This book was really boring. It had basically the same idea as Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and the title, "FOE," came from Daniel DeFOE. I didn't really like Robinson Crusoe, and I thought that this book was just too much like it. It was boring, and not very fun to read. If you've already read Robinson Crusoe, don't bother reading this; there are a few differences, but it's mostly the same stuff.

First of all, I enjoyed this book. It's surreal and dreamy, and Cruso is a great character, undeserving of the scorn that has been heaped (in tiny, feckless, literary-journal-sliced rashers) upon him. Read this for Cruso, a Mersault with a moral compass of his own devising. He lives well. I would take that last, suitably rendered in the past tense, as my epitaph.

Still, the contortions that are going on here are a bit much. Coetzee is a published critic of English literature, and this novel seems to be his Shelob, a creature set down to trouble a weary age (probably not quoting my Tolkien just right). He writes that there was "No footprint" for example--well, the footprint in Robinson Crusoe is like THE most important, self-created-reality-skewing device that DeFoe employed to show Robinson's idyllic world upset by the mere hint of savagery.

Susan Barton, the main character, encounters a dead infant on her agonizing jaunt across England. The symbolism could not have been more pungent. Or more open to interpretation. Ditto the ending: cryptic enough to rattle rarefied lit-journal cages from here to 2040.

Coetzee is pretty cool, in any case. When I finish my grad courses I might read more of his stuff. Maybe if I hadn't had to read all the schlock criticism (oxymoron?), and had just picked this up, I would have been blown away.

This slim volume was beautifully written and held a rich story. I have not read Robinson Crusoe, but I knew enough about the story to enjoy this version, that is a thoroughly engaging story, but also offers existential and linguistic food for thought. The characters are written in a dream-like way; one isn't sure of their reality or hold on reality, but as the reader, I just kept wanting to know more.

I recommend this. It's lighter than Coetzee's Master of Petersburg, but it is a similar style to that book and evocative of the same emotions.

Boornstin is such a prolific writer that it's easy to see how this book got passed over by most readers in the 60s. Coming from a serious academic, it must have sounded a stuffy attack on a progressive new medium (TV) and industry (Public Relations)...compare this to some of today's rantings about the evils of the internet.

It's so insightful. The book is quite powerful in that Boornstin's observations of 1962 are now just commonly accepted.

"A celebrity is a person who is well-known for their well-knownness" -- an observation from this book that is one of the most often quoted bits of wisdom on the subject of celebrity, and deservedly so. But this is just one of many quotable observations made by Boorstin in this prescient, clear-eyed look at the beginning of the post-modern world. Written in 1962, this book has been mined by writers on modern society of every stripe: French postmods (who don't credit Boorstin), Neil Postman (who does). Though it suffers a bit from the outdated examples used to elucidate his points about the "Graphic Revolution" -- his line in the sand between the modern and pre-modern -- the book is so cogently argued that it rarely matters.

His main thematic device is to dichotomize pre-modern and modern/postmodern categories. For instance, in discussing celebrity he notes that the precursor of the celebrity was the hero. He explains the difference by saying that the hero was "folk" based, while the celebrity is "mass" based. George Washington was raised to the level of hero by the people for his deeds, his fame embroidered by them, cherry trees invented for him to chop down. On the other hand, celebrities -- the Gabor sisters to use one of his examples -- were celebrities before they even starred in movies. They were created by astute publicists and through their own knack of getting into the paper.

He actually starts his discussion about how the image has come to be substituted for ideals in his first chapter on the gathering and dissemination of the news. He notes the rise of the pseudo-event, e.g., the press conference, the press leak, the crafty reporter calling sources and playing their quotes off of each other until the reporter arrives at something he can call news. He notes that newpapers actually used to contain reportage on events, things that had actually happened that were not designed to be covered by the media. Crimes, he notes in his summary, are the almost the only kind of real news left. (This before the era of copycat murders).

A brilliant, insightful diagnosis of our image-laden world that still holds up after 40 years. The only thing that's changed perhaps is how accustomed we've gotten to the image and the extent to which we're now sold on authenticity by marketers. His discussion of Barnum as the precursor to advertising is worth the price of the book. His sections on public opinion polling, on public relations, on advertising are dead on, too. He also takes on the sociologists of the time for their "nodal" thinking, their bland concepts such as "status anxiety." No one is spared.

