The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)

Book Description

Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1978, the publication of Stephen King's epic work of fantasy-what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus-has spanned a quarter of a century.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is King's most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement. In November 2003, the fifth installment, Wolves of the Calla, will be published under the imprint of Donald M. Grant, with distribution and major promotion provided by Scribner. Song of Susannah, Book VI, and The Dark Tower, Book VII, will follow under the same arrangement in 2004. With these last three volumes finally on the horizon, readers-countless King readers who have yet to delve into The Dark Tower and a multitude of new and old fantasy fans-can now look forward to reading the series straight through to its stunning conclusion. Viking's elegant reissue of the first four books ensures that for the first time The Dark Tower will be widely available in hardcover editions for this eager readership.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read Series.......2007-10-09

Roland is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers. The world he lives in is quite different from our own, yet it bears striking similarities to it. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West, as well as bearing magical powers and the relics of a highly advanced, but long vanished, society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to either be, or be located at, the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on," and indeed it appears to be coming apart at the seams -- mighty nations are being torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish from the face of the earth without a trace, time does not flow in an orderly fashion; even the sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and even his age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries.

This series was mostly inspired by the epic poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, the full text of which was included in an appendix to the final volume. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings, the Arthurian Legend, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for Roland. King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language abstract to our own, are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's work.

The Dark Tower is often described in the novels as a real structure, and also as a metaphor. Part of Roland's fictional quest lies in discovering the true nature of the Tower. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western elements. King has described the series as his magnum opus; beside the seven novels that comprise the series proper, many of his other books are related to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses.

Moving along..........2007-09-30

Now that the new characters are introduced and the party has gathered, we're actually starting on the quest for the Dark Tower! This one ends in a cliffhanger so now I have to read the next book! It's close, but not quite 5 stars yet. I'm still just barely able to put it down when I need to.

Another great book!.......2007-08-24

I read this novel in exactly two days and I finished it yesterday. It rocks! Stephen King's The Dark Tower series is great. If you liked the first two, then pick this book up and give it a go. You'll love it. I am currently reading part four and I will review it when I am done.

Blaine the Pain.......2007-06-29

After an amazing second book, the Dark Tower Series takes a nose dive back down. The adventure continues, but the action in this book is dismal. We find that Jake returns, finds a friend, gets captured, and then is saved. Blaine the Mono throws out his version of the Hobbit riddles. Then, in the end; wait, there isn't an ending. You know how you hate it when a weekly TV series throws "To be continued" on the screen. Well, expect to feel that way at the end of this book.

Very Pleased.......2007-06-28

Received very quickly and in excellent order. Made the remainder of my holiday very enjoyable!! Many thanks

Environmental Site Assessment Phase I: A Basic Guide, Second Edition

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Environmental Site Assessment Phase I: A Basic Guide, Second Edition
Kathleen Hess-Kosa
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1566702712

Book Description

An environmental site assessment performed now will reduce the possibilities for liability claims and mandatory cleanup later. This Second Edition approaches environmental site assessment as an ever-evolving process, providing updated information on regulatory definitions, environmental regulations, and federal sources of information. Like the previous edition, this book allows the reader to

The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions)

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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WASTELAND
Expand your understanding....
Edition Brings More to Wasteland
A Modernist Masterpiece
Truly one of the best.

The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions)
T. S. Eliot
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393974995

Book Description

The text of Eliot's 1922 masterpiece is accompanied by thorough explanatory annotations as well as by Eliot's own knotty notes, some of which require annotation themselves. For ease of reading, this Norton Critical Edition presents The Waste Landas it first appeared in the American edition (Boni & Liveright), with Eliot's notes at the end. Contexts provides readers with invaluable materials on The Waste Land's sources, composition, and publication history. Criticism traces the poem's reception with twenty-five reviews and essays, from first reactions through the end of the twentieth century. Included are reviews published in the Times Literary Supplement, along with selections by Virginia Woolf, Gilbert Seldes, Edmund Wilson, Elinor Wylie, Conrad Aiken, Charles Powell, Gorham Munson, Malcolm Cowley, Ralph Ellison, John Crowe Ransom, I. A. Richards, F. R. Leavis, Cleanth Brooks, Delmore Schwartz, Denis Donoghue, Robert Langbaum, Marianne Thormählen, A. D. Moody, Ronald Bush, Maud Ellman, Christine Froula, and Tim Armstrong. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

