I really enjoyed reading the book. It sounded great on paper, but because I am a novice and first time dog owner, it was easier to read than put into action. The shaking/tossing can trick did wonders in the beginning, but according to the book, you have to keep it a secret from the dog that it is you who is tossing the can. Well, needless to say this was almost impossible. My pup put two and two together in no time and suddenly the can trick didn't work anymore. Also, it was difficult to teach my dog to heel without seeing a trainer do it in person. But I really like Fabian's attitude and many other things about the book, so it's worth reading and taking what you can from it.

My wife and I read this cover to cover. Very simple to understand and it seemed to work with our new little pup. Stick to the rules, be consistent. You will need another book after getting through the basic stages, but a great start

I have self-trained my dog to work as a seizure alert dog for me and I know that if I had had this book to guide me back then, it would have been a lot easier. Written in a way that makes the reader think he or she is having a private training session, Ms. Arden and Mr. Robinson have combined to make a winning volume. There is no doubt that they can train any dog to be a most wonderful companion.

This is an American journalist's account of his 'tour' of the Nazi eductaion system. He visits schools, the Nazi party home for Aryan mothers, and various youth camps. The reading, especially that of the mother's homes, is horrifying...but an eye-opener to how Hitler's system operated. What is truly firghtening is that just a few years of rabid indoctrination turned a civilised people into those described in the book..it is unreal. The children know nothing but that Hitler is literally god and their main purpose in life is to sacrifice their life for this man. But if you can deal with the horror of this book it is truly a good work to read to understand what happened to Germany in the Nazi years.

This chilling true account was written by an a man in charge of the American school in Germany who, by a series of miraculous means, is able to get the correct papers in order to visit the schools and other places where the Nazi ideology was starting at the earliest of ages. The read is sometimes quite shocking and disturbing, especially when it involves the young children's attitudes towards "non-Aryans" and the pregnant women's house (as someone else stated).
An interesting note about this book is that it was published in 1941, well before the Final Solution was put into full action. It's ironic that this author used the correct title for the book "Education for Death," since the young boys and girls were ultimately learning to kill. Another area of interest with the publication date is the question why wasn't this book more widely known and read when such events were actually occurring? This author wrote the book for the public to know what was happening, yet it fell upon deaf ears.

Out of print, but definitely worth locating and reading. Fascinating, chilling first hand account of the powers of persuasion and propaganda employed by the Third Reich over the youth culture of wartime Germany. In the vein of "Sacred Blood," "In Pure Blood" and "Motherhood in the Fatherland," this work is especially noteworthy given the hostile climate between races that exists in today's political arena. Terrific resource and interesting reading.

Gregor von Rezzori has taken some of the hardest things in the world to talk about and with them rendered stories that are decent, beautiful, and immensely entertaining. These are five stories that make up a novel, and it is not always apparent that the narrator is the same exact character from story to story, but the truth and the powerful feelings of each story present a great unity. In each chapter, the narrator grows close to a Jewish person who he loves and admires (though he has been taught to despise them as a class) and ends up hurting or failing them. Sounds monstrous, but it is a wonderful book.

I confidently recommend this book to anyone interested in modern literature and European history.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. The writing style is brilliant. You feel like you are living side by side with the author, almost inside his skin, experiencing what he is experiencing, or perhaps at least you are an intimate friend, someone with whom he shares the details of his inner life as well as his worldly adventures.

While I read the book, I felt I was engaged in a relationship with a real person, sharing the sights and sounds of rural Rumania, the excitement of Bucharest, the conflicts and confusion he experiences as he faces life on his own and tries to sort out his feelings and experiences about the people he meets in light of the teachings of his family and society.

As someone mentioned in another review, Mr. Von Rezzori has the literary voice of a cultured, sensitive, articulate, sophisticated, intelligent, perceptive European. Many times, he charms you quite legitimately with the wit of the raconteur and the insight and agility of the boulevardier.

Although the beginning of the book is exciting and full of energy, the end is sad--in fact, deeply mournful--as the author recalls some deep regrets of his life.

