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- a room for what?
- To get a room of one's own
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A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf
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To the Lighthouse
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ASIN: 0156787334 |
Amazon.com
Surprisingly, this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet conversational--and completely entertaining--walk around the history of women in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, all the while lampooning the chauvinistic state of university education in the England of her day. When she concluded that to achieve their full greatness as writers women will need a solid income and a privacy, Woolf pretty much invented modern feminist criticism.
Book Description
Why is it that men, and not women, have always had power, wealth, and fame? Woolf cites the two keys to freedom: fixed income and one’s own room. Foreword by Mary Gordon.
Download Description
" A remarkable work in both the history English literary criticism and feminist theory, Virginia Woolf?
Customer Reviews:
unavailable..........2007-09-09
after i ordered this book, the distributors let me know instantly that they no longer had the book on shelf, and instantly refunded my account. speedy service is one thing, but keeping the customer informed is another...thanks
A must have.......2007-01-03
A timeless essay not only for women. Good hard binding that will keep. It's a must have if you like English literature.
A woman's liberation classic .......2006-05-23
This is a beautifully written and highly enjoyable exploration of the history of women in writing. It is also a plea for the liberation of women, and their full entrance into the world of Literature. Woolf argues that a woman needs financial independence, a room , that is a space of her own, if she is to be able to truly create. She also needs the kind of access to everyday life that women confined to hearth and home were as she sees it, traditionally denied.
She urges that Woman enter into all fields of writing, and develop in directions they had no opportunity to develop in before.
She also perhaps reflecting on her own experience and nature argues for the androgynous nature of the creator, seeing in Shakespeare, Keats and certainly Proust a strong feminine element.
Woolf anticipates and perhaps in some sense helps creates the vast flourishing of Literature written by women which will come in the decades after her.
a room for what?.......2006-03-14
This essay reunites several works from Virginia Woolf about the right of women to possess a place - a room- to read, write and work, intended that not as domestic work as was usual for women during many times.
This book is very good. The problem with it today is many people uses this work only as a vindicating feminist weapon, while few people has truly read it, but remember, Virginia Woolf wanted that room not for itself, but for a finality: to do an intellectual task inside. Some people forgets this fundamental fact.
To get a room of one's own.......2006-02-17
Woolf's argument that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction," holds true not just for fiction but for any activity a woman wants to pursue. The early 20th century essay is still widely relevant, and not just in developing countries.
On the reading style, this essay is much more accessible, compared to say `Mrs. Dalloway' and `To the Lighthouse'. Reading it felt like having a conversation with someone who was not just erudite, but also reflected some of my own thoughts and beliefs. Especially as I believe that economic independence and resource availability could be key to overturning the notions of sexual inequality.
Many thanks to Woolf for airing these thoughts and inspiring the rest of us.
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
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Uncertainty, Information and Communication: Essays in Honor of Kenneth J. Arrow, Volume III
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521327040 |
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Professor Kenneth J. Arrow is one of the most distinguished economic theorists. He has played a major role in shaping the present state of the subject and now is to be honored by the publication of three volumes of essays on economic theory. Each volume deals with a different area of economic theory. The books include contributions by some of the best economic theorists from the United Stated, Japan, Israel and Europe. This third volume is entitled Uncertainty, information, and communication.
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- could have been great . . . but isn't
- Upset by Disney urbanizing the State
- Not at all what I expected
- Just the thing to read while you wait for the parade!
- Fundimentally flawed, but a fun think piece.
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Team Rodent : How Disney Devours the World
Carl Hiaasen
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ASIN: 0345422805
Release Date: 1998-05-05 |
Amazon.com
Let's get one thing straight: Carl Hiaasen doesn't like the Walt Disney Company. Whenever the giant entertainment conglomerate stumbles, as it did with its proposed Civil War theme park in Virginia, Hiaasen cheers. When a rhinoceros mysteriously dies at Disney's new theme park, Animal Kingdom, Hiaasen secretly hopes for the worst, because, as he writes, "no scandal is so delectable as a Disney scandal."
A native of Florida, author of such thrillers as Lucky You and Strip Tease, and a journalist for the Miami Herald, Hiaasen comes by his dislike for Disney honestly. He has witnessed the relentless success of the Disney machine firsthand with the development of Disney World and other properties around Orlando. In Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World, Hiaasen paints a witty and sarcastic portrait in this nonfiction account of a company who can control the press, manipulate local governments, and because it's Disney, get away with it. Team Rodent is a quick, entertaining read that even the most loyal Disney shareholder (except maybe Michael Eisner) will find enlightening and amusing. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
"Disney is so good at being good that it manifests an evil; so uniformly efficient and courteous, so dependably clean and conscientious, so unfailingly entertaining that it's unreal, and therefore is an agent of pure wickedness. . . . Disney isn't in the business of exploiting Nature so much as striving to improve upon it, constantly fine-tuning God's work."