Customer Reviews:

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WASTELAND.......2007-08-03

Recently in this space I reviewed Allen Ginsberg's modern 'beat' classic Howl. I have in the past written admiringly of the metaphysical poet John Donne and of my hero revolutionary Cromwellian Commonwealth political activist/poet John Milton of Paradise Lost fame. All poets in their ways different but held together by one common bond-the ability to sense the beauty hidden in the English language and to put it in symbolic form. Eliot is in that company. To a great extent, at least in the modern era, T.S. Eliot's little poem is the one that permits all following poets including Ginsberg to explore and explode the possibilities of the language. No bad for a bank clerk, right?

I remember first reading, halteringly, Wasteland in high school straight up without notes. We spent a lot of time on the arcane references Eliot sprinkled throughout the poem and we collectively had a project to dig out all the unfamilar symbols buried in the lines of the poem. That, my friends, was serious work. In fact one classmate argued that the Arthurian quest for the Holy Grail was child's paly by comparison. We definitely could have used the copious notes provided here to speak nothing of the various critical interpretations presented. Well done. With the availability of this reference work do not, I repeat, do not fly solo with the Wasteland. It is too important a poem of the modern age to lose its meaning for lack of knowledge of some arcane references.

Expand your understanding...........2007-06-18

I'm not really qualified to review TS Eliot. First of all, I couldn't be impartial---I made a special trip while in Somerset to visit the man's grave (actually a little plaque). Secondly, the corpus of his work represents one of the greatest pinnacles of the English language. I'll let Oxford dons review Waste Land.
This book of essays, however, was extremely helpful to me as I studied this poem, this monument to our decaying culture. I really think that it was instrumental in allowing me to reach a certain level of understanding, a level of comfort, with one of the most dense poems in English. However, it's not cheap, and no easy read in itself. You have to want it!
If you are serious about your Eliot, pull out the VISA and go to town. If you are just passing through, your local library has a copy you could check out before spending the money.

Edition Brings More to Wasteland.......2006-10-20

Norton Critcal did it right with this edition. With enough essays and criticism to help anyone get a deeper understanding of Elliot's poem, this edition is a must have. Rainey's essay on the publishing of the poem is particulary interesting.

A Modernist Masterpiece.......2006-10-09

I read The Waste Land and find that most poetry that comes after it is self-indulgent, limpid nonsense. The Beats? Who are they? Rubbish, all of it. Philip Larkin? Wimpish nonsense. But TSE and Ezra Pound, there you have the meaning and message of modern poetry. Since them and then, poetry has gone downhill into the personal, the confessional, the onanistic. Poetry MUST be difficult, not accessible, not transparent and easily understood after one reading.

Truly one of the best........2005-08-30

One reviewer claims that this is marred by some of Eliot's unfurtunate preducices. But how come you don't say something like that about O' Henry. We can't just stop reading authers because you we don't like their views. Someone calls hemingway looking forward? If that's looking forward I'de rather look backward. Hemingway has no concept of lyricism what so ever. Most of the people that reviewer named justly loved Eliot. Eliot is not looking nesscarily towards the past, but towards what we have made out of the present. In name of progress, we have destroyed nature and good part of our souls. To call Eliot Conservative at the time he wrote the poem would be redicoulous, the first draft according to one of Eliot's biographers, was absolutly a expression of Relavtism. One critic accused him being a Nihilist.

On the Poem itself Eliot is truly a master at evocating mode and tone, not to mention his brilliant use of Imperfect rymthe. So it doesn't have the crepty sentimentalism and redicoulous forays of expression of eariler and later poets. So he looks at his poetry with a sense of hard classicism, we could use more of that. Yet what he doesn't right he evoces through mode and tone, giving us truly one of the best poems of this, or any other century.

