Dr. Johnson has written a moving portrait of Tinker v. Des Moines, a major 1960s Supreme Court decision. The "Struggle" that he discusses deals with the right of non-violent expression while in the confines of a public school. The narrative is richly grounded in newspaper articles, interviews, and letters to and from the primary individuals. This makes the story extremely personal and enlightening. An in-depth look into the workings of the Supreme Court may be the book's most profound contribution. Taking a controversial stand in time of war is never easy. The Tinker case shows that the heart of our democracy rests with those who dare to point us in a different direction.

As I read more and more O'Hara it is beginning to dawn on me that he is one of the pre-eminent American writers of the 20th Century. This book, in particular, looks at so many big themes across so many characters and storylines that it should be listed with the best novels of the century. Works by his better-known contemporary (but hardly peer) Fitzgerald are puny next to this writer's best stuff.

This is in my opinion, and I have read every one of John le Carre's novels and have written a book about them, his finest book. It features le Carre's most memorable character, George Smiley, on his ultimate quest for his nemesis Karla. "The last scene, the dnouement of both this novel and the trilogyis, I believe, the most moving that le Carre has written. Like a narrative laser beam, it poignantly fuses the themes [dealt with in his novels] in a concentrated drama." (Myron J. Aronoff, The Spy Novels of John le Carre: Balancing Ethics and Politics, St. Martin's, 1999).

Smiley's people does not have the suspense of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; or have the action and tension of The Honourable Schoolboy. Smiley's people is a about people, and the weakness of character that spy craft thrives on. There are no poorly written characters in this book and I could not put the book down because I was drawn into the life and emotions of George Smiley. I could sympathize with his inability to use scotch tape, amoung other defining charactistics. A brillent book, and recommended.

This is the last volume in a trilogy which, without any doubt, the best spy story ever written in English. _Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy_ began it with the story of George Smiley?s uncovering of the mole in British Intelligence HQ, known as "the Circus." _The Honourable Schoolboy_ -- which largely stands alone from the first and third books, and is a superior piece of work by itself -- tells of Smiley?s first steps toward revenge against Karla, head of Moscow Centre and his personal enemy for nearly thirty years . . . only to be denied the fruits of his own success by political machinations at home. _Smiley?s People_ brings everything to a very satisfying conclusion, via the discovery that Karla has an unsuspected human side, which makes him vulnerable. As always, Le Carre?s development of his characters is masterful and his dialogue and descriptive passages make it clear why, at his best, he is considered an exceptional stylist. The pace of the action in the early part of the book is purposely rather slow, drawing you in, making you pay attention to what?s happening and thinking about what secrets might be behind it all -- just as one imagines George is doing. But as the story develops, the pace picks up, until the last quarter is nearly a headlong gallop toward a triumphant final chapter. Unreservedly recommended.

This book is highly similar to the Reza book, also published by Dover publications. The Ash book kind of continues where the Reza book leaves off. In truth, this book is very, very rigorous... not so much in terms of proofs (see the small Khinchin book for great proofs), but in terms of it involves mathematics and concepts which require a higher level of knowledge. Undergraduate students would have alot of trouble trying to understand both math and general concepts.
Even graduate students would find this book daunting, because after all, it probably is one of the best books written on information theory.

If your a beginner seeking a good book, this is not it at all.
Aside from being too rigorous, it covers many topics which are of completely no use to a beginner or even somebody with a fair amount of information theory knowledge. Also, the book is not very motivating from a practical aspect. That is, much like the Reza and Kitchkin book, it's written more from a dry mathematical perspective and not an "engineers" perspective.
It doesn't examine information theory from the perspective of electrical engineering and communications theory... which might make it hard for some people to relate to if they can't be told what the practical applications are (see Pierce's books and Cover and Thomas for very good "practical" books).

For beginners, I recommend the Pierce book, subtitled "Symbols, Signals and Noise" which is bar-none the best beginners book ever written (or some of Pierce's other books). Pierce is one of the finest authors of his era and he published several books on information theory; most of which are more "engineer friendly" and are more relavent to the study of electronic communications.

