Customer Reviews:
IF YOU ARE SELF-EMPLOYED, THIS BOOK IS A GREAT MOTIVATOR!!!.......2002-07-17
I've had this book for 15 years and think of it often, EVEN THOUGH I'M NOT IN THE PIZZA BUSINESS!! For some reason, I can really identify with Tom Monaghan.
It is a bit biographical, but that isn't a negative. When I want to know about successful people, I like to know all about them. It isn't just their business savvy that got them where they are, it is a combination of many other personal traits that help add up to business success.
One trait that really stuck with me is to interview many people about your product--including people who HATE IT. You can learn a lot about why some people avoid you and your product. Just this one tidbit of advice had helped me to make thousands of exta dollars over the past 15 years.
Pizza Tiger.......2002-04-24
If you are in the pizza business or if you are thinking about getting into the pizza business - you must read this book.
Easy to read - but a bit slow in parts - the nature of biography in my opinion .. so overall subject matter for me was excellent and I am in the pizza business.
On a literary scale the book was only a 2 star - but 5 star for me as I used some of the ideas and confirmed some concepts.
Daddio
Great Inspiration.......2002-01-08
I checked this book out of the public library at a time when my business was near failure. It gave me the spirit to keep on and have a sucessful turnaround. Monahan is a hell of a great story and it comes from the heart. An orphan, high school dropout who overcomes everything and becomes a billionaire. Only in America.
Not great literature and hard to find but well worth having. Now that I own my own copy, I will never give it up.
Pizza Tiger is a great motivating tool for anyone wanting to run their own business.
Don McNay...
Average customer rating:
- Terrific writing justifies the Booker prize.
- My favourite book
- Loved the writing style
- Brilliant Booker of those lovely ghosts of phantom lovers
- Thrilling!
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Moon Tiger
Penelope Lively
Manufacturer: Grove Press
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Lively, Penelope
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ASIN: 0802135331 |
Book Description
The elderly Claudia Hampton, a best-selling author of popular history; lies alone in a London hospital bed. Memories of her life still glow in her fading consciousness, but she imagines writing a history of the world. Instead, Moon Tiger is her own history, the life of a strong, independent woman, with its often contentious relations with family and friends. At its center — forever frozen in time, the still point of her turning world — is the cruelly truncated affair with Tom, a British tank commander whom Claudia knew as a reporter in Egypt during World War II.
Customer Reviews:
Terrific writing justifies the Booker prize........2006-08-01
Claudia looks back on her life as she lies dying in a hospital bed. Hardly an original concept, and in fact this would be an ordinary book, except for the writing, which is terrific. Lively proves equally fine in describing a trip behind British front lines in the North African desert, and a walk in the woods by a mother and her young child. The novel is rather unusual in that while it is almost entirely written in Claudia's voice, it occasionally, and briefly, employs the voice of her daughter and others - very effectively. Claudia is a very successful historian, yet her own daughter's inner life is as obscure to her as the inner lives of the figures she writes about. I enjoyed the romantic aspect of Claudia's tale, the lover who is killed in battle and whom "she mourns for the rest of her life" as one reviewer put it, but I do not believe this is what made the novel worthy of the Booker prize.
My favourite book.......2006-06-25
I love this book - it has wit and intelligence. I also appeals to the romantic in me. A tale of lost love in Cairo in 1941.
Loved the writing style.......2006-03-20
I am beginning to realize that I love books with these strong women characters. The characters themselves may be difficult to love but when added with the whole of the book it makes for wonderful reading. I especially liked the parts where 'Claudia' talks about how she viewed a situation and then someone else involved in that situation describes it. It gave the story a depth that sometimes is not available in a first person narrative.
Brilliant Booker of those lovely ghosts of phantom lovers .......2005-04-24
An exotic novel about a love that haunts us from the grave to our own. Claudia's rendition of her affair in Egypt during a war, resulting in the loss of her great love and their unborn child, is depicted with an Englishwoman's genius of grammar, prose, and Latin-based mastery of the English language. Told through Claudia's story on her death bed between periods of consciousness, Penelope Lively distinguishes herself with the usage of narrative to describe a lifetime of mourning. Claudia mourns Tom throughout her adult and senior years as she lives a journalist's life in London, England. Lively's Claudia is a stubborn woman whose account of things, people, and relationships are rooted in her own view of the world. This is more than a romance, it is a look into the elements and pervasive condition of heartbreak over a lifetime. Tragic, humorous, and compelling. No wonder it was a Booker Prize - the most prestigious literary prize in the world for English language fiction.
Thrilling!.......2004-07-06
This book was my introduction to one of the truly great writers of our day. Penelope Lively has written ten of the best novels of the last twenty years. This is but one. I recommend it highly. When you have finished you should move on to "Passing On" and then "The Photograph."
Book Description
In this book Swedish grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Persson presents his own favourite defence against 1.e4, the Modern Defence with a6. With his trademark laidback approach, he explains the different White replies to his system. His repertoire is based on deep understanding, common themes, and interesting games, rather than simply theory to be memorized. Pieces are sacrificed in a great number of games and famous grandmasters meet their doom on the pages of this refreshingly lively opening book. In today's chess teaching, opening theory often reaches deep into the middlegame, and players struggle to create something new and inspiring at the chessboard. Here Tiger Hillarp Persson shows that it is possible to be original at an early stage.
Customer Reviews:
Now my main weapon against e4.......2007-01-13
I am a 1600 to 1700 ranked correspondence (web based) chess player who opens with c4 and D4 with white. Developing a reply to black's e4 has been a bit of a challenge for me. I have tried the sicilian, but there is so much theory to learn, both on your chosen variety, and the anti-sicilians.