Remediation Engineering of Contaminated Soils (Environmental Science and Pollution Control Series)

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Remediation Engineering of Contaminated Soils (Environmental Science and Pollution Control Series)
Wise/TranTolo
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0824703324

Book Description

"Offers through coverage of the remediation of soils contaminated by hazardous wastes, including materials, analytical techniques, cleanup design and methodology, characterization of geomedia, monitoring of contaminants in the subsurface, and waste containment. Cites specific case studies in hydrocarbon remediation that offer a concise overview of possible technological approaches."

The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy

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Raises the bar for fallacious logic
Counterpoint
Needs to be Said
Controversial view, but convincing
A pseudo-intellectual look at energy, but it's tragically flawed

The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy
Peter W. Huber , and Mark P. Mills
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 046503117X

Book Description

"A wonderful book, which confounds the conventional wisdom of limits and should put virtually every government energy program out of business" (Washington Times)

"This is the only book I've ever seen that really explains energy, its history, and what it will be like going forward." (Bill Gates)

The sheer volume of talk about energy, energy prices, and energy policy on both sides of the political aisle suggests that we must know something about these subjects. But according to Peter W. Huber and Mark P. Mills, the things we think we know are mostly myths. A better understanding of energy will radically change our views and policies on a number of very controversial issues. In The Bottomless Well, Huber and Mills show why energy is not scarce, why the price of energy doesn't matter very much, and why "waste" of energy is both necessary and desirable. Across the board, energy isn't the problem; energy is the solution.

"Provocative.... [An] aggressive manifesto." (Los Angeles Times)

Customer Reviews:

Raises the bar for fallacious logic.......2007-09-23

Hmmm... If you wish it and you dream it, then it will come true. Well, that's a philosophy for some. Others prefer a well-reasoned argument - you won't find it here.

Counterpoint.......2007-08-20

It is so hard to find material that is built from technical and/or economic logic. This book has foundations are solid and therefore the author's arguments make complete sense. We will not run out of oil and Huber explains why that is the case.

Needs to be Said.......2007-06-15

No reviewer can say that this is a perfect book, perfectly organized, etc. HOWEVER, what the authors have to say must be said. And what they say must be understood, and quickly.

They do a great job in this book of blowing away all the myths and sloganeering associated with power and energy. The whole face of power and how it is used in the world is changing. Policy makers in Washington, DC, have fallen completely behind, and our nation will fall by the wayside, too, if we do not understand the concepts described in this book.

The book is well-written, but tends to repeat itself. This is acceptable to me as a reader, because I understand that the authors are trying to make several points very clear and have to pound them in over and over. Some readers may find that irritating.

This book helped me to remember something I learned in school, but had lost touch with: there is a Second Law of Thermodynamics, and we ignore it at our peril.

If we, or any society, decides to pass on some important source of power, don't worry, someone else will come along and use it instead. Huber has said this over and over: if someone "conserves energy", such as using less gasoline, someone else will be happy to take that energy for themselves. For instance, if the United States decides to not use certain energy sources for environmental reasons, the Chinese have no problem using that source for their economy. Poverty and "clean-ness" go hand in hand. If one person voluntarily wishes to live in poverty, by all means go ahead. However, every other human on the planet will gladly get out of poverty.

Controversial view, but convincing.......2007-06-12

If you have read many "Peak Oil" books, you will be used to reading a lot of doom and gloom. You will not find that in the Bottomless Well. Instead, Huber and Mills treat peak oil as just the latest chapter in an ongoing energy saga. A chapter or two may describe a little turmoil, but we will keep going toward a happy ending.

Initially, I was skeptical of that rather rosy view. Of course our oil is running out. We are burning it millions of times faster than the earth can create it. How can the oil well be bottomless?

The answer is that there is a bottom to oil wells, but not to energy. As Huber and Mills point out, the problem of energy now is not so much the fuel we use to generate energy, but how we refine that energy.

