It's amazing, or shocking I suppose, that this book could be compared to the works of Melville and Conrad. It begins well enough, and the first section, the City, is fine; but the next two are extremely disappointing. My greatest problem with the book, though, are the author's pretensions to greatness. Each time Smilla finds herself in a new situation, she first recounts a "poignant" parable/incident from her past that oh-so-perfectly casts a philosophical light on the new situation. Hoeg also has the habit of ending every third or fourth paragraph with a "deep thought"; at the beginning it works, but about 150 pages in, Smilla's character is sublimated beneath an avalanche of "deep thoughts". One cannot help but notice that she is not a convincing character; rather, she is a vessel for the author's pretentious musings, a block of ice to be sculpted into the image of Hoeg, the Thinker, a Writer to Be Admired. The pretentiousness is even more apparent in the ineffective and pointless occasions when events are rendered non-chronologically. Do not read this book; it only barely edifies and does not entertain.

As a writer, I'm interested in style and mood as well as character and plot. "Smilla" is awesome on all counts - a book I would have given anything to write. I've read it twice, which I never do with other mysteries, and seen the movie, which I also liked. The identification between Smilla, torn from her Greenlander roots as a child and left alienated and wounded, and the little boy, whose death she won't allow to be casually dismissed, is moving and satisfying. The digressions about math, ice, and Greenland are half of what makes the book literature instead of genre fiction. The other half is the sensational writing style, bleak,unsentimental, complex and brave like Smilla. True, there are a few stumbles here and there, and especially at the end, but only because the book is so ambitious. The impression I have is of a serious novelist who sets out to write a best-seller and can't help raising all the tired old elements of the genre to new heights. Mr. Hoeg's other books are fascinating but less accessible because they are more experimental. I wonder if he will "descend" to popular fiction again

I loved this book when I read it a long time ago. I read the British version entitled "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" which I prefer, it being a literal rendering of the Danish. I thought the characters a little flat, the story vaguely improbable, but no worse for that, but I loved the insight into a place and people I knew practically nothing of. I had always thought that the Eskimos having 27 (or however many it is) different names for snow was similar to the British having 60 or so names for penis; pointless and a bit weird. I now understand why; to an eskimo there are that many kinds of snow and to specify which is which is a matter of life & death. Living, as I do, in the Middle East, I found it wonderful that Hoeg brought his world of ice & snow to where I could see it & feel it and begin to understand it.

Disregard those who disliked the ending, found the prose turgid or too dense, or hated the plot. Read this book for it's eloquence on the subject of a persecuted minority you will probably never get to know.

This book provides a lot of information on relationships. How they start, how they work, and forces that tend to tear them apart. In fact, I would rate it as the one of the best books on relationships that I have ever read.

The author provides a survey of many different theories about relationships. This can help the reader form new perspectives about how to view their own situation.

This book really makes you work. If you want to learn and dig deeper, expecially about yourself, this is a great book. If you want simple fast advice, in the "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" style, this is not for you.

It seems that the reviewers who did not like this book, must prefer a book that "fixes" their relationship with relatively simple and straight forward advice. I understand the desire to have things that easy, but my experience suggests otherwise.

Kramer's discussion is very intelligent and engaging. Sometimes the style was a bit frustrating, but it was different and probably made the book much more interesting.

A must read for anyone who wants to gain a very broad perspective on relationships in a reasonably short amount of time.

An absolute gem of a book I almost missed because I couldn't bear the thought of yet another sappy self-help book. Described as part fiction, part non-fiction, part self-help, Kramer puts together scenarios that seem all too familiar, and then cleverly analyzes them in the second person, writing to "you" instead of an impersonal someone else, so that you are forced to engage with the different situations and personalities where they fit and discard the rest. That's how he gives advice, without directly giving advice, and the experience overall is very rewarding. (And he is clear that his tendency is to stay, not to leave -- although he is also clear about when and why to leave as well.) On top of it all, it is very engagingly written -- Kramer is a writer first, and a psychiatrist second, and it is fascinating to read in such a clear context about the many historical and philosophical references that he has devoted a lifetime to reading (and I probably never will). For those on the fence in an important relationship and wanting a useful tool to help understand how you got there and how to move forward, without spending weeks in intensive therapy, this book is the best help money can buy -- and the lessons you will keep for a lifetime. For all that, I still can't write a review that gives this book its due.