The twist the postmods put on Boorstin's observations is that they say they take delight in the artificiality of the image, the bricolage, the spectacle, etc. (A postmod may be best known for their too-knowing knowingness and celebration of deception). But Boorstin is actually concerned about the destabilizing effects of the acceptance of the standard of "credibility" (which has supplanted "truth"). Too, he's worried that the American image we project is not based on ideas or ideals, but only things, only images. He says at one point that folks in the developing world prefer not to be hammered with the look of all things American, that it makes us look shallow as compared to those societies which are based on ideas (like Communism was -- ironically enough because it was founded on materialism). And though our images and our things apparently won out over Communism, there is still something pertinent about this observation. Pragmatism may have saved us from the ravages of idealism that gave rise to facist movements in Europe, but it spared us so that we could look empty-headed, only interested in moving ahead, unquestioningly.

In general, I recommend anything Boorstin writes: his essays are lucid and his ideas are always perceptive. I read this book around 6 years ago and lost it. I'd like to order it again. What makes this book particularly brilliant is Boorstin's insights into how perception, specifically media perception, influences us psychologically and, thereby, reality. (Think of that Esquire Ad campaign: perception vs. reality.) Also, Boorstin is one of the few contemporary thinkers who writes clearly, without pretensions.

I am an MBA Graduate and always felt that I have very little knowledge of Web Site Planning & Development. After reading this book I found, it is so easy to be a successful Web Planning AND Development Expert. This book starts from very basics and moves up to very high professional level.
I would recommend this book (Webmastering For Dummies 2nd Edition, by Brenda Kienan)to all those who have interest in Web Planning and Development but couldn't do it because they thought it is impossible to do!
I enjoyed reading this book and feel this book has opened many new avenues in my professional life, I hope it will do the same for you too.

A co-worker recommended this book to me as a truly expert overview of managing a website. She couldn't have been more correct--I've been producing big-budget, high-volume websites for a couple of years, but this book gave me new insight into how other aspects of the website business work. Whether you're new at the job or you've been at it a while, and whether your job is as an all-around webmaster or as a specialist, I think you'll find this book interesting and useful.

The new, second edition of this book has updated coverage that includes content management, project management, better methodologies for planning a site's architecture, and expanded e-commerce coverage. See Webmastering For Dummies, Second Edition; published Decemeber 2000; ISBN: 076450777X.

I just loved the way each chapter started with a scenario from the history archives of actual firms that narrated a story which was directly linked to the contents of the chapter. Out of all the books that i read for my MBA, this book has been one of the better Management books, which i enjoyed reading. The ideas, theories and concepts in the book felt like eating a salad for lunch. It was light, easy to digest and healthy

Great overview of economics. Good for managers who want to know how to read economic forces, react to them, and how to use them.

Besides being a well organized and example-packed textbook, I found Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture to be a compact MBA refresher course -- and a useful reference for day-to-day problems. Thinking about business organizations as rational individuals responding to incentives and new information simply fits the facts. The three basic elements developed in this book allow managers to translate this logical thinking into operational decisions: allocating decision rights, measuring performance, and compensating individuals and groups. The power of this approach in analyzing common management problems equips the reader with a rich set of tools for identifying and solving them.

I don't know if I've ever read a worse (poorly written, scattered approach to stories and topics, personal stories that come off as corny at times, etc.) Christian book than this one.

The book covers important subject matter, but that's about the only complimentary thing that can be said.

not the greatest book. lots of military references, a few decent tips, and a bit of a waste of time. If you really care about your actions, and if you want to change, there are much better books. This is a book about pornography just merely avoiding it. If you really want to change your life to be pure rather than just learning to stay away from porn(which is a short term solution not a long term way of life)you need to read and think about more than this book has to offer.
Try joshua harris's I kissed dating goodby, or the smaller books in the new testament- phillipains and collosians and such. perhaps even Bonhoeffer's Life Together. These will give you a much better ground to serve god from than the negative "avoiding porn".