I will not try to summarize the key arguments in the Bottomless Well. I could not do them justice. Let me just say that this book impressed me with both the arguments made here, and the facts that are assembled to support the argument. From James Watt to Sadi Carnot to Henry Ford, you will hear how each of these people have contributed to our understanding of our energy problem, and how to solve it.

There's nothing simplistic or superficial about this book. Whether you agree that we will never run out of energy or not, reading The Bottomless Well will be valuable both for the arguments and the information it contains.

And the writing is tight and easy to grasp. The book reads almost like a good novel. (Of course, for some that might not be what they want from a book like this. Some probably prefer something heavier and dense.) Unless you feel the need to read only the doom and gloom side of the "Peak Oil" debate, you can't miss with The Bottomless Well.

A pseudo-intellectual look at energy, but it's tragically flawed.......2007-03-16

The "Bottomless Well" seemed to be an intriguing approach to tackling the problem of our potential to run out of "energy" by simply negating that it's a problem. I went for it, and wish I could get my time and money back. There are all sorts of graphs and charts that at first glance appear as if this book is a well-researched, believable source of information. It explains that that we can extract low-grade energy from the earth (ie coal and oil), refine it, and put it into a highly-ordered form where we can use it in our cars, computers, and (their favorite example)...laser beams. Of course, it takes energy to extract and refine energy, so the subtitle of their book is counter-intuitive at first glance. In fact, I feel that they did a very poor job of expaining why we will never run out of energy. In actuality, I could argue that they did a good job of explaining exactly the opposite, especially if you consider one of the most important elements that was conveniently missing from their analysis and graphs, and only mentioned in passing. That factor is increasing demand due to human population growth.

If you look at the charts in the book that deal with increased energy demand, increased efficiencies, increased order, etc. and factor in population growth, much of their point is completely negated. The population of humanity on the planet continues to grow, and with it, grows demand for food, oxygen, electricity, and many other necessities and pleasures. Even if we grow food more efficiently and transmit electricity more efficiently, the fact is that the demand will continue to grow as the population increases, and there are some limiting factors that just shouldn't be ignored. However, they are in this book. If you want to be blind to that, go ahead and read it. I'm off to read something that might be more realistic....maybe even find out how I can help further sustainability instead of close my eyes like the Bush administration did regarding global warming and hope the problem goes away.

Waste Land: A Poem of Memory and Desire (Twayne's Masterwork Studies, No 13)

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Making "The Waste Land" understandable

Waste Land: A Poem of Memory and Desire (Twayne's Masterwork Studies, No 13)
Nancy K. Gish
Manufacturer: Twayne Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805780238

Customer Reviews:

Making "The Waste Land" understandable.......2000-10-24

Professor Gish's book provides a clear, section-by-section analysis and explanation of the symbols, sources, techniques, and themes of "The Waste Land". In contrast to many Waste Land books that seem intent on expounding incomprehensible literary theory, this book brings the poem to life as Eliot's great work of "memory and desire".

Ms. Gish does a superb job of challenging unsupportable (but often repeated) notions of the use of myth in the poem. She explores how the final version of the poem was composed out of a series of poetic fragments, written over a long period of time. By showing that the Grail and Fisher King myths apply to only a small part of the poem (mostly in the final section), the reader is forced to re-think the themes and structure that bind the sections together. While never forcing a particular interpretation on the reader, with the help of Ms. Gish's insights, specific examples, and well-written commentary, a "mystifying" poem gradually begins to reveal itself.

For students trying to come to grips with the meaning of "The Waste Land", I can think of no better place to start than this book. For people who have already struggled with Eliot's masterpiece and have been frustrated with the cryptic essays written by many so-called literature experts, this book will be a wonderfully refreshing, extremely helpful, and thoroughly elucidating work, a "Rosetta Stone" that will unlock many of The Waste Land's mysteries.

As someone who has personally struggled with "The Waste Land" for many years, let me express my heartfelt thanks to Professor Gish for producing her 'must-read' book, "The Waste Land: A Poem of Memory and Desire".