The modern is a terrific alternative. Statistically it achieves results almost as good as the sicilian, but more importantly for me, most e4 players at my level don't spend time learning it (unlike the sicilian, which is played as much as 50% of the time against e4). Another thought I had when considering the modern was that unlike D4 players, most e4 players haven't spent as much time learning to defeat a fianchettoed kings bishop (D4 players have to due to the popularity of the kings indian).
I purchased Tiger's book as a backup to my sicilian - another option to try. Well, I have now been converted, and use Tigers modern as my main weapon. This is a beautiful book, which really highlights in the introduction to each chapter the key plans for black and white. I have been amazed how often white players fall for simple traps (like advancing the b pawn to challenge knight on c3, allowing capture of e4 pawn), mainly because white is just not familiar with the idea.
I love the chapter on the Hippopotamus, which can be used as an alternative with some of Tiger's lines. Tiger is a fun author to read, his use of a quote by Talking Heads in this chapter (nothing happens in heaven) is for me almost worth the price of the book!
The chapter on c4 is probably not the strongest, but in fairness, it is not that common for an e4 player to play c4 in the first few moves, as this is a D4 opening (c4 can also often be prevented by Nf6 if not played quickly). I don't currently have the confidence to try the modern against a D4 or C4 opening due to this, but this isn't an issue for me. Tiger is very honest about this chapter, and for me, it is enough for the odd situation when C4 does arise soon after e4. The ideas are still very well presented, and accordingly, quick to learn.
This book and the modern may not suit everyone (this isn't orthodox chess), but it has been a godsend for me, resulting in a lot of fun trying to "blow up" white's centre.
Treasure trove of ideas.......2006-03-06
What an interesting opening book. Tiger Hillarp Persson has really put together a treasure trove of games and analysis of the modern. Many of the games are his own and he is not afraid to include his losses and his flawed gems.
First of all, beware. This is not a book which provides complete coverage of the modern. In that respect, it is more like a repertoire book.
From a strict point of view, it is quite likely that some of the analysis in this book is also flawed. The games are full of queen sacrifices and piece sacrifices and they are not to everyone's taste. But then if you want a safe opening, don't play the modern...play the caro-kann instead.
The modern really defies analysis and opening books struggle to deal with its great flexibility. That is why you will find very little theory on the modern. There are so many possibilities for transpositions. The opening is not for everyone. If you are an attacking player who likes open positions, then this opening is not for you. The modern is a slippery opening that avoids contact between the forces in the first few moves. Any opening up of the position has to be carefully weighed, particularly by the player of the black pieces who usually suffers from less space. That said, the modern is like a coiled spring and in the hands of a practititioner who knows what he is doing, weaker players who play the white pieces may suffer rapid self destruction at the hands of this opening.
The book is nicely presented and I have found no typographical errors (yet), which is always a good sign. The glossy front cover is attractive and the diagrams clear. The games are really worth close analysis. Don't read this book with the aim of memorizing some opening variations. The modern is not like that.
But working through the various ideas and transpositions should be beneficial.
The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the coverage of the Averbakh variation of the modern. I really felt that this section was there to provide complete coverage. I am not sure that the author's heart and soul are written into this section to the same extent as they are in the e4 variation sections. Playing 4...e5 against the Averbakh may not be be everyone's taste and those who like the middle game conflicts of the 1. e4 modern may not like the endgame that results from the variation 4 ... e5 5. dxe dxe 6. Qxd8+ Kxd8 7. f4.
All in all, this is undoubtedly the most interesting of all the books I own on the modern.
Tiger is a Killer Book!!!.......2006-02-24
The Book is 2Good, Maybe 3good!! I almost did not write a review out of pure Selfishness.. "Mine mine, all mine mine," to Quote a Famous Duck. Get IT, NuffSaid.
Book Description
Julius Evola’s final major work, which examines the prototype of the human being who can give absolute meaning to his or her life in a world of dissolution
• Presents a powerful criticism of the idols, structures, theories, and illusions of our modern age
• Reveals how to transform destructive processes into inner liberation
The organizations and institutions that, in a traditional civilization and society, would have allowed an individual to realize himself completely, to defend the principal values he recognizes as his own, and to structure his life in a clear and unambiguous way, no longer exist in the contemporary world. Everything that has come to predominate in the modern world is the direct antithesis of the world of Tradition, in which a society is ruled by principles that transcend the merely human and transitory.
Ride the Tiger presents an implacable criticism of the idols, structures, theories, and illusions of our dissolute age examined in the light of the inner teachings of indestructible Tradition. Evola identifies the type of human capable of “riding the tiger,” who may transform destructive processes into inner liberation. He offers hope for those who wish to reembrace Tradition.
Customer Reviews:
who is this book for?.......2007-03-30
I wouldn't exactly call this book a manual. There is no how-to. It's more like a summary of a non-political philosophy of life. If you don't already know something about European philosophy and essentially agree with Evola's worldview, you probably won't get anything out of this book. And even if you can follow parts of it, you may not be able to follow all of it. For example, I agree with Evola's conclusions on music, but I don't understand the rationale for his criticism of jazz--that it relies in the silences (or up-beat, I don't remember exactly). I suspect this has some metaphysical meaning related to his esotericism.