Summary, this book is NOT for beginners. It will be almost completely useless unless you have a decent degree of information theory knowledge to begin with. Sadly, this was the first book I ever purchased on that topic.. and boy was that a mistake!! I spent 2 years trying to figure heads or tails of half the chapters.. Then I went ahead and got some more appropriate books (Pierce, Reza, Cover and Thomas) and when I had sufficient knowledge... only then did this book make any sense.

The book by Shannon and Weaver (1949) is the classic; Shannon almost *is* information theory. There is more to it: The present lovely little book appeared first in 1965, but is still very relevant. I think it is a good next book to read. At least the mathematical part of the subject stays more constant over the years, as do the fundamental principles;-- that is what Ash's book is about. I especially liked ch 4 on error correcting codes, and the mathematical appendix which is centered around the Karhunen-Loeve theorem;-- the latter having found recent exciting applications in wavelet theory.

I know what you're saying - Dover books have a reputation for publishing crap books, right? This book is just too cheap to be any good, right? Well, think again. This book is a no nonsense introduction to classical information theory. By no-nonsense I mean it does not have chapters like most books out there on "information and physics", "information and art", or all sorts of pseudo scientific popularizations of information theory. It does one thing: present with a minimum of hassle and with a maximum of details and examples the mathematical and conceptual framework of information theory, nothing more, nothing less. On the other hand, it manages to avoid the old "theorem-lemma-corollary" format of many other ultra-dense math books out there. This book actually makes an effort to explain where the math fits in conceptually. When introducing a new concept, it always accompanies the definition with an example. This is even true when proving a complicated theorem. Add to these virtues the interesting problems at the end of each chapter, each with its own detailed solution at the end of the book, and you've got a pedagogical gem.
It should be noted that the only prerequisite is a prior course in basic probability - conditional probability, Tchebychev's theorem, simple and basic stuff every 2nd-3rd year undergraduate should be familiar with.
If you're looking for the perfect introduction to information theory, look no further, this is it!

I recently found this audio edition of "Rumpole on Trial." I had only heard Leo Mckern read the Rumpole stories, but knew other actors had portrayed the British barrister in the past. Unfortunately, after listening to the Timothy West version for awhile, I stopped listening. Those of us who have heard Mckern do Rumpole almost exclusively may be dissapointed with West's version. Mckern is much more bombastic and furious with his Rumpole. West's comedy is much more subtle to the point of non-existance. Where during an objection about a point of law, Mckern would have shouted with a great relish to the argument. West does not have that flair.

But Timothy West is a good reader. I would encourage those who haven't heard Leo Mckern or have not decided that they won't accept any Rumpole other than Mckern's, to give this edition a chance. Those of us who have saturated ourselves with Mckern's acting ability, it might be best to save some money.

and, frankly, Timothy West falls just short. But considering that every drawing of Rumpole is a drawing of Mr. McKern, that he was so closely identified with the character that when he read the stories they were read "by Rumpole himself" for another reader to successfully render Rumpole was a pleasant surprise for me.

Since at least the second recording of this series uses a different actor I wonder about the quality but at least the first volume is a complete success with Mr. West's terrific reading making one (almost) forget the late "Rumpole".

With the recent death of character actor Leo McKern, there will be a resurgence of interest in video editions of his wonderful "Rumpole of the Bailey" series so dear to the hearts of Mystery Theatre watchers on PBS. In fact, HBO is reissuing all of the tapes onto DVD format and they will be available starting in in the Fall of 2002. So it was with great pleasure that I saw listed in the Audio Partners catalogue of books on tape, "Rumpole on Trial" ((61267). The set holds 6 cassettes with a running time of 8 hours and 7 minutes.

