This is a wonderful book of stories about those who have been curious and brave enough to search into their own souls and find lost parts of themselves. I read this book while taking a one week workshop on dollmaking and now I wish that I could go through the year long process discribed within these pages. You don't have to be interested in dolls to see the transformations that dollmaking can bring from an individual's own creativity. Great read with excellent photos of dolls created by artist and non-artist.

The Wines of California, Stephen Brook, Faber and Faber, London, 1999, ISBN 0-571-19030-8. Paperback; 685 pages; $20.

Stephen Brook has been a freelance writer for many years specializing in wine and travel books. He won the André Simon Award in 1987 for Liquid Gold: Dessert Wines of the World, and has written several other excellent travel and wine books. He has been learning about and drinking California wines since the late 1970s, and finds that California wines appeal to him strongly for their generosity: "California wine regions routinely succeed in offering rich, full-bodied, fleshy, opulent wines that make an immediate sensory appeal." This is a generous book that beautifully expresses the "instantaneous pleasure" he finds in California wine.

Brook briefly summarizes the history of wine in California, relying gracefully on the works of Charles Sullivan. He has a short, but excellent, summary of the "rules of California wine", asserting that California as an independent country would be the world's fourth largest producer after Italy, France and Spain. (A telling comment: "By and large, California wineries are not keen to dupe the consumer, although the overall laxity of the regulations often makes it easy for an element of deception to creep in.") Brook devotes about a quarter of the book to the wine regions, a quarter to grapes and types of wines, and the balance to a "Gazetteer" of various producers throughout the state. Throughout he relies on personal relationships with hundreds of grape growers, wine makers, writers and wine lovers.

Brook emphasizes that: "There were no secrets, no mysteries, about wine. My questions, whether about viticulture or winemaking techniques, were readily answered." In a favorable review of the book published in "Decanter" recently, Gerald Asher emphasizes that "this willingness to share information has made it possible for Brook to track changes that amount to a U-turn in all things vinous in the state. When talking to growers elsewhere, I am often amazed to hear them make references to a California that no longer exists - they cannot imagine a place where change can be so rapid and so fundamental."

Brook is quite skeptical about the AVA system, but his summaries are clear and historically accurate. Similarly with his descriptions of the various types of wine; I found his section devoted to Zinfandel particularly enlightening. But the heart of the book is a series of short, elegant essays on hundreds of different wineries; there are no tasting notes to speak of, but he captures the styles of wines made by many of these wineries in quite a remarkable way. And he captures the history and the character of the wineries with conciseness and clarity.

For example, I have just finished reading Robert Mondavi's autobiography, Harvest of Joy, admittedly a book that could have benefited from tighter editing. Brook's four pages captured the essence of Mondavi's story with style and warmth.

It would be fun to quote dozens of these essays; here's part of one favorite just to give you the flavor of the whole: "Newton's vineyards are not open to the public, which is a great shame since these are arguably the most beautiful in all of California. Peter Newton's wife Su Hua is Chinese, and the terraced vineyards are reminiscent of Chinese landscape paintings, the whole effect enhanced with red-lacquer gateways, wooden pagodas, and other Chinese ornaments. ... Peter Newton told me that Su Hua is now the winemaker, even though she also pursues a separate career in San Francisco. It's perfectly conceivable that this immensely dynamic and talented woman does indeed make the wines. She has been a model, a scientist, designed much of the vineyard and winery buildings, and has formidable expertise as a wine marketer. There is a mysterious personage at Newton called Luc Morlet; he is the director of oenology, but I have never met him and don't know what he does. The team is completed by the consulting services of Michel Rolland, who only advises on his special subject: Merlot."

I can only agree with Gerald Asher that only a person who finds great pleasure in California wine could have "devoted himself to a study of this magnitude. I give it a 'thumbs up'." Highly recommended.

Without question this is the best introductory journalism textbook on the market. I have used it in my classes for several years. The chapters are short but informative, and the exercises realistic. Primarily focussed on print, the discussion of broadcast journalism is sounder than that found in many books dedictaed to that subject.

Beautiful headstrong Scarlett O'Hara is a 16-year-old belle of genteel Southern society when the Civil War breaks out. The love of her life, quiet intellectual Ashley Wilkes, turns down her offers of love and marries sweet gentle Melanie Hamilton before going to war. In a fit of vengeful passion, Scarlett accepts the marriage proposal of Melanie's brother Charles.