Evola and the translator are talented enough that the book is interesting to read even when it is useless. I agree with Evola on enough points that I intend to keep reading more of his works, looking for some way to adapt his worldview without embracing the occult, in which I have no interest. As Buddhism is becoming "psychologized" through neuroscience, I suspect much of Evola's work can be of interest to post-modern Americans who would have been interested in Albert Jay Nock or Henry Adams in another time. In some ways this is unfortunate because Evola could be a gateway to foolish, dead-end political philosophies like anarchism or neo-fascism.
Who is this book good for? As you can guess from the other reviews, it will appeal to people who see themselves as above the middling crowd, although these are not the right people for the book. The book is meant for people who have a strong intuition that something is wrong with the world that can't be fixed by giving people more money, passing more laws, or voting out our current political regime.
Not your father's 'Fascism'.......2007-03-24
There's little point in reviewing this, or any book, by Evola, as they are pretty well self-recommending to the `differentiated individual' [the man who stands out from the crowd] that he is concerned with. If you don't fall into that rarefied class, then this book is not for you, and if that sound like 'elitism', then so be it; facts are facts, and this book would not please you anyway.
That said, even some who might be expected to welcome this translation of a relatively recent [Evola in the 70s!] work might not be pleased either. This book represents an even greater movement away from practical politics (his famous post-war `apoliteia' which some seem to think makes him "the godfather of neo-Nazi terror") than the previous Men among the Ruins. And Evola continues to take his own stands, regardless of what professors or publicists may think as "of the Right." Enthusiasts for the "French New Right" or the "Conservative Revolution" may be nonplussed to find their hero Heidegger beaten soundly in the chapter on Existentialism [which can even be recommended to the non-differentiated soul who wants a relatively short analysis and dismissal of that tiresome movement], while Sartre, that dirty French commie, gets some qualified praise for his views on freedom.
On the other hand, the relatively illiterate American `conservatives' who know nothing of Heidegger but worry about eugenics and `the white race dying out' would do well to contemplate Evola's views on marriage and reproduction. No great race, he points out, has conquered and ruled through force of numbers, but only by the will of its elites (the British Raj, for example). In the present situation, to demand more births is necessarily to demand that the numerically superior lower classes increase, while the elite themselves cannot count on their own children, born into this dark age, acquiring any distinction. Evola endorses the Platonic and Hermetic preference for passing traditional wisdom from master to disciple, rather than indiscriminate population growth, to preserve Aryan culture.
The chapter on drugs will also upset such conservatives; reading between the lines, Evola clearly supports his own earlier experimentation with mind-altering chemicals, and continues to find their use of value (again, only to the differentiated man, not the aimless hippie or teen subject to `peer pressure.') In this he continues to stand with the true Conservative Revolutionaries, such as Junger and Benn, libertines all, and disdains our current crop of thoroughly judaized "conservatives."
While not exactly a call to arms, this book will comfort the 'spiritual aristocrat' and provoke the intellectually lazy "man of the right." It may even delight a few liberals -- welcome to the fold!
Riding the Tiger - Aristocratic Tradition Against Modernity........2004-10-04
_Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul_ by Italian counter-revolutionary theorist Baron Julius Evola is a manual for a certain spiritual type of man - the man of Tradition - faced with the nihilistic reality of the modern world. Tradition is characterized by a recognition of transcendence and hierarchy as opposed to the mass levelling which has taken place in modernity - at root in nihilism. Evola, a gloomy figure on the marginalized radical right in postwar Italy, writes of the modern world as witnessing a new dark age, the Kali Yuga of Indian tradition (as noted by the father of Traditionalism, Rene Guenon). In the philosophy of Traditionalism, the world is said to have fallen from a past Golden Age (as witnessed to by the ancient Greeks, Hesiod, and the Hindus) and approaching the end of a cycle has entered the Kali Yuga, an era characterized by dissolution. Kali is a dark goddess of sexuality and orgiastic rites in Hindu mythology - said to be asleep in previous eras but in the Kali Yuga said to be wide awake. The modern age is characterized by the "death of God" (the end of the transcendent), the beginning of European nihilism as explained by Nietzsche. In such a world, the spiritual type Evola writes for is totally alienated. Topics covered in this book include Nietzsche's philosophy and the world in which "God is dead", the "lost youth" and the postwar generation of Beatniks, the dead end of existentialist philosophies, Heideggerianism and Husserlian phenomenologies, the new physics and scientism, moral decline, an excursus on drugs, the failure of modern art, sexuality and marriage, the "new religiosity, and death. Evola finds little to recommend for his ideal type except for a sort of neo-Gnostic complete withdrawal from the modern world characterized by what he terms "apolitea". In terms of Tradition, little remains left to recognize and hierarchy has been completely abolished. This form of apolitea may be described as "riding the tiger", a Far Eastern saying meaning that if one succeeds in riding a tiger not only does one avoid having to leap on one, but one may eventually get the better of it. This is Evola's only recommendation for coming to terms with modernity and making one's way across the Kali Yuga that completes the traditional cycle. As in his previous book _Revolt Against the Modern World_, Evola offers many profound insights into both the nature of modernity and the means for achieving counter-revolution giving the prevailing winds of the time.
Ride the Tiger.......2004-08-30
With "Ride the Tiger" Evola seeks to work out a method of behavior and thought appropriate for those who seek a radical return to tradition and hierarchy in the midst of the dissolution of the modern age. In short, he doesn't recommend "direct action" against the "spirit of the age", becuase it is simply too powerful, but instead the improvement and unrelenting service to ones ideals until an ideal time for change presents itself, as the spirit of the age exhausts itself and perishes.
As Evola puts it, refering to the book's title, "The phrase is a Far Eastern Saying, expressing the idea that if one suceeds in riding the tiger, not only does one avoid having it leap on one, but if one can keep one's seat and not fall off, one may eventually get the better of it."
