This book brought to my heart a flood of emotions that will not likely be forgotten. It is an absolute "must read" for every parent to their child and for themselves. A truly magnificent peice of literature... Bravo Your Honor!

My son received this book as an early Christmas from his grandparents. We lived in New York for 11 years before moving out of state. Mom bought it to remind us of our old place. Our son was captivated by the beatiful pictures and the beautiful and inspiring story. He is at an age where stories like this affect him personally. After we read it together he asked if we could visit that tree when we go back to visit grandma and grandpa.In a child's simplicity he said,"see mom, if people try hard enough they can do anything" Thankyou Mr. Cuomo it is a beautiful story you share. Thank you Mr.VanFrankehuyzen for the illustrations that brought the message to life.

The illustrations are just the way I pictured them at the time of the first writing.

The Governor's sensitivity and caring ways always show through in his writings. Gov, thanks for continuing to teach us with such thought provoking simplicity. My grandchildren also thank you.

Tenia razon Vargas Llosa, si pudiera salvar uno de sus libros, seria este, definitivamente. Una novela a veces dificil de leer, pero que lo mantiene a uno pegado, sin poder soltarla. Vargas Llosa es un maestro. La historia de Zavalita y su vida, que navega entre el mundo de los oligarcas y las clases bajas de la sociedad limena, es un espejo de la realidad latina, de hace 40 anios, y de hoy en dia. No ha cambiado mucho. Lectura obligatoria para el que se precie de leer autores latinos.

Una novela intensa, escrita en el estilo único que caracteriza a Vargas Llosa. Es la vida de Zavalita relatada a Ambrosio y a Carlitos, el primero esta en el bar la catedral, desde donde se desarrolla toda la historia, de atrás hacia adelante y entrecortada. Es interesante notar el estilo que utiliza este escritor en su narración, un estilo fragmentario que puede hacer que un lector inexperto se pierda o no entienda quien esta hablando sobre quien en la obra. Debemos de entender que el primer capitulo es el único que tiene orden lógico y que es ese capitulo el ultimo, no el primero. Zavalita se encuentra con Ambrosio y ambos se narran sus vidas y sus experiencias y van dejando ver la situación política y moral de un país que el escritor ve con ojos desesperanzados y grises.. Es una excelente obra narrativa, me encantó leerla por segunda vez, ya con mayor entendimiento de lo que estaba en mis manos.

Luis Mendez

En 1948, el General Manuel A, Odría toma el poder en el Perú a raiz de una revolución surgida en Arequipa, tierra de nuestro escribidor. La dictadura militar, maquillada con elecciones con candidato único unos años después, duró ocho años, que marcaron la vida del escritor, que tenía 12 años cuando empezó y 20 cuando terminó. El odio visceral que profesa Vargas Llosa contra las dictaduras latinoamericanas, a veces mal encaminado y que lo lleva prejuiciosamente a cometer excesos interpretativos cuando de analizar realidades actuales se trata, proviene de su adolescente experiencia de este periodo. La novela es tremendamente entretenida, tiene momentos gloriosos, frases célebres y picos de profunda tristeza en una multitud de historias interconectadas que van por su propio cauce e interactúan entre si. Como la vida misma. De autobiográfica tiene mucho, como casi toda la obra de Marito. Una posterior lectura de El Pez en el Agua me da la razón. El mismo autor lo dice. El amor platónico de sus tiempos universitarios era real, el círculo de estudios marxistas también, los siempre ridículos comunistas criollos que lo catalogaron de "subhumano", indiscutiblemente reales. La renuncia de clase de Santiago Zavala, aunque en él era sin compromiso político, se dió muchas veces en el Perú durante la vigencia mundial de las ideas totalitarias. Los movimientos de izquierda de mi país siempre estuvieron dirigidos por oligarcas con más de dos apellidos. Santiago manifestó su renuncia de clase con su matrimonio, a la medida para molestar a su madre, con su herencia, a la medida para molestar a su hermano, y sobre todo, yéndose a chupar con Ambrosio, descubriendo los secretos de su padre. Cómprenlo, léanlo y gocen del placer de uno de los mejores libros del boom latinoamericano, si no el mejor.