The reader is British actor Timothy West, whose voice is the next best thing to the gravel-throated chortle of McKern. Here he reads seven complete Rumpole tales: "Rumpole and the Children of Evil," "...the Eternal Triangle," "...the Miscarriage of Justice," "...the Family Pride," "...the Soothsayer," "...the Reform of Joby Jonson," and (to break the pattern) "Rumpole on Trial." All of these have been televised and all of them are a good deal of fun.

John Mortimer's custom was to create around the case Rumpole is handling a framing plot that has thematic likenesses or is antithetical to the main plot. So, for instance, all the while Rumpole is worried about being disbarred, his draconian wife, Hilda ("She Who Must Be Obeyed" as he calls her) is plotting to have him made a judge.

The army of minor characters are a joy in themselves. The pompous Head of Chambers "Soapy" Sam Ballard, the unhappily married clerk Henry, the pro-labor and pro-women barrister Liz Probert, the opera-loving snake in the grass Claude Erskine-Brown, the foot-in-his-mouth Guthrie Featherstone, and above all the (in)Justices Olliphant and Graves who love the prosecution and cannot see any humor in Rumpole's reminding them a trial should be fair.

Timothy West does all the voices, of course, but does not try to emulate the women as other readers do on (say) the Jeeves tapes. That would have been an error, since the tales are always told first-person from Rumpole's point of view.

For the most part, I think I clocked in about one good laugh per minute while listening to these tapes on long car trips; and I can highly recommend this set.

Slavery was known as a "peculiar institution". By broadcasting such labels for slavery, the southern slave owners were able to downplay the severity of the subjugation of slaves in this "peculiar institution". However, in 1845 a runaway slave by the name of Frederick Douglass was published his narrative which showed the extent of the cruelty within of the oppressive the institution of American slavery. Douglass gives a powerful portrayal of his personal struggle against the tyranny of himself and his fellow slaves. By depicting his personal story regarding the horrors of slavery, Douglass testified to the injustices of the slave institution and conveyed an urgent message of the time for prompt abolition.
Douglass leaves out no detail as he portrays the brutal means in which slaves were forced into subjugation. In order to maintain order and to achieve maximum efficiency and productivity from his slave, an owner used the fear of the ever-present whip against his slaves. Over, and over again throughout the Narrative, Douglass gives account of severe beatings, cruel tortures, and unjust murders of slaves. The message is evident. Slavery dehumanized African Americans.
From the introduction of his early experience, Douglass portrays the burdens of slavery. The reader is forced to cope with the fact that he has no tangible background. Slavery has robbed him of the precious moments of his childhood. He was raised in the same manner as one would raise an animal. In his early years he had no knowledge of time-he did not even know when he was born. He is also forced to scrounge for food in the same fashion as a pig digs for slop. The saddest insight is the alienation of Douglass from his family. He has no connection with his parents and when his mother dies he was untouched. On hearing of her death he states, "I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger" (19). The bond between mother and child is the strongest bulwark for children and to be robbed of this and to not care demonstrates just how severe slavery was to Douglass and countless others who faced the same fate. In the entire slave experience, the only escape from the repression was through sorrowful singing. As Douglass states, "every tone was a testimony against slavery..." and "slaves sing the most when they are unhappy" (29). Only through music could slaves find comfort in dealing with their anguish.
Douglass's first witness of brutality is the telling of his Aunt Hester's beating. The narration is powerfully effective through terrible detail. The cursing of the overseer, the shrieks of his aunt, and the horrible effects the whip upon her flesh is almost as agonizing the reader of the Narrative as it was to his unfortunate aunt. The fact that this terrible instance is a common occurrence makes it a heavier burden upon the reader's soul.
As if the beatings were not enough, slaves were also murdered on a whim. Douglass tells of Gore, a meticulously cold taskmaster who blew out the brains of a poor slave by the name of Demby. The chilliness of Gore's is terrible due the fact that he kills with the sympathy of a butcher.
Upon hearing about this, one would speculate that the authorities would deal with such barbaric acts justly. However, as Douglass recounts in the story Mrs. Hicks, the murderess that killed a slave girl for not moving fast enough, the law officials were hesitant to enforce the rights of the slave and would intentionally overlook such matters. This is primarily due to the fact that a slave owning society could not allow the rights of the slave to be upheld to the same level as a white man. To do such a thing would threaten the stability of their superiority. This is further illustrated in Douglass's struggle against the shipyard workers, when he fled to his master and told him of the attack his master stated that he could not hold up Douglass or even a thousand blacks testimony. The lack of protection under the law and the unwillingness of the whites to give the slaves a voice allowed the whites to completely dominate the slaves without the fear of accountability for their actions.
The worst aspect of slavery is found in the religious nature of the subjugation of slaves. The cruelty found in slavery was even more intense when placed under the pretense of the slaveholding religion of Christianity. Through Douglass's deconstruction of Christianity, he learns that the white oppressive version of Christianity is much different from his own beliefs of Christianity. The incident that shaped Douglass's understanding of the mentality of religious slaveholders was when he was placed under the authority of Mr. Freeland. In this situation, he was able to see the difference between the so-called "religious slave-holders" and "non-religious slave-holders." Douglass felt that the "non-religious slave-holders" were less brutal because they did not reprimand their slaves based on a Divine command. Instead they were more concerned about reprimanding the slaves when the slaves did wrong as opposed to whenever they felt that the Lord professed a beating.
The Narrative and Selected Writings is a powerful testimony to the struggles American slaves faced. Through the writings of men such as Frederick Douglass, abolitionists were given fuel to the bonfire of the Abolition Movement. Douglass honest testimony helped to bring out the truth about slavery. Abolitionists now had evidence to back their claim that the "peculiar institution" was in fact an institution of evil.