Restores Integrity to Hierarchy.......2004-07-13
While reading the latest re-print of Julius Evola's book Ride the Tiger, offered by Inner Traditions, I wondered what he would think of the so called Chaos Magick now spinning out of fractal control. After reading his essays and becoming more familiar with his views, I'm sure he would look upon something so anti-order so hier-anarchic with utter contempt and disdain. After all, he was an aristocrat of the Soul as the sub title of the book suggests. It certainly would give birth to a polemic tractate or two or even a full length book if he were still alive that is for certain. (I can see his monocle shattering in fractal fashion)
Evola has been quite a controversial figure, metaphysically toeing the line of some potentially fascist ideologies. He certainly has a growing audience on the right side of the occcult as well as political spectrum. In the book Black Sun, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke takes aim at Julius and spells out his rather shady associations with a protracted and at times tedious detail while ignoring some of the real treasures within his work. In spite of such possible leanings to the Romanesque Imperium-I feel that we can greatly, even profoundly benefit from some of Evola's writings-that it is possible to separate them from facist undertones or inculcations and use them in a more life affirming way. I'm particularly drawn to the notion of preserving tradition in order to withstand the forces of dissolution, relativism, etc. I have yet to see any real lasting benefit to come out of Chaos Magick. I have not seen any positive influence yet anyway other than thrilling inner rides which may help us intuit the implicate more effectively. Nor have I really seen any obvious benefit come out of Quantum Physics, since virtually all of our political and economic systems are still based on the supposedly obsolete Newtonian Paradigm of action/reaction. For those of you who aren't familiar with my writing, I make my views on political correctness where notions of hierarchy are sneered upon in knee jerk fashion quite known. Evola advocates throughout his writings the importance of hierarchy in many ways and it is high time that we start listening to him again.
There are certainly many benefits to be had if we value or want to re-value notions of hierarchy. We need to de-load the word for starters since most associate it with oppression, the State, etc.
As an example of a positive hierarchy, I greately admire classical east Indian music and the artists who play it such as Irshad Khan, Ustad Uli Akbhar Khan and others who I have unending respect for. The musicians, often born into musical families are put through the most rigorous training-often made to practice up to 18 hours a day. Often their teachers sit on the stage with them, perhaps so they don't step out of line or as a gesture to remind the player that they are always learning. Now imagine some PC victim artist like Karen Finley wanting to learn how to play the sitar . She would probably start protesting that she was being oppressed by a caste system and then want to do things her own way. Mediocrity would inevitably result and Goddess Saraswati would weep and run away quite embarrassed.
In Ken Wilber's tumescent philosophical tome Sex, Ecology and Spirit he bravely defends biological hierarchy: first the sub atomic particlewave, then the atom, then the molecule, then the cell and then the organ and then the organism. Without this hieracrchy-lifeforms would cease to exist or never have existed in the first place. He brilliantly defends hierarchy against relativisms of various kinds. Well enough hammering on something so taboo as hierarchy. What I'm trying to convey is that without a sufficient grounding in hierarchical realities, anyone delving into Chaos Magick or Chaos Politicks or even Chaos Sex would be doomed to inevitable dissolution and not of an ego dissolving variety. I wholeheartedly defend many of Evola's positions-I do not however advocate the kind of facism he was attracted to or advocated himself(...)
Book Description
Is it ever okay to "embellish" your dating profile? What's the best way to deal with closetalkers? How can you handle a date who shows too much PDA? Discover the answers to these and other burning questions in Caroline Tiger's guide to modern love, How to Behave: Dating and Sex. You'll learn the proper etiquette for:
Ditching your date with aplomb
Accepting rejection gracefully
Avoiding scratchy stubble face-burn
Negotiating "ex sex"
With more than 60 scenarios that run the gamut from flirting to first date etiquette to sex, this refreshingly new take on social manners deals with the real-life etiquette questions everyone wonders about . . . but has been afraid to ask.
Customer Reviews:
Off the beaten track.......2004-12-13
I reviewed this book for a science journal not long after its publication. Rated it four out of five. Why come back eighteen years later? Charting the paths followed over the past three decades toward the goal of a `biosocial science' brought me back. The author is the collaborator with Robin Fox on the best-seller, The Imperial Animal, which explores the evolutionary roots of male behaviour. Among anthropologists of those days, talk about biological roots of cultural behaviour was against the grain. Add the additional negative that the authors seemed to be saying that patriarchal attitudes and behaviour are evolutionary destiny, and you've got serious heresy.
This book is more of the same. The theme is the fit and misfit between our industrial mode of social organization and the natural sociability that evolved for hunter-gatherer existence. The title derives from the circumstance that Tiger's assessment turns up more misfits than fits, which is to say that we're not well adapted to the urban habitat that we've created over the past couple of centuries. These misfits are what he styles `evil'. `My concern', he says, `is principally with behavioural pollution, with the ways in which the natural behaviour of our species is restricted, thwarted, distorted, stretched, disallowed, or otherwise harshly or uncongenially molded by a way of living and earning'. But like other aspects of human behaviour, evil is denatured in the industrial system. The natural way of moral thinking personifies evil and attributes it to a malignant will. The industrial system, by contrast, is beyond the control of individuals and groups who operate the system and routinely generates `vast outcomes that no one wanted'. These outcomes-the `pathologies of our way of life'-are the `characteristic modern form of evil'.
