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Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe
Book Description
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life-;from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing-;and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives-;how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.
What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and-;if the right questions are asked-;is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.
Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
Download Description
"
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But
Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author
Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In
Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.
What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.
Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But
Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
"
Customer Reviews:
Mind blowing .......2007-10-02
This book changed the way I think about economics, while being entertaining and fun. Highly recommended!
Dumbed Down Levitt.......2007-09-27
I saw Steven Levitt (the economist) on CSPAN Book-TV. He was intelligent, incisive & insightfull and presented his information clearly with a wry sense of humor. I very much anticipated reading this book. What a disappointment! Clearly the book was written by Dubner, not Levitt, and it's origins as a Sunday magazine profile are too apparent. The sharp intelligence and clear ideas are made fuzzy by Dubner's generic, puffy non-fiction writing techniques. This is not to say this book is without merit. Levitt's ideas manage to shine throught the murk of Dubner's writing. But if you want to get a clearer picutre of Levitt and his thinking, go to the C-SPAN Book-TV archives and watch the show with Steven Levitt discussing the book.
I hope that next time Levitt and/or his publisher will have the confidence to have him write a popular, non-academic book on his own and won't feel the need to hire a "professional" to translate his ideas to a popular audience. His ideas need simple clarity, not fancy dressing up.
Spray-Painted Fruit.......2007-09-25
"Freakonomics" has all the elements of great nonfiction. It approaches old subjects in new ways. It combines a "rogue" economist's out-of-the-box thinking with the concise work of a disciplined writer. A quick read, it also challenges Americans to think for themselves--now there's a real accomplishment!
Levitt and Dubner make some interesting points about our education system, medical and parental fears, and racial divides. They never claim to tie all these insights into a cohesive treatise, although they do meander back and forth over unifying themes of what motivates us as human beings and what causes us to buy into collective myths. For years, I've observed the lemming effect in our society, usually driven by the media, and by the average person's seeming inability to override knee-jerk fears with a small dollop of logic. Raising my own children, I heard the flip-flopping of the experts: "Babies should sleep on their backs...their bellies...their sides...in your bed...in their own bed..." ad nauseum.
"Freakonomics" has worthy goals. It reaches them on many levels. On the other hand, it is marketed toward those who already see through these societal deceits. It's not high-minded enough to satisfy those seeking true "rogue" economics, and it's not accessible enough for those nominative readers who might benefit from it the most. Also, on a number of occasions, it draws from a hodgepodge of statistics and extrapolates theories that, while very reasonable, are not proven here with any certainty. And yet we are expected to believe them, even while the same authors are telling us to stop believing such extrapolations from other "experts."
For a book that'll cause you to reconsider certain "established" norms" and to carry on lively discussions, "Freakonomics" is a wonderful coffee table addition. I was disappointed, though, in its overall lack of depth. Most of the subjects addressed are ones I, as a regular individual, have questioned on basic principles of logic in the first place. I didn't need a "rogue" economist for this, or a catchy title. I could've extracted the same tidbits from a decent magazine article by the same pair.
An apple is an apple is an orange. Yes, there are some nutrients in this tasty book, but the authors, like many grocers, have spray-painted the fruit to appear a bit more delectable than it actually is.
This book makes economics entertaining.......2007-09-23
Think you won't be entertained by a book about economics? Think again. Reduced to its essence, economics is about people's response to incentives. This book abounds with examples that you probably aren't accustomed to thinking of as economics. The author excels at analyzing mounds of data and extracting nuggets of wisdom from it. He even steps you through a couple of them, though once he's sure you've got the idea he sticks to giving you the pertinent information. After reading this book I became aware of how economics permeates human interactions.
Boring and pedantic to listen to on CD........2007-09-20
I couldn't make it past the second chapter even though the stories and ideas were engaging. As an audio product, the narrator repeats himself too many times and recaps and re-summarizes again and again. It's hard to listen to. If you're kind of slow, this CD may be just your speed. If you're sharp, you will be bored out of your skin. Perhaps an abridged version would be easier to sit through. It's too watered down and repetitive - at least as an audio version where you can't skim to avoid the redundancy.
Book Description
Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize
Winner of the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize
Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize
Between January and July 1919, after “the war to end all wars,” men and women from around the world converged on Paris to shape the peace. Center stage, for the first time in history, was an American president, Woodrow Wilson, who with his Fourteen Points seemed to promise to so many people the fulfillment of their dreams. Stern, intransigent, impatient when it came to security concerns and wildly idealistic in his dream of a League of Nations that would resolve all future conflict peacefully, Wilson is only one of the larger-than-life characters who fill the pages of this extraordinary book. David Lloyd George, the gregarious and wily British prime minister, brought Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes. Lawrence of Arabia joined the Arab delegation. Ho Chi Minh, a kitchen assistant at the Ritz, submitted a petition for an independent Vietnam.