--from TEAM RODENT
TEAM RODENT
How Disney Devours America
"Revulsion is good. Revulsion is healthy. Each of us has limits, unarticulated boundaries of taste and tolerance, and sometimes we forget where they are. Peep Land is here to remind us; a fixed compass point by which we can govern our private behavior. Because being grossed out is essential to the human experience; without a perceived depravity, we'd have nothing against which to gauge the advance or decline of culture; our art, our music, our cinema, our books. Without sleaze, the yardstick shrinks at both ends. Team Rodent doesn't believe in sleaze, however, nor in old-fashioned revulsion. Square in the middle is where it wants us all to be, dependable consumers with predictable attitudes. The message, never stated but avuncularly implied, is that America's values ought to reflect those of the Walt Disney Company, and not the other way around."
Customer Reviews:
could have been great . . . but isn't.......2007-07-20
I've never read anything else by Carl Hiaasen, but I know that he's a well-regarded novelist, and judging from the quality of (most of) his prose is this extended essay, it's a well-deserved reputation.
However, this book falls way short of the mark if you consider its aim to be exposing the Disney coprporation as a monstrous devourer of world culture. There's nothing fundamentally flawed with Hiaasen's approach -- he just didn't go far enough.
Look, I'm a Disney fan. I've got a Disney DVD collection consisting of nearly 100 titles, a soundtrack CD collection of nearly as many, and I've been to the Florida theme parks nine times. I've also got a decent collection of books about the place, which is what led me to "Team Rodent." So count me firmly in the pro-Disney column. That doesn't mean that I'm going to blindly lash out at anti-Disney material, however, especially if it's well-researched and fair-handed.
I'm not sure that Hiaasen's book is either. He obviously despises Disney and all that they represent, but he can't really seem to come up with a reason -- good, poor, or otherwise -- WHY he hates Disney. He spends the first few pages talking about Disney's store in Times Square and its proximity to smut shops, and praises the smut shops in comparison -- not for their virtues in and of themselves, which he seems to find nonexistent, but for the mere fact that they represent the dark underbelly of life that has no place in Disney's world. Hiaasen's beef seems to lie is his assertion that Disney is attempting to clean up the entire world by virtue of selling its brand of purity across the globe. But why is this a problem? Obviously, that dark underbelly of base human desire and wants -- which probably ARE essential to our very natures in some way -- can never and will never be purged. It's not like Disney is attempting to purge it (except maybe from Times Square, according to the book), so why should people despise Disney for providing a safe haven for people to avoid the seamier side of life? Hiaasen's argument, such as it is, makes little sense.
The worst section of the book relates the sad tale of a female rhinoceros purchased by Disney for its Animal Kingdom theme park. The rhino died in captivity, and the autopsy revealed that the death was caused by infection resultant from a large piece of wood having been forcibly put into the rhino and left there in a place where no foreign object belonged. It was also proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that this had happened prior to Disney's purchase of the rhino, and that it was IN NO WAY Disney's fault. Hiaasen points all of this out, and yet the tone of his writing makes it very plain that he wants us to associate this tragedy with Disney; he actually wishes that it HAD been Disney's fault. This is the worst kind of muck-raking.
That's not to say that the book is all of that type, however. There are good passages about raunchy lyrics on a Disney-released CD, and a couple of scary parts about Disney security. It's obvious that the Disney company has made some serious mistakes in its history, and all of those stories deserve to be told.
But make no mistake. This book, though entertaining and easy to read, is overpriced, underresearched, and deficient in its reasoning. It is a screed, nothing more. That it is a screed with at least some basis in truth, and one written by an obviously talented writer, makes it of moderate interest . . . but that's ALL it is.
The definitive anti-Disney tome has yet to be written, as far as I know. When it is finally produced, I will welcome it with great interest.
Upset by Disney urbanizing the State.......2007-04-17
A novelist and Florida columnist laments the overwhelming presence of the Walt Disney Company, especially in his state.
Hiaasen blames Disney for the ugly sprawl that is Orlando while pointing out that Disney World itself is not subject to urban planning regulations. On this count he is accurate. When Disney moved in, all land they purchased seemed to be exempt from many regulations. But as much as he laments on the evils of the Mouse, the largest damage is done by all the smaller companies that build up around Disney to take advantage of the millions of tourist flocking to the Magic Kingdom.
But he fails to mentions all the jobs they provide. Though many employees say they do not like their rules and regulations. All successful companies must have them, especially when your business is the entertainment and safety of children. And lets be clear, all children love the Disney experience.
Hiaasen asserts that Disney building their store was the genesis that cleaned up Time Square in New York. While in truth, they only agreed to open their store if Giuliani promised and followed through to clean up that part of town. And the Mayor was able to accomplish the required goals, at least on the surface.
It is worth reading, but it is not up to his normal standards. It would have been better if the author used his investigative skills to gather some facts. This small book it is a very short and easy read. There is strong language.