The metaphor of injury and healing is also expressed in Tiger's conception of his task as a behavioural scientist. He would generate a `science of skilful husbandry' to maximize adaptation to the urban zoo `just as veterinarians and biologists do for animals in captivity'. If that sounds to you like Max Weber's `iron cage' analogy, you've got it right.
Although Tiger conjures a science of behaviour as his resource base, he doesn't write science here. Instead he presents a vision of the human condition by launching an abundance of speculations, observations, and anecdotes. Conversational prose displaces the tedium of complex argument, and striking metaphors displace conceptual analysis.
One wall of the cage is constructed by supplanting the kin association of bans and villages by the formal structures of law and class differentiation. Behavior becomes organized, bureaucratized, regular, predictable. But for the human animal such behaviour is `extraordinarily exotic' because spontaneous and emotionally satisfying conduct toward kin is replaced by rule-governed behaviour whose rationale is its function. The penalty? Work paced by productive function displaces natural rhythms. The village commune is jerry-rigged as a contractual association that draws us into functional relation with anonymous millions, thanks to carrot and stick discipline. The spontaneity of village sociability is replaced by opaque bureaucracies.
The main thrust of Tiger's book is a discussion of the impacts of the industrial system on sexuality. The contraceptive pill is taken-for-granted, but the familiarity masks the fact that it is a profound intervention. We know that, but the author's forte is drawing out its consequences for the relation between the sexes, child-parent relations, social and employment expectations and, not least of all, women's self-relations. He also underscores the long-term consequence of anti-natalism-lower birth rates relative to pro-natalist populations resulting, eventually, in displacement. Twenty years ago this trend was well marked in Europe and the United States, if generally ignored. Today the rate of change projects displacement of Caucasians as the majority population in the US, Britain, and some European countries by 2070. Already influx plus the growth of Muslim populations exerts constant pressure on our multi-cultural tolerance, institutionally and individually. Undisguised `Islamophobia' is rampant among some politics elites. The answer is `anti-Americanism' among other political elites. Question: will `melting pot' assimilation happen at a rate quick enough to diffuse the simmering ethnic antagonisms?
Tiger proposes no convincing solutions to these and other challenges, but were he writing today, I suspect he would say that the `war on terrorism' is more a symptom than a remedy. And I for my part bid adieu by strongly recommending this book as a quality tutorial in understanding our complex society.
Helps Understand the Lack of Ethics Behind Blackout.......2003-08-16
The recent black-out that plunged Canadian provinces and many US states, notably New York, into darkness, while producing disturbing pictures of millions exiting New York on foot across its automotive bridges, can be understood by reading several books, among them this book. Others include Charle's Perrow's "Normal Accidents: Dealing with High Risk Technologies", Norman Cousins, "The Pathology of Power", and the variety of books that focus specifically on corruption and deception by electrical utility companies around the world, but generally in the US, UK, and Australia.
Summing the book up in one sentence: the industrial system disconnected the ethics of kinship and community from the production process. It allowed "objective" industrial management to devise complex processes in which each individual plays a functionalist role with minimalist information, and no one person can see the relationship between their "objective" task, and the massively dysfunctional, pathological, and corrupt outcomes of the total industrial system.
This is an erudite, well-documented, well-reasoned book. It carefully addresses the manner in which sociopathological organizations--including militaries and the corporations that create them in their image--undermine national security and the national commonwealth. It concludes on a positive note: restoring group governance, and restoring the connection between kinship, community, ethics, and the manner in which national security and national economic decisions are made, can reverse this destructive evil trend, and restore mankind to a state of grace among men and between men and nature. This is an inspiring important work.
rational starting point for understanding our human turmoil.......1998-03-27
Equal to the analysis of human behavior and ethics as presented in "An Historian's Approach to Religion" by Arnold Toynbee. Grabs the rational mind and feeds it with information about why our current society causes so much internal stress in our daily life.
Average customer rating:
- Slow Start but Powerful Finish
- Outstanding adventure fiction.
- An action-crammed story
- Close to Cussler but not quite there
- Great Adventure Book! One of my all time favorites!
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The Eye of the Tiger
Wilbur Smith
Manufacturer: Macmillan U.K.
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ASIN: 0333782682 |
Book Description
Harry Fletcher is a reformed man, and is now making an honest living as a charter skipper fishing for big game in the Indian ocean. Suddenly men from his violent past overun his good intentions and involve him in a race to recover treasure from an ancient wreck.
Customer Reviews:
Slow Start but Powerful Finish.......2006-05-28
The starting of this book was slow but the speed increased as I went deeper into the book. This is truly another work of art by Wilbur Smith and I give it a lot of credit.Harry Fletcher was definitely my kind of a character and the other characters were definitely up to speed.
Outstanding adventure fiction........2006-05-22
I enjoyed this book as much or more than I have all of the other works by Mr. Smith in my collection. I never fail to be entertained by Mr' Smith's stunning character exposition, superb descriptive prose and edge-of-your-seat story lines. I could read a novel about paint drying by Mr. Smith and be thrilled to do so. Eye of the Tiger is an excellent read.
An action-crammed story.......2005-06-30
Harry Fletcher lives a quiet life on St Mary's Island and he takes charters on board "Wave Dancer" for fishing and diving. Angelo and Chubby are his two assistants. But the inoffensive Harry once used to be called Harry Bruce and he used to practice the art of violence and sudden death in Malaya, Vietnam, the Congo and Biatra. Furthermore he used to lift complete collections of gold coins in the British Museum and cut diamonds in Amsterdam and to transport hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold bars from Switzerland to Rome.
