Product Description
The recent boom of Texas hold em has forever changed the way the game is played. Many more people know how to play this game well. Even the loose players who come to gamble have become far more aggressive, making them more difficult to play against. So a basic tight and patient strategy will no longer guarantee that you can make a significant amount of money in games at the higher stakes. This is especially true short-handed, which have become increasingly popular in the online poker rooms. This text is the first to tackle the complex issues presented when playing short-handed and high-stakes limit hold em. But even if you happen to only play in softer games, many of the key concepts presented will still help you against the other good players in your game. Winning in Tough Hold em Games includes an examination of pre-flop play, covering issues at a depth of sophistication which have never appeared in print before including discussions of blind stealing, re-stealing, isolating a loose player, big blind and small blind defense, and blind versus blind play. Also covered are thorough sections on playing heads up and semi-bluffing. In addition, over 50 hands, taken from high stakes online games which were played by Stoxtrader, are presented along with appropriate discussion of the strategy involved. This book is a must read for anyone hoping to make a meaningful income from playing limit hold em. It is a serious text and should be beneficial for those of you willing to make the effort to master this material.
Customer Reviews:
Great! .......2007-08-14
Fascinating read. Not sure why these guys would want to share their secret, but I'm glad they did.
Good, but..........2007-08-05
Pretty good book overall. This is narrowly targeted at higher-stakes, short-handed, limit holdem players. It has general guidelines for types of hands, and then specific guidance for particular hands. I found the general guidance and principles to be extremely good. But the particular hands to be not so relevant for the games i play. It also has lots of math in there that is only marginally useful.
This book is a goldmine.......2007-07-06
I'm not one for writing reviews, but when I saw this book only had one to it's name, I had to say a few words.
I can honestly say this is the best book out there when it comes to beating tough 6 max online games. And I've read a lot of them!!
Stox is a genius. I've based my entire style of play on his "teachings" and I have been a successful online pro for 18 months. I hesitate to praise him too much because I don't want my opponents to get their hands on this book!!
I wont go into much detail other than to say there is a large and clearly explained section on Blinds play/defense which is a must read for any serious player. It has helped my game no end.
Flintoff 2+2
Good, Heavy reading.......2007-05-21
This is a book by a couple of respected 2+2 er's (If you dont know what a 2+2er is then this book is not for you (yet) )
It specifically addresses tough 6 max limit games, tough, being with the explosion of internet games and the recent US gaming laws it is getting harder and harder to find what we call loose, profitable tables.
It is concise and to the point and includes alot of PT stats (if you dont know what PT is again this book is not for you) to back up their reasoning.
In conclusion the book adopts an aggressive (as you should be when playing short handed anyway) style and deep thinking analysis of every play including actual hands.
However this is not a beginner book and you should be a winning player at full ring/6 max games limit medium stakes $2/4 and above to find this book useful. it is also good for those players who have plateued and are looking to improve.
Average customer rating:
- Thank you Kohn.
- Excellent reference book
- Awesome!
- Great but with a few flaws
- An Excellent Review or Preparatory Book For Algebra II
|
Algebra II (Cliffs Quick Review)
Edward Kohn , and
David Alan Herzog
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ASIN: 0764563718 |
Book Description
CliffsQuickReview course guides cover the essentials of your toughest classes. Get a firm grip on core concepts and key material, and test your newfound knowledge with review questions.
Whether you're looking for an in-depth treatment of the entire subject matter or occasional reinforcement of key algebra concepts, this is the place to find it.. CliffsQuickReview Algebra II is a comprehensive study guide to the many topics of a second course in algebra, including information on linear equations, complex numbers, and conic sections. In no time, you'll be ready to tackle other concepts in this book such as
- Linear equations in one, two, and three variables
- Factoring polynomials
- Relations and functions
- Quadratic systems
- Exponential and logarithmic functions
CliffsQuickReview Algebra II acts as a supplement to your textbook and to classroom lectures. Use this reference in any way that fits your personal style for study and review — you decide what works best with your needs. Here are just a few ways you can search for topics:
- Use the free Pocket Guide full of essential information
- Get a glimpse of what you'll gain from a chapter by reading through the Chapter Check-In at the beginning of each chapter
- Use the Chapter Checkout at the end of each chapter to gauge your grasp of the important information you need to know
- Test your knowledge more completely in the CQR Review and look for additional sources of information in the CQR Resource Center
- Use the glossary to find key terms fast.
With titles available for all the most popular high school and college courses, CliffsQuickReview guides are a comprehensive resource that can help you get the best possible grades.
Customer Reviews:
Thank you Kohn........2007-07-17
Material is step-by-step based, allowing you to learn in steps and excel in several areas of Algebra(II). [Helped me a ton- allowed me to start from the beginning and work my way up in areas both easy and difficult.]
Excellent reference book.......2007-01-10
This Book is an excellent reference for tutors and teachers. It will help anyone learning Algebra II or training/teaching children.
Awesome!.......2007-01-08
A fabulous help for those who need a desk reference for Algebra. It is clear, concise and very helpful. It covers every topic I need it too with easy to follow explanations.
Great but with a few flaws.......2006-08-03
Overall, this book is great. Everything is pretty clear and it makes algebra II almost easy. However, there are many typos I found, like forgetting a negative, or using a wrong variable. but otherwise, it's awesome!