For six months, Paris was effectively the center of the world as the peacemakers carved up bankrupt empires and created new countries. This book brings to life the personalities, ideals, and prejudices of the men who shaped the settlement. They pushed Russia to the sidelines, alienated China, and dismissed the Arabs. They struggled with the problems of Kosovo, of the Kurds, and of a homeland for the Jews.
The peacemakers, so it has been said, failed dismally; above all they failed to prevent another war. Margaret MacMillan argues that they have unfairly been made the scapegoats for the mistakes of those who came later. She refutes received ideas about the path from Versailles to World War II and debunks the widely accepted notion that reparations imposed on the Germans were in large part responsible for the Second World War.
A landmark work of narrative history, Paris 1919 is the first full-scale treatment of the Peace Conference in more than twenty-five years. It offers a scintillating view of those dramatic and fateful days when much of the modern world was sketched out, when countries were created—Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel—whose troubles haunt us still.
Customer Reviews:
Paris 1919.......2007-08-23
Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919 is a masterful work that shows the complexity of the negotiations after World War One and just how enormous the task at hand truly was. There is no blame for what happened, or what didn't happen. She does not blame the future on this treaty. her approach is fresh and inspiring. Her writing style is fast-paced yet she clearly understands her subject.
For many it is easy to follow earlier accounts and say that World War Two had its origin in Paris in 1919. Contemporaries of Wilson, Clemanceau, and Lloyd George used such predictions to drive home their point. When the Second World War erupted, many looked to these critics of Versailles and agreed. For some, these critics appear as prophets.
Not so, says Macmillan. It is an easy cop out to avoid responsibility to place blame, throw up one's hands and say there is nothing they can do, then brood. True, if the Council of Four (Three) had had a better grasp of their world they might not have made the decisions they did, but one cannot blame the past for the future. There were plenty of stubborn decisions at Paris, but the participants had their own hands tied by earlier secret deals and the like. None in Paris blamed the past that led to those secret deals for the quandry they found themselves in, so why should future generations blame the Paris negotiators?
This treaty is so vast, and so complex, it is a wonder Macmillan was able to cover it in just under 500 pages of text. She is a first rate author and a first rate scholar. It will take quite a feat to write a better account of the Versailles Treaty.
A Good Example of How Good Intentions Can Go Wrong.......2007-08-13
This book gives an excellant example of what can happen when people try to make a better world and let too much of the old world invade and frustrate what you are trying accomplish. It shows how when the Allies sat down after the Armistace was signed to create a peace that would last, too many of the promises and treaties signed during the war came back to haunt those same nations that had made them.
The format is interesting in each chapter zeroes in on a specific area of the conference. It is helpful in that all the informaton for say Poland is in one area, but kind of makes you lose the chronological flow of the conference where so many of these things were happening at the same time. It makes for a good reference in that you can look up a certain topic without having to skim through the whole chronological timeline to find it. A chronological scheme of events would have been even harder to accomplish since several topics were handled on the same day at the conference and the reader would have been lost in all the detail.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in WW1 and how the Treaty of Versailles was drawn up. It shows how all of the participants were human with flaws and strengths. It also shows how different nations can view the same idea differently and how you can end up with less than you hoped for when all is said and done.
A tour de force in historical narrative.......2007-07-03
1919 masses a vast amount of information about the critical period of the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles and tangential treaties that ended the Great War. At its best, 1919 ties it all together to draw relevance to today's world.
Macmillan charges through a dense web of diplomatic doings but livens the mix with vivid personalities and dramatic conversations. TE Lawrence, Kemal Ataturk, Bratianu of Romania, D'Annunzio of Italy. Macmillan strikes a neutral view overall, but one detects a sense of favor to Lloyd George, her great-grandfather. She teases him about his sense of geography, but generally he seems to rise above Wilson and Clemenceau in the telling. Woodrow Wilson is depicted as a sad and frustrated old man.
Each nation altered by the peacemakers is treated in turn. Ironically, Germany gets the least depth of treatment. Macmillan seems to say "you know the rest of that story" but still connects the dots to the next conflict. More focus is on the less told stories of how Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman empires were carved up and new nations formed.
A tour de force in historical narrative. Fascinating.
History woven with personalities and culture.......2007-06-04
What an incredibly powerful point in history. The ending of an era of dynasties lasting centuries and monarchy for several countries along with the evolution of communism. The personalities of the leaders and how they related in the process is fascinating. The process of breaking up the Austrian-Hungary empire as well as the Ottoman empire and the ramifications resulting are worth the read.