Andamios by Mario Bennedetti

Andamios is an excellent Latino American literature work, where the author, Mario Benedetti, relates the story of Javier, who had been exiled in Spain (for political reasons) from Uruguay for a period of twelve years. Javier, a journalist, comes back to find Uruguay in a general atmosphere of political, social and personal lack of conformism, political submission and, above all of loneliness .

However, we cannot say it is a novel, as the author himself conveys. Actually, it is a merge of utterly exquisite prose, dialogs, letters, dream's narration and poetry that Benedetty uses intermittently to covey different aspects and ideas of his (Javier's) return to Uruguay. For example, he uses faxes to express his economical and socio political points of view. He uses dialog to summarize other's (perhaps his old friends and not so friends) positions in life, and also utilizes poetry to bewilder us with his great talent as a writer.

It is definitely worthwhile to read Andamios, Benedettis first "sort of novel" since "La Tregua". However, if you are reading Benedetti for the first time, it is a whole lot better to read his novel "La Tregua" first.

En esta época llena de avances tecnológicos. Pletorica de inventos; en los que la velocidad de los cambios hubiera dejado perplejo al más visionario de los futuristas, nosotros estamos cada vez más aislados, más torpes en cuanto a relaciones interpersonales, mas alejados de todo. Nos escudamos como buenos ciudadanos dentro de nuestras cuatro paredes y nuestra parafarnelia de inventos que nos entretienen y nos educan e ignoramos como buenos ciudadanos a nuestro prójimo. No solamente no nos importa lo que pase al lado, sino que también huimos ante cualquier posibilidad de acercamiento de alguna parte. La política del buen vecino no ha cambiado, pero sí sus técnicas. El buen vecino no es aquel que viene a ponerse a tus ordenes cuando recién llegas a un sector, sino al que no le interesa en lo mas mínimo quien sé esta mudando.
Así también los seres humanos se aíslan en diferentes ámbitos como el religioso. Se esgrime la Biblia, supuestamente el vehículo de Dios no para ayudarnos a amar, sino para erigir muros de intolerancia y sectarismo, de odio disfrazado de falsa piedad, de chisme, encubierto en censuras estúpidas.....
La literatura y los escritores puntualizan estos aspectos muy bien con el sentimentalismo que les falta a los sociólogos que ven la sociedad como una gran estructura y se olvidan que esa estructura esta compuesta de personas. Los novelistas muchas veces se han adelantado a los acontecimientos, no porque tengan un poder de visionarios o profetas, sino porque su sensibilidad los hace ver los cambios de la sociedad antes de que estos ocurran.
Lo que ven los novelistas contemporáneos es mucho pesimismo, crueldad e intolerancia, infiltrada dentro de los regímenes democráticos de una manera sutil, mucho mas difícil de combatir, sobre todo cuando se disfraza o se escuda en la libertad de expresión del pensamiento.
De esta y muchas otras cosas trata Andamios, aunque quizás yo haya puesto mis propios andamios personales mencionando algunas cosas que Benedetti omite, pero es tanto lo que él menciona, tratando de explicar el mundo que tiene que enfrentar el exilado/exiliado antes y después de su llegada que no creo que este de mas agregar unos cuantos más en este comentario.
Primero y aunque no parezca importante, la barrera del lenguaje que se bifurca entre los pueblos, las diferencias idiomáticas a veces pequeñas y siempre confusas que se dan entre los pueblos: Tomar el bus/ coger la guagua andar en coche/auto/carro. Hablar en el celular/movil . comprar una caja de fósforos / cerillas; Hasta las más complicadas, como las causas que han provocado el exilio en principio y que aunque hayan dejado de existir no se han olvidado. Los viejos rencores, los amigos que te miran con recelo porque pudiste escapar la chirola/cana/carcel. Los que creen que has vuelto a conspirar, los resignados, los vendidos o cambiados; Los que se quedaron sin ideología después del socialismo.... Es una novela compleja que solo pudo haber sido escrita por una persona que sufrió en carne propia y tal vez ajena el exilio; También llena de experiencia narrativa para poder contar esas cosas de una manera amena, sin que suene a perorata o a didactismo, ni si quiera a añoranza con remordimiento. Es un buen libro que los hará pensar sin importar que nunca hayamos sufrido un exilio.