This book is an interesting journey with an interesting, complex, and articulate man with a gift for literary intimacy.

"Memoirs of an Anti-Semite" is a series of short stories, loosely connected and remotely chronological, which capture the inner turmoil and outer turbulence the narrator experiences while growing up in Eastern Europe between the Wars. Romantic Cafe's, spicy brothels, Viennese sophistication and Carpathian bleakness are but a few of the contrasting realities which continue to mold and shape the mind and soul of this young Rumanian. The pathological anti-Semitism he acquires while growing up in a petty bourgeois family in the Bukovina becomes an increasing source of irony in this novel, as the narrator finds himself surrounded more and more by Jewish friends and lovers.

Yes, it was funny in spots, initially cleverly conceived, crammed with interesting character sketches and re-imaginings of history, and the prose was smooth---but too many notes, Mr. Estrin. He met Wittgenstein, and Roentgen, and Alice Paul, and Ives, and FDR, and Feynman, and Oppenheimer! Yet where's the "so what?" of this story? What (exactly) makes Gregor stand apart from any other, non-cockroach, character who might have fit that particular slot? (The fact that no one seems too upset by his being a giant cockroach only serves my point: that there's really nothing peculiar about the "hero" of "Insect Dreams," nothing that couldn't manifest itself in some random human; say, Forrest Gump. Although this book is far more readable than that film was watchable.) There are so many places where the authorial camera treads in too-slow motion, forcing its readers to wade through pages of what it presents as but really isn't significant and overly charged with emotion. (Not one, but three lengthy descriptions of modern musical performances are what I'm thinking of here, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. And, come on, if you want your character to start visiting the Library of Congress, there are more thought-provoking, or simpler, ways than to fleetingly introduce a pointless love letter.)

The links (such as they are) to "the original" Kafka creation are tenuous at best. Perhaps they needn't be there at all, but an author appropriating another author's character has a duty, however small, to the original's memory. Kafka's creations are non-linear, mercurial, at times just plain unfathomable. Estrin takes up the gauntlet---one of the most bizarre and disconsolate literary creatures, full of dramatic potential if you want to pretend he didn't die at the end of Kafka's story---and squashes him flat, into traditional space-time narrative (with a few, overly-constructed and out-of-place exceptions), domesticates him, makes him an actuarial wannabe-philosopher who complains but doesn't act. Not that we need another Kafka, but again, why that particular cockroach? (The one clever bit is the letter exchange between Gregor and Hannah Arendt, where creation gets to rail against creator and even, in a metadramatical gesture, confesses he's tried to burn a copy of "The Trial.") But why, why, why must you butcher the Bard? (p.446 of the hardcover)

If you want factual historical information, chase up Estrin's generous bibliography; if you want fictional accounts of approximately the same time period, read Chabon's brilliant "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay;" if you want weird, for the love of god read Kafka. If you want "so what?" I wouldn't look here. Don't get me wrong---this isn't a stupid book. But it will leave you hanging metaphysically.

Twentieth century history is brilliantly reimagined through the eyes of Gregor Samsa, the fabric salesman turned cockroach from Kafka's Metamorphosis. Gregor begins his "half-life" as a circus performer in Vienna, and then, later, when he migrates to the United States, becomes an elevator operator, as he continues his conscious and unconscious musings on humanity and inhumanity. Gregor lives the "American Dream", following an unimaginable career path, becoming one of the 20th century's foremost existentialists, artists, activists, and insurance industry risk assessors, and in doing so, he provides a funny, tragic, and thought provoking critique of Western civilization, particularly the United States.

Gregor suffers from an unhealing wound in his back, inflicted when his father, frightened by his new form, threw an apple at him, a metaphor that is implicitly explored throughout the novel. Gregor stumbles upon so many pivitol figures throughout the book, that in that respect, Insect Dreams is reminiscent of Forest Gump, yet that allusion is delightful. Estrin is erudite, so at times one might need to look up a fact or a figure, but the entire experience is worth it.