I enjoyed the cultural differences outlined between the French, English, American and Italian as well, not to mention the German, Japanese, Chinese, Greek and others. The evolution of America and the American position on foreign affairs is also worthy of note.
There is much complex material and much history of the areas in question but I recommend this book highly.
Paris 1919.......2007-05-30
Gave me good insite into history & politics of the times. Well ritten
Average customer rating:
- The Urban Book Source
- The Heart of a Woman Laid Bare
- disappointed
- A must read!
- Americans do not know how good they have it
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The Heart of a Woman
Maya Angelou
Manufacturer: Bantam
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ASIN: 0553380095
Release Date: 1997-05-09 |
Amazon.com
Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 1997: Maya Angelou has had more lives than the proverbial cat, and in The Heart of a Woman she continues the account of her remarkable life begun in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In the first book of her bestselling autobiographical series, she describes her traumatic childhood in the small, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas, during the 1930s. Gather Together in My Name picks up the story in the postwar years, when Maya, a single teenager with an infant son becomes, in short order, a cook, a madam, a dancer, and a prostitute. Next comes Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, an account of her twenties and her unsuccessful first marriage to a white man. The Heart of a Woman, the fourth in the series, takes us through one of the most exciting and formative periods of Angelou's amazing life: her beginnings as a writer and an activist in New York.
Angelou has a happy knack of attracting the best and the brightest into her orbit, and The Heart of a Woman offers a veritable cornucopia of black luminaries in its pages. Singer Billie Holiday, writers John Ellins and Paule Marshall, jazz musicians Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, and actors Godfrey Cambridge and James Earl Jones--Maya meets and learns from them all. Political activism soon follows as Ms. Angelou first organizes a theatrical benefit for the Reverend Martin Luther King and then becomes the director of the New York Southern Christian Leadership Conference office. Her involvement in the civil rights movement eventually brings her into contact with African freedom fighters Oliver Tambo and the charming Vusumzi Make, whom she marries and follows to Africa.
The Heart of a Woman is as honest, painful, funny, outraged, and outrageous as Angelou herself. From her debut at the Apollo Theatre to her meeting with Malcolm X, Maya Angelou gives us something to cheer about and plenty to ponder as well.
Book Description
This engaging book chronicles the changes in Maya Angelou's life as she enters the hub of activity that is New York. There, at the Harlem Writers Guild, she
rededicates herself to writing, and finds love at an unexpected moment. Reflecting on her many roles--from northern coordinator of Martin Luther King's history-making quest to mother of a rebellious teenage son--Angelou eloquently speaks to an awareness of the heart within us all.
Customer Reviews:
The Urban Book Source.......2007-08-13
Another slice of Maya Angleou's memoir, The Heart of a Woman, brings you through her hardships of raising her son Guy in California and continues during her move to New York City, her stint in the Harlem Writers guild, her intimate involvement in the Civil Rights movement, her marriage to South African Freedom Fighter, Vusumzi Make and subsequent move to Egypt, Ghana and ultimate divorce. A book that will speak to men and women on all levels, The Heart of a Woman is truly a phenomenal read.
The Heart of a Woman Laid Bare.......2007-08-06
I have just finished The Heart of a Woman and I could not put it down once I started it. Angelou lays bare for all of her readers her heart, her life and her truth. What an amazing life she has lived. I read some reviews that criticized her for her honesty in regards to whites during the 60s. It was the 60s, racial barriers where still up strong and bared anyone of color from living the lives they so richly deserved, why should she be criticized for this? Would it be better that she lied and said how wonderful life was for blacks in this country during that time? It wasn't and that is the point that she is making in this book. That is the point that she is making as an African American woman, called to the forefront in the battle of discrimination.
I had to look on the cover to see when she wrote this book, it was 1981, how sad that in 26yrs we still see white America carrying the flag of superiority! I am truly glad that Angelou is still walking this earth to see that though the gains for civil rights are slow coming they are coming,regardless of what her criticizers are saying. Because if they are criticizing her for telling it like it was, then there is still a long path to journey to get us beyond the need for civil rights.
If you want to know what the 60's Civil Rights movement & Aparthied in South Africa was about this book will give you an accurate picture of one womans involvement. Two thumbs up for Angelou!
disappointed.......2007-06-14
The heart of a woman was not an easy read for me, i just couldn't get into it, it did not grab my attention.
A must read!.......2006-11-16
'The Heart of a Woman' is as extraordinary as its author.
A brilliant lady who overcame incredible odds to make life for others, especially woman, a place where they did not have to feel like "second clas citizens".