An Excellent Review or Preparatory Book For Algebra II.......1998-11-29
This book really helped me prepare for Algebra II. With the help of this book, I had a 97% in the first semester and a 94% in the second. Then at the end of the year, this was a great tool in reviewing for the final.
Book Description
Facades - they are the first feature of a building to be noticed, they determine its distinctive appearance and are often the subject of controversial debate. This new first edition of the Facade Construction Manual provides a systematic survey of contemporary expertise in the application of new materials and energy- efficient technologies in facade design, and represents an invaluable addition to our series of Construction Manuals. It surveys the facade design requirements made by various types of buildings, as well as the most important materials, from natural stone through to synthetics, and documents a diversity of construction forms for a wide range of building types. Over 100 international case-studies in large-scale, detailed drawings are presented in the comprehensive project section.
Customer Reviews:
facade manual.......2007-06-13
excellent reference manual as all the books from the DETAIL series,... very recommended
Amazon.com
Before Everest, there was Annapurna. Maurice Herzog led an expedition of French climbers to the summit of this 26,000-foot Himalayan peak in 1950. At the time of the assault, it was the highest mountain ever climbed, a remarkable feat in itself made all the more remarkable by the fact that it had never previously been charted. Herzog and his team not only had to climb the darn thing, they had to find the route. As riveting as the tale of the ascent remains nearly half a century later, the story of the descent through virtually unsurvivable--think avalanche and frostbite, for starters--conditions is unforgettable. Herzog's masterful account, finally back in print, is a monument of courage and spirit, an epic adventure excitingly told.
Book Description
In 1950, no mountain higher than 8,000 meters had ever been climbed. Maurice Herzog and other members of the French Alpine Club had resolved to try. Their goal was a 26,493-foot Himalayan peak called Annapurna. But unlike other climbs, which draw on the experience of prior reconnaissance, the routes up Annapurna had never been analyzed before. Herzog and his team had to locate the mountain using sketchy, crude maps, pick out a single, untried route, and go for the summit. Annapurna is the unforgettable account of this dramatic and heroic climb, and of its harrowing aftermath. Although Herzog and his comrade Louis Lachenal reached the mountain's summit, their descent was a nightmare of frostbite, snow blindness, and near death. With grit and courage manifest on every page, Herzog's narrative is one of the great mountain-adventure stories of all time.
Customer Reviews:
Climbed But Not Conquered.......2006-12-06
Herzog provides a detailed perspective of the famed Annapurna climb that has inspired numerous high altitude and arm chair climbers.
Suffering frostbite and unimaginable suffering, Herzog has made a statement, worth reading in his epic account. No other sport has it's center pieces so open in sharing their innermost feelings.
The b/w photos were relatively scare and of only fair quality.
Great story, flawed method........2006-01-26
Reading the other reviews of this book, I'm reminded of a quote from one of my favorite, although little known Sean Connery movies, where he plays an Arab pirate. At one point Connery says to his second in command: "It is good." "What is good?", replies the other man. "It is good to know where we are going," answers Connery. Alas, Herzog and his men didn't know where they were going, and spent a month wandering around looking. It would have been good to send out an initial recon group to find the mountain before they started out. Or, to paraphrase an english adventurer, "to lose a pack animal is unfortunate; to lose an entire mountain seems downright careless."
An Amazing Story of Incredible Human Endurance.......2005-12-07
Wow! This is one of those real life adventure stories that has you wondering how much more the people can endure before they collapse and die. These guys climbed one of the world's most difficult mountains with old climbing technology. What they lacked in modern equipment, they made up for with strength and fitness. The more I read about mountaineering, the more I agree that it is 75% mental and 25% physical. Being in the best physical condition possible definitely gives you a better opportunity for success on high ground. If you liked this book, I encourage you to read my book "Rocky Mountain Adventure Collection". Best wishes on your adventures in life!
Mountaineering Classic.......2005-04-08
A marvellous book. Remarkably written, griping, and inspiring. A must for all mountaineers.
Good Adventure Reading.......2005-01-31
First and foremost, the topic of the book is of historical significance in the world of climbing, so it's a "must read" if you are into that sort of thing. If you aren't, it's still a great adventure read. Well worth the time. I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to people who enjoy outdoor adventures.
The text itself is written well, flows nicely, and is generally an easy read. I also found it to have a good balance between the characters emotions, the activity of the climb, and local color and flavor.
Something I found interesting was the attitude of Herzog. Granted, this was written in the 50's, but it was intersting to see his attitudes towards the local people. He certainly had a "I'm better than you" attitude towards the local Porters and Sherpas. He also displayed a lot of attitude towards other members of his expedition. At one moment he would be very condescending and critical, then a few pages later he would be singing their praises.
I wish the book had a bigger glossary than it does. I frequently found myself going to the glossary to look up the meaning of a word that was used, and didn't find it. Here, I'm talking about "climbing lingo" and words and phrases that Herzog uses that are relative to the language of the locals in Tibet and India.
I also didn't care for the placement of the photographs. They often didn't follow the text. A picture could preceed or follow the pertinent text by 100 pages, which made for a lot of "page flipping". It would be helpful to familiarize yourself with the photographs before reading the text, so that you know when to go back and find a specific photo.
Outside of this book, I've learned that there is a lot of controversy over what "really" happened and Herzog's attitude and motivations. If you read this book, keep in mind that this isn't necessarily what actually happened, but more of an account of what Herzog wanted you to know. Take most of it with a grain of salt, and do some additional research to get the full picture.
