I would still recommend purchasing this book because of its low price.
- Yi Sun
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The authors have used a series of body photographs to illustrate the Traditional Chinese Medicine energy pathways and acupoint locations. While the illustrations are an improvement, in my opinion, over Mr. Dillman and Thomas' first book, there are a few problems too. Several of the photos have problems with incorrect lighting, occasional out of focus images and lack of detail in certain poses. As such, they are of varying degrees of usefulness. The authors have also elected to use a mixture of black dots and "bullseye" stickers, placed on the skin of the photo subject, to highlight pressure point locations.
The level of information given on each point is not consistently presented. In general, the authors give a description of the point location, and give what they believe is the anatomical structural association of the point (i.e., why it works in that area of the body). Then they usually (but not always) give a block of text marked "Method" in which they give some point activation instructions and occasionally discuss the results of the strike. This lack of discussion on the effects of the strike / rub / slap may leave some readers disappointed. For example, on page 98, they discuss hitting Small Intestine 16 (SI-16), by simply noting "...strike this point at about a 30 degree angle from the back to the front." No additional narrative is given regarding the martial effects of the strike, nor the effects to the body. This is concerning to me, since SI-16 is a very dangerous acupoint. If you strike straight into the point with sufficient force and intent, you can cause a knockout (KO). But there is also an extreme risk of producing emotional side effects. Additionally, with a slightly harder blow, this point has been known to be fatal! None of these issues or risks are discussed, nor are similar issues covered in the majority of the other points.
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If this book should be your first calculus text, you may consider yourself fortunate because you will not only get an extremely well explained introduction into calculus, but will also be exposed to a wealth of colorful background information. Many math texts go into dry theorem-proof treatments; everything's there, but the subject does not come to life. You will find this book refreshingly different.
One caveat. You need to bear in mind that this book is an introductory text, though a very complete one that tells you about Lagrange multipliers and vector calculus and triple integrals. If, however, you are an accomplished mathematician looking for post-graduate information on integration in topological vector spaces, you need to look elsewhere. But even then you would be likely, in this excellent and exciting book, to stumble upon some interesting information that you may not have known about before.
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I believe that Elizabeth George is experimenting here. I think that she really wanted to create something new, and not settle into a formula (which many of her fans including myself would be happy with). Like many ambitious artistic experiments, this fails and succeeds at the same time; I can't recommend it because I think it has a lot of flaws, but I admire much of it.
...
So, in the end, I admire this book for the effort that went into it, and the guts it took to branch off into areas and styles different from the stock tea cozy. But I enjoyed it less than almost any Elizabeth George book, and was disappointed. I don't want her to be a formula writer, but one can branch into other styles without being rococo.
As for "Traitor to Memory" I just felt it should have packed a bigger punch, particularly at the end, for a book well exceeding 1000 pages. After reading, I honestly had to go back and make sure that really was the ending.
Another annoyance, at least for me, was the unnecessary trashy lesbian and love scenes. (Spare me this, there are many other trashy novels in the romance section at Barnes and Nobles).These appeared to be put in just for the sake of putting them in; who knows, maybe part of this book was suppose to be a soap opera.It did little for the characterization and could have been deleted from the book.This book could have been edited further and been written effectively in say 600 or so pages.
Still, I did enjoy reading much of this book. You probably wouldn't figure that, since I'm giving it 2 stars. There was a great deal of intrigue and, unlike many others, I did like the journal entries that got us into the mind of Gideon. I just suggest that if you buy this book, that you will have to have some patience in getting through it. Although I felt it read rather quickly, getting through 1000 or more pages will take some time, especially with some of the "nonsense" included within the book.
All of Ms. George's books have truly dysfunctional, if not downright crazy, characters in them (in addition to the perpetrator), but she always creates a balance with her continuing characters of Lynley, Helen, Deborah, St. James and Havers - normal, flawed people getting on with their lives. Without the continuing characters, the hopelessness of the rest of the characters would make this book too depressing.
All in all, it was a great read and I highly recommend it.
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The selected point descriptions are very limited in detail and information, covering 16 "Basic points" and three "advanced" points. Using the Chinese descriptive codes, the points covered are L-5, L-6, L-8, H-2, H-3, H-6, LI-7, L-10, L-13, L-7, TW-3, TW-11, TW-12, TW-17, SI-6, SI-7, S-5, S-9 and M-UE-28. The point striking information given the reader is very limited. For example, on page 64, the martial application for Heart Three (H-3) simply lists the martial uses as "[this point] may be struck or firmly pressed to bend the elbow." This is concerning, since a sufficient strike to H-3 can also be very dangerous (and potentially fatal). If hit stright in, a sufficient strike to H-3 can severely injure a person by stopping the beating of the heart. The immediate signs of this trauma shock to the body are an ashen gray complexion to the skin. The reciprient of the strike will collapse into unconsciousness, since their circulatory system has effectively been shut down. With sufficient force and intent, this same strike can also be fatal. These additional uses of the points in fighting are not covered, and their riskes are not covered.
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Ms Thapar also writes cogently about that a topic that is very sensitive for Indians, namely, caste, and the effects of that system on Indian society through the ages. Some of her comments or interpretations on this subject may not please everyone, but the effect of this system in keeping down, frequently in a brutal manner, persons considered to be of lower caste, has been quite pernicious in Indian history. It is no good taking an ostrich-like attitude towards this topic, or going into denial, which some of my fellow Indians are prone to do.
This book could certainly be updated, but even as it stands it is a good introduction to Indian history.