Americans do not know how good they have it.......2006-08-22
I was born and raised in India on the wrong side of the caste system. I worked hard to become educated and to come to America. Perhaps in the 1960s, America was not as fair as it is now, but it was still better than anywhere else. I find books like this, where people whine about the amount of melanin in their skin, offensive. Angelou comments often about how much she hates white people. This is stupid and it shows how uneducated she still is.
If she had written this in the 1960s, in the throes of it, it might be interesting as a historical piece, but now it just shows how racist she it. I'll bet she hates Asians, too. Even when she was abandoned in Egypt by a man she wrongly called her "husband," (even though they weren't married,) she wouldn't go to the American embassy for help because white people worked there. Every slight in her life, she attributes to white people being racist because she is black.
This book is filled with name-dropping and smug anger.
Minna
Average customer rating:
- Not So Thrilling
- Himalayan Fantasy
- A Good Read
- Allende Trilogy
- An Excellent Suspense Book With Multiple Great Twists
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Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
Isabel Allende
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
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ASIN: B000AI4K3U |
Book Description
Not many months have passed since teenager Alexander Cold followed his bold grand-mother into the heart of the Amazon to uncover its legendary Beast. This time, reporter Kate Cold escorts her grandson and his closest friend, Nadia, along with the photographers from International Geographic, on a journey to another remote niche of the world. Entering a forbidden sovereignty tucked in the frosty peaks of the Himalayas, the team's task is to locate its fabled Golden Dragon, a sacred statue and priceless oracle that can foretell the future of the kingdom.
In their scramble to reach the statue before it is destroyed by the greed of an outsider, Alexander and Nadia must use the transcendent power of their totemic animal spirits -- Jaguar and Eagle. With the aid of a sage Buddhist monk, his young royal disciple, and a fierce tribe of Yeti warriors, Alexander and Nadia fight to protect the holy rule of the Golden Dragon.
Isabel Allende once again leads readers on a fantastical voyage of suspense, magic, and awe-inspiring adventure in this riveting follow-up to City of the Beasts.
Customer Reviews:
Not So Thrilling.......2007-09-17
Reading this book was painful for me. This is coming from a reader of the English version. The idea of this story could have been good, a chase to save a forbidden treasure from a greedy man with a lot of wealth, but I did not find it at all interesting.
I can understand why this author is well liked, some parts of the book were well thought out and described. The problem was that the main story was not well planned out. All of the story fit together awkwardly and made it uninteresting to read.
Mystery and fantasy are not a category that I believe should be written by this author. The magic in this story seemed to far-fetched and too all-powerful to make it fun. Although some may have been interested to find out who the villain was, I thought that it was painstakingly obvious from the moment the character appeared. If you never have read a good mystery novel in your life, you may be fooled.
I have read books that were translated into English before and I understand that some of the creativity may have been lost. I think one star is appropriate for the book since I do not understand how the amount of creativity this story lacks could have been lost in translation. If the story is lost in the translation, I feel that is should not have been translated in the first place.
Himalayan Fantasy.......2007-08-14
Only after I finished this book did I realize it was for young adults! (My reaction before I found out was that Allende had gone seriously downhill.) But from the young adult perspective, it's not a bad read. The second of three mystery/travel/adventure books by Allende, written for her grandchildren, this is an entertaining tale set in a thinly disguised Bhutan. An irascible, mid-60's-ish travel writer named Kate Gold invites her grandson and his friend Nadia from South America to join her on a trip to the Himalayan Kingdom of the Golden Dragon. There they meet up with the King and his heir, a seven-foot tall monk trained in the martial arts, the secret Sect of the Scorpion, a plot to steal the Kingdom's most valuable treasure, etc. No sex, not much violence, and lots of traditional values. Probably good for the 12-13 year old set, but, unlike Harry Potter, definitely not for grownups.
A Good Read.......2007-02-13
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende is very interesting. The plot had many twists and turns that really spice it up. How the plot weaves together and who the bad guy really is was awesome! How the Golden Dragon really works is brilliant! All of the settings, from India, to The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon was interesting. The author portrays the love and compassion of the Nepalese people that they show for each other. She also shows how they can be cruelly exploited. This among the best children's books I have ever read. By JJ
Allende Trilogy.......2007-02-10
I loved this book on tape and its two companion stories. I've always been a fan of Isabel Allende and listened to Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia in the car. Then Id purchased Kingdom of the Golden Dragon and the the two other books in this series on tape. I really enjoyed them although they are very different from Allende's other books. I imagine that a 10-13 year old child would really enjoy these books and have set them aside to give as a gift to a special young person in the future. Despite the more simple story line I loved the tapes and couldn't wait to get back in the car to listen. Books-on-tape are, I think, the complete answer to road rage. When I'm listening to something good I don't care how long it takes to get where I'm going.