This book is a fascinating, entertaining look at world history in the first half of the 20th century. Told from a humorous, objective point of view, all history textbooks should be so compelling.

One of this book's strength is that it gives rise to important figures that general history overlooks. I was completely unfamiliar with insurance magnate/composer Charles Ives or physicist Richard Feynman, for example, before reading this book. Estrin paints interesting portraits of both, which I have to assume have basis, though they remain as intriguing as the fictitious characters.

The more familiar figures like FDR and Oppenheimer receive warm treatment as well. They come in and out of the observant narrative as quirky as the rest of the characters.

A hidden treasure of this book is that it includes Estrin's bibliography. I intend to mine some of those books to learn more about the characters Estrin has introduced so delightfully.

"On A Street Called Easy, in a Cottage called Joye" is an easy and entertaining read, with short chapters perfect for the ride on the subway, or a break between tasks. A close parallel to "A Year In Provence", which is referenced by the authors, the story is essentially a humorous take on the gentry's lament "you can't get good help these days", but the biggest difference is that while "A Year..." is heavily slanted towards food, "A Street..." is almost entirely about the travails of renovating a wreck. It is after all, set in the deep (if it ain't fried, it ain't cooked)south, this is NOT Provence.
The "true" story follows its two, pullitzer prize winning authors as they leave their dark, viewless, Manhattan condo and set out for Aiken, S.C., where they've bought(for quite a bit less than the original million+ asking price) a sixty room mansion built in 1897 by WC Whitney, as the gilded age began to flicker to a close. Through neglect, the house is an absolute mess. The crew hired to bring it back to its glory is pretty much a mess as well. From the holdover-joint-toking hippie that makes off with the only, working-order copper piping to sell for scrap, to the tile man who wants to be paid for time he'd requested to hang out (doing nothing)while the tile arrived, to the maid who spends all day dusting 3 rooms, only to be discovered sleeping whenever the bosses are away. You can't leave this crew a for a second, as they discover towards the end, in a scene that will leave wine lovers heart broken. The problem is, as with "A year in Provence", the owners seem to have a bottomless pocketbook, and always seem to have a check to write to cover whatever goes wrong. And EVERYTHING goes wrong. This eventually takes away from the believability, especially when combined with the patience of Job that the two men seem to display, endlessly, towards what are essentially ne'er do wells and lowlifes posing as contractors. Ah, well. You do learn a bit about the Whitneys, the house in its better days, Aiken in its better days, and the more recent days. All in all a worthwhile read.

Can you begin to imagine two authors of brutal true crime stories, undertaking a project such as remodeling an old 60 room mansion? And can you believe their moving from their home in Manhatten to Aiken, SC? They write of their trials and tribulations, in such a manner, you wipe tears of joy and tears of frustration and sorrow for them. And all the time the reconstruction and renovations are taking place, they are constantly meeting friends and neighbors; while they are trying to hire someone for this project or that project. You celebrate with them over each accomplishment. By the time they finish the renovations, you can 'hear' the music filtering through the wing of the home where all of the parties will be held. Such excitement in the air. I am fortunate enough to live close to this location and took a trip over and found Joye Cottage! Absolutely breathtaking.... wish I could tour the inside.

I was given the BOOK version of this several years ago by a dear friend and honestly, I have read and re-read this book several times. The first time that I got it, I actually read it out loud to my husband while we were working on our own version of "Joy Cottage." We both roared with laughter!

Having moved to the South from the West Coast, I understood totally what Mr. White-Smith encountered! From Irish Travelers to the local restaurant that produces vegetables that have had every last trace of nutritional content boiled out of them, collard greens, fat back and fat light (it is vital that you know the difference: one is used to light fires and one is put in with your collards!),pepper sauce, sweet tea (cavities be damned!) to Moon Pies, Krispy Kremes, speech from people that you swear aren't speaking English, painters that can't paint, roofers that drink way too much, Nandina, Magnolias and Smilack at Christmas (I hope that I spelling the last one correctly!) and on and on and on. If you live in the South (especially if you are a transplant) and most especially if you live in or have redone an old house, this is the book for you!