Thus, Melanie and Scarlett's lives are intertwined as Scarlett finds a way for them both to survive the war and all that follows. Melanie genuinely loves Scarlett as a sister, while Scarlett only takes care of Melanie so Ashley will eventually fall in love with herself instead.

Rhett Butler, a blackguard who is not exactly welcomed by good families, is Scarlett's constant gentleman caller who never once falls for her simpering flirtations, much to her anger.

Every girl has a bit of Scarlett O'Hara and Melanie Hamilton in her, and hopes she sees her Rhett Butler for what he is instead of chasing after an Ashley Wilkes. Read this book to find out why -- it has been a classic since it was first published in the 1930s!!!!

This book took my breath away ... Margaret Mitchell has painted such an unforgettable character in Scarlett 'O'Hara that even after finishing the book ,u can't decide whether to despise her / admire her ... not once in the book ,does Scarlett think an unselfish thought -her motives are always totally selfish -either for herself / for Tara -her childhood home [ which in effect is because she loves it passioantely!} --- the way she twists men around her little finger even the worldly wise & cynical Rhett Butler in the end --- the slow & inevitable change from the coquettish & beautiful 16 year old Southern Belle to the hard as nails & embittered yet still beautiful woman --- her relationship with her angel-like sister-in-law whom she loves to hate but yet ultimately fails to --- her wild passion for Ashley that destroys her judgement where men are concerned & nearly destroys her ---which when the mask finally falls is revealed as mere lust on his part & infatuation on her part --- her unrecognised till its too late love for the charming yet crude Rhett --- Only Scarlett's self- absorption remains constant...! Margaret portrays all this so beautifully & so vividly that u completely lose yourselves in the 'O 'Hara family & their trials in the war ...

& Scarlett --- the girl with the world at her feet who goes through life refusing to be true to anyone but herself & the woman she becomes so hardened by disillusionment & poverty that she starts forgetting the feminine ways essential for a true lady in those times ... she lingers in your mind long after ...& U can never really decide whether she got what she deserved/ deserved what she got...

As a hugely popular classic ,it definitely lives up to its fame ...Certainly worth a read!

While I admit to not being a fan of the romance genre, Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" towers above its imitators in style and substance. Set in the Atlanta area during the Civil War era, Mitchell's story exemplifies the proper writing of historical fiction, with painstaking accuracy of language, mannerisms, and morals. The war itself is also presented as it should be presented - in full color and with all its moral ambiguity, rather than the black-and-white presentation that so often is the norm in modern discourse.

Mitchell's painting of southern culture and the all-encompassing war, however, serve only as the background for one of the most poignant love stories ever written. Following the life and loves of the willful Scarlett O'Hara, the work delves straight into the meaning and nature of love. Torn between her now-married childhood love, Ashley, and the outcast Rhett Butler, and in dogged pursuit of financial success after the devastating war, Scarlett lives a life of emotion and passion that few fictional characters have rivalled.

Though this work is quite long, it is a very easy read. The style is light and brisk, the language uncomplicated except in the heavy dialect of the blacks, and the story compelling. "Gone with the Wind" is a great book, a great movie, and perhaps the greatest love story ever told. Highly recommended.

Recently I have had to brush up on my C programming skills as I haven't written anything since mid 1983. This is one of two books I have found that have been most useful. Unfortunetly, I have yet to find a book on C that is all encompassing and comprehensive. This book goes a long way to meeting this. It is written in a very readable manner and can be read from start to finish as well as a refernce for specific topics. The only reason I didn't give this tome 5 stars is that it failed to meet a few of my queries (these were very specific) and I would have liked a few more example bits of code. But perhaps I am being a bit picky. I would certainly buy any future updates to this book.

I am a Freshman in High School and I received this book a few weeks ago. To tell you the truth I haven't finished the book; I'm about half-way through but I just had to right a review on it.

The book shows a lot of good examples as it takes you through the different sections. Often times the book stops to tell about the concepts and throws in a diagram or example to make sure your still paying attention. The book often asks: How do you think this works? or what do you think function x does in this list of code? what's going on in this diagram/code? Sometimes these little questions help me to sit back and visualize the code instead of continuosly reading and trying to absorb a gob of information.