An Excellent Suspense Book With Multiple Great Twists.......2006-09-06
This book was extremely creative. I greatly suggest you read the first book in the series before reading this one, just to help with lots of connections Isabel make between this book and City of the Beasts. Isabel added twist after twist to the story making you want to read more and more. Every night you could see the light on in my room since I could not keep my eyes of the book. Suspense fills the book so high that you fell as if you have to read more and more just to find out what will come with a flip of the page.
The story is about Alexander and Nadia, two spontaneous teens, going to the Himalayas with Alex's grandmother, who writes for the National Geographic Magazine. After meeting and having an adventure in the Amazon (City of the Beasts), Alex and Nadia have another adventure together with some new characters.
Each character has their own distinct personality, which you get to know better and better through out the book. For example, Alex is a bit of an outcast who has really mixed emotions. He rock climbs, which helps him multiple times throughout the story. Nadia is always very calm, can think things through and is very spiritual. She has two very special talents that help her through all their encounters. She has the ability to turn invisible and to talk to animals. One other interesting thing about these two teens is that they have totemic animals, Jaguar and Eagle. Together they make a great team.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good book that is educational, fictional, adventurous, magical and suspenseful all in one.
Amazon.com
In the past few years, many fans have sworn off Anne Rice, flinging her later novels against the wall with cries of "First draft!" and "Never again!" But these same fans may want to take a chance on her Southern gothic Blackwood Farm, a fast-paced and erotically charged, though uneven, novel of the Vampire Chronicles. Blackwood Farm has an unusual flaw: it isn't long enough. Many of its triumphs and tragedies demand more development than they receive. Motivations are sometimes unlikely or unexplained, and the ending is far too rushed.
Blackwood Farm introduces Quinn Blackwood, the sexy, eccentric young gentleman who becomes both a vampire and the heir to the Blackwood estate. All his life, Quinn has been haunted by Goblin, a doppelgänger no one else can see--or believe in. But Goblin is real, and he is becoming maliciously tangible, strengthened by the blood that Quinn unwillingly drinks. Quinn's only hope of liberation from his increasingly dangerous doppelgänger is to find the legendary vampire Lestat. But Lestat has vowed to destroy any vampire who sets foot in New Orleans....
Blackwood Farm features characters from both the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches series, but this self-contained novel makes a good entry point for newcomers to Anne Rice's fictional world (however, Vampire Chronicle virgins really should start with Interview With the Vampire, the first in the series and arguably the finest vampire novel of the 20th century). --Cynthia Ward
Book Description
In her new novel, perennial bestseller Anne Rice fuses her two uniquely seductive strains of narrative -- her Vampire legend and her lore of the Mayfair witches -- to give us a world of classic deep-south luxury and ancestral secrets.
Welcome to Blackwood Farm: soaring white columns, spacious drawing rooms, bright, sun-drenched gardens, and a dark strip of the dense Sugar Devil Swamp. This is the world of Quinn Blackwood, a brilliant young man haunted since birth by a mysterious doppelgänger, “Goblin,” a spirit from a dream world that Quinn can’t escape and that prevents him from belonging anywhere. When Quinn is made a Vampire, losing all that is rightfully his and gaining an unwanted immortality, his doppelgänger becomes even more vampiric and terrifying than Quinn himself.
As the novel moves backwards and forwards in time, from Quinn’s boyhood on Blackwood Farm to present day New Orleans, from ancient Athens to 19th-century Naples, Quinn seeks out the legendary Vampire Lestat in the hope of freeing himself from the spectre that draws him inexorably back to Sugar Devil Swamp and the explosive secrets it holds.
A story of youth and promise, of loss and the search for love, of secrets and destiny,
Blackwood Farm is Anne Rice at her mesmerizing best.
Download Description
In her new novel, perennial bestseller Anne Rice fuses her two uniquely seductive strains of narrative -- her Vampire legend and her lore of the Mayfair witches -- to give us a world of classic deep-south luxury and ancestral secrets.
Welcome to Blackwood Farm: soaring white columns, spacious drawing rooms, bright, sun-drenched gardens, and a dark strip of the dense Sugar Devil Swamp. This is the world of Quinn Blackwood, a brilliant young man haunted since birth by a mysterious doppelganger, "Goblin," a spirit from a dream world that Quinn can't escape and that prevents him from belonging anywhere. When Quinn is made a Vampire, losing all that is rightfully his and gaining an unwanted immortality, his doppelganger becomes even more vampiric and terrifying than Quinn himself.