Also, understand that this climb was a "first" at that height, and was using technologies and understanding of altitude at that time. A reader with current climbing knowledge will often read a passage and think to himself "No Kidding, Dummy!", but we know that hindsight is 20/20. Their accomplishment is all the more exciting knowing that things we know and understand today, were unknown to them... and don't forget, they didn't have the high tech equipment that todays climbers have.
Book Description
What would legendary Boston Celtics coach and 16-time NBA champion Red Auerbach say is the most critical quality for a person to be successful? Would his advice differ from 10-time NCAA championship coach John Wooden's? What would each say to a young person just starting out in pursuit of their dreams? What is the best advice they were ever given?
It took author Christian Klemash more than two years of research, persistence, and original interviews, but now he's ready to pass on the best advice you'll ever get. Only the rare individual has had the opportunity to pick the brain of just one legendary sports coach—let alone thirty-four of the best sports coaches of all time. Klemash gives sports fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn valuable life lessons from the most famous, intelligent, and victorious coaches ever. The legends span the sports world, from gold medal-winning gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi and three-time college football championship coach Tom Osborne to four-time World Series-winning baseball manager Joe Torre and hall-of-fame boxing trainer Angelo Dundee.
These coaches know how to teach top athletes about character and winning, how to manage pressure at crunch time, and how to bring out the best in their players when it matters most. How to Succeed in the Game of Life shares their insights into sports, life, and the most vital keys to sustain success.Featuring Exclusive Interviews with:
Red Auerbach, 16-time NBA World Champion
Bobby Bowden, College Football's All-Time Winningest Coach, 2-time National Champion
Scotty Bowman, 9-time Stanley Cup Champion
Bill Cowher, Super Bowl Champion
Tony Dungy, Super Bowl Champion
Dan Gable, 15-time NCCA Champion
April Heinrichs, Gold Medal Winning Coach of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Bela Karolyi, The World’s Greatest Gymnastics Coach
Bill Parcells, 2-time Super Bowl Champion
Emanuel Steward, Boxing Trainer of 30 World Champions
Joe Torre, 4-time World Series Champion
Bill Walsh, 3-time Super Bowl Champion
Lenny Wilkens, NBA’s All-Time Winningest Coach, NBA Champion
John Wooden, 10-time NCAA Champion
And More!
Customer Reviews:
A Great Read.......2007-08-26
Wow!Could not put it down.An extraordinay self help book.Gave it to my kids they loved it.Don't miss this one
What a great read!.......2007-07-25
I took it on vacation with me and I couldn't put it down. A great book for aspiring athletes and coaches as well as your average Joe who works 9-5. The coaches discuss a variety of topics from their childhood to how they motivate their players. Any easy read for all ages.
Game of life.......2007-07-24
I've read through Game of Life and I enjoyed it very much. There are so many things to take from this book, not just into sports, but also some reflections on life. I would recommend this book to everybody.
Coaching advise from athletic coaches.......2007-06-27
A fun read, especially if yoiu're a sports fan. I read it in search of things that would help my own ability as a coach in my company. Much of it is light stuff but the easy read makes it fun nonetheless and there are few golden nuggets laced throughout the book.
Overcome Adversity.......2007-04-12
Anyone looking for inspiration, either for their own life or to share with others, will find a gold mine of quotes here. This book isn't just for sports fans.
Customer Reviews:
Parables.......2007-07-10
Herzog's book is excellent. He is able to offer insights into the cultural setting and how it influences the interpretation of a parable. It is a must read for understanding parables.
The great master of the parable.......2007-01-03
Herzog has reconsidered Jesus' sayings in the light of the modern recognition that He was first and foremost a Jew and thought in terms of the Judaic tradition. Some of the results are startling. You probably remember the parable of the 3 servants entrusted with money during their boss's absence. Who was the hero of that story? You'll be surprised.
That is just one example of the insights Herzog has in store for you. Easy reading? No. There is a lot of detailedn scholarship here. Rewarding insights? You betcha!
Controversial, but a great approach to the parables.......2004-11-16
I was introduced to William Herzog's book while taking a seminary course on the New Testament Parables. The professor included Herzog to provide some "angularity" to the more traditional approaches of other scholars and commentaries we were reading. And that it did.
Herzog is an acquired taste. For those with a more conservative bent, his liberation theology with Marxist ideology may be off-putting at first. In my opinion, his premise that Jesus' audience would have understood the parables through a Marxist lens limits the value of his interpretations. I think the work of the Context Group (Bruce Malina, et al) simply don't support that theory. But I do give him credit for being up front about his agenda.
Having said that, I still think the book is definitely worth buying. In particular, I very much appreciated his discussion of the work of Paulo Friere. This section of the book is dense, but worth the effort.
Herzog develops the premise that the parables were not designed to `teach' in the traditional sense, but to help the listeners break free of their perceptual limitations and see the world as a different reality. In this way, he compares Jesus' use of parables with Friere's work in `liberating' the self-defeating mindsets of illiterate peasants.
I found this approach to be very helpful in my own studies of the parables. Herzog's steadfastly refuses to too-quickly `spiritualize' the parables. Instead, he focuses first on the emotional or even visceral responses of the audiences to whom the parables were directed. By intently looking for the emotional reactions first, he helps to show the impact of the parables beyond simple `sermon illustrations.'
While I can't always agree with Herzog's conclusion regarding what that reaction would have been, the approach gives new insights into parable interpretation.