There are review questions and programming exercises at the end of each chapter. This definatly gives you the vibe of a classroom book; which it basically is. But, this book is very easily self-taught and there is no need for a teacher to teach you it, though a formal education is always the best way to go.

This book is definatly easy to understand. It is for the new users of C and experienced users alike. Don't be afraid to jump into this book if you don't know a scratch about C; after all, I did it!

It's been an excellent book so far and I would recommend it to others.

If you are familiar with programming basic concepts then you will have no problem in getting started in C with the help of this book. Author has done great job explaining C concepts with excellent examples. However this book does not cover data structure and algorithms in too much details. I would like to recommend "Introduction to Algorithms" by Thomas H.Cormen to learn Algorithms.

While staying respectfully close to the traditional story outlines, Mitchell has embroidered within that tale a marvelous meditation on difference, desire, trust, and transformation. The section on what it means to "promise" alone is worth the price of the book. By changing perspectives, the author allows us to examine the many facets of the Frog Prince in a way that satisfies our modern interest in multi-perspective tellings while calling us back to our most profound needs and desires. A beautiful achievement.

Seems that there has not been enough romance in our busy lives lately... so Mr. Mitchell decided to give you something to fall in love with. This story is a pure delight from the first page to the last. I'm sure you'd enjoy playful historical insights and delicate language (the story takes place in France - the motherland of true romance). But this is all the shell - the pearl is the love story itself. We all know the actual tale, Stephen Mitchell, however, makes it unfold along with two strong and complex characters. Both lonely and proud princess and ugly frog have to overcome their fears to finally fall in love with each other. It's not easy for a frog to become human, it's never easy for a princess to find her prince. Stephen Mitchell describes the romance not as the love is born, but as it makes its way through to change them both. - No matter where you are in your relationship with somebody, this book is sure to make you kinder to that somebody.

To my mind this is one of Stephen Mitchell's best works. It's an excellent example of the sort of thing he does best: he "listens" his way into a traditional text or story, and then says what it "wants" to say in lucid, liquid English prose-poetry.

In this case his story is the traditional "Condensed Version" of the story of the princess and the frog prince. Mitchell has remarked somewhere that the characters in this old Grimm's fairy tale were crying out to be deepened -- and so his retelling of the story deepens them into, respectively, a self-possessed Tao-Te-Ching-quoting princess and a meditative but seriously lovestruck frog.

The tale itself is transformed into a parable of love and spiritual transformation -- or were Mitchell's insights already present in the original tale just waiting for someone to bring them out? (Does it even make sense to suggest that these meanings were "in" the story _rather than_ "in" Mitchell's elaboration of it?)

Be that as it may, Mitchell's interpretive rendering is as lovely and captivating as anything he's ever written. I won't spoil anything, but Mitchell reminds the reader very early on about a point we often forget about the original tale: the frog doesn't turn into a prince when the princess kisses him, but only when she hurls him into a wall.

(The lesson here is not, of course, that if you don't like your lover as he is, you should throw him really hard against a load-bearing structural member and hope he changes into something you like better! It's that real love requires an unwillingness to settle for less than each other's best, together with a complemetary willingness to undergo difficult-but-necessary transformations oneself. But you'd probably figured that out already.)

The tale is notable as much for its style as for its substance (if these two aspects of Mitchell's work can be clearly differentiated at all). The narrative is filled with little frame-breaking devices, excursions into spiritual insight (and sometimes into just plain fun), and small touches that add texture to the physical and "historical" background of the story. As the events in question take place in Renaissance-period France, Mitchell works in not only some fine detail about e.g. the exquisite trappings of the royal palace but also some gentle twitting of French culture.

The insights themselves are, as is usual with Mitchell, the narrative center of gravity. I won't spoil these either, but they come from sources as diverse (or are they?) as the _Tao Te Ching_ and Spinoza, Japanese haiku and Rainer Maria Rilke. The sources will be no surprise to any readers familiar with the rest of Mitchell's ever-growing oeuvre, but they're worked into the story remarkably well.

Oh, and if you like this, see whether you can find a used copy of Mitchell's 1990 book _Parabales and Portraits_. It's currently out of print, but it's excellent in general and in particular it contains a one-page prose poem entitled "The Frog Prince" with which the present work is thematically unified.