Not at all what I expected.......2007-03-22
To begin with, it was a lot shorter read than I had hoped. For the price of the book, it seemed more like a phamphlet than a book.
Secondly, it certainly wasn't very Hiaasen-like. As an admirer of his fiction, it seemed that he abandoned his writing style for this book. It appeared to be more of a personal rant than an enlightening look at Team Rodent.
Just the thing to read while you wait for the parade!.......2007-01-11
The basic premise of this little treatise is solid. The Walt Disney Company is too big for its britches, too controlling, to paranoid and just not as good for society as they'd like you to think. Okay, so a few more details to back all of that up would be nice. But too many details would probably make this book far less readable and not nearly as enjoyable.
To be fair, Carl Hiassen lays a lot of the damage wreaked on his beloved state of Florida on the neighbors that Disney attracts. Of course, as Hiassen points out, the mouse guys insulate themselves with a healthy buffer of manicured "wilderness" between them and their lower class hangers-on like the outlet malls, themed dinner theaters and miniature golf courses. But he rightfully takes Team Rodent to task for their anal desire to control the information and image that filters out of their controlled environment in exchange for gazillions of dollars from tourist and entertainment seeker wallets.
Even though this book is almost 9 years old, Hiassen's wit and style make it an enjoyable (albeit a very quick 83 page read). If anything, time has simply validated a lot of the points that he makes. Something tells me that you won't find it at many bookstores in "the World" as they like to call it, so order it before you head to Orlando. And just for fun, make a show of reading it on one of the benches at EPCOT.
Fundimentally flawed, but a fun think piece........2006-07-22
In Team Rodent, Carl Hiaasen delivers an honestly entertaining picture of his own reservations at what he sees as the Disney Corporation's attempts at becoming a culturally omnipotent force. This piece is more of a political pamphlet in format: it's too long to be considered a simple essay, but it's certainly short enough to be read in a single sitting.
As I suggest in the title of my review, Hiaasen's biggest issue with this piece is the fundimental flaws that underlie this work. Hiaasen's thesis isn't really much of a thesis at all: Disney sucks, and they're gradually taking over the world. Whether or not Disney sucks is certainly a matter of taste. The largest part of Disney's product and service line is devoted towards entertainment for children and families, which is naturally not the preferred choice of entertainment for intelligent, literate adults, myself included. No one is obliged to love Mickey Mouse. If a parent who dislikes Mickey finds themselves buying products bearing Mickey and Co., it's certainly regrettable but they're hardly the only parents who have found themselves suckered into supporting obnoxious and bewildering children's entertainment.
Whether Disney is taking over the world is yet again a matter of perspective. Disney certainly acts like the megacorporation that it is, but it's hardly the only megacorporation out there. This doesn't necessarily exempt Disney from well-intentioned criticism, and Hiaasen does present some fairly potent items: Disney's maintenance of an autonomous hegemony over its occupied land in Central Florida, the notorious dictatorial micromanagement of now-former Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, Disney's shoddy business practices and shady legal dealing surrounding its 1980s Country Walk housing development, and Disney's ethically sketchy policies of bribery for positive news coverage, among others.
Yet, some of Hiaasen's criticisms seem misdirected, if not elusive. Hiaasen spends the early part of the book bemoaning the notorious Disneyfication of Times Square, and seems to place the blame squarely on Disney for this. Yet, he ignores the facilitation of the Disney takeover through Rudolph Giuliani's policies, which it could be argued are vastly more malignant than the simple presence of a Disney Store on the Great White Way.
Hiaasen also points to the example of the Insane Clown Posse's short-lived recording career with a Disney-owned record label. Hiaasen does little here but muddle his point--he certainly dislikes Disney's Bowdlerization of culture for blatant kiddie-centric consumerism, but he sees nothing hypocritical in ridiculing Disney for both releasing and recalling the Insane Clown Posse. Hiaasen neither advances nor supports any clear, cogent points other than his distaste for rap music and his drive to engage in gleeful schadenfreude against Disney whether it's journalistically sensible or not.
In yet another part of the book, Hiaasen criticizes the opening of a Disney cruise line which docks at a private island which had previously been used as a stopover for drug smugglers (which it should be noted, obviously had no connection to Disney's later purchase of the island). Hiaasen criticizes Disney for providing a tourism option so far removed from the actual cultural environment of the Carribean, but it seems unlikely that Disney would be making unrealistic promises of an authentic Carribean cultural experience. Even Jamaica, an island noted for its poverty and unrest, has sanitized resorts just as far from authentic as the Disney experience, operated by companies with no relationship with Disney.
Hiaasen makes it clear that he finds the environment around Disney World to be ugly, describing the tourist-oriented sprawl of central Florida. Yet, just as ugly would be a Florida deprived of the jobs which Disney supports--Sure, Disney is a big, soulless company, but they are a massive force in the Florida economy, likely providing the livelihood for any number of families.