Luis Méndez

En este libro Benedetti demuestra que no es un escritor que vive de sus rentas, de su fama setenetera y ahora hace libritos solo para pasar el rato. No, Benedetti nos demuestrra que el se reinventa y reinventa a sus personajes, los pone en el mundo actual, pero defiende sus posturas fundamentales. Este libro tiene pinceladas autobiograficas que es un placer irlas descubriendo y un residuo de anarquismo revolucionario pero visto y analizado desde los 90's

Airwaves is O'Shaughnessy at hist best! From Mario Cuomo to Nelson Rockefeller, Airwaves gives a unique insight into some of the most fascinating figures of the Empire State and beyond. The candid conversations shed new light on the personal aspects of these rich characters who have helped shaped the state. O'Shaughnessy puts his guests at ease with a flair born from years of interviews and radio editorials that made the legendary broadcaster who he is today.

William O'Shaughnessy is everything we love about the Irish. He's irreverent, colorful, warm, and kind. This collection of radio editorials would be worth far more than its price if you were to receive only pages 61-64 for your money. (Think of the other 387 excellent pages as coming "at no extra charge.")

I was conducting a seminar in Manhattan for the great Joe Riley when I was introduced to Bill. I gave him a copy of my latest book and he gave me a copy of his, this (just released) Airwaves. I wasn't expecting much... but then I'm an idiot.

William O'Shaughnessy beggared America by limiting his radio commentary to Westchester County, New York. He should have been a network anchor.

Even though the book has a somewhat regional "New York" flavor, (I'm from Texas,) I liked it.

Bill! Write us another one!

return we us now to those days of yesteryear..

This book is about the relationship between the United States and the Sioux Nation from the signing of the 1851 Ft. Laramie treaty up to the present. The book centers around the efforts of the Wounded Knee Survivors Assoc. and their attorney Mario Gonzalez to obtain a formal apology from the U.S. government for the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and the establishment of a National Tribal park at the massacre site. This book includes:

*Gonzalez' diary entries from 1989-1992--an excellent window to see firsthand how contemporary tribal governments work and how Native Americans on reservations interact with each other on a daily basis.

*Commentary (called chronicles)by Elizabeth Cooke-Lynn explaining events described in the diary entries including Gonzalez' efforts in stopping the payment of $100 million claims commission for the Black Hills in 1980, and his efforst in Europe from 1981 to 1984 to get the World Court to issue an advisory opinion on the illegal confiscation of the Black Hills.

*Appendices that include a complete chronology of Sioux land claims from the signing of the 1851 treaty up to the present--a must for anyone interested in Indian land claims.

*Excellent footnotes with valuable information found no where else including information about Chief Crazy Horse's family members contained in the probate records of Chief Crazy Horse's father.

This book is FASCINATING and should appeal to everyone! IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING IN EVERY NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES CLASS!

what elizabeth and mario have done is to create a work that will stand for the test of time! my favorite part of the whole book was when Elizabeth proudly states THAT NATIVE AMERICAN, ABORGIONAL, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ARE NOT CITIZENS OF THE WHITE MAN'S NATION ! FOR EXAMPLE A PERSON WHO LIVES IN THE DINE NATION IS NOT A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE THEY NEVER ASKED FOR NOR DID WANT TO BE CITZENS OF THIS PATHETIC NATION! THEY ARE CITIZENS IN THEIR TRIBE AND NATION NOT OF THE PATHETIC UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR THE WORLD FOR THAT MATTER! READ THIS BOOK TO LEARN THE REAL HISTORY OF WOUNDED KNEE AND ABOUT A PEOPLE WHO ARE CHANGING HISTORY EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Wonderful workings of writing the whole truth. A must have, must read, must distribute widely!

About two or three years ago, I bought Mario RPG used without the manual. Then I got this Book. This book is the Bible of Mario RPG players' Guides. The strategies are excellent, The detailed descriptions of the areas and characters (although the Bestiary is a little off) in the game are as useful as they get, and it outshines even Nintendo's official player's guide in terms of usefulness. Although yes, it is in black and white as one fellow reviewer said, this small fault is nothing compared to the sheer volume of information contained in this book. If you only buy one player's guide for this game, let this be the one. It'll be the ONLY one you'll ever need.