Refreshing.......2003-08-24
Professor Herzog's work is not the socialist denial of the Gospel that it has been accused of being. Neither is it an overly difficult text, as some reviewers have claimed.
Instead, it is a thoughtful, scholarly, re-examination of the parables, which raises the possibility of alternate readings, more appropriate to the first century a.d., rural, Palestinian context in which the parables were first proclaimed. Professor Herzog's work is challenging. It refuses to accept as sacrosanct any of the old verities that many of us were taught years ago in seminary.
In a modified form of redaction criticism, Professor Herzog closely examines each parable in its canonical form, and then seeks to work back to the most plausible words of Jesus, consistent with Biblical archeology and the sociology of religion. The results are new possibilities for proclamation.
This is not a book for the casual reader, or those who wish to maintain long-held beliefs at any cost. However, for educated seekers of truth this book is a gem.
diferent and challenging.......2001-03-28
William Herzog has taken the parables of Jesus and has certainly put a different twist on them. As some other reviewers have noted, Jesus was put to death for what he SAID and did, so the stories he told must have been more then aphorisms. To reduce Jesus to a fire brand revolutionary is useless, though not as useless as making Him an american, and reading these parables as middle class people in the 21st century. They are certainly both timeless and of their time,and their time was in a far away backwater occupied by a viscious,brutal efficeint machine called Rome.I also, cannot agree on everything that professor Herzog puts forth. However, I know enough to realize that Jesus was more then aware of what was going on around Him,and that his stories would have great signifigance for the motley group that listened to Him.If not, then the parables are mere fables, Aesop for the age,with cute morals. I think that the message of Jesus is so challenging and difficult that we have added all the historical accretion we can find to soften its impact. I do not think, even remotely, that this is a defining portrait of Jesus,or even the only viable view of his parables. What I do think is that it is time to look, really look at the message of Jesus, not just outside of time, but in its time. And for that,for stimulating and causing me to re-think some of my tenents, I am grateful for this book.
Book Description
More than any of their contemporaries, Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are challenging the boundaries between architecture and art. Natural History explores that challenge, examining how the work of this formidable pair has drawn upon the art of both past and present, and brought architecture into dialogue with the art of our time. Echoing an encyclopedia, this publication reflects the natural history museum structure of the exhibition which it accompanies, organized by the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Models and projects by Herzog & de Meuron, as well as by other artists, are structured around six thematic portfolios that suggest an evolutionary history of the architects' work: Appropriation & Reconstruction, Transformation & Alienation, Stacking & Compression, Imprints & Moulds, Interlocking Spaces, and Beauty & Atmosphere. Each section is introduced with a statement from Herzog, and more than 20 artists, scholars, and architects have contributed essays, including Carrie Asman, Georges Didi-Huberman, Kurt W. Forster, Boris Groys, Ulrike Meyer Stump, Peggy Phelan, Thomas Ruff, Rebecca Schneider, Adolf Max Vogt, and Jeff Wall.
A building is a building. It cannot be read like a book; it doesn't have any credits, subtitles or labels like pictures in a gallery. In that sense, we are absolutely anti-representational. The strength of our buildings is the immediate, visceral impact they have on a visitor. --Jacques Herzog
Edited by Philip Ursprung. Contributions by Fernando Romero, Carrie Asman, Boris Groys, Gernot Bohme, Jeff Wall, Thomas Ruff, Alfred Richterich, Adolph Max Vogt, Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Reinhold Hohl, Petros Koumoutsakos, Albert Lutz, Christian Muoeix, Hurzeler, Catherine, Rebecca Schneider and Remy Zaugg. Foreword by Phyllis Lambert. Introduction by Kurt W. Forster.
Hardcover, 480 pages, 300 color and 200 b&w illustrations
Customer Reviews:
art of H & DeM.......2007-03-16
H & DeM have always been influenced by art & you can even argue that their body of work could be an entire exhibiton. This book follows up some of their selected projects with interviews of the architects themselves as well as the collaborative artists. It does well to probe into theie unique process of design & actualization of their work. Jaques Herzog says that Art is roughly 20 years ahead of architecture. This vivid book clearly shows the great accomplishments by two men who are constantly trying to even up the odds between art & architecture through inspirations from the natural world.
layers of history, time, artifacts, translated into architecture.......2006-06-03
I don't think this is an "object book" but a book in which herzog & de meuron want readers to understand their work like an archaelogical history. you cannot flip through it like an photographic architectural essay, but you really have to sit down, have a cup of coffee/tea, and really read the book, think about what they are saying, how other ideas such as art, history, materials, cultural, industrial changes, and etc. are interacting to their architectural process. certainly, they have the depth in their thoughts to publish a book that doesn't depend on photographs/architectural drawings. quite refreshing.
Herzog & De Meuron: Natural History.......2003-04-11
Another object book with content that matches the originality of the design. Herzog & De Meuron, the Basel-based architects, are best known for their art museums, but also for creating buildings that are works of art--even when the program is as mundane as a railroad signal box. This companion to the recent CCA exhibition is an anthology of interviews, stimulating essays by artists and clients, and pictures of objects that have inspired them, in addition to an illustrated catalogue of their 200 buildings and projects. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)
Amazon.com
A novel complex, compelling, absurd and realistic, Herzog became a classic almost as soon as it was published in 1964. In it Saul Bellow tells the tale of Moses E. Herzog, a tragically confused intellectual who suffers from the breakup of his second marriage, the general failure of his life and the specter of growing up Jewish in the middle part of the 20th century. He responds to his personal crisis by sending out a series of letters to all kinds of people. The letters in total constitute a thoughtful examination of his own life and that which has occurred around him. What emerges is not always pretty, but serves as gritty foundation for this absorbing novel.