It should be noted that, despite these flaws, the book does not suffer from lack of readability. Hiaasen is engaging with his material, despite the problematic nature of his core ideas. His descriptions of his experiences at a Disney-sponsered press event featuring a journalist who faced KGB detention in the Soviet Union. Hiaasen's work would have made a much better long magazine article than a book, but it's still very enjoyable.
If you're fond of relatively skilled op-ed writing, Hiaasen's work here is certainly worth prerusal. This is not a piece of investigative journalism per-se, and there are many better examples of extensive critical writings on Disney corporate culture. Hiaasen's book is at least worthwhile as a quick and easily digestible version of the arguments.
Book Description
The contributors to this volume examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past. Bridging the disciplines of social history, cultural anthropology, and economics, the volume marks a major step in our understanding of the cultural basis of economic life and the sociology of culture.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2005-03-30
This collection of essays is insightful but far from comprehensive, a good starting point for further discussion on commodification.
Average customer rating:
- Great history with medium depth on the cigar review
- Great work. One of the "must haves."
- Excellent historical reference
- Best havana reference available in the US
- Unquestionably the finest book available on Cuban cigars
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The Havana Cigar: Cuba's Finest
Charles Del Todesco
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
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Cigars
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Cigar Companion (Connoisseur's Guides)
ASIN: 0789203278 |
Customer Reviews:
Great history with medium depth on the cigar review.......2006-05-31
I really appreciated this book for the photography and the explanation of the manufacturing process. Del Todesco does a great job of walking the reader through the myriad processes of creating a puro. The only thing about this book that left me a little disappointed was the review of cigars in the back. It seems a little difficult to review a cigar in one sentence, especially cigars that are as complex as a Montecristo #2 or a Hoyo de Monterrey...but time and again, he sums up an otherwise world famous cigar as "suitable for a beginner" or "mild, not much to recommend about this cigar". It just struck me as odd to have a compilation as deep as what is presented in this book and then give the cigars an extremely indifferent and passing glance en masse. The first 130 pages were interesting no matter what level of aficianado you are...the encyclopedia could use a good second edition enhancement.
Great work. One of the "must haves.".......2005-11-26
I agree with Van55. (What else is new?!) This is a fantastic book. I bought my copy used through Amazon over a year ago, and I am still making reference to it. If you are a fan of quality Cuban cigars, you need this volume along with Min Ron Nee's work. In contrast to Min Ron Nee's book, this one has much more on the history and production of the cigars. The photos, many full page, are colorful and moving.
While this book does have descriptions and evaluations of various vitolas, the ones in MRN's book are much more thorough and complete. That does not mean that the ones you will find in the book are not useful, but they are best treated as an overview. Don't look for detail here. But then again, this book is less than half the price of the MRN book, and it is much easier to find.
Again, you probably need both books, but buy this one first. You won'd be disappointed. Makes a great coffee table book too!
Excellent historical reference.......2005-06-13
I found this book at Amazon while searching for the second printing of "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars" by Min Ron Nee, that I understand is soon to be released for sale within the United States.
Mr. del Todesco's book, though now nearly ten years old, remains a valuable addition to the library of anyone who has an interest in Cuban cigars. The first 130 or so pages contain a detailed history of Cuba's cigar-making as well as a seed-to-cigar description of the creation of Cuban cigars. Most of these pages consist of excellent photographs of Cuba and of the farmers, torcedors and others whose skill and knowledge contribute to the manufacture of, arguably, the best cigars on earth. The last half of the book consists of sepia photgraphs and brief descriptions and tasting notes of the brands (marcas) and sizes (vitolas) of Cuban cigars that were in commercial production in 1996. Comparing these notes to more recent reviews of examples of later productions of these cigars is fascinating.
I'm glad that I happened to have stumbled onto the existence of this beautiful volume.
Best havana reference available in the US.......2004-12-10
This is a great reference book for specific havana brands. Life sized images of most cigars from nearly all brands is included along with vitola information and author's tasting notes/suggestions. This is in addition to general cigar information like history of tobacco, tobacco cultivation and creating a cigar. The specific details are a bit dated (1997) but still the best I have seen published in the US. However, Min Ron Nee's text is superior if you can obtain it.
Unquestionably the finest book available on Cuban cigars.......1999-07-05
With the plethora of books currently available on cigars in general and on Habanos in particular, this is (still) the one item no cigar aficionado dare be without.
Book Description
From esteemed New Yorker writer Mark Singer comes this cautionary tale of the Penn Square Bank, the oil and gas broker in an Oklahoma City shopping mall whose collapse in 1982 staggered America's banking industry. Recounting the whole spectacular story and its colorful characters, Singer makes brilliantly (and hilariously) clear what actually happened and why it had to happen in boom-time Oklahoma. Nowhere else did money flow in quite the same spontaneous fashion. "[A] tale of wonderful verve" (New York Times), Funny Money comes to life through Singer's vivid prose and continues to resonate in today's culture of corporate corruption.