Kramer's book title can be misleading at times. He gives an overview of very different relationship problems without the additional complication of children involved. He focuses on solutions within the partnership on the grounds that unsolved problems get carried over into the new relationship, and if it should not work out, essential relationship skills will have been acquired. He illustrates his cases with plenty of psychological history from Freud to Bowen including film, music and historical novels. While at times a bit tough to read, Kramer does break up the theories with practical applications. He provides explicit insight into the thought pattern of the psychiatrist and the professional- to- patient relationship. Kramer provides a very balanced approach of using drugs in therapy compared to cognitive approaches (he is the author of Listening to Prozac) which is quite refreshing. Don't expect a pre-digested self-help book with step- by- step instructions but an overall food for thought pattern that will keep your thoughts flowing until you can figure out the most helpful approach for yourself together with a psychiatrist like Kramer who knows that you need advice and guidance more than a yearlong travel back into your childhood. This is the absolute best book I have ever read about analysis, the reasons of heading into it, the dynamics of professional vs. patient relationship and the bigger picture of "where are we going in this relationship". A definite must for everyone in therapy, client or professional.

"Children of the Alley" (AKA "Children of Gabalawi") is both a realistic and an allegorical novel that consists of two stories simultaneously. On the year the book began to be published as a serial in Al-Ahram, it was banned for ten years, after which it was published for the first time in book format in Beirut. The story, as I mentioned, has two faces. The first is that of an enormous family and its descendants. And the second is the religious history of mankind, with the prophets, the legends, and in the end, the scientific revolution. The background is the "Gabalawi Alley", which has a unique role, just like the "Midaq Alley", or the alley in "The Harafish". I can say without a doubt that Mahfouz is "Proust of the Arabs".

Children of the Alley is an incredible collection of stories about the lives of the descendants of an Egyptian man, Gabalawi, who takes on God-like significance as his children populate the alley that grows up surrounding his gated mansion. The novel was originally published in Arabic in 1959, under the title Awlad haratina. The English version, published in 1996, was translated by Peter Theroux.

The novel is broken into five distinct "stories," each focused on the life of one member of the Gabalawi family or his descendants. The first story introduces Gabalawi himself, and his cruel sense of justice which ultimately banishes both of his sons into the desert surrounding the mansion. This sets the stage for the evolution of the alley and the feuds that would eventually develop between the sons and their own families as they seek out ways to return to the ideal of life as it had been lived inside the estate gates.

Mahfouz weaves a lovely tale following successive generations through their triumphs and sufferings, exploring the importance of hope and spirituality, morals, justice and a people's sense of history in the face of constant opression by gangs. Each story focuses on the emergence of a "savior" who delivers the alley's residents from the evil gang rulers, establishing peaceful, prosperous eras. But, after each great savior dies, the people of the alley inevitably fall back into the greed and power lust that leads them back into gang rule.

In this portrayal of the cyclical nature of the alley, Mahfouz makes a bold statement about a people that praises their heroes through songs and poetry, yet who never actually retain the lessons taught by those heroes.

An engrossing novel, Children of the Alley will entrance you with its prose-like qualities, which fashion a history as beautiful and intricate as the designs on a Persian carpet. With such a talent for evocative description, it is easy to see why Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.

This is a wonderful book describing the history of the world through happenings of an alley in Cairo. I was impressed with the story, re-telling stories about the lives of Judeo-Chrisitan and Muslim prophets in a whole new light. If you read one Arabic book, this is the one to read. Enjoy

As a professor of philosophy, I at one time regularly took classes of first year college students to Concord for a week-long intensive seminar on Emerson and Thoreau. I eventually abandoned the seminar, because I discovered that each class was progressively more hostile to what these two wonderful persons stood for. The ..... reviews written by young people of this edition of _Walden_ are, then, disconcertingly familiar to me. I obviously disagree with their evaluations of the book and of Thoreau's character. But what's interesting is why they have such a negative reaction to a book written, as Thoreau says, for young people who haven't yet been corrupted by society. What is it about the culture in which we live that encourages such hostility to his eloquent plea for simplicity? It's too facile to suggest that the backlash is motivated only by resentful pique at what's seen as Thoreau's condemnation of contemporary lifestyles, although I suspect this is part of the explanation. I'd be interested in reading the thoughts here of other readers who are likewise puzzled and disturbed by "Generation Y's" negative response to Thoreau.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately," Thoreau writes in his most familiar work, WALDEN, "to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get to the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion" (p. 86). These were the words that forever changed my life when I first read WALDEN more than twenty years ago. I have since returned to WALDEN more than any other book.