In his work Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Frederick Douglass outlines his purpose in writing the piece:

"Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds - faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for success in my humble efforts - and solemnly pledging my self anew to the sacred cause."

Certainly Douglass' "little" book shed tremendous light on the slave system that existed in early American history and he successfully accomplished his purpose. The description of how slaves were treated was interesting and enlightening, and provokes compassion in the reader. Additionally, Douglass wonderfully explores the issue of knowledge and power, as he describes the many occasions in which slaveholders tried to keep slaves from learning to read. Finally, Douglass raises a concern about the hypocrisy among southern Christians based on the way that they treat slaves. True Christians treat all humans with love, respect, compassion, and indiscriminately. This final point raises a relevant issue in today's society - does this hypocrisy still exist?

Several statistics indicate that although the problem that Douglass addresses is not as drastic, it still remains a serious challenge that the United States must wrestle: 16.2 percent of American children are living in poverty (United States Census); 54 percent of African American families say underachievement among black students represents a "crisis," 33 percent of white parents agree (Public Agenda); 10.8 million children in the United States have no health insurance; 1 in 4 Hispanic children are uninsured; 1 in 11 Caucasian children are uninsured (Children's Defense Fund); 3/4 of teachers in public schools do not believe that schools should expect the same from students in low-income areas as students in high-income areas (Education Watch); in recent years income has decreased in the bottom, second, and middle 20% sectors, while increasing slightly in the fourth sector and substantially in the top sector (United States Census). . If American Christians were truly loving and sharing like Jesus teaches, the social stratification that is prevalent in the United States would not be nearly as extreme. The Christian Church should not allow such tremendous economic and educational differences. Although this is not nearly as glaring a problem as slavery, Douglass' narrative is applicable even to today's social problems and is well worth the read for that and many other reasons.

Perhaps more so than any other account, Douglass gives us a look into the life of a slave. I enjoy this book on many level. Douglass writes honestly and in a factual tone. He does mince his words when he describes the brutality of slavery. Douglass demonstrates that he is an intelligent man despite his lack of education. He taight himself to read. To our youth, this demonstrates the value of education. Douglass also show Americans manipulated the work of God even in his time. Yet, Douglass found strength in that God. I think the quality I enjoyed most about this book is the fact that Douglass does not see himself as a hero, but as an average slave. This is not a typical characteristic of an autobiography. I read this book for the second time coming and going on 3 hour flights. The book is a short read, but well worth your time to read of atriumph of the human spirit.