Customer Reviews:
So that's what happened to the oil business.......2007-09-23
Well written and enjoyable - not a easy thing for such a potentially droll subject. Made a living shutting down oil companies for a while - now I know why.
Entertaining, but a little light.......2006-10-03
As one who lived through this, and is trained in economics and finance, and knew several of the individuals of the era, I enjoyed this book, but found it not as thorough nor displaying a comprehensive grasp of the context of the times as it could have. I felt like the author was striving more to be entertaining and engaging, than to provide a comprehensive historical record or in-depth economic analysis. I would recommend Philip Zweig's "Belly Up, the Story of Penn Square Bank" in its place for those seeking a more in-depth history. Zweig's book is better researched and also does an excellent job of communicating the flavor and energy of those years. I might give Singer's book a 3.6, but I think a 4.0 is too high.
What everyone needs to know.......2005-07-28
Mark Singer has written one of my favorite books ever. It is simple to read and simply hilarious to think that a bank in a shopping maul almost brought down the entire banking industry of the United States and hence the world. Mark Singer's understanding of how this happened and the characters involved in the fiascal leaves the reader with a more profound and terrifying idea of what makes the world go round.
Corrections to reviews.......2003-01-06
As someone who has grown up in Oklahoma City and graduated from high school the year that the collapse had happened, I knew of some of the persons involved through other people.
The red piggy bank logo belonged to Sooner Federal Savings and Loan, and sat on top of 50 Penn Place.
Penn Square Bank had built what is now known as The Tower a couple of blocks down the street. They never moved into it, they were shut down while they were still inside the north end of Penn Square Mall, and the building was finished out after the closure.
Singer has relatives here in Oklahoma in the oil business, so he had some insight into the things that had happened.
If you want more detail, Belly Up goes into much more greater detail and is harsher in it's treatment of the characters involved.
Okiesmo Lives.......2001-02-20
Growing up in Oklahoma my only real memory of the Penn Square Bank failure was when they pulled down the red-piggy-bank logo from the top of the building. It was something that was talked about on the national news every evening, but it wasn't well understood just how such a small local bank could cause such a ruckus.
Mr. Singer's book explains what was at the bottom of all of the trouble, how Penn Square fell from grace, and in the process of doing so provides interesting commentary on Oklahoma culture, as well as some history and other facts pertaining to the oil business. The book is very well written and quick paced, providing just enough detail to be considered in depth, while not languishing on unnecessary detail.
It is interesting to remark that the same conditions that caused everyone to say oil at $100 per barrel was a no-brainer are those that caused people to put forth the indestructible nature of internet-retailing. The Okiesmo of wildcats in pursuit of oil bears striking resemblance to the aggressive idiocy of venture capitalists fighting to put money into business plans that ignored common sense.
This book is satisfying on a lot of levels, the depth of information on the figures behind the bankruptcy, the environment that spawned and incented those figures and also the culture, both nationally and locally, which created this collapse. This is a very interesting book, and I highly recommend it.
Book Description
When Jim Stiles moved west from Kentucky in the 1970s to make Moab, Utah, his home, that corner of the rural West had already endured decades of obscurity, a uranium boom and then a bust, and was facing an identity crisis. What kind of economy would prevent Moab from becoming yet another ghost town? For more than two decades, environmentalists in southeast Utah have had a simple answer to this question: replace extractive industries-mining, timber, and cattle-with an economy catering to "green" tourists with hotels, restaurants, and bars. They feel that if these lands can be spared further degradation by huge industries, the West could begin to thrive on something cleaner and more lucrative. But Stiles sees a downside to this seemingly idyllic vision. Bringing insight based on decades of residence in Moab, he makes a provocative and compelling argument that the economy most environmentalists hail as the solution to the woes of the rural West is in fact creating an unprecedented impact of its own. In recent years, Moab and other rural towns across the West have seen a massive influx of urbanites fleeing crowded cities in search of a simpler life. Yet Stiles also observes that these transplants are often unwilling to accept the isolation and lack of services that characterize genuine rural life. Believing themselves to be liberal, sensitive, enlightened environmentalists, they nevertheless bring with them exactly the type of lifestyle and ecological impact that they sought to leave behind and, in the process, create a community that no longer serves the native inhabitants. With a blend of travelogue, local color, and geography, Stiles engages readers with folksy humor while defending the lifestyle.
Customer Reviews:
Ed Abbey Lives - thanks Jim!.......2007-04-30
I met Jim Stiles years ago, when he was still rangering at Arches. I was one of those Abbey-seekers who had made a pilgrimage to Moab and Arches after reading Desert Solitaire ( this was September 1980, just before Reagan was elected and Everything changed ). I had found the site of Abbey's trailer, and his rusted septic tank and drainfield pipe. I had taken off my clothes and stood atop a rock to salute, as I recall, the spirit of everything Ed had written about. Ranger Jim came across this scene and said, understandably, "What the hell are you doing?". Well he was very civil and decent about it all. He confirmed I had found the sacred trailer site - heck, he even gave me a t-shirt with his infamous "Glen Canyon Damn" picture ( I still have it!).
