceptions and I loved the way she and Jordi demolished a garbage can. She encouraged Jordi to identify anger and to vent it onto that can. By doing this, she allowed Jordi to explain his fear and she, in turn could tell him that garbage cans are inanimate and can't hear. She helped Jordi over many hurdles including academic work. It warmed my heart to read about Jordi's rapid progress in reading and in acquiring advanced mathematic skills. I loved the way Sally helped orient Jordi by showing him that he would always be Jordi regardless of which seat he occupied or what coat he wore or what changes occurred in his routines. She clearly accepted this boy and it is through their good work together that Jordi was able to break from the bond of psychotic confusion into health and social/world participation. Please read this book. It's great. You will love it.

This is one of the most beautiful collection of stories I have ever read. I first read "Lisa & David" when I was 11 and I thoroughly enjoyed the poetic description of the residential treatment center these young people were in and the way they reached each other. David, a gifted boy was instrumental in reaching Lisa. He was the one who figured out why she spoke in rhymes -- she did that to suppress her alter ego, Muriel. (She was a schizophrenic girl who believed she had a second personality). David and her teacher John were the ones who were able to recognize glimpses of intelligence in the girl and David's pyschiatrist, Dr. White was an unusually kind man. He and David were good for each other.

"Jordi" was a book that completely bowled me over. I first read it at 11 and was captivated. The only real complaint I could make is that it is too short. I LOVED THIS BOOK! It gave a lyrical voice to the inner torment of Jordi's psychosis. Jordi was a very appealing boy. He was certainly very bright in that he knew all the train and bus routes in the tri-state area and he learned to read and to calculate complex mathematical equations quickly. I was so glad Jordi's parents were too smart to leave him in an institution. That would have been just too inhuman. Jordi was lucky in that he was accepted at a day program wherein he found an unusually gifted teacher, Sally. I like the way they worked together and I really loved the way Sally and Jordi demolished a garbage can together to prove to Jordi that garbage cans "did not really have ears" and that they were simply inanimate objects. I love the way they related to each other. Sally helped Jordi define his own boundaries when she explained to him that when another teacher was being kicked by an angry pupil, he, Jordi was not the one who was being hurt. She further helped Jordi recognize himself when she proved that he was still Jordi, no matter what seat he sat in or whose coat he wore. I really love this book. All I can say, is, please read it. It's great.

This little book is wonderful to have nearby to lift your spirits and put problems in context. It is also a great little gift to give to anyone you care about. It comes straight from the heart and is full of wondeful wisdom.

A wonderfully-written story of spiritual and romantic love.

this book is the greatest book ive ever read. it is a powerfull love story set against the exotic background of seventeenth century poland. the slave has such a strong, compelling story to tell that its appeal is both contemporary and universal.... "it's a beautiful story"

The Slave by Nobel prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer is probably one of the most profound books I ever read. Yep, no kidding.

The Slave is basically the story of a Jew man stranded somewhere in 18th century Poland by the diaspora. On his own living in a Christian village, our protagonist desperately tries to hold on to his religion by reciting psalms and performing all the rituals to the letter so as to not forget them and offend god. He says that the only way someone could tell he was a Jew was his circumcision - he had none of the garments, scriptures and objects that could point that out. He even would engrave on a stone all that he could remember from the Holy books.

He eventually leaves the village and runs across a number of people of different backgrounds and meets and falls in love with a gentile women. He takes her with him in search of his people and eventually runs into a very "proper" Jewish community. They did everything "by the book", showing immense respect and doing all the right things to be "good". But he soon realizes that so many people were filled with hypocrisy, spite, and deception that you wouldn't expect from such "quality" folk. Of course, he must hide the true former religion (she converts for him) of his wife for it was nearly impossible to convert in those days. And while she is the kindest person, she is soon despised by the community... So even though these people looked perfect on the outside were not nearly as good to the higher being that they supposedly worshipped while the woman that had nothing to do with the community was the kindest person.

Singer, who writes in Yiddish and then supervises the translation, writes a very powerful book that really transcends religion. One might think that this is very "Jewish". Sure it is, but that's not the point. It will make many people look at themselves and make them realize that doing everything "by the book", whether it be religion or just life, doesn't mean that you are inherently a good person. The Slave is a fantastic novel that is fantastically written that I highly recommend.