One day three suspicious looking men, Charley Anderson, Mike Guthric and Jimmy North, want to hire Harry's boat claiming that they want "to do a little exploring" and that they need a full array of scuba diving and salvage equipment. Then they hand Harry a chart showing that they are interested in an area thirty miles north of the mouth of the Rovuma River. What are these men after? When they recognise Harry as "the gold heist from Rome", he senses that the stakes are high and that he is sitting in the game with "big boys" once again... One of the best adventure novel by Wilbur Smith.
Close to Cussler but not quite there.......2005-04-17
This was my first Wilbur Smith novel. It falls just short of the talent that Cussler has. While I'm not so disappointed that I won't read more of him, there's just something missing that I can't quite put my finger on. For instance, the treasure is supposed to have been there for "a thousand years," yet the books states that the treasure sunk to the bottom about 300 years earlier.
But anyway, I will seek out other books by him, so I can recommend this book as an entertaining one.
Great Adventure Book! One of my all time favorites!.......2005-04-08
I read this book many years ago when I was a young boy in 8th grade. I read many, many books, the James Bonds, the Clive Cusslers, and most others in the action/adventure genre. I especially liked strong male heroic characters. Of all the books, this is one of the very best. I have read it many times since.
Told in first person, this book features a great hero, some hot chicks, mean bad guys, a treasure hunt, and incredible situations and turns of events that I won't spoil for you.
I rate this as one of the best adventure books I have ever read.
Book Description
The Tiger Killers is the second volume of a new translation of the Chinese classical novel generally known as The Water Margin. Like the first volume, The Broken Seals, it follows the fortunes of various outlaw heroes as they move through a world of treacherous officials, jealous toadies, bullying jailers, hired assassins, foolhardy generals and cannibalistic innkeepers.
This volume contains some of the most famous scenes in the novel, starting with the episode in which Wu Song gets drunk at the tavern, ascends the pass in late evening and kills a notorious man-eating tiger with his bare hands. His subsequent encounter with his midget brother's flirtatious wife, Jinlian or Golden Lotus, and her vain attempt to seduce him lead into a tale of adultery, callous murder and bloody vengeance. The second half of the book is concerned with Song Jiang's attempts to serve out his prison sentence honorably and avoid becoming an outlaw, until he is unjustly condemned to death for a misconstrued poem. Towards the end of this volume we meet the violent Li Kui, variously known as Iron Ox or Black Whirlwind, who also turns out to have a way with tigers. This volume consists of chapters 23 to 43 of the full 120-chapter version of the novel by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong. It is the first English translation based on this version.
Customer Reviews:
A Chinese Classic Brilliantly Translated to English.......2005-01-09
The Marshes of Mount Liang is one of the great works of ancient Chinese literature. The father and son team of John and Alex Dent-Young have done a brilliant job of translating the Shui-hu Zhuan by the 14th century author Shi Nai-an from ancient Chinese into contemporary English. Although this is the 2nd volume of the 5 volume book, this review easily applies to all 5 volumes. The novel is set around 1100 during the Northern Song Dynasty. The story revolves around 108 heroes from throughout China who fall afoul of the law or the corrupted law, as the emperor is surrounded by evil and malicious advisors. The series describes how each of the herores makes his way to the Marshes of Mount Liang, a giant outlaw sanctuary. The theme is that the heroes would like to serve the emperor (who himself as the son of Heaven is blameless), but the Imperial Court is infested with corrupt vermin. The first half of this series describes the gathering together of these heroes. There are a number of adventures after all have reached the marshes and are seeking the Imperial Pardon. And then after they are pardoned, that last book deals with their work under the emperor and the ill fates that happen to many of the party. Besides creating a translation that flows very smoothly (despite being over 2000 pages in all 5 volumes), the Dent-Youngs have used epithets and nicknames for the Heroes (e.g., Twin Rods, the Monk, Opportune Rain, White Water Dragon, etc.) that make it much easier for English speakers to follow the actions of the different heroes. Otherwise, it would be like sorting out the characters of a Tolstoy novel, but worse. Another plus to the translators is that they have not shied away from the cannibalism, crude language and other violent descriptions that previous translators had felt necessary to edit out. I have read all 5 volumes and heartily recommend them all!
Interesting work by the translation isn't top notch.......2003-09-17
The novel is no doubt one of the great masterpieces of Chinese literature. Yet, the tranlsation isn't that well executed and much of the original flavor has been lost in the process. Quite a pity.
Wonderful Tales.......2000-01-17
This wonderful and amazing book should delight anyone who has any interest in China, and perhaps even a great many who don't, so long as they have at least a sense of humor and a sense of adventure. Here, in relatively short, action-packed chapters, a large cast of well-defined characters, with nicknames such as "Iron Ox" (a.k.a. "The Black Whirlwind"), "Bee Sting Huang," "The Three-Inch Poxy Midget," "Short-Arse Wang," "The Magic Messenger," and "The Opportune Rain," to name a few, hurry you irresistibly along through stories of heroic combat, political intrigue, judicial corruption, last-minute rescue from execution, drunken brawling, adultery, revenge, murder, cannibalism, you name it. The book amuses your sense of adventure in a subtler sense, too, in that you get caught up in time travel and experiences of cultural difference and strangeness that make this narrative unlike anything you've ever read before--really one of a kind.