Over the years I have enjoyed Jim's writings, and it is great to finally see him put it all in a book. Stiles definitely has the burr under his saddle that Abbey had, and it powers his prose better than most other "nature" writers in the 18 years we've been without Ed. I wish he'd write a novel, because I think he could bring the Monkey Wrench Gang into the 21st century, something we badly need.
I was in Moab, like I said, in 1980, and then again in 2003. Both times I ventured there in a VW Squareback ( Tradition!). I will admit that Moab was a LOT different 23 years later, though my teenage son and I still had a great visit. Christ it was hot! ( It was July, after all, with daytime temperatures as high as 116 degrees.) We explored Arches in the early-morning hours, swam and rafted in the hot afternoon ( and if that wasn't Pure Bliss I don't know what is ) and enjoyed good food and drink and an air-conditioned motel room in the evening. Moab is still a great place to visit, even if you are a low-impact non-biking non-jeeping old Abbey fan like me. Even on this second visit in 2003 I visited Ed's trailer site and easily found the septic tank and rusted pipe again, pretty much exactly as I had found it 23 years earlier. This time, however, I didn't take off my clothes, but instead read aloud the first chapter from Desert Solitaire to the land, to the place that inspired Ed to write his great book so long ago. No one was there ( in body at least ) but me. The timeless beauty and power of that place was - and, thankfully, still is - a real presence in the absolute quiet of that early morning.
Thanks for the great book, Jim. I hope it does well. Write on, brother. Write on.
The Future Of The West Is At Stake.......2007-04-20
Anyone who lives in a small, rural Western town, or anyone contemplating moving to, or, worse yet, just buying property in a small, rural Western town, definitely needs to read this book.
Stiles paints an unflinchingly accurate picture of how the tiny town of Moab became a crowded tourist town filled with fast-food joints and chain hotels. Longtime small business owners were forced out by the giant chain stores and T-shirt shops catering to out-of-town mountain bikers, Jeepers and ATVers. Alfalfa fields and orchards were sold to developers, who slapped up condos and luxury homes for mostly absentee owners, and conservative locals swamped by lycra-clad city dwellers. It's a sad and harsh reality, but Stiles manages quite a few laugh-out-loud moments: comedy is usually funny because it is so true.
The reason the book is important is that this phenomenon is repeating itself throughout the Western United States. Often local residents who may only make about $20,000 a year can no longer afford to live in the towns occupied by their families for generations. City dwellers take the equity from their city properties and invest it in rural land, driving prices out of sight, then bring their sharply different lifestyles to rural towns.
Most environmental groups have been completely silent on these issues, even as millions of new hikers trample the scenery into oblivion. Why? Perhaps because those same hikers and even some developers contribute hefty dollars to enviro groups. So while oil and gas companies contribute to the Bush administration, which then allows drilling on sensitive lands, environmental groups are running afoul of the same money trap--an ironic twist.
Of course the agent driving these ever-growing problems is our ever-expanding population, and Stiles is one of the few to tackle this problem publicly. Why can't our leaders even talk about this?
If you live in a small Western town, read this book, discuss it with your neighbors, and work with your local government to try and prevent this from happening to you.
If you are a city dweller contemplating a relocation or second-home purchase in a rural town, read this book and rethink your move. If you must move there, then stay there, work there, live there, don't build a giant mansion, be sensitive to the locals, try to get to know them. If you want their way of life, then LIVE IT, don't push your lifestyle onto them.
The West Under Seige.......2007-03-23
This is a GREAT book.
Tracing the growth of Moab, Jim Stiles has the huevos to take a long, cold look at what is happening in the Great American West. He has watched Moab (and, by extension, many other small Western towns) sucumb to carpet baggers, dirt pimps, speculators and, the cruelest irony of all, hoardes of nature-loving tourists encouraged by the "amenities economy".
Stiles takes on his friends as well as his enemies, and accuses enviromental groups of rolling over and playing dead while thousands of mountain bikers ride over their limp, unprotesting bodies on the way to Adventure Paradise. Stiles is neither a whiner nor a lamenter, and he shakes his fist at what he calls "enviropreneurs" out to make big bucks off public land. Commercialized nature theme parks are the future of the West, Stiles claims, reminding us of the debt we owe Edward Abbey when he coined the phrase "industrial tourism". Abbey was Stiles' mentor and friend.
Jim Stiles is a lively, accomplished writer, so this bitter pill is not too hard to swallow. Just be careful you don't choke while laughing out loud. Stiles is a very funny man and that's a good thing in these circumstances.