As I said, I have re-read this book several times and I still find myself laughing hysterically. It is a great book that I am terribly sorry is out of print. Until it comes back into its second printing, the audio version will suffice. I wish they would do a "Part II" version...

A MUST read!

this is a book made up of 90% photographs and you can't even find the photographers name. his name should be more promnate on the cover than the title.

I like it. Actually sometimes I just pick this book and flip in one page, then in another and so on...'Cause this is more a collecton of sentences form various rappers speaking 'bout different subjects'. As a hiphop fan, I like to konw their point of views. Also, the book is well-made, top quality graphics, good paper...I like it a lot.

The Kirkus reviewer of this book missed the point--calling Von Rezzori's prose "overwritten" is a bit like calling Pollock's painting "busy." He is a writer very conscious of the excesses of his style and in the post-Joycean era might argue that reasonableness in contemporary literature is an anachronism. Unlike the last reviewer, though, I found "The Orient-Express" middling Von Rezzori. Far better, for different reasons, are "Oedipus at Stalingrad" and "The Death of My Brother Abel"--now scandalously out of print, at least in this country. Personally I believe Von Rezzori superior to both Thomas Mann and Robert Musil as a European novelist of ideas--but I won't take the space to justify that assessment here.

His obituary rang no bells. Von Rezzori did seem to have an intriguing background, and there was nothing on my bed table, so I decided to locate this novel and give it a try. Frankly, I am more of a non-fiction reader, so I began with low expectations.

Wow! Pithy, unusual and magnificent. I took a leisurely pace, like the train in the title, and found myself enthralled. Perhaps understatement works better, and is more credible. Neverthless, this is the finest work of modern fiction I have had the supreme pleasure to read. And two more of von Rezzori's works also captivated me. Try one!

Reading level should be age 12 up, not baby to pre-school. A good story where the youth going bad is straightened out by caring adults. It's dated, maybe a little innocent for today's world, but kids who are already car nuts will probably like it. It's got several technical errors and many grammatical errors. It's probably a good book to give to kids in an eighth grade English class and have them find and correct the errors.

It's been twenty years since I read this book and I still remember the ending so clearly it scares me. The story is dated, but has many valuable lessons.

I first found the book among some of my fathers' things and well, I just couldn't put it down. I just finished it and what a book! The story of a 17 yr. old building his own Rod, which was his companion, friend, and enemy. Just him and his ride. Sounds a little like myself. The main character finds the rules of life the only way, the hard way.

As a presentation of how to implement the Metaobject Protocol, this is about as authoritative a presentation of CLOS as can exist, short of being a formal (dry!) standards document.

Unfortunately, it falls way short in motivating the USE of the MOP. It shows how it is implemented, and has some examples of how to modify its behaviour. Which is wonderfully useful if your interest is in building your own implementation of MOP. It is not nearly so useful if you're trying to figure out how to apply it to less extraordinary purposes.

To that end, Keene's book on CLOS, which demonstrates quite a number of usage examples, is a vital companion...

This was a disappointing purchase for me, as I read some of the book on-line (in CMU-CL's "Encycmuclopedia") and was rather stunned at the beauty and possibilities of the MOP (which, in short, is defining the core object system itself in terms of the object system, allowing you to use the full power of the object system class hierarchy/relationships to control your object semantics). The book is a pretty straight forward implentation discussion, which is certainly nice as a case study in implementing such an interrelated system and boot-strapping the MOP into use, but it is only that. The MOP is one of those perfect ideas with such vast potential that I would much rather have seen actual expressions of that potential instead of mere inner working details. If I'd know that, I would not have bought it--but then neither will I be selling my copy.

This book is the first so far to completely discuss the mechanisms of the Metaobject Protocol. This is an advanced treatment and will be of value to the experienced Lisp programmer. The book covers all aspects of the MOP in great detail and when the reader has finished it, he or she will be very comfortable with CLOS mechanisms, and even more importantly, why these features have been implemented in the ways that they have.