A superbly written insider's look at the Russian revolution. Babel can convey the horrors of war with very few words. I enjoyed the best his sarcastic treatement of the bombastic communist rhetoric in such stories as "Salt" and "Treason" (maybe because I was exposed to it myself at one time).

I stumbled across Isaac Babel because of a single line quoted in Paul Johnson's "History of the Jews". And then I was forever hooked.

First, a caveat. Be sure you understand when reading Babel's short stories that you are not reading his autobiography or journal. He did in fact listen to our creative writing teachers; he wrote what he knew. He knew the Russian revolution. He knew the Cossacks. He knew war. He knew living inside and outside the pale. His world jumps off the page because he lived it first.

The stories contain autobiographical material, actively mixed with the yeast of fiction. Use this aspect of his writing to chase rabbits. Follow up this book with his biography or find out more about the Russian revolution. Both of those topics will make more sense after reading his collected stories.

As a writer, I stand in awe of Babel's stingy use of words. Some scenes are so hugely horrible that I would have been tempted to throw in appropriate adverbs and adjectives in an attempt to convince you, my reader, just how hugely horrible it really was. Babel simply tells the story, and you gasp when you are done, horrified when you peak through the keyhole (and I would have blasted a hole in the wall).

When you read Babel, you must be willing to go at the stories with an open mind, not expecting him to flatten the Commies, defend the Jews, or paint the picture the way you want him to. He will not do that, no matter how many times you try to make it so. You will hear no overtones of right or wrong, get no definitive answers about the people on either side of the Russian revolution.

For that, I am most grateful to Isaac Babel. Nothing about our world can be easily distilled into sharp black and white. His stories give us the real world in astounding color.

The frightfully ugly picture on the cover of this edition (what in the world were the publishers thinking?) might keep a lot of people away, but the few brave souls that look inside will find one of the great 20th century craftsmen of prose. I can't think of another writer than chooses his words more carefully, that can pack more into a single sentence. "Pierced by the flashes of the bombardment, night arches over the dying man." Single words can take your breath away - the choice of "arches" is the one that does it for me - but you'll probably have others. The brutality of the world he describes may seem foreign, but it never becomes oppressive, mainly because the writing is so good. The stories themselves are rather difficult to love - there is very little hope to latch on to, there are very few characters one can feel close to; there are very few real characters at all, except the narrator. Even under these horrific circumstances, though, Babel creates emotions than one can identify with - pride, love, lust, anger. He has a thorough understanding of human character. It is apparent that the circumstances of war don't create new emotions, they just amplify things we feel anyway.

This book is a necessary read for anyone that wants to learn how to write poetically without being florid, compress pages of description into a few words. This compression is one of the reasons that the stories stay in mind long after they've been read. Buy the book - or get the other edition in a used book store, so you don't have to look at that awful picture.

Humanoids? Extraterrestrials? If you are interested in science fiction, this book is great. But if you are interested in the fulfillment of Judeo-Christian prophecy, you would be well-advised to look in the "Our Customers' Advice" section above, and read the book the is recommended there. It is truly great and reveals the meaning of real prophecy.

On the back cover of the Omegy Conspiracy, Isaac Newton is quoted predicting that biblical literalists would now be claiming they know the true meaning of prophecy. He was right about that. But as for the "end times" nonsense, Newton was just as wrong about that as the literalists are. And Thomas and Hutchings, while no doubt well-meaning, also guessed wrong, even though their take is quite different.

The truth is that when enough people get the message from the Spirit of Truth (which Jesus said would come to guide us unto all truth and show us things to come), our world will begin to be transformed. Bad leadership will fall from power. Myths will be shattered. False beliefs will be dispelled. Conflicts will be resolved. Divisions will be mended. The people will be empowered by the truth, and realizing that we are all equal joint heirs to God's new "kingdom" to come, we will begin to create a "new world" here on earth. That's what real prophecy foretells, and I pray that more people will get the message so we can start progressing toward a positive future, rather than being afraid of it.

I must tell you that I read this book almost ten years ago. I loved it then as I do now and find that it is even more relevant as the years pass. After reading the book, I called Reverend Thomas and chatted with him. I wanted to get him booked on Maury, Oprah or Montel and no one was interested. It goes to show that no one really wants to hear the truth. The book is fascinating, thoroughly.

I.E.D. Thomas does a great job of tying together the Evidence for UFOs and Extra terrestrials with the Biblical evidence; And proposes a very interesting theory that the ancient Nephilim of Genises chapter 6 are our Modern ET'S. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in UFO's.