Average customer rating:
- prophetic
- Discovering a buried treasure
- As Usual, Wonderful Writing of Real Truth
- Wendell tells it like it is. Truth or Consequences
- This book should come with a warning label...
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The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
Wendell Berry
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
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The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land
ASIN: 0871568772 |
Amazon.com
The mid-20th-century environmental crisis that led to important protective legislation in the 1970s, is, to poet/farmer Wendell Berry's mind, also a crisis of character, agriculture, and culture. Because Americans are divorced from the land, they mistreat it; because they are divorced from each other, they mistreat those around them. Berry, writing in a prophetic mode, argues that if Americans are to heal the environmental wounds their land has suffered, they will also need to create more meaningful work, sustain happier and healthier lives, and return to what conservatives call "family values." The Unsettling of America is a quarter century old now, but most of its arguments remain current.
Book Description
Since its original publication in 1977, The Unsettling of America has been recognized as a classic of American letters. In it, Wendell Berry argues that good farming is a cultural development and spiritual discipline. But today's agribusiness takes farming out of its cultural context and away from families, and as a nation we are thus more estranged from the land - from the intimate knowledge, love, and care of it.
Sadly, as Berry notes in this edition, his arguments and observations are even more relevant than ever. We continue to suffer loss of community, the devaluation of human work, and the destruction of nature under an economics dedicated to the mechanistic pursuit of products and profits. Although "this book has not had the happy fate of being proved wrong," Berry writes, there are good people working "to make something comely and enduring of our life on this earth." Wendell Berry is one of those people, writing and working, as ever, with passion, eloquence, and conviction.
Customer Reviews:
prophetic.......2005-11-20
So many things talked about in this book have happened. There's things he talks of that seem unbelievable...but years ago he said there would be dairy farms here and beef farms there and the diverse farms would give way to specialization. That has happened. There's a good many points in this book that presents his views - and that of many Americans - straight up. Not everyone will agree. There are companies who say it's safe to use their chemical or it's only the other guy who's careless. Country and farms are disappearing today at a rate that most don't even realize. When it's all paved over or subdivided...reread this book.
Discovering a buried treasure.......2005-04-29
I grew up in Clarksville, TN, on the border with Guthrie, KY. Up the road not too far is Port Royal, KY, where one of the greatest living Americans still resides. He has lived there as long as I have been alive, and I am now over 30, but I had never heard of Wendell Berry until I had passed my thirtieth year. Were it not for the incomparable radio program "Unwelcome Guests", I may never have heard of him. It is a testament to the failure of our economy, education system, and culture, and it is why no thinking American doubts we are nearing a tragic and historic collapse; we are sliding fast down a snow-packed slope like a child on a greased sled. Our only short-term destiny is to smack into a tree.
"The Unsettling of America" is nearly as old as I am, and it is as alive and timely as the day it was written. Probably even more so, since its remedies are the salves for our national malady, and they need an even more urgent prescription and application today than they did 30 years ago. Berry not only succinctly and brilliantly describes how we lost our small farmers, he astutely ties that loss to the loss of culture, belonging, responsibility, community, and character we all feel and mourn in our modern lives, even if we don't understand or fully comprehend that empty feeling. It is, after all, called agri-CULTURE because the land is tied intimately with culture, and to convert agriculture into agribusiness is to divorce people from nature, from a responsibility towards nature, and from an understanding of her cycles and patterns, without which, we are incomplete; it is to convert all of us from nurturers into usurpers and exploiters, as Berry explains throughout.
So, this is not just a book about the loss of the small farmer. It is a book about our loss of liberty, independence, personal satisfaction, wealth, pride, mystery, and community. The way Berry weds these losses together throughout the book is a completely compelling. Berry's clean, beautiful, crystal clear prose moves deliberately, with a purposeful trajectory, and it effortlessly maintains a palpable weight of authority that can only be derived from real wisdom. He is a voice at once profoundly conservative and astutely liberal, or, in short, a real prophetic voice.
"The Unsettling of America" is indeed wise, and it was indeed prophetic. The dangerous excesses he foresaw 30 years ago have come to pass in ever accelerating fashion. His remedies absolutely essential for the preservation of America, and for that matter, the world. Everyone should read this book and read Wendell Berry in general. Should we carry on our culture after we smack that tree (we might, after all, break our necks), Wendell Berry will be remembered when Polk, Buchanan, Clinton, and Bush are long, long forgotten, or so we should all hope.
As Usual, Wonderful Writing of Real Truth.......2005-04-12
Wendell Berry's writings have to be the most to-the-point, profound and real about life in rural America, how it used to be, how it might still be, but how often it is not. 'The Unsettling of America' encapsulates this all with a strong and real writing style and which tells the truth about our current way of living.
I would recommend this book to all readers, country and city dwellers alike, as it is so telling and exposing of the mess we have made of our landscape, the reasons why, and how we might actually return it to being more vibrant and real.