Average customer rating:

Great Read

Surveying human needs, design challenges, and social issues alike.

top drawer quality

Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America
Alan Berger
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Landscape Urbanism Reader

Reclaiming the American West

Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Architecture

Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual Modeling in Architecture, Urban Design and City Theory

Praxis, Journal of Writing and Building, Issue 4: Landscape

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The Landscape Urbanism Reader

Town Spaces: Contemporary Interpretations in Traditional Urbanism

Light Zone City: Light Planning in the Urban Context

ASIN: 156898572X

Book Description

Do you really know what is under that new house you just bought? How about what lies beneath the neighborhood playground? Was that “big box” retailer down your street built over a toxic site? These are just a few of the worrisome scenarios facing us all as our cities begin to redevelop old toxic waste sites — places Alan Berger has coined “drosscapes.” Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America is your guide to this vast, hitherto largely ignored field of waste landscapes.

Landscape architects must learn to accommodate these wastelands along with the more traditional challenges of site and construction. This will require a radical reconceptualization of thinking about landscape before potential solutions can be effectively addressed or devised. Ten cites are examined both visually and analytically through the use of aerial photography and geospatially derived maps, charts, and graphs.

Customer Reviews:

Great Read.......2007-09-26

This book is a natural extension of the direction Alan Berger took in his first book Reclaiming the American West. While in his first book he examined the "leftover" space, of human industrial development in the American West in his new book he examines the range of wasted spaces which are created by current urban development patterns. Although specifically about the American urban landscape, his work can be at least loosely applied anywhere where sprawl or horizontal urbanity has become the norm. A key aim of his book is to go beyond the partisan debate of pro-or anti sprawl activists. Instead, Berger sets out to initiate a conversation and to develop a vocabulary through which this phenomenon of "inevitable" horizontal development can be understood and critiqued. However, this is arguably one weakness of the book. Although he develops a wonderful analysis of the phenomenon, his acceptance of it's inevitably, especially in the face of the efforts of many to change the game, can come off as defeatist. Yet, his focus on the liminal nature of the typologies he outlines does open up many fascinating areas of discussion. For inspiration he draws on everything from William Gibson's Neuromancer to Lars Lerups' concept of Stim & Dross. Ultimately, his approach is hopeful though. He concludes that because of the large scale nature of the problem, any solution must draw on abilities and knowledge of all the design disciplines from landscape architecture to urban planning. Berger suggests a paradigm shift, asking "designers to consider working in the margins rather than at the center."

Surveying human needs, design challenges, and social issues alike........2006-10-15

DROSSCAPE: WASTING LAND IN URBAN AMERICA is a top pick not just for architects and building designers, but for any homeowners or buyer who would understand waste landscapes and how they are handled. Landscape architects must learn to accommodate them - and homeowners need to learn about them. DROSSCAPE is for both, offering a radical new method of thinking about landscape and its problems. Ten cities are analyzed through aerial photography, maps and charts with an eye to surveying human needs, design challenges, and social issues alike.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

top drawer quality.......2006-05-26

If Dolores Hayden's recent exploration of suburban geography in "A Field Guide to Sprawl" defined a genre of 'naming and photographing' the oddness of the emerging American hinterland of strip malls, powercenters and waste space, Drosscape is its first major, major contribution. This thing is stunning.

The Waste Land and Other Writings (Modern Library Classics)

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Beautiful collection and engaging introduction by Mary Karr
Fear and Trembling

The Waste Land and Other Writings (Modern Library Classics)
T.S. Eliot
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375759344
Release Date: 2002-01-08

Book Description

First published in 1922, "The Waste Land" is T.S. Eliot's masterpiece, and is not only one of the key works of modernism but also one of the greatest poetic achievements of the twentieth century. A richly allusive pilgrimage of spiritual and psychological torment and redemption, Eliot's poem exerted a revolutionary influence on his contemporaries, summoning forth a rich new poetic language, breaking decisively with Romantic and Victorian poetic traditions. Kenneth Rexroth was not alone in calling Eliot "the representative poet of the time, for the same reason that Shakespeare and Pope were of theirs. He articulated the mind of an epoch in words that seemed its most natural expression."

