This is my first Goethe reading, and I was very unimpressed. I was turned on to Goethe after reading a couple insightful quotes used in articles, but found the book to be incredibly dry and uninspiring...not to mention below expectations for one of the most highly regarded German writers of all times. Puzzled, I found the quote that encouraged me to read Goethe in the first place...

"No one is more hopelessly enslaved, than the person who falsely believes he is free."

Not bad, right? Right...but this translation was from the *article* I read, not the book/translation being reviewed. In the book/translation being reviewed, the quote read as follows...

"No one is more a slave that the one who thinks he is free without being free."

Wow! Just flows off the tongue. Don't we think that a master of the German language would use stronger language? Wouldn't we expect verbage more similar to the former rather than the latter example? Wouldn't we expect one of the greatest writers of all time to paint a gripping visual rather than dribble out some wisdom?

I think so. I'm going to go out on a limb and trust centuries of readers and critics. 300 years can't be wrong.

The stark difference b/w the two examples leads me to believe that the translation we are reviewing is either very poor, or very literal. I am by no means a German authority (I have enough trouble with English) and I haven't researched this enough to draw any other conclusions, but I HAVE to give Goethe the benefit of the doubt. I think a different translation may be more moving.

I was very disappointed in the quality of this book; I guess it goes to show that genius in other fields of literature and art do not necessarilly translate into writing effective aphorisms.

Many of Goethe's reflections included here lack any punch--there is nothing unexpected in them, no new way of seeing things or flash of insight. Many of the statements that he seemed proud of seemed to be obvious or uninteresting to me. Many others concerned Goethe's peculiar (and incorrect) view of science. As an ex-scientist I found these, in general, to more exasperating than enlightening. Many of the reflections were rather long and rambling, lacking the tightness and economy that characterizes the best aphorisms. As a final complaint, many of the maxims are not really individual thoughts at all. Instead Goethe simply broke up longer arguments into individual sentences and gave them each their seperate number as if they were stand-alone maxims.

Overall, I found little that was memorable or stimulating in this book. Perhaps the lack is in me ("When a book and a head collide and a hollow sound ensues, must it always come from the book?"--Anton Kuh); maybe I simply don't have an affinity for Goethe's thought. But I wouldn't recommend this book. Instead pick up a work by one of the true masters of the form: Nietzsche, Lichtenberg, and La Rochefoucauld.

I say this is essential reading, but this is more true for someone familiar with Goethe. This is not to say that the casual reader will not find something of value, but 'Maxims and Reflections' is as much a reflection of Goethe and what he held true and interesting, as it is a collection of "wise sayings."

I think it would be helpful to a potential reader to review here some of the Maxims and Reflections, with comments.

Some are simplistic: "Behaviour is a mirror in which everyone shows his image."

Some are interesting, and one will see the truth in them upon some reflection. These may not really educate, but they are interesting in themselves: "There is something horrifying about a man of outstanding excellence of whom stupid people are proud."

Some are statements of what most of us would agree with easily, but they are important because they shed light upon the man and his concerns. For example, we often see how concerned he is with certain kinds of people being dangerous: "Fools and intelligent people are equally undamaging. Half-fools and half-sages, these are the most dangerous of all."

Some are incomprehensible: "Work makes the journeyman."

Some are enigmatic, at least to me: "Wisdom is to be found only in truth."

Some are observations that are not too profound but which will serve as food for thought: "Human nature needs to be numbed from time to time, but without being put to sleep; hence smoking, spirits, opiates."

Some are simply personal beliefs, and we need to know that Goethe beleived such-and-such a thing: "Painting and tattooing the body is a return to animality."

Some are profound truths or observations, and will serve as food for a lot of thought: "Time is itself an element." "Mysteries do not as yet amount to miracles." "Truth is contrary to our nature, not so error, and this for a very simple reason: truth demands that we should recognize ourselves as limited, error flatters us that, in one way or another, we are unlimited." In this last one, for example, we get an idea about the kind of simple, pragmatic reasoning the great man often employed.

Some are statements by others, in other languages, and it is an interesting exercise to try and see why the great man included these in the Maxims and Reflections: " L'amour est un vrai recommenceur. [Love is truly a new beginning.] "

Some are classic maxims, which are oft-quoted, even today: "There is nothing more dreadful than active ignorance." This example also serves to show that the translation is really bad in places: that phrase *really* deserves to be translated "ignorance in action".

And some are difficult to comprehend - but when makes the effort, they turn out to be absolute gems: "The first and last thing demanded of genius is love of truth."