As the novel moves backwards and forwards in time, from Quinn's boyhood on Blackwood Farm to present day New Orleans, from ancient Athens to 19th-century Naples, Quinn seeks out the legendary Vampire Lestat in the hope of freeing himself from the spectre that draws him inexorably back to Sugar Devil Swamp and the explosive secrets it holds.
A story of youth and promise, of loss and the search for love, of secrets and destiny, Blackwood Farm is Anne Rice at her mesmerizing best.
Customer Reviews:
I miss the old Lestat..........2007-08-20
I was so excited for this novel, but upon reading it, I found it dissapointed, though I didnt want to admit it because I try to relish everything Anne writes. However, my favorite character perhaps in the history of literature, Lestat, was utterly wasted here I felt. I was truly sad for it. Oh well, at least I can always go back and reread (yet again) the older Vampire novels.
My least favorite of the series.......2007-07-14
I enjoy most of Anne's characters but after being introduced to Merrick (which I liked and enjoyed)I guess I expected too much. I could not bring myself to be even remotely interested in the character Quinn, he seemed to similar to Louis but with an even more depressing back story , but yet no where near as interesting. Also I was very excited to find the Mayfair witches and the Vampire Chronicles were being brought together, but quickly realized I perfered them separate as something is just lost in the translation of the characters.
Farm Enchants.......2007-05-24
What a triumph! What a beautiful and fresh novel! I am so amazed with where Anne started and where she has come. One of the biggest criticisms I've heard about Anne Rice is that her writing regarding the vampires has changed drastically since Interview, Lestat, and Queen - in other words, Anne's style has changed, as have the storylines and the characters' personalities and traits. Well, thank God for that! I fell in love with Anne's first three novels, but what a tragedy it would be were she were still writing the same stories with the same characters who have not grown and learned. The fact is that people change. Thus, her characters have changed and grown, and they have asked the hardest questions about life and death - and love. She created characters without conscience who were animalistic in their quest for blood - and now, these same characters feel responsibility for love, life, and humanity. Isn't that the hope for us all? Don't we all want redemption? After all, even the immortal aren't immortal.
Yes, Lestat began as a self-centered, arrogant, narcisistic fool whom we loved. But, I would hope that through time, Lestat would mature and learn from the great experiences he has been through over the past 30 years. And, he has. Lestat, the "brat price," has learned to love and to be loved. What a gift! Thank you Anne for these beautiful books!
Absolutely the Best of Anne Rice.......2007-02-20
Reading this book for my third time. I find that Anne Rice hadn't at all lost her touch. I loved the southern style of life that Quinn lived. I think Aunt Queen was a wonderful character showing alot of love for Quinn in grand southern style. I never found the book boring nor do I critise the romance of Quinn with both male and female. Goblin was an added feature that I wouldn't have expected at all. What a book covering Blackwood, Mayfair Witches, Taltos, and Lestate all in one book. Anne went out with a big hit on her hands as far as I am concerned. Wish she were still writing these wonderful books of which I have read them all. Thank you Anne for bringing me such joy in reading your books.
not one of her best works.......2007-01-08
"Blackwood Farm" is more a novel of the supernatural and ghosts until near the end, where the vampires appear and begin to have more of an impact on the story, although Petronia and a few others influence Quinn's life and unlife before Lestat and Merrick play their part. The main focus of the story is Quinn and the Blackwood family.
"Blackwood Farm" suffers from, in my opinion, one of Rice's faults: longwinded narratives. It's not exactly boring, just too bloody long telling the tale. Writing for the sake of words on a page doesn't make for a good novel, just a long one. Even I learned about compression in college writing! Unlike other novels by Rice, the main protagonist of the story, Quinn, is an odd character and yet, at the same time, boring. He's not interesting or captivating like Lestat, Louis, Merrick, Pandora, Marius, Armand, or even Vittorio.
Another fault I found in the book is that some of the characterizations border not on the archetypal, but come off as being stereotypical, full of generalizations and lacking a truly dynamic and unique personality, which is necessary in any writing. All of the men from the Talamasca seem the same: old British men, educated, charming, etc. There's not much to distinguish David Talbot from Sterling Oliver. There are other stereotypes: the poor woman with numerous kids, living in a trailer with broken, rusted cars in the yard - the stereotypical hillbilly - and, of course, the lone, intellectual gay bachelor.