Coming from a background with programming and scripting expreience (JavaScript, PHP, Python) I found this book an easy to read introduction to C++. Prata describes everything in microscopic detail, that gives you the feeling you "really" learn the language from the ground up. Prata's language was sometimes difficult to understand but that's probably because english isn't my first language. Sometimes though I believe even a native english speaking person would have to read some parts twice because this guy really goes wild in his expressions sometimes ;)

pros:
+ 1000 pages of detailed information
+ Excellent as a first book on the subject
+ This book is pure quailty
+ Nice cover ;)

cons:
- Somewhat difficult language at times..
- Some examples are really long and requires a lot of time and read

overall this is a great book. Go buy it if you want to learn C++ :)

Wow! This book is one of the best books I've ever read on any computer language! This is a definite book for beginners. It is very well written with a lot of very good examples and review questions at the end of each chapter. This book is quite large and covers many topics in detail from if statements to function overloading. Also, there is a chapter at the end of the book on STL.

This book clearly explains the latest ANSI/ISO C++ in a detailed way. The author Stephen Prata explains or rather teaches C++ in a precise and excellant manner where every other authors failed to do so.The author Stephen explains how some computer science concepts are implemented in c++ as well as in other programming languages also.Stephen Prata has explained clearly all C++ concepts class,object,polymorphism ,inheritance ,templates ,STL and Exceptions. This is the best book that I can recommand for programmers who wants to learn C++ language.All the examples of this book are working very well. Once you read this book you can apply it to any OS (Unix,Linux or Windows). This book is not for programmers who wants to learn GUI programming .Again I want to stress the point that this is the best book for learning the latest C++ language which is a must for further adventures in C++. This book really will give you a sound basic foundation in C++ .I read all the 1040 pages of this book and I enjoyed a lot while reading since I like the way Stephen writes and develop c++ concepts and ideas.

This book first came to my attention when a good friend of mine sent me a quote from it, which has since become my life quote ("Be patient toward everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves..Do not search for the answers which could not be given to you now because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything...Live the questions now")

Since I heard this quote, I tracked down a copy of the book after searching a half dozen bookstores and libraries, and it was worth every minute of work to find it. This book has been put on the highest level of appreciation in my mind, up there with Richard Bach's 'Illusion' and 'One'; my two other favorite books. Rilke's book was written for the artist; the person who wants to live life to its fullest and explore both the inner and outer world and their connections.

Although, as another reviewer said, this book will not be fully appreciated by all readers, it is a must read for everyone, especially those who appreciate spirituality, art and living.

A dear friend of mine gave me this book to read around the time of my twenty-first birthday. He saw that I had been having trouble finding what my true calling in life was. Once I read this great work I was blessed with a new outlook on life and its true meaning. Rilke speaks to the reader's innermost emotions with his thoughts on solitude and how it can make one see life in a new light. I would definatly recommend this book to any of my friends who needed a guiding light in their search for inner peace.

I read this short book of letters by Rilke twice last year and browse through it again and again. Indeed, Rilkes thoughts on man, life, the world are not ony for 'young poets' but are useful for any man. Akthough written at the beginning of this century, these thoughts are also a good guide for anyone living now. I don't need any commercial "Celestine prophecies" - I prefer Rilkes little book !

This proto-existentialist novel features a main character (Malte) that is frightened by the possibility of faceless-ness; that is, he is terrified by the collapse of a coherent subject/identity in modernity. This work is highly critical of the traditional narrative where everything occurs in a logical and temporal order that is coherent and teleological. Through the character of Malte, Rilke illustrates the decay of such an understanding of one's self and the chaos that results.

Rilke read a lot of Nietzsche prior to writing this book, and many of the same themes Nietzsche contemplated in The Gay Science and Thus Spake Zarathustra are reworked by Rilke in this novel. It is my interpretation that Rilke was trying to work out a theory of modern, fragmented, existential subjectivity and then offer some way to make such a life livable. Rilke explores such themes as memory's transience, unpredictability, and instability, the role of a God in a world after the "death of God", and a dissolving of the conceptual categories between the self and the other, or the inside and the outside, all play into this fascinating book.

The book is written in notebook form, which plays into the notion of fragmentary identity and problematic narrative. Entries jump from the past to the present to imagined futures in an often random and chaotic order. There is no "plot" to speak of, although there are bits and pieces of narratives, but nothing sufficient enough to create a comprehensible 'Malte'. All the while, you are in the mind of a character that is trying and failing to make sense of it all (to 'impose' a narrative).