Este es un libro para personas "perdidas en el tiempo" que viven de la ilusión de dar marcha atrás en el desarrollo sexual humano. Baste con decir que se atreve a sugerir que, bajo ciertas circunstancias, los cristianos deberían considerar matrimonios pre-ordenados o planificados. Invierta su dinero en algo mejor.

It doesn't say this in the review, and you have to look closely at the cover to notice, but this book is entirely in Spanish!!

This is a fantastic book. It changed my life. This is the fantastic story of the author's romance with Jim Elliot, a man she admired from a distance in college and later married. An incredible courtship story.

Some people might think Elliot's teachings are "old fashioned," but look at her life! She's been happily married three times. (Widowed twice.) Wow! You won't be able to put this book down! If you follow the author's advice, you're life will be changed for the better and you will be better equipped to deal with the dating jungle out there.

I just can't see how anyone could mistake this for an 'important' book. While incredibly courageous women like Jane Marcus and Mary Daly have demonstrated the patriarchal agenda of hatred which threatens the freedom of all Women, white male authors such as this one crazily accuse women of material greed! So while women don't earn as much money as males, it is a sign of big bad feminism that women wish to be paid for their efforts??? This is a worthless book by a priviledged white male writer, an enemy of women and thus an enemy of minorities.

I am a little shocked that Lasch is given so much credit for his "learning" when he leaves out so much of the glories of contemporary feminist discourse. He is fairly accurate on the past oppression of women, but he seems to miss the continuity into our own time. I suppose, when one considers the fact that he is a white male who uses the languages of patriarchy, that this is not such a bad effort, but it really only demonstrates the huge gap between male writing about the place of feminism in society, and the heroic efforts of feminists to make a place in society for women.

Lasch chronically falls victim to those who fail to grasp the radical nature of his critique. He approached social issues from a perspective which quickly eludes the typical intellectual constraints of right and left. WOMEN AND THE COMMON LIFE may well become the largest victim to the casual reads to which his work is so often submitted.

Despite all the talk about the dynamic nature of the patriarchy and renaissance drama, the main gripe of WOMEN is that feminism sold its soul for a mess of pottage. Primarily through comparison of Friedan's FEMININE MYSTIQUE and Goodman's GROWING UP ABSURD, Lasch reveals that feminism was uniquely poised to furnish a broad assault on the predatory capitalism, cheap consumerism and therapeutic stupor that has descended over the American scene. Instead, feminists all too frequently seek only to alter the rules so women too can gain entry into the careerist trap.

One senses that Lasch may have invested intellectually in feminism, hoping it would be the crucible for a revivified Jeffersonian agrarianism, but was subsequently let down. Perhaps because of this, feminism suffers the same excoriation as most other stripes of liberalism throughout Lasch's work. In any event, he has feminists dead to rights when he points out that a truly feminist, truly radical critique of American civilization would have sought to undermine, for the good of women, men and children, the gluttonous and heedless consumerism which so characterizes it. Far from missing the critical insights of feminism, Lasch eloquently argues that it is the feminists, particularly Friedan, who have forgotten their own insights, content to sacrifice their integrity on the altar of materialist fixation. In this tome, Lasch's reputation for erudition remains secure, and even tumesces in the ingenuity of its application through critical intelligence, and, notably, in a subtlety of argument not always present in previous work.

This book is crucial reading to those who find themselves inexorably compelled by feminist ideals, but who find it impossible to discover those ideals inhabiting any portion of the contemporary feminist landscape.

Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of author Mary Downing Hahn. I've read several of her books and enjoyed them all. So imagine my disappointment with this book which has no story, no plot, no drama. It does show an interesting look at the times her mother lived in (1913) and the type of home life she had. But it should have stayed as a personal account for her own family. With all her talents as a writer, why couldn't Ms. Hahn have given her readers a story, an adventure, or at least some conflict? This book can "set the scene" for readers who know nothing about pre-World War I times. But then they should go on to other more exciting books from this era such as "The Ornament Tree," "Over the Waves," or "In The Time of Angels."

I thought that this book was very good. I think that children at any age can relate to the struggles that Anna faces with her mother, father, her aunt and uncle, her friends and school. I really enjoyed the whole setting of the book because it was around the time of WWI and this was the time when people did not have too much. I think all children will really enjoy this book.

I got this book with the mistaken notion that I could bring it to Europe and decipher the menus there.

The problem is the book's unusual organization.

Each page contains five columns of dishes in each of English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

For example:

...