I would also recommend reading "Against the Machine" by Nicols Fox, recently published, which goes into more detail about the destruction of people's lives by the 'machinery' of the system in which we live, and how we might stop this also.
Wendell tells it like it is. Truth or Consequences.......2005-03-07
Just simply blowed away by negative reviews of this book. I grew up on a small farm when you could still make a living there. Our rural community was much closer, neighborly, trusting, and thick with the smells, sounds and sights of country living. I left home at 18 traveling the world in our military and ran from that "work ethic and way of life" on the farm. Lived in some of this worlds largest cities discovering first hand all the reasons why country living was "paradise on earth."
Oh, I've heard all the urban preachers and their reasons why they love the city. I lived it!!!!!
Is there any wonder why higher income people are moving into rural america! Land prices are thru the roof, they come here with their city mind, mouth and motivations. Why? Because they want a view and try to escape all those negative things in the city. Not to mention raise their kids in a small coummunity in hopes of everyone and everything turning out ok. They don't understand farming communities, our culture, our history nor our way of life.
Ah! We are free! But wait, they come here and destroy our pastoral settings and fill the land with strip malls, fast food joints, quick marts and infrastructure that makes it "country no more."
If any farmer holds out in this "developers dream of a jauggernaut" these new "country folk" start raising cain about the country sights, smell and sounds and want the farmer gone.
Wendell is right on in this book. Oh sure there are bits and pieces of his opinion that rub some liberal wrong. But hey I'm sure a few conservatives cried foul too.
Open up your mind and heart. Look at the facts. Can you trust corporate america? Big brother? Individual selfishness and greed? A bank director and his real estate developer friend once told me that they had joined forces with our county commissioners and planning commission community and preach their "farming is dead lets split up the land and develope the farms" gospel. If they build people will come! Hmm, sounds like a movie I once saw. They are building and people are coming.
Reality of wendell's book tells it like it is. There has been a movement (I like the word conspiracy better but that will alienate a few) to industrialize american agriculture since 1940's. The corporate machine and its disciples have forclosed on many family farms, driven off the "inefficient", destroyed many lives, all in the name of progress!!!!!!
It is all about just a select few industrial size farmers doing business as corporations, corporate chemical company profits off corporate farmers, college/universities gifted $$$millions of dollars to report and publish thru sound science (you don't believe that do you?) the wonderful benefits of more food with less land, by less farmers and healthier for you. And oh yes, our environment will be cleaner because splicing plant genes with chemical compounds and breeding new GMO (genetically modified organisms)foods means the farmer uses less chemicals (is that what the chemical company wants to do, put itself out of business for the sake of humanity? -- remember a portion of your 401k is tied to that companies performance and if they don't do well, neither will you) Roundup Ready Corn/beans/cotton/wheat is here. Spray roundup on your lawn and it does what? Dies!! Put a teaspoon of pure roundup in your coffee each morning and stir, how long before you may come up with cancer or some other ailment? No! Corporate America and our Universities have managed to fill our food pipeline with RR products for years and you consume a portion of it everytime you dine. Just a few steady PPM on a weekly basis, you'll be fine and live to a ripe old age?
Thanks Wendell for preaching the TRUTH!!!!!!
This book should come with a warning label..........2004-03-06
I had to read this in high school. It is a dangerously seductive piece of propaganda that persuasively hits all the "right notes," especially for anyone with a muddle-headed agenda that exists in defiance of common sense. When looked at rationally, it is probably the single most evil, hate-filled piece of writing I have ever encountered. It could only have been written from one of two perspectives. Either the author has absolutely no understanding of the realities that make human life possible, or else he has a profound and deep-seated loathing of civilization. I am not exaggerating when I state my feeling that, if there is ever another truly dangerous ideology that, like Nazism, will be embraced by the weak-minded and easily misled, a book like this could very easily be their bible. In it, they will find all of the misguided ammunition they need to justify destroying everything of value and beauty in the human world.
Book Description
This second collection of papers by Vernon L. Smith, a creator of the field of experimental economics, includes many of his primary authored and coauthored contributions on bargaining and market behavior between 1990 and 1998. The essays explore the use of laboratory experiments to test propositions derived from economics and game theory. They also investigate the relationship between experimental economics and psychology, particularly the field of evolutionary psychology, using the latter to broaden the perspective in which experimental results are interpreted. Specific themes investigated include rational choice, the notion of fairness, game theory and extensive form experimental interactions, institutions and market behavior, and the study of laboratory stock markets.
Books:
- A Vision Unfulfilled: Russia & the Soviet Union in the Twentieth Century
- Advanced modelling in finance using Excel and VBA
- Ahead of the Curve: A Commonsense Guide to Forecasting Business and Market Cycles
- Alternatives to Economic Globalization
- An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, 2nd Edition
- An Introduction to High-Frequency Finance
- Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing
- Applied Linear Statistical Models
- Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
- Capital Ideas Evolving
Books Index
Books Home
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