This book was clear & to the point. Pertinent Scriptural references through-out the book in a systematic style. Unlike many other books on this topic, the author is succinct on his & others' problems and heavy on the solution; how to be IN Christ and Walk in the Spirit (not fulfill the lust of the flesh).

The book is pertinent for a man no matter what level of struggle he may have with unholy sexual desires.

This is the best book on this topic in the Christian arena, after having read 5 of them...

My 3 year old "loves" all things Harry Potter, especially since big brother does. Have been looking foward to something that was more on his level for him to enjoy. The book is very nice. He enjoys the pop up and action tabs. The artwork is nice. I was very disappointed that it has no words at all! A little story would have been nice. He does, however, enjoy the book and is very proud to have is "own" Harry Potter book.

I only wish there was a wee bit more of the story in it. But I LOVED it!

The book spell about a boy named Harry potter, who discover a new wolrd whem a guardian said to him tha he is a wizard. So, when the year begins, he make frinds and enemies, he learn magic stuff and how to play the famous quiddich. But he has to face his post to, because the worst wizard, Lord Voldemort wants to kill him. Tis book show the diference between the good and the evil, about friendship, confidence and love. Read it, you will like!

The incredible reprinted art from a lot of old comics makes this book worthwhile. The text is very, very weak.

THis book is a very generic portrait of Marvel, with one serious flaw: the book is edited by Marvel itself. This means that the writer, altough a real expert in comic book history, could not deal with all the subjects in a neutral way all the time. So, what we have is, generally, praise after praise for this mighty (with justice) company, but no real insight into their history. Of course, there is not space for such, since the book is crowded with magnific art from various artists and various comics. I think it lacked appendices, which could have lists of Marvel's greates artists, MArvel's greatest selling books, Marvel's greates histories. The book is also clearly outdated, since it was first published in 1992. Since then, there was the "mutiny" from the artists (Silvestri, Jim Lee and McFarlane, amongst others) who left to form their own company; the writer, altough mentions it, doesn't explain why Stan Lee, whose role in the company since 1980 is to supervise adaptations to movies and animated features, permitted such lousy adaptations as THE PUNISHER, for example. It does not touch the fact of how the artists were totally underpaid until Jim Shooter was Editor-In-Chief, nor how Lee permitted one editor after another to resign due to the sheer impossibility of editing 54 books at the same time. All in all, this book is great for the art, but for text PEter Sanderson's work, MARVEK UNIVERSE, is better.

i got the book, opened it in my car and spent half an hour fliiping through it until i realized that i had to get to the office...finished it that evening!
i liked the whole concept and found out a lot (!) of interesting information about marvel, the people behind it, the philosophies, the characters.
the book is easy to read and easy to use.
i dropped off one star from the rating because, in the end, it is rather shallow and there were times when i wanted more information but there just wasn't any.
a good read.

The author writes with a 20-20 hindsight that doesn't even begin to try to understand the bomb, the Cold War, or the nature of those times. What point was there in writing an anti-nuclear book about a nuclear detonation that NEVER happened?

Behind the blithe title of this book is a serious work. More, it's an important book. Its subject is Project Chariot, a proposed nuclear excavation on Alaska's Bering Strait. Project Plowshare, initiated in the late 50's, was the umbrella effort to put nuclear explosions to work for non-military purposes, and Project Chariot was billed as one of its first trials. The Firecracker Boys is the history of the conception, marketing, and eventual failure by the nuclear establishment in the face of a burgeoning environmental movement.

But the book is more than a history; it's the story of the the people on both sides of the fight, and of nuclear testing.There are few books which analyze the history of nuclear testing in the United States, and while detailing the story of Project Chariot, Dan O'Neill gives the most comprehensive history I've yet read of nuclear testing in general. This was surprising to me because I have been in search of such a book, and was delighted to discover it behind what would seem to be a narrow slice of the annals of nuclear testing.

O'Neill shows us the world of the Eskimos who, for centuries or longer, lived not far from the selected site of the harbor which was to be blasted from the Bering shore. We also get a view into the life and motivations of Edward Teller, the vociferous proponent of Plowshare's geographical engineering, and other nuclear scientists and officials: "If your mountain isn't in the right place, drop us a card". In addition, the Atomic Energy Commission, in an effort to appear interested in the safety of such a detonation, instituted a program of scientific studies of the site and of the Eskimos nearby. When the biologists, geologist and sociologists refused to be cowed and censored by the AEC, the scientists spoke out at great risk in order to let the truth be known.