Recently reading another Modern Library Paperback Classic, THE ESSENTIAL WRITINGS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON, prompted me to revisit Thoreau in this new paperback edition of his collected writings. It opens with a revealing biographical Introduction to Thoreau (1817-1862) by his friend, Emerson. Thoreau "was bred to no profession, he never married" Emerson writes; "he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh, he drank no wine, he never knew the use of tobacco; and, though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, wisely no doubt for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature. He had no talent for wealth, and knew how to be poor without the least hint of squalor or inelegance" (p. xiii). This 802-page edition includes WALDEN in its entirety, together with other writings one would expect to find here, A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS, "Walking," and "Civil Disobedience," among others.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desparation" (p. 8), Thoreau wrote in 1854. Few would disagree that WALDEN remains relevant today. "Most men, even in this comparatively free country" Thoreau observed more than 150 years ago, "through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that" (p. 6). "Our life is frittered away by detail" (p. 86); Thoreau encourages us to "Simplify, simplify" (p. 87). "To be awake is to be alive," he tells us (p. 85). "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple tree or an oak" (p. 305). Truth be told, WALDEN is as much a about a state of mind as the place where Thoreau spent his "Life in the Woods," 1845-47.

WALDEN is among the ten best books I've ever read. Thoreau was a true American original thinker, and the writings collected here could change your life forever.

G. Merritt

Thoreau is sometimes classified as a "nature writer", but his reflections extend into economics, politics, health, recreation, aesthetics, moral issues of personal character, fidelity to principle and self discipline, and to the very nature of reality and perception. He was a dominant figure in the Idealist school of philosophy labeled Transcendentalism. Emerson called Thoreau the truest American. This because of his passionate respect for the dignity of the individual. Years before the Emancipation Proclamation or the Civil War, more than a century before the American civil rights movement or the global push for 'human rights', there was Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government, which is commonly titled Civil Disobedience. (Mahatma Gandhi acknowledged Thoreau's influence on his life as did Martin Luther King, Jr.). Several decades before the environmental movement was born and ecological awareness began to seep into public consciousness, while John Muir was but an infant, there was Walden. On issues of human dignity, moral consistency, environmental responsibility, even diet and health, he was as an unappreciated light in a gray world of small thinking. In his short life, he had rather few readers and was generally thought of as being a nutty malcontent, as has been the case for so many thinkers of antiquity and of today.
"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad," states Thoreau, who like other great Idealist thinkers insists that Truth and the crowd generally stand in opposition to one another. Solitude being the state in which one can "discern his proper objects," Thoreau's record at Walden Pond is a wonderful account of such discernment. In his opening treatise on economy, Thoreau says that philanthropy is esteemed so highly only because we are so selfish. It is in his less provocative yet careful analysis of objects of nature that Thoreau delights his reader. His account of a battle between an army of red ants and an army of black ants is meticulous and absolutely wonderful. This great work of American writing and philosophy is an invitation to hear the music of "a different drummer."
"Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice. Goodness is the only investment that never fails."

The authors clearly care a great deal about how children are educated and evaluated. However, the conclusions that are drawn go too far. While these are steeped in much current literary theory, that theory itself is still very speculative with little firm research to support it. Furthermore, although the book roundly condems most current types of reading tests, no promising alternatives are put forth. The main mission of Fragile Evidence is not to reform standardized reading tests or tackle the difficult task of improving them, but rather to just get rid of them altogether. Still, there are a number of good points raised about test validity, reliability, and perhaps most importantly the poor uses to which tests are put.

This book does an excellent job of pointing out internal and external validity and reliability issues with a wide range of standardized tests used to assess reading. I found it remarkable to note that most of these tests seldom (if at all) ask readers to read real connected text. The authors do point to some alternatives for reading assessment. Most knowledgeable literacy educators will already have a wide array of means for developing a full picture of any child's literacy development. This book opens the doors wide toward having a conversation around the reductionistic perspectives represented by standardized reading assessments, the purposes they are used for, and the impact they can have on children's literacy.

Better yet, do yourself or your students a favor and FORGET SIDWELL.
This cancer on the body of Latin education has impaired and imperiled students for too long. Choose Wheelock, choose
Scanlon, choose to sit down and memorize Lewis and Short, but please, please, don't keep buying this putrid and detestable
mockery of a language course. If you need evidence of this man's utter madness, look to the mind-numbing exercises devoid of holistic comprehension, and to the chaotic presentation of grammar. Introducing the passive voice a dozen chapters after deponents? Absurd! Criminal! This study guide might be necessary, but it is also clumsy in arrangement and difficult to navigate. The mise en page is likely to scare new students, and turn them away from what can be a very fun and accessible language without the obstacle of a rotten mushroom like this guy. Sidwell: the sun has set on your empire of tears; you have had your day.

For those of us learning on our own, or for whom Wheelock has proven as dry as toast, the Reading Latin course (text volume and grammar volume) has been a godsend. And now with this Independent Study Guide it will be even better!