I'm a longtime Le Carré fan, but I realized recently that it had been nearly two decades since I read what is undoubtedly his best work -- the Smiley trilogy. Based loosely on the Kim Philby debacle, this one is about the realization that a Soviet mole has been busy for many years in the Circus -- the headquarters of the British espionage service -- and the recently sacked George Smiley, a victim himself of the mole's machinations, is secretly brought in by a reluctant Whitehall to identify the culprit and clean house. It's the old problem: Who will spy on the spies? Le Carré is a master of the telling detail, even with minor supporting characters, and all the inhabitants of this novel are vividly realized. This isn't a James Bond yarn, either, as the "action" is mostly in the form of reading files, interviewing agents, and hard thinking. And Smiley, fat, middleaged, and in secret agonies over his wife's habitual infidelity, turns out to possess unexpectedly heroic stature. This novel, and the two that follow, make up the best spy story ever written in English.

I?m a longtime Le Carré fan, but I realized recently that it had been nearly two decades since I read what is undoubtedly his best work -- the Smiley trilogy. Based loosely on the Kim Philby debacle, this one is about the realization that a Soviet mole has been busy for many years in the Circus -- the headquarters of the British espionage service -- and the recently sacked George Smiley, a victim himself of the mole?s machinations, is secretly brought in by a reluctant Whitehall to identify the culprit and clean house. It?s the old problem: Who will spy on the spies? Le Carré is a master of the telling detail, even with minor supporting characters, and all the inhabitants of this novel are vividly realized. This isn?t a James Bond yarn, either, as the ?action? is mostly in the form of reading files, interviewing agents, and hard thinking. And Smiley, fat, middle-aged, and in secret agonies over his wife?s habitual infidelity, turns out to possess unexpectedly heroic stature. This novel, and the two that follow, make up the best spy story ever written in English.

Le Carre is the best spy novelist ever and truly a modern master of literature. Tinker Tailor takes the reader on a journey through the murky labyrinths of british intelligence as the antihero Smiley, a plump, confused, betrayed, but deceptively steely and intelligent spy, ferrets out a mole burrowed into the highest levels of British Intelligence by his Soviet nemesis, Karla. The themes of betrayal, downfall, and the inescapable immorality of spying permeate this finely written book, while the challenge of discovering, with Smiley, who the mole is, captures the reader from the start. Le Carre's character developement is superior to almost any writer, living or dead, and the complexity of the mole, Smiley, Connie Sachs, and a host of other characters adds another superior facet. Finally, Le Carre's use of wonderfully quaint terminology, with "moles", "legmen", "burrowers", "the circus", and others making frequent appearances, spices up the book. The best spy book I have ever read, and I have read every book by Forsyth, Higgings, Clancy, and Craig, and almost every Ludlum. This may be a great spy book, but it is also an outstanding work of literature, like its two successors, and is a classic in every respect. Everyone should read it who has a mind and appreciation for a nobly done turn of phrase. However, this book isn't for the James Bond Boom Boom kiss the girl and fly off sort- requires thought!

It's unfortunate this is the only hardcover picture book of the Biltmore, available at the time of this review. Because it was the best one I could find, I bought it albeit, reluctantly as I like to have a picture book keepsake when I visit these places. There are many beautiful and often full page colour photographs, but there are also many black and white. Some of the latter are historical, so that is understandable, but others are not. With a predominance of construction pictures and the emphasis on the actual building process which of course ties into the history. This focus veers away from the main objective of a picture book momento, to include plenty of photographs of both the interior and exterior, preferably at least one colour photograph of each room. The estate boasts 255 rooms, and hardly 10% of them are represented. I would like to see this book enlarged to 3 times the size, with about 200 more interior pictures, then Rizzoli, who usually produces outstanding books of this genre, could up the price, but it would be worth it.