This is such a cool guide. I love it so much. So good with boss strategies, all the strategies and helps you out a lot. I still play the SNES but this the best of the super mario RPG guides. Even if it is B&W the only thing that doesn't make sense is the Bestiary it isn't complete but anyways it don't matter, if you follow the walkthrough it gets you through the game more then Nintendo powers guide did for me.

I learned a ton, and I really enjoyed beating the game with the guide! I'm going to try to beat the game without the guide. =^P!

"La ciudad y los Perros" es la primera novela de MVLL, con la cual ganaría, en 1964, el premio Biblioteca Breve otorgado por Seix Barral. La publicación del libro provocó reacciones enardecidas en la cúpula militar peruana, quienes en un acto de represalia hicieron una fogata con todas las primeras ediciones que llegaron a sus manos. Esta fue la primera señal que indicaba el nacimiento de un nuevo escritor.

La historia se desenvuelve dentro de un colegio militarizado (el Leoncio Prado, el cual aún se encuentra en funcionamiento) y narra de manera cruda las vicisitudes de un grupo de adolescentes que llegaron a ese colegio por diversos motivos. Unos para reformarse y convertirse en hombres de bien, y otros para hacerse "machos". En este micro-cosmos, MVLL nos revela los secretos mejor guardados de la sociedad limeña, sus vicios: el racismo (peculiar en un país pluri-cultural), las diferencias sociales (los burgueses blanquecinos viven en San Isidro, y los pobres acholados en Lince), el autoritarismo militar (los cadetes y los perros), la corrupción (la venta ilegal de pisco y cigarrillos a cambio de algunos favores, o dinero adicional), el servilismo militar ("Gamboa esa denuncia fregará tu ascenso") y el chantaje ("Cadete Fernández, si usted promete no volver hablar del tema yo olvidaré que usted escribió estas historietas inmorales"). Y aunque algunos personajes tratan de mostrar el lado bueno de la vida militar (Gamboa y su tozudez por cumplir su deber al pie de la letra, a pesar que eso podría perjudicar su futuro; el Círculo y su lealtad enfermiza, aunque esta sólo le sirva para cometer actos ilegales; la amistad entre el Poeta y el Esclavo, aunque sea considerada como una mariconada por sus compañeros de clases) es claro que el mundo que se pretende mostrar es el negativo, en el cual prevalecen las taras sociales. No olvidemos que MVLL estudió en el colegio que hace referencia en este libro, y quizás haya sido testigo presencial de aquellos excesos.

Sin embargo, lo magistral de esta novela no radica precisamente en el tema -este es sólo un medio a través del cual el escritor logra su objetivo: escribir -, sino más bien en el estilo que emplea el escritor. Un vocabulario enriquecedor, empleando incluso jergas peruanas que revelan por sí mismos su significado; una descripción precisa de los personajes y ambientes, sin caer en el uso excesivo de esta técnica que podría llevar al lector al tedio somnífero; y una magnífica conexión entre sus historias.

Sin atenuantes, un clásico de la Literatura Latinoamericana.

Vargas Llosa demuestra en esta novela que es un gran arquitecto de la literatura y un eficaz descriptor de la compleja sociedad peruana y latinoamericana. La novela contiene diferentes narradores e historias entrelazadas que tienen como eje principal la vida de un grupo de estudiantes de un colegio militar de Lima. Las historias del Poeta (proveniente de una familia con comodidad económica), el Jaguar (producto de la violencia y pobreza de su pasado) y el Esclavo (incapaz de enfrentar el ambiente violento) nos muestran las grandes desigualdades y conflictos de la sociedad peruana. La convivencia dramática de estos personajes en el colegio militar es un ejemplo de las dificultades de interrelación que se dan en la sociedad. He leído casi todos los libros de Vargas Llosa y definitivamente La Ciudad y los Perros junto con Conversación en la Catedral son los mejores.