The struggle for the truth, as told by O'Neill, is an important element of the book, and a cautionary tale for today. The U.S. Government, under the auspices of the AEC, misled and deceived the citizens of the U.S. about the safety and necessity of nuclear testing. The author patiently outlines the contrast between recently declassified materials, and what the officials of the AEC were saying to the press, the Eskimos and to the American public about the dangers of fallout from nuclear testing. No doubt, the AEC felt it was justified in such disregard and duplicity in the name of national security and of the progress of science. When agents of the government act in a manner beyond accountability and scrutiny, and with ideological obsessiveness, the result is usually detrimental to the public. In this well written and well researched book, Dan O'Neill tells a mostly forgotten story which every American should know.

I cannot count the number of times I looked up from this book and stared into space with complete disbelief. To think that someone in the Cold War era might think it was just fine to detonate nuclear devices near an ancient community--in my backyard--baffled me.

But then, I missed such days. This book therefore was an excellent insight to the diminsions of the Cold War that would consider such explosions. The author ovbiously spent years researching the project, the people and the purpose; his work speaks well for Alaskan Intellect. But beyond that, the story is facinating and the reader is drawn in. (However, it does miss that fifth star because it drags around page 60...enough that I put it down for two months.)

My next stop after this book was the Bikini Atoll and Marshall Islands, as THE FIRECRACKER BOYS absolutely peaked my interst in Cold War nuclear testing. It should do the same for others who read it.

From the moment I read the back cover I read this book I knew it was good. This book is just GREAT! I'm addicted to it. It's not really some sappy love story; its a lot more than that. This book opened my obsession with Bast. I love the story of her and her 2nd life as a panther and all the trouble. I loved reading who she ended up with. I read the whole book (I have them all in one) in one weekend. This book is addictive.

These books were such an awsome series, but I read book 3 first and knew that Alex was cruel and selfish so it kinda ruined the first 2 books. Don't let me make the books sound bad though, these are the only books I've ever read 20,000 times! If you havn't read them you most certainly need to!

I love this book, the way it presents abusive realationships is inspiring. Anyone who's looked at the research about abusive realationships knows that in the beginng the abuser always seems loving and afectionate, but slowly shows their true colors. For those who thought that Alex's charecter was turned sudenly into a villian, I suggest looking at the previous books. The evidence is there you just need to look.

As a business writer, I fruitfully used this book as the barest presentation of the facts before going to do a heavy reporting project. However, had I not spent some time with one of the protagonists in this book and then a great deal more with his associates, I would never have clearly understood what they actually do and how they work. As it stands, this book offers a quick and dirty intro to the biggest dealmakers of their time. While some background and explanations are offered, it leaves out the gritty details and true complexity of what goes on in these huge and often risky deals. That disappointed me about this book more and more as I delved into my work.

Kadlec also adopts a kind of chummy tone with these guys, like they are bar pals as well as subjects for his work, and so you wonder what he may have left out to protect his professional relationships. He barely questions what they do and never really broaches the questions of ethics, as if such considerations don't exist; well, they do, and the people I spoke to were informed and concerned about ethics.

So this is merely a superficial trade-journalistic treatment. While this has merit, it is rather more like a vanilla milkshake than the full meal I had hoped for. I wanted deeper info, but then I was preparing to enter on a several-month project about a field I knew little about when I started.

The writing is also not very good, and lengthy interviews are included verbatim, which is a shoddy way to beef up the text to little purpose.

Not strongly recommended.

Masters of the Universe is a very good airplane/bedroom compilation. It's really a history of the "great" business innovators and shakers during the late 19th and 20th century. Each "mover" is 10-12 pages long. If you like history and business, this should be very educational.

This book does a great job showing how an assortment of business people from different industries became successful in their careers. The most important lesson to learn from this book is that many of these business people came from a similar background to your own and you too could have the success they did. This book does not give a large amount of detail as to how each businessperson became successful, but it still gives an excellent high-level view.