Book Description
In one of his finest achievements, Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow presents a multifaceted portrait of a modern-day hero, a man struggling with the complexity of existence and longing for redemption.
Introduction by Philip Roth
Download Description
This concise supplement to Saul Bellow's Herzog helps students understand the overall structure of the work, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.
Customer Reviews:
Herzog The Pain King........2007-07-17
"If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog" (p. 3).
In his adulterous drama, Herzog (1964), Saul Bellow's (1915-2005) title character suffers an intellectual and spiritual crisis following the failure of his second marriage. He contemplates killing his ex-wife and her lover with a loaded pistol. Although Moses Herzog (whose name is drawn from a minor character in James Joyce's Ulysses) is a brilliant Jewish intellectual, he is also a failed husband, a failed father, a failed academic, and a failed writer. He is the father of two children (Marco and June), one from each of his two marriages. Those marriages (the first to Daisy; the second to Madeleine) have left him unable to fully commit to his current relationship with another woman (Ramona).
The plot of Bellow's novel is thin and there is little action, as most of the novel occurs in Herzog's head where he lives. It opens in Ludleyville, Massachusetts, where Herzog spends much of his time writing unsent letters to friends, family members (his dead mother), major philosophers and famous figures (Freud, Nietzsche, Teilhard de Chardin, and President Eisenhower), and to God. The letters are his attempts "to explain, to have it out, to justify, to put in perspective, to clarify, to make amends," and they offer as much insight into Herzog's present state of mind as they do into his previous relationships. They reveal his disappointment with modern life and materialism, and express his concern that American culture is destroying its intellectuals. Herzog left his first marriage out of boredom and loneliness. His second marriage ended with the devastating discovery that Madelaine had deceived him by having an affair with their mutual friend, Valentine Gersbach. Cuckolded and humiliated, Herzog's academic training has not prepared him to deal with this painful experience. His personal crisis becomes the psychological turning point which forces Herzog to take a critical spiritual and intellectual inventory of himself. He realizes he has "unfinished business" in his life. Meanwhile, Madelaine and Herzog's brother, Will, believe Herzog should be hospitalized. Eventually, however, he discovers "the light of truth is never far away, and no human being is too negligible or corrupt to come into it," and discontinues writing letters.
Moses Herzog is Bellow's greatest character, or as Philip Roth says in his Introduction, "American literature's Leopold Bloom" with "a mind that is a mind" (p. xvi). Bellow's writing here is erudite, beautiful, witty, insightful, poignant, and truly profound, and in light of Herzog, it is no surprise that he was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Herzog is my favorite Bellow novel, and it is among my ten all-time favorite novels.
G. Merritt
Bellow against Nihlism.......2007-04-25
What role does the intellect play in both an individual life and the wider culture? This is the exploration that lies at the heart of "Herzog," the deeply philosophical novel by Saul Bellow. Moses Herzog is a man under the spell of writing letters to anyone under the sun, dead or alive. This habit leads others to suspect his mental stability, though in fact he is "confident, cheerful, clairvoyant, and strong." This is not always obvious when reading his manic, incomplete letters, or observing his choices and behavior regarding his family and career. Yet, Herzog's untidy, frustrating life, full of yearning and error, supplies an apt metaphor for the novel's wider philosophical position: man must face his own life, his own ordinariness, and seek value. To do otherwise is nihilism, and to hope for a tidy, unified fulfillment is a dream.
While Moses Herzog in his world, and Saul Bellow and ours, are widely identified as exemplars of the intellectual, this novel is keenly aware of the limits of thought and erudition, and deeply suspicious of the learned. Above all, Herzog rejects the idea authentic experience resides in the life of the mind, or more specifically, in theory and abstraction. One can't think fulfillment. Values and relationships provide fulfillment. Yet our philosophical tradition has begun to reject value, and become elitist and nihilistic. Socrates began in saying that he only knew that he knew nothing, and we have gone no farther than the idea that life and value are nothing and philosophy is only a word game. Herzog is
"...tired of the modern form of historicism that sees in this civilization the defeat of the best hopes of Western religion and thought, what Heideggar calls the second Fall of Man into the quotidian or ordinary.... The question of these modern centuries,..-The strength of a man's virtue or spiritual capacity measured by his ordinary life."
To be learned in not to be more moral or valuable, and there is a troubling malice behind the aesthetic revulsion towards modern society.
"Reaching at last the point of denying the humanity of the industrialized, "banalized" masses. It was easy for the wastelanders to be assimilated to totalitarianism. Here the responsibility of the of artists remains to be assessed. To have assumed, for instance, that the deterioration of language and its debasement was tantamount to dehumanization led straight to cultural fascism."
This naturally leads to the exhortation, "The world should love lovers; but not theoreticians. Never theoreticians. Show them the door. Ladies, throw out the bastards!
And what of the plot? The story lacks a neat, plotted drama, and its details are not what stick with me, but it has its moments. The central conflict is the relationship between Herzog and a younger, hipper love, and his separation from their daughter. It does devolve into tedium at times, but as I reflect on the novel, I rarely recall those moments. Too many modern novels involve the tawdry affairs of the cultural elite. Yet, "Herzog" is successful because it is juxtaposed with Herzog's thought. An argument in favor of the ordinary is well supported by conflicts that can't be regarded as romantic. The story should be ordinary.