La ciudad y los perros is one of the best novels in contemporary Latinamerican literature. It is a delightful piece of Mr. Vargas Llosa's prose, his use of several narrators, his use of several times and his marvelous use of comas. It is also an open window for his Peru; I haven't been to Peru, but I already know that when I go, I will always carry Mr. Vargas Llosa's flavour in my mouth; not only from La ciudad y los perros but from his other novels. You should read this book and carry Alberto, el poeta, with you, forever.

Sometimes, the most serious and deep messages are hidden in the form of light and funny literature (one book that jumps to mind is "Gulliver's Travels"). In this simply genial novel, the Peruvian military has a problem: the garrisons of the Amazonic regions are very short of women and feeling extremely sexual, so rapes are mounting. This, of course, is bad PR for the Army and a real problem for the chiefs. They decide to create the "Special Service", a well-oredered and efficient ring of disciplined prostitutes who will satisfy the soldiers' needs and erradicate the problem of rapes. Who is the perfect man to be in charge of the Service?: Captain Pantaleon Pantoja, a model solider, who lives with his lovely wife and his mother-in-law. Pantaleon is a sober and righteous guy, enemy of prostitutes, bars and fights. He is also the most efficient manager of the Army. He is dismayed at the task but, always disciplined, puts all his intelligence and efficiency to it. The learning process proves problematic for his marriage: since Pantaleon knows nothing about the night life, he has to learn it by visiting sordid brothels and buying drinks to informants. Of course, when he starts arriving home in the morning, extremely drunk, his wife gets very disappointed. But he convinces her of the importance and required sacrifices of his new mission. Eventually, the Special Service becomes the most efficient branch of the military, and it gets famous. The very funniest parts of the book are the official reports where Pantaleon informs to his superiors of the successes and problems he has in his job. The official language describing absurd and outrageous situations is just great. Of course, things get out of control, with dramatic but funny consequences.

The plot is rapidly developed, with the surfacing of a sect of fanatics as its counterpoint. These sect crucifies people and animals, and the story includes a harsh criticism of the Church as parallel to the Army. The reader wonders: why is it that Vargas Llosa decided to intertwine a satire of military discipline with another one of religious fanatism? And the conclusion is that it is an extremely smart and witty novel, hilarious and troubling at the same time. The characters are really, really great, including Panta, his wife, his mother-in-law, some of the prostitutes, and some of the officers. Great book by a great contemporary author.

A tale of prostitues and jungle. Stay clear of the arc for crucifiction jump former dog channels.

If you want to obtain a flavor of Peru this is a must-read. You could summarize this book by saying that it is a sex-related excellent comedy. However, I think this book is much more than this. Vargas Llosa provides a wonderful profile of our idiosincracy, values, and fears. In addition the style is agile. Vargas Llosa tells the story using military communications, radio programs, and personal letters from different characters so that you get everybodies' point of view. I strongly recommend it.

I was told about this book by a co-worker who took classes with Professor Giannini. We were discussing a new project I am starting which required some internet and database access code, which (since I have done mostly GUI programming) I wanted to brush up on quickly.

This book was very well written, and seemed to address exactly what I needed. I found the sections on CGI and COM very helpful on the Internet side (part of our project is a ColdFusion page using a COM object), and the comparison of various database approaches like ODBC vs. DAO very helpful. The sample programs comparing the different database technologies was a great idea.

My only complaints would be that the index was a bit hard to use, and there was no CD provided. But, I was able to locate the source code for download on the authors FTP site.

I recommend this book for anyone familiar with programming, that needs to get working quickly with some new specific aspect, like Internet or database.

You can't go on a holiday to Portugal armed with only a Portuguese dictionary and grammar book and hope to converse with the local people. You will be forever turning the page here and there to construct the sentence you want to say. What you need is a phrase book: a book containing common and useful phrases such ' Where is the nearest tourist office please?' or 'When is the next train to Lisbon?'.

That's what this refreshingly straightforward and intelligently laid out book, written by Keogh&Giannini, is. It is a phrase book for Windows programmers. The most common scenarios are discussed, with full code given. You won't find obscure situations such as those found in Petzold's oversized Windows Programming book like how to draw an elliptic circle in a window! What you will find in this concise book is useful code such as creating an application where the main window is a dialog box used for data entry through edit boxes. (This very common and fundamental of situations is not addressed in Petzold's book).