The later Martin Heidegger always lauded Rilke (despite Rilke's being too metaphysical) for being able to express ways of interacting with the world that were non-humanist. He was especially interested, and wrote significantly about, a passage (p. 46 in the Vintage paperback edition) where Malte imagines a house and its inhabitants from a single mutilated wall that is left remaining. I'm not too sure what his relation to the text as a whole was, so I'll leave it at that.

This book is an intellectual paradise and is rich in treasures as long as you are willing to look for them.

Rilke had some sort of command of something. And it was not merely language. His language even in translation is simple, laconic, and disturbingly unclear. Like it should be; it ignites the inquisitive mind instead of doing all of the thinking for you. There is a message to be extracted from this masterful nightmare, and another, and another---but to crumple it up into a neat little ball for dinner-chat just to throw it into the trashbin afterwards is criminal. But I doubt anyone who would read the book for those purposes could actually read it to begin with. This post is probably uninformative, as it should be, because writing about Rilke should not propose to "answer" anything about his very unique, highly poetic form of writing. What must be said about this book is this: It is not at all like "Ulysses" or "The Unnamable" or even "Gravity's Rainbow." On the contrary, "Notebooks" is remarkably easy to read (though not so easy to stomach), yet, at least in my opinion, more rewarding than the above mentioned works. I have nothing against those immensely difficult works, while some might, but Rilke brings something more to the table--a poet's vision. One need not discuss what is meant by that if one has read Rilke--this book or his poetry--but whoever has not felt this man's earthquaking existence spilled from his deepest, darkest artery, is missing not only some of the most wonderfully constructed writing in the history of writing, but a more sincerely moving experience--confronting a human being, flesh, blood and spirit through words on a page. That is rare, and the opportunity should not be missed...You won't finish unchanged.

This is the only novel written by Rilke. It is a difficult text, often vaguely referencing obscure Medieval history. It has endnotes to help you through it though. It is entirely worth the effort to read this book (too many books don't make you try these days) because it is unlike anything I have ever read. Rilke places you in the mind of Malte, an unusual, beautiful and intensely profound universe. This novel is, I believe, an epic poem under the guise of a journal, and it's one of the best poems written.

How many times have you perhaps thought, and also heard that the press are really bad folks? The press has an agenda? The press is biased? Well, this great book reminds us all how truly wonderful the men and women of broadcast journalism covered the horrible events of September 11th. I will never forget how I saw Tom Brokaw, lower his head at one point and choke up. After a second or two he acknowledged to us all that he had an emotional moment. At one point, Peter Jennings, who had just received word that his kids were safe, looked at the camera and told the audience that we all should call our children. I dearly loved reading of the human sides of these men and women. Also, it was astonishing to see how radio and TV covered the story not knowing from moment to moment where the story was going. Local New York area radio and TV are covered as well as that of national TV networks.I really don't want to give anything more away. Buy this book and read it. This will be one that you will want to include in your home library for years to come. You won't want to be selling this one to a used book store or in a garage sale. It's a keeper.

Listening to Robyn Walensky's eloquent retelling of the events of that fateful day at a booksigning in Washington, DC, and reading the minute-by-minute reconstruction of what it was like to cover these events, this book brings back all of the emotion and impact of September 11th, but from the vantage point of the working broadcast journalists who brought the story into the living rooms of the country and the world. Ms. Walensky and her co-editors and contributors have done an historical service to all future generations by putting their experiences collectively into the permanent record. If time ever can dull the memory of what happened that day, take this book down from the shelf and it will all come back, with clarity and purpose. Hopefully, a similar book will be assembled on what the print reporters experienced that day. A superb recounting of the working reporter's craft.

If you only buy one book about September 11th - this is the one to buy. There are several books out but this is the best for a moment to moment account from broadcast journalists who experienced that day from a news point of view. Everyone, from news program producers, sound techs, camera people, radio people are included in this excellent compilation of who saw what, when, how and what they felt as participants in the biggest story of this century. I'm a history nut and stayed home the day of the attack to watch TV coverage all day from all the different networks and I wanted a book that would really convey the events, the victims and the feelings and impressions of those who responded to the catasrophe of 9/11 in an accurate fashion for my children to read and, hopefully, my grandchildren to read in this one book and have some idea of what living this historical day was like. I consider this to be the most valuable book I have bought all year (and I buy lots of books).