Yet make no mistake, this is a novel of ideas. To underline every insight is to use much ink. The advantage of couching all of this thought into a novel is that, paradoxically, the aphorisms can stand on their own. They don't have to be absorbed in, or tailored to a broader philosophical scheme or thesis. Herzog writes to Schopenhaur, and I wonder if Bellow would share Nietzsche's appreciation of Schopenhaur's willingness to contradict himself, to affirm that all contradiction can not be ironed out of experience. Man is not a syllogism.
Just as our fall from grace provided us with a necessary distance to recognize and appreciate, though not comprehend, God, so does thought and art augment our experience, make us more aware of it, and allow us to frame it differently. However, Herzog gains no actual, practical guidance as to the living of his own life. Witness the mess that is Moses Herzog's life. "But can thought wake you from the dream of existence? Not if it becomes a second realm of confusion, another more complicated dream, the dream of intellect, the delusion of total explanation."
"Herzog" requires reflection and re-reading. There are moments of tedium, but it remains tremendous force in favor of humanity. "We have ground to hope that a Life is something more than such a cloud of particles, mere facticity. Go through what is comprehensible, and you conclude that only the incomprehensible gives any light." But there is light. This is life-affirming, melancholy, and inspiring. True art.
The modern consciousness.......2007-04-06
Herzog is a novel showing Bellow writing at his highest pitch: all that wide and deep intelligence, deep water thinking, the formidable awareness of American postwar society and its origins throughout history, the dynamic social and personal forces that clutter around a man's head, clouding his thinking.
I can't think of a single post war novel that features better characterisation than Herzog. Moses is a prime Bellovian character - formidably intellectual, though directing his intellect not at any specific practical means, but more a custodian of the soul, a deep moralist. He wants to know how a man should live his life in the modern world; does the individual consciousness have any significance any more?
Although one of the most intelligent men in America, Herzog is clueless when it comes to the practicalities of life. His second wife, Madeline, a strong willed woman has cuckolded him for his erstwhile friend, Valentine Gersbach, a man who swings his wooden leg 'like a gondolier', and taken custody of his daughter. Moses goes through the gears of mental instability during the few summer weeks over which the novel takes place. He writes impassioned letters, all unsent, to philosophers, presidents, successful academic colleagues, ultimately God, frenzidly trying to work out his personal plight, deeply probing deeply Tolstoy's maxim that kings are the slaves of history, the individual life is the highest form of consciousness.
Amidst a cast of superbly drawn characters - Will and Shura, his practical, wealthy, conventionally successful brothers, his manipulative ex wife, his sensual Latin lover Ramona, his shrink, his lawyer, Moses gradually works towards some sort of pact, an acceptance with modern reality, a way to let the wild forces of modernity run their course without struggling too much.
One caveat - Bellow writes in a strongly masculine tradition. He is not one of these kaleidoscopic voices that hones in on a wide range of view points. His locus is the highly academic, intelligent, male (and laced with Jewish) consciousness. Not so fashionable these days. This novel may not be for everyone.
THE REAL DEAL.......2007-01-02
There's big-time grade inflation on this forum and no one is guiltier of this practice than me. I feel that if the book is entertaining, fits together tightly, stretches my thinking, and has passages of beauty, well, give it five stars. As the author of two novels that were finally self-published, I figure: Why make success even harder for the author?
Within this context, I'd say that HERZOG is also a five-star book, except that it's much much better. This is because in each of these categories--entertainment, structure, insight, and beauty--HERZOG is truly superb. It's off the charts.
The narrative line of HERZOG is simple. Essentially, this presents the thoughts and experiences of Moses Herzog over a few days as he travels from New York to Martha's Vineyard, back to New York, then to Chicago and ultimately to the Berkshires.
But as Herzog travels (and writes his zany letters), Bellow provides a spectrum of many characters who are both fully realized and who offer some choice to Herzog, which is somehow a reflection of, or parallel to, his own problems. The amazing thing about this is that these choices always come out of character. No one in HERZOG is simply a thin veil worn by Bellow to preach or to fill out a point in the argument.
Can the universe be considered benevolent? Or is reality crazy, cruel, and mercenary? These are the questions that torment Herzog on his journey. Certainly, there are plenty of high-minded professorial letters, with Herzog heckling Nietzsche and so on. But many of these letters are simply educated fun and it's the people that Herzog knows who really carry and explore the argument. It's absolutely brilliant stuff.
At the same time, Bellow organizes many of these characters in "V". At one corner is Moses Herzog, a self-absorbed academic who, in his own mind, is benevolent albeit befuddled. At another is Madeline, his ex-wife, in whom craziness and selfishness mix in a single dark brew. Then, Bellow arranges his characters on this "V" so that differences gradually narrow and ultimately disappear in Herzog's brother Willie, who helps Herzog at his nadir.
Near the end of this novel, Herzog plays a game with his little daughter June: try to distinguish between the world's shortest tall man and its tallest short man, its hairiest bald man and its baldest hairy man. Ultimately, this is also what Bellow does with his characters, showing that benevolence and pragmatism can finally exist in a single decent and sane person.