As influential as his verse, T.S. Eliot's criticism also exerted a transformative effect on twentieth-century letter, and this new edition of The Waste Land and Other Writings includes a selection of Eliot's most important essays.

In her new Introduction, Mary Karr dispels some of the myths of the great poem's inaccessibility and sheds fresh light on the ways in which "The Waste Land" illuminates contemporary experience.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful collection and engaging introduction by Mary Karr.......2006-03-10

I just finished a Modern Library anthology of T.S. Eliot's writings entitled simply "The Waste Land And Other Writings". Beginning with an entertaining if somewhat controversial introduction by Mary Karr, the next 234 pages provide a glimpse into Eliot's creative and critical mind. Being an autodidact, I confess ignorance about where Mr. Eliot stands in the esteem of academia today, but I was able to easily find - thanks to the internet - plenty of current syllabi showing that his works are still being discussed.

My interest in Catholic writers during what I consider the New Golden Age of Western Literature (1920 - 1970) led me to this book. I was not disappointed. You may not agree with my designation or its range of years but you will perhaps agree with me that, in a macro sense, this prior era is our nearest peak in literature. It was modernity barely alive after the coronary thrombosis of World War I. American and British education just prior to this gilded age had been at its peak in terms of quality if not quantity, and a high school graduate from 1890 to 1920 would have been a master of English, a worthy apprentice of Latin and Greek, and more than a little acquainted with French. Compared to today's students, most of them would appear to be polyglots.

Not only that, but the culture then was fairly stable (no culture is perfect) and uniform, based on the now-tired hyphenate: Judeo-Christian principles. This does not mean that people were more religious then; simply, that they consciously or unconsciously played by the cultural rules. The stigma of "sinner" was greater for both those who believed and those who didn't, but for those who didn't, it didn't mean much outside the public eye. If this seems an oversimplified explanation, I plead innocence by reason of my education, if you'll tolerate the joke. In any event, when World War II came along and finished ole Modernity, up flew the phoenix called Post-Modernism.

The old modern may not have worried much about the application of Judeo-Christian principles to his individual life, but he did place some value on the macro effects of that culture. He transgressed, perhaps, but he did not proselytize his sin; he did not want his transgression to become accepted in the culture because he saw the bigger picture. With postmodernism, there is no big picture, "there's only you and I and we just disagree" or so the pop song goes.

Keeping the discussion at its current level of abstraction, I would define postmodernism as modernism without the Judeo-Christian framework. Modern man has always transgressed, but with our new era, he can transgress and be accepted at the same time. He can be ignorant of the facts and still be a teacher. He can make vice virtue and virtue vice and the world still turns. There is a love of progress without any clear idea of the destination; there is no accountability because there is no reality to account for; and, after putting the puny human animal in his insignificant place in the universe, most postmodernists then exalt this humanity, especially the individual human, to the center of everything. All of which makes for entertaining ideas but strangely empty minds if by empty we mean to say unable to comprehend the truth.

Take, for instance, the essay by Syracuse University's Mary Karr that opens the book. Professor Karr writes with clarity and humor, but there are deficiencies that a critic could not fail to notice. Early on, she praises Eliot for his avant-garde techniques while acknowledging that there are some who, while they admit he's still avant-garde, "eschew actually reading Eliot because he's a dead white guy who represents the old guard." You can't get past the irony here. Her reason for allowing Eliot to be characterized this way becomes apparent when, concerning the semi-explanatory notes that Eliot included with his poem "The Waste Land", she writes: "It's a little-recognized fact that the controversial notes were an afterthought...." Later, "Even knowing the randomness of the notes' insertion, you still can't ignore them wholesale. There they squat in the text. But once you stop cowing in their shadow, you can decipher them as whimsical rather than smug." Still later, they are "capricious and shifting in both purpose and attitude." And there are many more of the same. (Karr is not alone; I read an analysis by Nancy K. Gish in her book "The Waste Land - A Student's Companion to the Poem" that also gave short shrift to Eliot's notes.)