Cabbage__Kohl_______Chou_____Cavolo____Col

Carrots__Karotten____Carottes__Carote_____Zanahorias

Celery___Sellerie_____Celeris___Sedani_____Apio

Cress____Kresse_____Cresson__Crescione__Berro

...

See the problem?

Is is sorted by the English word. That does not help when you have the French words, and are trying to figure out English one.

Buy this book to go from English to a European language (not the reverse).

Since purchasing this book many years ago, I have had many friends and even strangers ask me where they too can get a copy. It has proved very useful and would make a great gift for a someone visiting from overseas or someone going on a trip. Many of my friends who live overseas enjoyed this book as well because it is designed by food type. So, if you are eating at a pastry shop, you do not need to sift through a dozen types of seafood or poultry to find your just desserts. There are a few foods missing in this, but they are not those which you'd usually encounter as a tourist (unless you are adventurous). I recommend this book to those who love to travel and enjoy being able to know what they are eating. This is especially valueable to anyone with food allergies, dietary restrictions or food dislikes. I learned quickly how to ask about ingredients and knew what to avoid on a menu. The book is also a nice size to fit into a purse, handbag, or backpack.

If you are looking for a real discussion about these important prophesies...one with a researched and clear understanding of the prophesies and their *traditional* meanings, then you should avoid this book. If you want to read an uninformed stream of consciousness that is a cross between babble and rant with a lot of airy opinions and unsubstantiated woo-woo thrown in, then this is your book. These two "writers" are profiteering off of sacred teachings and people's fears. They come across as underqualified and overly self-impressed. They should be embarrassed...

Upon reading this book I was thrown into new thoughts and more culture than the average American neighborhood. Hearing these words of wisdom turned my soul unto a brighter level. I really enjoyed reading this and I think anyone interested in Prophecy would be well tuned to read this book as well. I simply read it in 3 days time in my free time and I find myself wanting to read it over and over. In these times of global warming and the severe heat and fires on the Earth and Political change I found that this was a suitable guide to making change in my personal life and getting in touch with a side that often remains hidden from myself and others. I hope to read more from this Author and I highly recommend it. Thanks. God bless.

This book was originally written in Swedish and takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia. To me, the story about Andrei was confusing.

Andrei remembers the house he lived in when he was in his mother's stomach. When she disappears, he is taken to a children's home. Here he meets a friend, Vova, who has never met his mother because she was a dog and only wanted puppies. Andrei and his little friend leave to find Andrei's mother. He remembers she wears a blue dress and has a barrette in her hair. I'm not sure how it ended, it was unclear to me.

Sweet watercolors illustrate the boys' journey through the bustling city.

This is a very good anthology of articles about science fiction movies and television. Most interesting is are the ones about space travel and Spiegel's article about the Fantastic Sitcom.

A readable book although containing several suppositions which can startle a scientifically educated reader. Some examples of these are: On page 116 the paragraph about formation of oil deposits is grossly oversimplified almost to the point of error (produced a "Whaaat!" from a geology student who graduated with honors). Page 141 contains an apparent confusion between temperature and Difference of temperature (conversion from °C to °F); a Difference of 15-25°C should be a Difference of 27-45°F. Page 150 says about the manganese nodule miners: "The nodule miners are mutants. From land people they are turning into ocean people." Although the rest of the paragraph shows that its beginning in meant as a figure of speech, the terms are startling. On page 156, I doubt that "shoal waters that exist on over 10 percent of the surface of the ocean" - unless perhaps you count the ocean over the continental shelves as shoal, which I doubt fits the definition (I also doubt that the area of the continental shelves could constitute 10% of the ocean surface). On page 177, in the part about signalling: "Then a system was adopted that, employing combinations of three or at most four flags, enabled commanders to communicate 9,999 different items of information." I leave this to the reader to figure. Page 212 includes this interesting supposition: "Construction of huge dams to utilize the ocean's tidal power might seriously alter the tides by slowing down the rotation of the earth. This would make our days and our nights longer - we might find ourselves with a 25- or 26-hour solar day,..." (I think this is an exaggeration). These are the most startling statements. This book is very readable and interesting in many parts, and also interesting in its wake-up call to the serious environmental effects that mankind has caused in the oceans - although some of the suggested solutions are utopic, requiring governments and society radically different (and greatly advanced) from the present ones. But due to its several suspected inaccuracies (which could have been inserted by an editor after the author finished the manuscript, as I do not believe the author could be responsible for all of these, and I have known of editorial inaccuracies), I could not recommend this as a school text, although it does have value, being of a very interesting and readable style (I wish I could write as smoothly), including some history, science, and drama. If you are a stick-in-the-mud scientific perfectionist like me, a few of the statements might be quite startling. However, if you like to read about the ocean for fun, it may be quite enjoyable.