In terms of style, for example, the translators have worked hard to give you a feel for how perhaps this "novel," a vast collection of diverse tales, was originally derived from or always close to conventions of oral storytelling: characters are dismissed from the scene with verbal formulas like "we say no more of him"; the audience is sometimes primed for action, like a barehanded fight with a tiger, with the comment, "it's slow in the telling, but it happens in a flash"; and the storyteller/narrator sometimes draws himself up to deliver a short, often humorous poem to commemorate or point the moral to what you feel must have been a familiar tale to the audience. The greatest triumph of the book for me, though, in terms of style--and it's certainly related to this matter of oral storytelling--is that the characters, all of whom have plenty to say out loud, speak in distinct styles or accents: colloquial and even slangy for low-life types and the rough-and-ready sense of manliness many of the characters aim to project, but sometimes almost comically formal and elaborate in scenes where characters meet and strive to outdo each other in politeness and a sense of honor.
In terms of what's happening, too, you are carried away into a wonderfully unfamiliar world. Take this matter of the cannibalism, for example, which has often been suppressed in earlier translations of this ancient saga. In their little shop of horrors, the inn by the great tree at Crossways Rise, Zhang Qing, "The Gardener," and his wife, Sister Sun, "The Ogress," drug the wine of hapless travelers, chop up the hefty ones for sale as buffalo meat to people thereabouts, and "turn the skinny ones into mince meat for pie fillings." When Wu Song, one of the heroes of the tale, rescues himself from an attempt by "The Ogress" to carve him up, "The Gardener" realizes they're dealing with someone special, someone with The Right Stuff, Chinese style: he bows to Wu Song, prostrates himself and loudly regrets that his wife "couldn't see what was staring her in the face." The hero, "seeing the husband's manner was so correct," not only releases "The Ogress," but laughs it up with both of them and joins them in a feast (not on mince pies). "The Gardener," to make conversation, says he has to be careful about whom he kills. If he and his wife were "to meddle with"--that is, make mince pies out of--any of the young women who make their living as traveling performers, for example, word might get out and someone "might proclaim it from the stage" that he's no "gentleman." Wow, what an insult! And what an injustice! The incongruities here seem to me wild and funny. But the underlying truth, I suppose, is that we're traveling, as readers, through a world whose values differ from our own in ways that often amuse, sometimes shock, and (at least for me) always fascinate. "Murder one can forgive," as one of the heroes elsewhere says, proverbially, expecting everyone to nod in agreement, "but not an insult to one's feelings." Oh? How would that play in Peoria?
Some readers of this review may be put off by observing that the present volume is the second in John and Alex Dent-Young's on-going translation of this classical Chinese narrative, the SHUIHU ZHUAN, more generally known in the West as THE WATER MARGIN. The first volume, which they title THE BROKEN SEALS, is also in print with the same publisher, of course; but the important thing to say in the present context is that this second volume stands very well on its own, and in fact contains some of the most famous and arresting episodes. For "episodic" is the right way to describe it, I think. The book as a whole (I'm waiting for their translation of the rest of it!) seems to have a large, wave-like rhythm, as these ambiguous outlaw-heroes, outcasts in a divinely inspired but humanly corrupt imperial system, full of toadies, hypocrites and cowardly cheats, gradually converge on a mountain stronghold near the marshes of Mt. Liang. But the real fascination and life of the book for me are more immediate: they lie in the moment-by-moment rendering of the characters and their actions, narrated in this new translation with unmatched vigor, humor and colloquial ease; the insights you get into daily life of Chinese peddlers, soldiers, petty bureaucrats, bawds, outcasts, gentlemen, and countless others; and (as I've suggested) the really absorbing experience you get of seeing what very different things people from another culture--and not only, I suspect, in days gone by--cherish or take for granted. Treat yourself to a classic but completely novel novel!
Customer Reviews:
Splendid piece of work.......2007-07-06
This book is a gem, it has very witty sentence structures that make you laugh out loud. It equally articulates the many phases that man goes through in life very aptly, using the tiger as a fine metaphor. A treasure that you can revisit and pass on from one generation to the next. For me it's R.K. Narayan's most profound book- indeed one must have lived fully, in order to write it down this succintly.
The Folkloric Imagination.......2007-06-28
I have always loved this book, and it prompted me to read all of R.K. Narayan's books, though to be honest, it is not his masterpiece (that would be either The Guide, Malgudi Days as a whole, or The Financial Expert). Yet this book does capture a sense of Narayan's unique genius, his ability to write myth and folkore as a living force that can exist side by side with cars, film crews, and the entire panoply of modern India.
I taught this book in a Freshman Composition course, and the students were rather divided on its merits. Some found it too "simple," having trouble accepting a book that begins as the memoirs of a captive tiger (which Narayan is at no great pains to keep intact), only to jump off to other narratives and points of view. The key to keep in mind is that Narayan is writing this book from the tradition of folklore and myth, where tigers can talk--yet are not bound by our ponderous modern notions of "realism." Indeed, though a modern work, many of the characters and situations in this book seem lifted out of folklore, as brilliant translated and realized by Narayan (much as he retold the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and others). On the surface, it is a simple story, well-told, yet has powerful undercurrents, particularly on the purpose of one's life, and the contradictions of each "path" we choose. The relationship of the Raja with the holy man is brilliant, particularly as Narayan allows us to see the messiness of cutting one's self off to follow a path of individual salvation.
A short book, but one that I return to often. To truly enjoy it, it's important not to impose a Western perspective on it, or even look for "novelistic" elements in the narrative. Simply read it and let yourself fall into Narayan's folkloric world, which exist as much here as in some enchanted world at the beginning of history.
Did I mention the book is often hilarious as well?