Hawthorne's Marble Faun is not a book I would recommend to the casual reader, unless you are enthralled by highly exaggerated, unrealistic melodramas involving grossly stereotyped, one-dimensional characters (Miriam and Donatello are more intriguing and less one-dimensional, although this is simply my opinion). One must take into account that this is a gothic novel and is written in a period where "political correctness" is not yet a term, and where puritanical ideals and mores are the central focus of the story-teller.Therefore, one cannot hold against Hawthorne the fact that Italians are depicted as uncivilized imbeciles (for lack of a better word), nor that sin and religion are central themes - he simply wrote in accordance with the time in which he lived. Surely the fact that he is a masterful writer excuses his weaknesses in other areas. The story itself, though overly melodramatic and at times frustratingly so, is interesting in the way soap operas or shows like Melrose Place often are; as nauseatingly emotional as the characters are, and as disgusting as their actions or predicaments may be, there is a depth of raw emotion that draws us in, and something akin to the curiosity one may have in looking at a freak show. We are repelled yet drawn in at the same time, unable to resist wondering what lies ahead, yet partially aware of what will happen, of what must happen, for the story to play through the way it was intended. I myself was drawn into the innocent one-sided romance between Donatello and Miriam that gradually grows into a torrid affair - I truly could not put the book down until I found out how it all turned out between them. However, once that part of the novel was resolved, I found little incentive to continue. Hilda was stiff, did not draw sympathy, and her religious piety mixed with a severity usually associated with bitter spinsters I personally found repellent. Kenyon, the sculpture who seeks a romance with her, was equally boring with his wimpy, "I-agree-with-anything-you-say" romantic tactics. Needless to say, I was as intrigued by their romance as by two limp noodles stuck to the bottom of a pot. My suggestion: Read up till the chapter entitled "The Bronze Pontiff's Benediction" (I won't tell if you skip through the endless descriptions of art & architecture and go straight to the good parts). Then skim for plot ("A Frolic of the Carnival" has some interesting parts) and head straight to the last chapter and the postscript that follows - a must-read, as here we get a few last words on Donatello and Miriam, as well as a summation of the question that forms the novel - here you finally discover what thought process drove Hawthorne to write this story in the first place!

A must for romantics and anyone who enjoys a bit of a philosophical challenge!

Thinking about traveling to Italy? Wait! Do not leave behind your most useful travel companion. Disregard Rick Steve's and Let's Go. The Marble Faun was the premiere 19th Century travel guide to Rome and should be for the 21st century traveler. This book will lead you around the ancient city without skipping any of the awe-inspiring sights. For travelers after The Marble Faun's publication in 1860, the novel was a necessary item for their European escapades. Masterfully constructing his story around four distinct characters, Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, and Donatello, Hawthorne takes the reader on an adventure which holds as much intrigue as the splendid landmarks these travelers encounter in their own journeys. For one who enjoys art and the discussion of art, this book will provide everlasting enjoyment. Indeed, Hawthorne captures the ex-patriot community of artists who settled in Rome during the 19th century in an attempt to associate themselves and their work with the Old Masters. Through Hawthorne's exceptional narrative, the reader gains further understanding of the mindset of copyists who wish to discover the true essence of such famous works as the faun of Praxiteles. This work experiments in its narrative form and one must be willing to flow with it. The chapters at times jump from different characters and events with out much warning to the reader. In addition, Hawthorne interjects his own point of view from time to time. If the reader is sensitive to this un-structure then they will have little trouble enjoying the mystery as well as the valuable description. Hawthorne changed the standards for American travel writing with this novel. Without it, Henry James, among others, may not have followed his lead. It is time The Marble Faun won the recognition it deserves!

I'm not a big fan of The Scarlet Letter, but The Marble Faun is, in my opinion, the best American novel ever written. Although it can move slowly when Hawthorne describes various architectural sites throughout Rome, the rest of the story is a theodicy of great power and imagination. Hawthorne uses a brilliant combination of mythology, history, and humanity in this piece. A must for anybody who loves Italy. This book has been overlooked for more than three generations now...it's time it was uncovered!