The scene in which Quinn is turned into a vampire is comical, among other things. It comes across as contrived, an attempt to be creative that just ends up weird. It's not sensual or fascinating. It's just bizarre. From "Memnoch the Devil" onward, most of Rice's vampire novels have been filled with what can arguably be seen as amoral imagery and characters - grossly exaggerated sensuality and a fixation with male homosexuality (Why no women?). This was not the case with "The Vampire Lestat," "Queen of the Damned," "Tale of the Body Thief," "Pandora," Vittorio," and even latter novels like "Merrick," to some extent.
There are some entertaining and wonderful parts in the novel. The romantic in me loved the end. I'll not spoil it here. The ending is worth reading the entire novel just to get to it. But there is a death of a somewhat major character at the end, too.
Rice boasted of not allowing an editor to touch her work. Let me give you a couple of examples in the novel that any good editor would have picked up: Lestat has a wad of thousand dollar bills (The $100 is the U.S.'s highest denomination and has been for some time.) and there is mention of gladiators ALWAYS fighting to the death (This isn't so. They were extremely valuable to their owners, if they had owners, and didn't always fight to the death). These aren't exactly important, but annoying to read, especially the money error. And there is a weird illogical thread regarding the dangers of pregnancy with Mona Mayfair and Quinn Blackwood. This is the stated reason that they can't be together. Does birth control not exist in Rice's fictional world?
Let me add this: I love Lestat. He's one of my favorite characters in literature. I love that he's the embodiment of us all: flawed and perfect, beautiful and monstrous, spiritual and profane, wounded and broken, yet strong, sorrowful, yet happy, full of love and wonderment. He's vibrant, complex...well...alive. If he were to never return, I would miss him.
Sycophants, without the capacity for any sort of criticism, will no doubt praise this novel (as they did "Memnoch"). Let me state for the record: I love Anne Rice's novels - most of them, anyway, especially the early ones. She's one of my favorite authors, and has been for a number of years. Whenever I want to read something wonderful about New Orleans or Louisiana, where I haven't been since I was a child, I can pick up some of her books, and her ability to paint a picture of other places in the world and in time - beit Pairs or elsewhere - are second to none. But this novel is simply not one of her best. It's somewhere in between the good ("The Vampire Lestate," "Pandora," "Vittorio") and the wretched ("Memnoch the Devil" and "The Vampire Armand"). Contrary to what some people may think, Rice is capable of writing a bad novel. Even Hemingway was accused of bad writing. Why should she be any different? Is she a greater writer than him? Nothing created by men is perfect, including art, science, or politics. We are flawed, and the works of our hands are destined to miss the mark. If you want to read a good Anne Rice book, go read the earlier stuff. There are no incestuous ghosts, vampires drinking menstrual fluid, hermaphrodite vampires and those whose sexual appetites are inclined towards young boys, misunderstood devils, and general pseudo-religious, pseudo-Catholic, pseudo-New Age "mambojahambo" in those earlier novels.
Lastly, to those who do not appreciate the diversity of opinions - and that's just what I've given, no more, no less, to those who cannot read negative criticism, who label it slander or libel - both legal terms, to which this post and most, if not all, others here do not even come close to crossing that threshold, to those who despise the free flow of thought, writing, and exchange of ideas - hallmarks all of a democratic and civilized society, to those who think that using this venue to post negative statements amounts to using it as a "public urinal," I have but one simple reply: don't read my posts.
Customer Reviews:
Inspirational and Entertaining.......2007-05-22
As a child I watched Bishop Sheen on tv with my family. It didn't mean so much to me at the time, except maybe for the humor, but as I've matured, it strikes a strong chord. I'm glad I stumbled upon the book. We've lost so much of the simple truth in life that it's a pleasure and a joy to get some back. If your faith matters to you, this book will be a valuable addition to your collection.
A book that engages your attention.......2007-05-05
This book contains thirty-six talks from the first two seasons of the television series. They offer inspiration and guidance on problems with fear, suffering, prayer, work, friendship, and marriage. This volume has universal appeal to all people regardless of religious persuasion or walk of life. This book goal is to offer a tender of hope to people's ongoing struggles to achieve the fullness of life. His easy manner and natural style makes you want to continue reading. His talks on TV were much better because of his easy speaking manner. But what a wonderful way to read what you missed or remind you of his loving words.
Delightfully Understated.......2001-07-12
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was perhaps the greatest orator of the twentieth century in the matters of morality and the like. His writings displayed a great inner creativity and understanding of the human mind. Archbishop Sheen never lowered himself to the heathen practices of finger-pointing, and profanity. Instead, he reinforced his beliefs with Biblical texts and comedic anecdotes of his own life. His ninety-one books and innumberable radio and televsion broadcasts allowed us a glance into his mind. The Pope John Pual II declared him "a devoted son of the Church." Very few reviews carry as much weight as that comment. I highly recommend this text to anyone of whom finds morality to be the highlight of life.