By devaluing the notes, Karr fashions her analysis using one of postmodernisms favorite tools: a linguistic theory that places the word on the page above the intent of the author. She makes it clear that, for her, "The Waste Land" is a much better poem without bothering too much with what Eliot was trying to communicate. She does this because Eliot was far more conventional in his personal life than perhaps she and her readers would like to admit, and his later scholarship and the essays that came out of that scholarship lend an authority that works against the postmodern desire to turn "The Waste Land" into a life creed; and because Eliot ultimately rejected the latent nihilistic world view that others found there and renewed his devotion to his Catholic faith. To read a poem as a juxtaposition of words that communicate some inchoate feeling or desire without reference to the author's meaning is to miss the point. Not so, says the postmodernist, there is no point to miss.

One final note about Karr's essay: she appears to be aware that many of her reader's will be indoctrinated by postmodern narcissism when she writes "Not to read it [The Waste Land] is to pretend that we of this twenty-first century have drawn ourselves whole (M.C.Escher-like) from our own heads. It's to ignore history, taking on faith that what now seems beautiful or important or right...has no source other than this time, this place." Well said. I would only add that "reading" involves discovering, as much as is possible, the author's intent otherwise we shall still be drawn whole from our own heads.

Fear and Trembling.......2006-01-02

Yeah, "The Waste Land" is one of those poems that everyone has to read because it so forms our current cultural milieu. And it should be read for that reason. I think, however, that most people, because they read it for that reason, only respect the poem (and Eliot) and don't necessarily like it. They don't always feel it.

I'm one of that other kind of reader, though, that just loves this poem. I love it because I find in it such a profound articulation of a lostness, a despair, that I think we all, at times, feel. And I'm one of the readers that see Eliot in the poem as working through the despair, sewing a couple of small seeds of hope. "The Waste Land" is a poem that I find myself reaching for to keep me going.

I particularly love this edition of Eliot's poems because it contains Mary Karr's essay that is essential for anyone who reads this poem "with the soul."

The rest of the selection of poems is excellent as well. The inclusion of many of Eliot's most important essays, particularly "Tradition and the Individual Talent," also makes this edition valuable. For multiple reasons, this is a must-have.

Natural and Enhanced Remediation Systems (Geraghty & Miller Environmental Science and Engineering Series.)

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Natural and Enhanced Remediation Systems (Geraghty & Miller Environmental Science and Engineering Series.)
Suthan S. Suthersan
Manufacturer: CRC
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ASIN: 1566702828

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Building on the success of bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies, Natural and Enhanced Remediation Systems explores remediation techniques that use the beneficial effects provided by Mother Nature. Written by a leader in the industry, the book provides state-of-the-art information on natural and enhanced remediation techniques such as monitored natural attenuation, in situ reactive zones, bio-augmentation, in situ chemical oxidation, phytoremediation, constructed wetlands, and engineered phyto-covers. It contrasts the new paradigms in remediation with the conventional remedies of the past two decades. It addresses theoretical and design aspects and includes case studies that illustrate implementation and performance details. The appendixes contain substantial information and data usually found scattered in many different books and research papers, making Natural and Enhanced Remediation Systems a comprehensive resource on cutting-edge remediation technologies.

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Better name would be "A Legal Guide to..."

Brownfields, 2nd Edition
Todd S. Davis
Manufacturer: American Bar Association
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1570739617

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Written for real estate lawyers, environmental lawyers, property owners, lenders, environmental consultants, environmental regulators, state or local government leaders and developers.

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Better name would be "A Legal Guide to...".......2007-01-27

Contary to the title, this book is not comprehensive. It is well written but covers mainly legal aspects of brownfield redevelopment. Biophysical elements are covered only very briefly. About half of the book is a listing of state by state regulations related to brownfield development, making the book much longer, but adding little to its value for individual users, who are likely to work mainly in a single state. Thus, about half of the book is of very limited use to the average reader.

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