The flawless structure of this novel, however, is only part of its brilliance. Here's my favorite bit of Bellow's prose. It's funny, probably a professorial reference to Whitman, and straight out of Herzog's character: "...what it means to be a man. In a city. In a century. In transition. In a mass. Transformed by science. Under organized power. Subject to tremendous controls. In a condition caused by mechanization. After the late failure of radical hopes. In a society that was no community and devalued the person. Owing to the multiplied power of numbers which made the self negligible. Which spent military billions against foreign enemies but would not pay for order at home..."
READ THIS GREAT BOOK
I cannot perpetuate this myth of greatness.......2006-09-29
I cried. No, scratch that, I sobbed...from boredom.
Average customer rating:
- Enjoy several hundred pages of swimming around in Werner Herzog's supple mind...
- splendid
- The Enigma of Werner Herzog
- Good look into Herzog's noggin
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Herzog on Herzog
Werner Herzog
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ASIN: 0571207081 |
Book Description
An invaluable set of career-length interviews with the German genius hailed by François Truffaut as “the most important film director alive”
Most of what we’ve heard about Werner Herzog is untrue. The sheer number of false rumors and downright lies disseminated about the man and his films is truly astonishing. Yet Herzog’s body of work is one of the most important in postwar European cinema.
His international breakthrough came in 1973 with Aguirre, The Wrath of God, in which Klaus Kinski played a crazed Conquistador. For The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Herzog cast in the lead a man who had spent most of his life institutionalized, and two years later he hypnotized his entire cast to make Heart of Glass. He rushed to an explosive volcanic Caribbean island to film La Soufrière, paid homage to F. W. Murnau in a terrifying remake of Nosferatu, and in 1982 dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazon jungle for Fitzcarraldo. More recently, Herzog has made extraordinary “documentary” films such as Little Dieter Needs to Fly. His place in cinema history is assured, and Paul Cronin’s volume of dialogues provides a forum for Herzog’s fascinating views on the things, ideas, and people that have preoccupied him for so many years.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoy several hundred pages of swimming around in Werner Herzog's supple mind..........2006-12-20
Author Paul Cronin was only too hasty to warn us well in advance that we were going to find Herzog's occasional mental departures and extemporizing to be a slight annoyance (I'm paraphrasing, so please don't be upset, Mr. Cronin). But I hardly agreed. I found WH's jumps and false starts, etc., to be some of the most gratifying and precious content of this book. It was like having a fireside chat with Herzog--a private one-on-one session over several cups of coffee or whiskey--learning about what makes one of the better-known idea-men on the planet tick. What fires his Teutonic cauldron. I can only be too thankful that Werner was happy to finally engage in a project as noble as this one, as you'll read in the opening pages of this work that it almost *didn't* happen.
Myths.
I'm beginning to learn that most of what we consider to be true in this life is comprised mostly of myths and heapful conjecture, and that people prefer to accept third-hand information from others in respect of a particular person, instead of merely talking to them themselves. Take the storied rivalry between famed brat-actor Klaus Kinski and Mr. Herzog. So much has been written and said about these two. So much excavating around in the rubbish pit has been done in respect of these two famous/infamous personalities, that's it's truly hard to know just *what* to believe anymore. Inside these pages, Herzog sets the record straight.
That's one of the reasons why I grooved along with this book so much.
Then there were the didactic filmmaking elements. The nitty-gritties. The real deal. There were the aspects of the process of making a film, and those oh-so-distillable quotables...you know, the ones filmmakers like to post all around their production offices in big bold black and red lettering that masquerade as Western-versions of Communist-era sloganeering, yes? Herzog had many of them, and like most things with an ideological bent I was truly inspired (and will continue to remain so). Don't you just love ideology? You begin to understand the wild-eyed genius of the man, the strength of his convictions, and what someone will do--a director in this particular instance--to fulfill his noble dream. He'll literally "eat his boots." Herzog in fact did so as a promise to one of his documentary-making colleagues, I kid you not! Herzog really lived up to his word, and ate his shoes after boiling them until nice and tender. He even cut it up into little pieces, and washed it down with a good beer. (Maybe it was a Pilsner?).
Is this a common trait nowadays?
I'm not too sure how to answer that, friends, for any answer I may give would surely smack of cliche and triteness.
But the economics of the matter...and with the insane standards of living in certain Western cities, I'm not surprised that the formerly lofty bastions of principle-land are even for sale. I mean, we can't all be monks and hermits, and sustain ourselves merely on rations of peanut butter sandwiches, or beans, or mac 'n cheese, or soon-to-be-fulfilled promises. Humans need more, or at least they think they do. Herzog is a shining example that what I've just written is a bunch of bunk. And thank goodness for that.
Blow through the read, and you'll suddenly find yourself being uplifted by this man and his ostensible message. You'll quickly realize that this isn't a puff piece, and I believe that if Herzog had to revert to his salad-day lifestyle, where he'd pull such insane stints as walking clear along the easternmost frontier of the former West Germany to prove his point about German national unity during the Cold War, you somehow start to fall for the man. There's an earnestness to his lines that doesn't reek of that similar puff action you get from those who've achieved much less and with much more lucrative resouces.
This is now the fifth "Directors on Themselves" book I've read, and I'm so grateful for having stumbled across this series one fine day on a walkabout in a bookshop. Not a day goes by now without me reverting back to a thought or two about something I'd read in these books. I suppose that's the best we can hope for when it comes to books, anyways...to remember just one fine thing about them. To be inspired by something your eyes might have come across and to bring it out and use it to your advantage when you least expected it to be there. Though thanks to the complex inner-workings of your mind, that's just how certain things work. They clobber you when you need them. Perhaps one day we will truly appreciate the mind muscle, and how it fires off.