The Book You've Been Looking For.......2007-02-18
Original, entertaining, deeply thoughtful, and ultimately profoundly spiritual, this simple book takes the reader on an adventure within the being of a magnificent tiger. The tiger evolves from a proud, ruthless, and mighty ruler of the jungle to a sadly domesticated circus creature to a spiritually aware and transfigured being. His growth is mirrored in the life of his "master," to whom he refers from the very start of this account and whom we finally meet toward its glorious end. Along the path of the tiger's evolution, we also meet many an animal and human whose essential personalities and quirks are clearly drawn. The reader can easily overlook Narayan's inconsistent narrative voice, which is sometimes from within the tiger himself and sometimes from the third person. Too, one is amused by the absurdity of Indian bureaucracy and corruption as "officials" at one point try to figure out what to do with the tiger as he freely roams from village to village, and the book is flavored by India's "gestalt." But simple spiritual messages are delivered in the last 25 pages or so as the master and tiger make their way to the master's retreat and reside there in peace: "It's often said that God made man in his own image, it's also true that man makes God in his own image." "When you address a prayer to God, you are only praying to yourself...or at least you are entitled to half that prayer...". "...only the foolish waste their lives in fighting."
I wonder if the author of "The Life of Pi" is familiar with this work. Also, the author of "Water for Elephants" would love this work. Narayan is a world-class author who deserves to be read, particularly now as the world lurches toward a delusional catastrophe.
Excellent.......2005-04-06
I had to read this for a class and I thorougly enjoyed it. It's a simple read but there's so much in there for you to think about. I would very strongly suggest A Tiger for Malgudi!
What's wrong with being a beast?.......2003-01-25
The protagonist of this story is a tiger! He is young and ferocious (as we all fancy we are), he faces the cruelties of the world (being made into a show animal), he reacts through murder and carnage (as might be natural for a tiger), and he evolves into a philosophical and detached being, no longer quite " a beast."
The story of his evolution into an enlightened soul is uplifting.
The message, I think, is that every soul, not just human, has a consciousness, and strives for something.
The proof in the power of Narayan's crystal clear narrative is that the reader feels for the tiger, respects him, and admires him for the soul he has become. (Few lucky folks can attain the state of this smart cat!) Like many Narayan stories, he tackles a challenging premise and makes it appear effortless.
READ THIS! READ THIS!
Customer Reviews:
She has written better!.......2006-04-14
I am a big fan of Sandra Brown. In fact the last book i have read by her was 'Envy' , by which i was so impressed that i had to read all her books, but somehow this one didn't live upto my expectations. Don't get me wrong. This was a good romance if that is all you are looking for... There was a depth to the characters, sexual tension was there, there were misunderstandings, insecurities,there was Gorgeous Philandering Hero and beautiful, shy but spirited heroine. In fact this was all a simple romance is supposed to be and that was the problem i had . It felt like i have read all this before, not this book but the story was just not... original, which i do agree not many romances are anyway but when you pick up Sandra Brown Novel you just expect something more than an average romance. Besides the engaging story you get witty and original dialogues, much more exciting sexual tension and hero you fall in love with but this one didn't do that for me.
Herione was also very confused. I didn't understand her need to keep her marriage free from any physical intimacy when she had already been intimate with her husband before marriage and she knew she had already fell in love with him and holding back nothing could make her pain for leaving him less. And then there was this matter of her running away from sticky situations. How could you like someone like that? i didn't
Her better romances are 'adam's fall','texas Sage','envy','bittersweet rain'.
standard Sandra B 101.......2005-10-27
This book incorporates all the standard elements from the Sandra Brown School of Romance:
Hot, steamy scenes......CHECK.
Flowery, verbose descriptions of love scenes ["portals of her womanhood"; "petals of her femininity"; "throbbing bulge of his manhood" ..you get it]......CHECK
A "plot" that will allow the heroine to engage in over-the-top sex with the hero but still wonder if he loves her back as he remains strangely tongue-tied in this department, thereby allowing the book to drag on to 200 pages.......CHECK
and of course, the standard Sandra obsession with illicit, forbidden love/sex...here the hero's mother continues to romance her ex-husband (a sheik no less!) who has his own family in Riyadh.
The result is a standard, time tested formulaic and inane drivel that is a very light and enjoyable read. Perfect as a beach or end-of-the day read. I can see myself reading it again in a couple of years. I for one, love her love her older romance books. They are so light and mindless that they are great fun. Isnt that what we really look for in a romance novel.
Pure escapist love story.......2005-10-17
Okay - so the plot is a little far-reaching and unrealistic. The hero is agressively over-confident, and the heroine frustratingly runs away from conflicts instead of confronting them with open communication. But who cares when the sensuality factor is sky-high! So is the beautifully descriptive writing. This is a book for getting lost in a romantic fantasy adventure in luscious settings such as a tropical Caribbean island and a horse-breeding plantation in Virginia. It's a magical feel-good romance.
one of brown's best romance hits!.......2005-09-27
i'm not going to bother you with the storyline of tiger prince. what i will say is it is one of sandra brown's best love stories. she has a talent for making readers disappear from their routine lifestyle and reappear into her storylines. i thought love's encore was her best work but after reading tiger prince i claim both as top reading material! if you enjoy a good romance story pick up tiger prince. you'll find yourself loving the handsome hero, prince derek and envy caren, the woman he desires above all others.
Hot, Steamy and Wonderful.......2005-07-01
Oh, I loved this one. Like `Adam's Fall', this book just had the magic touch. I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. Every last word. The two leading characters are great together. And the sex, TALK ABOUT HOT!! The prince was amazing; the 16 year old sister was a nice touch. The only thing that could have made this better was if she had been pregnant in the end. I Loved it, Loved it, Loved it. I definitely recommend!
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