Each example is explained sufficiently enough for any programmer to build on or tailor to their needs. And the core explanations are embedded within the code so you won't have to laboriously cross reference with the main body of the text. How refreshingly intelligent is that?!

Whats more, for those new to the Visual C++ environment, step by step instructions on how to use it to enter the code and build it are given in list form e.g. 1) Select File/New menu choice 2) select the Win32 Application project type, and so forth. Most Windows programming books often make the assumption that you know your way around the environment.

And you will find each example written in both MFC and Windows API! Name me a book that has done that?!

The problem with so many Windows programming books on the market including Charles Petzolds and Joseph Newcomers is that they are basically dictionaries, grammar references of the Windows language. They are inaccessible. If these books were to be useful to anyone it would only be to a seasoned Windows programmer who already has a feel for the language, but definitely not for a beginner. These books are not practically organized and don't fit the needs of today's developers. For example, discussions on essential topics such as dialog boxes are left until chapter 11 in Petzold's classic; in Keogh&Giannini's book, it is discussed in chapter 3. And Petzold's book misses a number important programming issues. These are not my own criticisms by the way. These criticisms are those of Dr Dobbs Journal, arguably the most technical journal in computing, certainly more so than those that Petzold decided to quote on the back cover.

In Keogh&Giannini's book , there are bonus chapters on database programming (ODBC), internet programming, Windows CE and 2000 programming, threads, ActiveX controls and lots more.

I am giving this book 5 stars because it is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of accessibility, completeness, conciseness, modern refreshing style, and its use of novel approaches to speed up learning for the impatient novice Windows programmer.

I got this book because I was tired of diddling around with the MFC Socket classes, and none of my other books seemed to have much material outside the predefined classes (CInternetSession, CHTTPFIle, etc.). I was very glad to see the source code for the CPNSocket class, and it explained a great deal. Seeing the MFC classes just completely bypassed, seemed to prove my own frustrations.

Then, looking at the other chapters, which is rich in MFC examples, I decided I had made an excellent purchase. If you are an MFC programmer at any level, I highly recommend this book.

Such is our morbid fascination that this book is inevitably more attractive than one called "Why Buildings Stay Up". That said, I think I have not only learned more about structural engineering than I would have done from a positive counterpart, but I have also learned vastly more about the other factors, human and natural, that influence the ultimate success or failure of structures.

The book is based on the same material as the late 1990s TV series of the same name, and having watched that series many of the incidents and issues were familiar to me. The advantage of the book is the ability to digest information at your own speed and refer back to earlier pages, but it has to be said that the TV series communicated some of the issues better, helped by animated graphics and by the better mutual support of both pictures and narrative.

Each chapter takes a topic, whether a human factor like the law, a type of construction such as the dome, or a cause of failure such as metal fatigue, and then illustrates the issues by consideration of a number of case studies, frequently including some notable successes as well as dramatic failures. In the case of failures the book always attempts to assess both the practical cause, and also any human cause, impact and implications.

The book is very well written, in an accessible style supported by some useful appendixes on structural engineering principles. However, sometimes the simple line drawings and verbal descriptions of a structure don't manage to communicate a full understanding, and more sophisticated illustrations might have helped.

Mario Salvadori died in 1997 (at the good age of 90), and the surviving author, Matthys Levy updated the book in 2002. My feelings on the update are mixed: the chapter on terrorism, culminating with the collapse of the New York Trade Centre towers on September 11th 2001 is excellent; but why did the author not acknowledge the brilliant success of efforts to stabilise the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the late 1990s?

Overall I heartily recommend this book to anyone with a serious or lay interest in structural engineering, and the many complex human and natural issues which influence it.

An entertaining book for readers who know about structures, and an educational book for lay readers, WHY BUILDINGS FALL DOWN is an interesting collection of case studies concerning building failures. Never condescending, but never too technical, it's a fun way to learn about architecture or structural engineering.

a good book explaining the details og building and bridge failures. im wondering why the author didnt include the word 'bridge' in the title since this book covers a lot of them. illustrations are very helpful as well