Herzog emphasizes in his work the triple notions of iron commitment, ironclad word, and rock-solid honour.
He stands by all of these, and has witnessed more than his fair share of calamity on his various film sets in standing behind them. Being "iron" in all three of the above-mentioned disciplines doesn't always result in a rosy outlook and a happy ending. Sometimes keeping your word means the spilling of blood for the various members of both cast and crew, and there were more than a few injuries and the occasional casulalty or two on a Herzog set, I'm not kidding here either. I'm not going to deny that perhaps this also has something to do with Herzog's Bavarian heritage. Indeed, it's in the blood and something must be mentioned about the robustness of the gene code. I mention this statement without any preconceived ideas, and dear readers, please take it for what it is. It's a fact. Germans are disciplinarians.
But Herzog is clear on one thing: if you aren't willing to go to war to make your films, you're not willing to be a filmmaker. Making films is all about blood, guts, and gore. Heaps of sweat and lots of heartache, and perhaps in the process you manage to keep control of some of the work you've assembled, and manage to maintain the rights to it as well. Herzog's been clever about his choices since starting out on this journey, however. He's established himself such that he never relinquished control to the baddies, and never said "namaste" to the more corporatized film elements. For that I'm grateful. He serves as a stellar and shining example, and I recommend this book as required--or at least on the supplemental list--of reading material for a given film school. Think about it...think about the masses of super-enthused filmmakers who would emerge as a result. Think about the quality of the films they'd shoot as well...
Talking points all.
Doubtless, folks, this is a five-star read. You're going to learn a lot from it, as I did and do.
Hand on the heart,
ADM from Prague
splendid.......2006-08-24
herzog manages to spend his entire life getting into adventures. and the stories he relates make you wonder how much is exaggeration, or even made up. either way, it is a fascinating read. this book will appeal to those not necessarily attracted to his films in particular, and for those who are keen on his work i would say this was essential. as a prolific filmmaker and adventure-getter-into, his life is inspiring in that it makes me want to get off my arse and do something challenging and life affirming. or maybe i'll just lie in bed and read the book one more time!
The Enigma of Werner Herzog.......2006-06-23
One of the unfortunate things for fans of Werner Herzog's cinema is the rather feeble and pathetic array of literature there is out there. Timothy Corrigan's essential Herzog book "The Films of Werner Herzog: Beyond Mirage and History" has been out of print for some years and besides, only covers Herzog's career up to 1985. If you don't have access to academic journals and university libraries the alternative is to pay through the nose. A definitive study of the great man's films is required. Cronin's book kind of fills that gap as it does at least deal with most of Herzog's important works. The interest of this book comes from the fact that it a book of interviews and Herzog's views are both illuminating and interesting. I could almost here his hypnotic German accent as I read it. However, a lot of old ground is trodden over and if any reader is looking for new and exciting tales of the raving Klaus Kinski, they will be disappointed. Many of the anecdotes and comments Herzog comes out with are repeated in My Best Fiend (1999) and on a number of commentary tracks for his DVD's. Far more interesting are his comments on less known films such as "Ballad of the Little Soldier" (1984), "Echoes From a Sombre Empire" (1990) and "The Dark Glow of the Mountains" (1984). So many myths have sprung up around Herzog and his work, that perhaps now, mostly due to documentation and the media they feel somewhat stilted and stale. Herzog is at his best when expounding his own theories on the effects of cinema, and in his rants against academia. But its clear the man has a philosophy and goal which he is trying to achieve through the medium of cinema, not simply a director making money and then moving on to the next thing. Cronin's questions are in the main insightful, but at times he comes across in the same way as Herzog himself did in one of his best films "The Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner" (1974) as an excitable and breathless fan. Overall, an interesting and thought provoking read and probably one of the best in this ongoing range by Faber and Faber, the other I recommend is the David Lynch one. But this book does sit rather strangely with Herzog and it wasn't something I ever expected him to do.
Good look into Herzog's noggin.......2005-09-14
A bit like pulling teeth, this book starts with Herzog writing he is a somewhat unwilling participant in the process. A few parts her I have read recounted other places, but there is more than enough on the making of individual fiilms. A good, concise book.
HEART WARMING AND TOTALLY ESSENTIAL.......2005-09-11
This amazing book is a must read for anyone who enjoy's The great man's films, as well as anyone who...you know what, I'm moved to say that this book is essential reading for all humans. Herzog inspires on each page, whether it be by his own personal experience or by the bombastic words that he barks onto the page.
I actually read this book for the first time (I've been through it 5 or 6 times now) right after my father abandoned my family to live with his new wife in cancun. I guess I was going through a rough time, maybe I needed a more stable father figure or something. Well, my therapist, the great Dr. Tucker, advised that I try Herzog to fill that void, and the mans films completely changed my life. This book is a treasure trove of information and inspiration for fans of Herzog himself or the film medium in general. True story: I work with autistic children on the middle school level, and this one boy Justin started looking through this book when I set it down from reading it on a break. He found the book so engaging that I let him take it home to finish (loaning things out to these kids is always a bad idea, but I figured I'd give it a shot)...long story short, little Justin came back to class the next day, and overnight his speech improved so dramatically that my aide called it a miracle. Anyway, if you're thinking about buying this book you will not be sorry of you do, because if you don't read this as soon as possible you are going to be really sorry. I hope this helped, and HAPPY READING!!!!
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