I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but as for the pictures, yes it had numerous colors, but mainly black and white. I was surprised. Even pictures that weren't historic were in black and white.

When I purchased this book, I had hoped for a good floorplan of the home, instead I got a little sketch that could hardly be read with a magnifying glass.

Overall, very factual. It makes you realize just what went into the building process. Even if the paragraphs are a little too wordy.

I found this book on George Washington Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, to be extremelly through. This book includes sketchs of many of the considered facades for the home, and what their floorplans would have been.

Pictures of all of the beautiful rooms in the house are included in this publication. Also included are sketchs of the many details of the home, included are the east facade, the Gate House, the gates that set next to the house, the Biltmore Village Church, and sketchs of many of the statues from Biltmore's gardens.

Also included in this book is the histories of many of the principal players in Biltmore's creation, including Fredrick Law Olmsted the landscape designer, Richard Morris Hunt the arcitect, and of course George Vanderbilt the home's owner.
Included is many of the landscape designs of Biltmore's gardens, and beautiful pictures of many of them. Pictures of Biltmore's Conservatory are included which sits in Biltmore's Walled Garden, to the north of Biltmore House.

All in all, this book is great, and a great companion to a day long visit to Biltmore! If you loved Biltmore Estate, you'll love this book, I garentee it!

(Is there a way to give it no stars?)

A great disappointment to fans of Stephens and Catherwood. If you're looking for the real thing - this isn't it.

More properly titled:

"Karl Akerman's Unfortunate Abridgment of Stephens' and Catherwood's Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," this 286 page compilation is abridged, elided, and largely meaningless for anyone wishing to get the look and feel of the 600 pages of the two original volumes brilliantly written and illustrated by John Lloyd Stephens And Frederick Catherwood.

This book barely resembles the two original books, as it's missing a tremendous amount of historically styled and interesting text - and around 100 of Catherwood's exquisite drawings.

Go hunt down the Dover two volume edition - gladly pay the price - and settle in for a stunning read that hasn't been repurposed as an overview for the modern casual traveler to the Yucatan.

I cannot believe that I read this book. I started because of a long trip and there was nothing else handy. Take my word for it, as travel memoirs go this one is among the best; Lewis and Clark included. I was quite ingrossed with the whole story.

If you have ever been or are planning a trip to the ruin sites of the Yucatan this is a must read book! written over 150 years ago it still holds up today. It is a fascinating look at the early exploration of the Ancient Mayan cities lost to the jungle. Reading this book will make your trip much more enjoyable and educational. On a lighter note, I also recommend the thriller "A Tourist in the Yucatan" set in the modern day yucatan--nothing to heavy, but a good beach read.

Forget "Whoville". This Christmas baddie wants to spoil everyone's Christmas. This wonderful -- and just a bit scary -- story of meaness (and, of course, redemption of the bad guys) will appeal to older childen (girls and boys) who relish dragons and faeries, and searching hidden caverns, and discovering the power of magic. If you are a parent, like me, who sometimes feels that your older children have missed the spirit of the season, have them disover how Andy Michaels finds it for himself through his encounter with Gruesome John. It's a great read and the "message" comes free. Highly recommended!

I read Gruesome John Frederick years ago and thought what a great gift it would make for the next generation of kids growing up in our all-too-material world. I bought about a dozen copies and have begun fulfilling my plan, sending one off to each new member of the next generation of our family. What I so like about the tale is the author's obvious delight with charming ugliness. For example, "Gruesome John laughed to himself and the sound was like water gurgling down a sewer." I ask, how could any kid not like a character like that? Sort of like Grumpy is everyone's favorite drawf. Nice illustrations, too. Sort of block prints that are in harmony with the tone of the tale.

It's the "Grinch Stole Christmas" meets "The Hobbit." This is a magical and entertaining tale of a young boy's journey to a mystical land. I don't have kids yet, but I one day plan to share this clever story with them. A great story for children with vivid imaginations and curosity. I love it!