Delightfully Understated.......2001-07-12
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was perhaps the greatest orator of the 20th century in the matters of morality and the like. His writings displayed a great inner creativity and understanding of the human mind. Archbishop Sheen never lowered himself to the heathen practices of finger-pointing, and profanity. Instead, he reinforced his beliefs with Biblical texts and comedic anecdotes of his own life. His ninety-one books and innumberable radio and televsion broadcasts allowed us a glance into his mind. The Pope John Paul II declared him "a devoted son of the Church." Very few reviews carry as much weight as that comment. I highly recommend this text to anyone of whom finds morality to be the spice of life against the dull pallet of sin.
A Wonderful Book.......2001-04-08
Although this book is nothing more than the scripts from a number of the most popular "Life is Worth Living" shows, it is an excellent read.
Bishop Sheen has a way of saying the most profound things with an easy-going, conversational style in most of his books, but especially so in this one--probably because he was talking to the television audience.
I haven't seen most of the episodes that are in this book, but I still enjoyed reading the chapters of even the few episodes that I had seen. It gave me a chance to capture the nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout the episodes.
Book Description
A brilliant tour de force that showcases Lily Brett's distinctive voice, flawless way with words, and acute sense of character and setting, Too Many Men is a fresh, penetrating novel filled with sensitivity, emotional complexity, and irreverent wit.
Ruth Rothwax a successful, independent, New York woman with her own business, Rothwax Correspondence, can find order and meaning in the words she writes for other people -- condolence letters, thank-you letters, even you-were-great-in-bed letters. But as the devoted daughter of Edek Rothwax, an Auschwitz survivor with a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to the English language. Ruth can find no words to tell her understand the loss her family experienced during World War II.
Ruth is obsessed with the idea of returning to Poland with her father, Edek, but she doesn't quite understand why she feels this so intensly. To make sense of her family's past -- and the way her parents' lives were suddenly torn apart by the Nazis -- yes. To visit the places where her beloved mother and father lived and almost died, certainly. But there's more to this trip than Ruth's extraordinary perceptiveness can identify. By facing Poland and the past, she can confront her own future.
The gripping story of a woman's search for memory and meaning, and the reconciliation of present and past within the complicated fabric of family, Too Many Men is an evocative exploration of the reverberations of loss and a remarkable journey of the heart that no reader will easily forget.
Customer Reviews:
Haunting, Riveting, Suprisingly Funny and All Too Real.......2007-09-04
An Austrian friend recently told me that Lily Brett is a favorite author among Germans and Austrians because "Jewish" subjects are very popular. My friend was surprised that I'd never heard of Brett, especially since she lives in New York, is Jewish and writes in English. Frankly, I had no preconceptions about the subject matter or the author of "Too Many Men."
Hardly the light summer read that I anticipated from the title, I could not put this one down. What a revelation. She can write, but she can tell a story too.
I can't understand why she isn't as popular here as she is in her native Austrlia and those German-speaking countries. She's amazing!
I could smell Lodz........2006-04-25
I have not been able to put this novel down, since it arrived from Amazon two days ago. So many memories of Poland and Lodz came flooding back. I have walked those streets and can still smell that air.
She dealt with many of the problems that I dealt with when I wrote my own book, A Stairwell in Lodz. How do you write about the horror? Lily Brett's use of a ghost was a unique way of presenting Holocaust history.
Why couldn't this book have been called, Return, instead of Too Many Men?
The Best Novel I've Read!.......2004-10-19
Yes, without a doubt, "Too Many Men" is the best novel I've ever read. I want more, a sequel. Lily Brett is tremendous at character development and at stirring the readers' emotions, from laughing until you cry to anger to pity to anticipation to deep sympathy - and everything in between. This should be required reading for students. It is for everyone, male or female, young or old. Not often does a novel hook me from the first page, but this one did, and it didn't let me go, even when I finished it. Ruth and Edek, her father, are real to me, and Edek is about the most comical and adorable character I've met. Travel back to Poland with them and recall with them the days of WWII concentration camps. There's never a dull moment. I would love to have a hardback copy, because, unlike most books, I know I'll want to read this one over and over through the years. At last: literature! Congratulations and many thanks to Lily Brett. And a plea for her to let us share more in the lives of Ruth and Edek.
To Many Men.......2004-01-29
I thought this was a great book. I was being pulled into it the entire time. I am looking forward to reading the continueing story in her next novel. Does anyone know when that book will be published?
Excellent.......2004-01-02
It is too bad that Lily Brett is not better known in the US. This is an excellent easy-to-read and engaging book. I look forward to reading all of her other books.
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