This book is based on quite an interesting idea, and it would bring that across had it not been so badly written. For a fable it is trying to be too realistic, for a story it isn't trying to be realistic enough. I had quite a hard time believing several crucial points in the story, mostly due to the fact that Hoeg is telling me everything, never showing me anything so he can make me belive what I read. When I finally accepted (not believed, accepted) that Madalene was an alcoholic, I was led to believe that she could fight it (right after an almost delirium) in just a couple of days...sure. I also had a hard time believing her strange relationship with Adam, and I guess weird relationships do exist, but I was mostly annoyed by the fact that I should also believe that so many couples have never actually seen eachother naked, as in the end of the book everyone is in shock about the existence of the other apes. Some have even been able to make kids and not let their husband or wife notice that they were hairy all over. Quite an accomplishment I would say. I love a good plot, I love interesting ideas, like this one was, especially as they defend a principle, contain a moral theory, but I would like it to be brought across with some level of realism. Make me believe it could've happened. And I'm willing to believe in superintelligent apes. Even that you can fall in love with them. That was actually the most believable part, Madalene's love for Erasmus. Not enough for me to forget about the rest though.

Peter Hoeg is one of those rare writers -- whose every book is a literary treasure. I have yet to be disappointed by anything he has written. And this book -- the woman and the ape -- is not exception. Hoeg does such a masterful job at raising questions about our own species and our relationship to the Earth, that this book should be read by environmental studies students. Hoeg also entrances his readers -- once again -- with sensual writings, sensitive characters, and a magical air (as he did with Smilla's Sense of Snow), that this book should also be read in literary classes. ... simply: it is a book to be read. and shared.

Mr. Hoeg did it again: give us a dream wrapped into hard-hitting reality. After "Smilla" and "The Borderliners", we now have a third great novel from this author, and I want to thank him for it. While it is similar to "The Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle, it is taken to a new, metaphysic dimension. It took years for "Smilla" to "catch on"; I hope this book will fare better

I am a big fan of Peter Mayle's writings on this brilliant region of Southern France. As a backpacker a couple of years ago, I travelled through France extensively, and have a special fondness for Provence.

In Mayle's two previous books, A Year in Provence and Toujours Provence, he captured the essence of the characters and geography of the region beautifully. The reader was captivated by the author's ability to make the smallest occurrence an interesting event. I personally felt that Mayle did an excellent job of describing the cast of characters and their insights into French rural life.

Encore Provence does not have the same level of character development and I feel that this is a weakness in the book. I found that in some cases, well known characters from the previous books are either mentioned in passing or totally re-introduced to the reader. This lack of consistency is annoying.

One other gripe with the book is Mayle's constant reference to America (No offence to American readers intended). Obviously, this has been done to give a reference point to American readers and is also related to the fact that the author had just returned from the USA, but the cynic in me feels this was also done to boost American sales of the book.

Overall though, Encore Provence, is well written and contains enough of the amusing stories and observations that fans and Francophiles alike will enjoy.

I don't quite understand why others have given Mayle's most recent book on Provence such a negative rating. I find his prose to be as amusing as ever, and as a francophile myself I enjoyed learning more about my favorite region of France. Mayle always manages to transport the reader with his evocative passages. I particularly liked the chapter where Mayle goes to visit a school of perfumery and instructs the reader on some of the ways of the ancient skill. Even a trip for a corkscrew is a joy for him. I feel transported back to France each time I read his books. Good job!

I read this book when it first came out and loved it as as I have loved his past French writings. I am re-reading it again and can understand how some people may get a negative feeling about his latest piece. But I do believe his French stuff is more for a small niche of readers who either have spent time in France or are serious francophiles. I have lived 5 years in Paris and am a tour guide in France and whenever I read his books, it definitely takes me back to a Provence that I too have known to love. I can understand his chapter when he goes up against the NY Times food critic but it sure sounded like she was one of these people who would also use the old stereotype that the French are rude! Au contraire! And Mr. Mayle doesn't translate his French idioms! This book is for Francophiles and Francophones! So if you love France as much as some of us do, go out and buy this wonderful, delicious book!

The basic techniques of reading fortune using the ancient Chinese art of "Je Mee Tao Soo" are laid out in this book but I personally feel it is over-simplified in some aspects.

It would be interesting to have the opinion of the other readers. Is this book too complex for beginners and rather elementary for the intermediate users ?

Would be great if the author could : (1)have this information in CD format wherein such complex calculations and interpretations could be properly programmed to be used-friendly for the begineers; (2)have an advanced version for those who are into serious fortune reading; (3)what about the daily readings ?

Perhaps the author is a practitioner; in which case it will do well to learn from his actual experiences. It certainly helps to get lots of valuable advice about the pitfalls in our way and how to avoid pitfalls. He certainly has a grasp of the subject but most beginners will need a more user-friendly approach.

I do have some important technical questions for the author, Mr.Peter Shen, and I wish I could check with him. For this matter, calculations must be accurate; failing which one's readings can be way off course. Perhaps Amazon would care to forward my email to the author.

Thank you. mervin222@yahoo.com