Anthology series are indeed hit or miss and the stories in The Grand Hotel are a miss all the way around. Romance and humor was seriously lacking in this book. There was little to recommend or differentiate one story from the other. If I had to pick one story that was at least semi-enjoyable, I would choose Barbara Metzger's story as there was at least some attraction and humor between the love interests, though not as amusing as amusing as Ms. Metzger can usually be. Why does Carla Kelly always right such somber romances? For me, somber and romance are two adjectives that should not mix in a romance novel.

The Grand Hotel is an anthology based around a single setting: a hotel in London, where the various characters either work or are guests. It's an interesting concept, and one which should, in theory, make the stories appear less as unconnected vignettes and more as 'chapters' in one longer story. But in practice, The Grand Hotel didn't turn out that way. It's something which could have been achieved quite easily, had the authors been given a plot thread which would weave throughout the individual stories and be resolved in the final one. As it was, the stories were very much stand-alone, with only brief references to common characters.

Carla Kelly's The Background Man is probably the best of the bunch, which is hardly surprising. Charles Mortimer, the assistant manager, is rarely noticed, because of his ability to blend into the background. However, substituting for his superior, he comes to the notice of Miss Carrington, a somewhat unusual guest. He falls in love with her immediately, and barely dares to hope that she will return his feelings. She does... but she's hiding a secret from him. Will this destroy any chance for them? My problem with The Background Man was mainly that it was too short, a common problem with anthology stories. The relationship really didn't have enough time to develop, and I wanted to see more of Charles and Millie together.

In Elisabeth Fairchild's Love Will Find A Way, Lieutenant James Forrester is about to meet, for the first time, the widow of his late commanding officer. Yet he feels as if he's known Annabelle Grant all his life. (Incidentally, Annabelle is a widow. Why does Fairchild refer to her as 'Miss'?). James, we see, had to read all her letters to Archie, her late husbamd, and once Archie was too ill to respond on his own, James wrote to her. He fell in love with her from her letters. Now, he has a few days only to get to know her and persuade her to consider marrying him. This is an interesting idea, and a nice, gentle love story - but again rushed by the pressures of coming in at under 65 pages.

Anne Barbour's The Castaway is the most disappointing, given Barbour's undoubted talent. A woman called Martha Finch arrives at the hotel to keep an appointment with Lord Branford, acting on behalf of the Marquess of Canby, the man whose granddaughter she claims to be. The reader is shown very soon that Martha is lying about her claim, and Barbour does not give her particularly sympathetic motives. I was hoping throughout that she would be exposed and that Branford, the hero, would reject her. Her lie is, of course, found out, but a far too convenient solution then emerges. This is one heroine I did *not* want to see end up with the hero.

Next, we have Barbara Metzger's The Management Requests. Captain Arthur Hunter (who should, in fact, be Captain Viscount Huntingdon, if Metzger paid proper attention to protocol) needs a room on the ground floor because of an injury. None is available, so he persuades the manager to let him have the room behind the reception desk. Because of this, a guest - Hope Thurstfield - mistakes him for the manager, a misapprehension Arthur chooses not to correct. (Why?) The secondary characters in this vignette almost drove me crazy, and I didn't especially care for Hope. Another miss.

And finally, we have Allison Lane's Promises to Keep. Maggie Adams has arrived from America to try to make peace with her father's family, from whom he was estranged after eloping with her mother. She bumps into a Marcus Widner at the hotel, who just happens to be related to her mother's family and who offers to help her in her quest - but who warns her off making immediate contact with her father's family. Lane lives up to her usual standards here by inventing the usual crop of one-dimensional villains, completely unbelievable in their audacity and villainry. I liked Marcus, but that's about all I can say for this story.

All in all, not worth the new purchase price, unless you're desperate to complete a Carla Kelly collection. My copy is going to the next charity shop collection.

Although I'm not terribly found of anthologies because the brevity of the format inevitably results in shallow, partially-drawn characters, I found myself enjoying this one more than most. Why? Mostly because it included the romances of some ordinary people, not just those who are rich and titled. Also because it was (for the most part) the heroes who fell in love first and "loved from afar," instead of the women. And because some of the characters and events were intertwined in other stories and gave the impression of a single book instead of an anthology by five different authors. I'd like to see more anthologies like this one!